3D Building Editor User Guide and QA Report
This experimental subtab integrates the open-source Pascal 3D building editor into the Floor & Site Planner area. It is useful for fast 3D building massing, site sketches, simple levels, openings, materials, furniture, and client-facing spatial explanation. It should remain an add-on to inspection photos, 360 panoramas, annotated maps, and formal appraisal exhibits.
Current Recommendation
Best use
Use it for visual building massing, level relationships, door/window/stair/fence placement, furniture context, and an easy 3D walkthrough-style explanation for clients.
Still isolated
The prototype is intentionally separate from saved 2D planner projects. Scene data is browser-local until cloud project saving is added.
Do not replace records
For appraisal and inspection files, keep photos, 360 panoramas, annotated maps, and PDF exhibits as the official record.
Recommended Workflow
- Open
Floor & Site Planner, then choose the3D Building Editortab. - Use
Full screenfor serious editing so the viewport and toolbars have enough room. - Start with
StructureandBuildto create walls, slabs, doors, windows, stairs, and fences. - Use
Material Paintonly after you have an object selected or a surface to paint. - Use
Furnishafter the structure is clear; furniture is useful context, not core appraisal evidence. - Use
Zonesto sketch functional areas or site regions. - If the editor gets into a bad local state, click
Reset local 3D data. This does not delete saved 2D planner projects.
Main Areas
Left project panel
Site: site-level container.Building: building-level container.Level 0: default level; useAdd levelfor another storey.Upload scan/floorplan: upload entry point. Treat file format support as experimental until tested with real samples.
Bottom toolbar
Select: choose existing objects.Build: create structural elements.Material Paint: apply textures such as wood, wallpaper, parquet, granite, and marble.Furnish: browse and place furniture models.Zone: create area/zone objects.Delete: remove selected elements. Use this carefully.
Structure Tools
To show Wall, Slab, Ceiling, Column, Gable Roof, Stairs, Door, Window, Fence, and Spawn
Point, choose Structure, then choose Build.
Material Palette
The material palette uses local Pascal static assets under /material. If these
files are missing, the wood, parquet, wallpaper, granite, and marble thumbnails show broken
images and painted surfaces may fail to show the expected texture.
Furnish Catalog
Furnish uses Pascal furniture metadata and remote thumbnails/models. It is appropriate for visual context, but production delivery should account for remote asset availability.
QA Checklist
| Area | Status | What was checked |
|---|---|---|
| Page load | Pass | Route loads and the editor surface renders instead of the app error card. |
| Fullscreen | Pass | Fullscreen escapes the animated page wrapper and covers the viewport. |
| Structure tools | Pass | Structure/Build tool categories and major structure tools can be selected without crashing. |
| Material assets | Pass | Local wood/material thumbnails return HTTP 200 and image elements report loaded dimensions. |
| Furnish catalog | Pass | Catalog view opens and remote thumbnails are allowed by the image configuration. |
| Zones, scans, guides | Smoke-tested | Entry controls open without a page crash. Real upload and calibration workflows need real appraisal samples. |
| Console health | Known warning | Pascal/Three still emits a THREE.Clock deprecation warning. No current app error overlay was observed. |
Known limitations
- Internal appraisal planning and client-friendly visual explanation.
- Simple building massing, site context, openings, stairs, fences, and furniture context.
- Side-by-side use with the existing 2D planner and 360 panorama tools.
- Experimental feature discovery before deciding whether to cloud-save scenes.
- Official inspection evidence or final measured CAD drawings.
- Large, complex multi-storey properties without additional performance testing.
- Automatic room scanning from phone video. This editor displays and edits 3D scenes; it does not create scans from video.
- Cloud project persistence. The current prototype saves locally in the browser.
Recovery Steps
- Click
Reset local 3D dataif the editor opens with a corrupted scene. - Refresh the page if the editor canvas or toolbar becomes stale after intensive testing.
- Keep browser hardware acceleration enabled for smoother WebGL rendering.
- If remote furniture models are slow, continue testing with Structure and Material tools first.