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How to turn a PDF, DXF or scanned floor plan into a 3D model

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If you have a plan from an architect, an estate agent or a sale brochure, you can start from it instead of drawing the rooms again. How precise the 3D model is depends on what kind of file the plan is.

Vector PDF or scan: how to tell

A DXF file, or a vector PDF exported from CAD software, is made of drawn lines. Zoom in as far as you can: the lines stay sharp and the dimension text can be selected. A scan or a phone photo of a printed plan is a picture, and it gets blurry when you zoom in.

  • DXF or vector PDF exported from CAD: walls and scale are read from the drawn lines, without AI. The model can be marked High precision.
  • Scan, photo or PDF made from a picture: walls, doors and windows are recognised from the image, and the scale is worked out from the dimensions or from one length you give. The model is marked Medium precision.

Import a plan

  1. Create a project and choose the plan option, then pick your DXF, PDF, scan or photo. For a PDF with several pages, choose the page with the floor plan.
  2. Say it is a plan rather than a hand sketch. If you know one real length on it, such as a room width, enter it: it helps the scale.
  3. Open the model and go through the “To check” list for anything the reading was unsure about.
  4. Compare the walls with the original drawing, which stays beside the model, and correct what is off.

How the scale is set

For a DXF, the scale comes from the units stored in the file. For a vector PDF, DecorHome matches the dimension numbers to the lines they sit on, and uses the size the most numbers agree on. A printed scale such as 1:100 is used as a cross-check. If the dimensions do not agree, the model drops to Medium precision instead of pretending to be exact.

For scans, the scale comes from the plan’s dimensions or scale, or from the one length you provide. Giving a length you measured yourself is the most reliable way to calibrate a scan.

Cost and file types

Reading a CAD plan (a DXF or a vector PDF) costs 5 credits. Reading a scan or a photo of a plan costs 15 credits, because it needs AI vision. Credits are returned if nothing can be read. DWG files are not supported: save the drawing as DXF or PDF from your CAD software, or ask whoever sent it for one of those.