Help Center

Getting started: your first plan

The fastest way to learn Home 3D Plan is to draw a small room. Open the editor and you will land in the 2D plan view, which is a top-down drawing surface with a snapping grid that keeps your lines straight and to scale. You do not need an account to do this, so feel free to experiment freely.

A typical first session looks like this: draw the outline of a room or two by placing walls on the grid, drop in a door and a window, drag in a piece of furniture from the catalog, then switch to the 3D view to see your space come to life. Nothing here is permanent while you explore, so try things, undo, and try again.

When you are happy with what you have, sign in with Google to save the project to the cloud so it is waiting for you next time. Your work is stored as a Home 3D Plan project file (the .hdp format), which is the native format used across our tools and our companion app.

For a guided, step-by-step walkthrough of the editor, see the home design editor guide at /docs/home-design-editor.

Drawing floor plans: walls, doors, windows, and dimensions

Floor plans are drawn in the 2D top-down view. You draw walls by placing points on the grid; the grid snaps your points so rooms stay square and measurements stay clean. A room is a closed shape, and its walls follow the outline you draw, so closing a shape back to its starting point completes a room. Dragging a corner or a wall reshapes the room and updates everything connected to it.

Doors and windows are openings that snap into walls. Add one and position it along a wall, and the wall opens up to fit it. Because openings attach to the nearest wall, you can slide them along a wall to fine-tune placement. Doors and windows behave consistently whether you are looking at the plan in 2D or later viewing it in 3D.

Dimensions let you annotate exact measurements on your plan, which is useful for sharing accurate sizes or printing. You can add dimension annotations to show wall lengths and room sizes.

If something does not snap the way you expect, zoom in for finer control, and remember the grid is there to help you stay to scale. For the full set of drawing tools and tips, see /docs/home-design-editor.

Furnishing and changing materials

Home 3D Plan includes a furniture catalog you can browse and drag straight onto your plan. Drop an item where you want it, then move, rotate, and scale it to fit the space. Furniture sits on the floor of the room you place it on, and you can reposition pieces at any time.

You can recolor surfaces and change materials to preview different finishes for floors, walls, and many furniture pieces. This lets you compare looks, for example a wood floor versus tile, or a different wall color, without committing.

Selecting an item or a surface opens its properties, where the available color and material options live. Take your time here; this is where a plain plan starts to feel like a real room.

For detailed guidance on placing furniture and applying materials, see /docs/home-design-editor.

Viewing in 3D and walking through your home

At any point you can switch from the 2D plan to a full 3D view of your design. The 3D view renders your walls, floors, openings, and furniture so you can orbit around the model, zoom, and pan to inspect it from any angle.

You can also step inside and walk through the rooms you drew in a first-person view, which is the best way to get a real sense of scale, sightlines, and flow before anything is built. Move through doorways, look around, and check that the space feels right.

Switching between 2D and 3D does not change your design; it is the same project viewed two ways, so you can move back and forth as you work. For more on the 3D view and navigation, see /docs/home-design-editor.

Photo renders: snapshot your 3D scene

At any point you can capture a photo render of your design: a one-click snapshot of the lit 3D scene, saved as an image (PNG). It is instant, unlimited, watermark-free, and carries no render credits or caps.

Because the render happens right in your browser, there is no queue, no GPU farm, and nothing to wait for. Frame the view you like in the 3D scene, click render, and the image downloads. Use it to share a look with a builder, a client, or a family member, or to keep a visual record as your design evolves.

Saving, exporting, and file formats

Your designs are saved to the cloud once you sign in with Google, and they are stored in the native Home 3D Plan project format, the .hdp file. The .hdp file holds your rooms, walls, openings, furniture, and materials together, and it is the format used by our companion app, so projects stay compatible across tools.

From the home design editor you can snapshot the lit 3D scene to an image (PNG) with one click, unlimited and watermark-free, which is handy for sharing a look with a builder, a client, or a family member who is not using the app. For more on the photo render, see /docs/home-design-editor.

Other tools in the platform export to industry-standard formats so your work travels: the 3D modeller exports to GLB and OBJ for use in other 3D software, and DraftCAD exports to DXF, SVG, and PDF for CAD workflows, and can import DXF as well.

If a save does not seem to happen, confirm you are signed in, since saving to the cloud requires a Google sign-in. See the Troubleshooting section for more.

Sharing and collaboration

You can create a live share link for a design so other people can open it and view it without creating an account of their own. This is the simplest way to get feedback or show a design to a client or family member.

Shared people can open the design in any browser to review it, and if you grant edit access they can change the plan directly, so feedback lands in the project instead of getting lost in email or chat. You control sharing from the Share option for your project.

Because viewers do not need an account, just send them the link. If you want to stop sharing later, manage the share settings for that project.

The 3D modeller

The 3D modeller is a separate, SketchUp-style modelling tool that lives at the /modeler route. It is designed for free-form 3D modelling rather than floor-plan-based home design, and it is a distinct subsystem from the home design editor.

It includes the core direct-modelling tools you would expect: Push/Pull to extrude faces, plus Move, Rotate, and Scale to transform geometry (by dragging, typing exact values, or using an on-canvas gizmo). One-click primitives (box, cylinder, cone, sphere, torus, stairs), CSG booleans (union, subtract, intersect), a hollow/shell operation, and Catmull-Clark subdivision round out the modelling toolkit, and a marquee box-select, snapping, and a perspective/parallel projection toggle make precise work fast. You can build reusable components (edit one and update all instances), it works with a mouse or by touch, and undo and redo are available as you work.

When your model is ready, you can export it to GLB or OBJ to use it in game engines, render tools, or other 3D applications. For a full tool reference and workflow, see the 3D modeller guide at /docs/3d-editor.

DraftCAD: precise 2D drafting

DraftCAD is the platform's 2D CAD drafting tool, built for precise technical drawing. It supports exact, measured drawing, layers to organize your work, and a command line for fast, keyboard-driven input.

You can build and reuse blocks and place them with an insert workflow, which is the standard way CAD users reuse repeated symbols and components across a drawing.

DraftCAD works with the formats CAD users expect: it can import and export DXF, and it can export PDF for printing or sharing. For the full feature set, the command reference, and tips, see the DraftCAD guide at /cad/documentation.

AI features and adding your Anthropic key

Home 3D Plan offers optional AI features powered by Anthropic's Claude. These include an AI design partner you can work with, and AI plan recognition, which imports a floor-plan image and turns it into an editable plan.

The AI features require your own Anthropic API key. You add the key in the Settings / Profile panel, where it is stored encrypted, and you manage it from the same panel.

Because the AI runs on your own key, usage is billed to your Anthropic account by Anthropic, and the features are entirely optional; everything else in Home 3D Plan works without a key. If you see an AI error, see the Troubleshooting section, since most issues come down to a missing, invalid, or rate-limited key.

Your account: sign in, profile, and deleting your data

You do not need an account to use the editor, but signing in with Google lets you save projects to the cloud and access AI features. Sign-in uses your Google account, so there is no separate password to manage.

From the Settings / Profile panel you can manage your profile details, add or update your Anthropic API key, and sign out. This is your hub for everything tied to your account.

If you want to leave, you can delete your account and all associated data from the same Settings / Profile panel. Deleting your account removes your data, so export anything you want to keep first. You can review how we handle data in our Privacy Policy at /privacy.

Installing the app and using it offline

Home 3D Plan is a Progressive Web App (PWA), which means you can install it to your device straight from the browser, with no app store needed, and then launch it like any other app. Installing also makes the app available offline for design work when you do not have a connection.

The install step is slightly different on each device and browser, so the easiest path is to follow the illustrated instructions at /pwa-install. They cover installing on desktop, iPhone, iPad, and Android.

Keep in mind that saving to the cloud and the AI features need a connection and a Google sign-in, so while you can keep designing offline, save your work once you are back online and signed in.

Troubleshooting

Cannot save: saving projects to the cloud requires you to be signed in with Google, so first confirm you are signed in. If you are signed in and saving still fails, check your internet connection and try again; if it persists, contact support.

Sign-in problems: make sure pop-ups are not blocked for the site, since Google sign-in may open a window, and try again in a standard (non-private) browser window. Clearing the page and reloading often resolves a stalled sign-in.

Lost or missing work: if you were not signed in, work lives only in your current browser and can be lost if you clear site data or switch devices, so sign in to keep projects safe in the cloud. If a saved project is missing after signing in, confirm you are using the same Google account you saved with.

AI errors: nearly all AI issues trace back to the Anthropic API key. If you see a prompt to add a key, add it in Settings / Profile. If the key is reported invalid, update it; if you are rate-limited, wait a moment and try again.

Which browser works best: use a current version of a major browser such as Chrome, Edge, Safari, or Firefox, and keep it up to date for the best 3D performance. If you still hit trouble, reach out to support with a description of what you were doing.

Documentation and getting more help

For step-by-step depth on each tool, use the documentation pages: the home design editor guide at /docs/home-design-editor, the 3D modeller guide at /docs/3d-editor, the DraftCAD guide at /cad/documentation, and the install guide at /pwa-install.

For policies, see the Terms of Service at /terms, the Privacy Policy at /privacy, and the Cookies Policy at /cookies.

If you still need help, email us at help@home3dplan.com, or open a support ticket from the gear icon inside the editor. When you write in, telling us your browser, your device, and the steps that led to the problem helps us help you faster.

Frequently asked questions