A 3D view shows a site or a piece of equipment in three dimensions, with live readings, alarm glows and status colours. 3D designs are drawn in the 3D designer, listed in 3D Designs, attached to devices and sites as views, and drawn on dashboards by 3D cards.
The 3D Designs list
Open 3D Designs in the IoT menu. The list shows Name, Last saved, Saved versions and Published model (Published or Not published), with Search by name….
| Action | Does |
|---|---|
| New design | Asks for a name and opens the designer in place of the list |
| Open / Edit | Opens the designer. The address keeps ?design=<id>, so a reload opens it again. Back to the list returns. |
| Rename | Changes the name only |
| Duplicate | Copies the design’s document only, named “ |
| Delete | Asks first. Pages that use it show it as unresolved, and cards that show its model show a loading error. |
An organisation can keep up to 200 designs. Drawing in the designer is described in The 3D designer.
Make a 3D view from a 2D drawing
You do not have to draw in 3D from scratch.
- Open the 2D view of a device or site (its Views). Save the drawing first: “the 3D view is made from the saved drawing”.
- Choose Make a 3D view of this drawing.
- Read the dialog Make a 3D view of this drawing?, for example “The 3D view is added beside the drawing on the 3 devices and sites that show it, each connected the same way.”
- Select Make the 3D view.
Hermetry lays out a 3D design from the drawing, named after it, and adds it as a new view beside the 2D one with the same connections. Symbols that have no 3D shape yet stand as labelled boxes, connected like their symbol; the view says how many, and how many of them have a shape in a library you do not hold. A connection or rule that cannot be carried over is counted (“1 connection or rule of the drawing could not be carried to the 3D view.”).
When the 2D drawing changes later, the 3D view says “The drawing changed since this 3D view was made.” Choose Update the 3D view: “The 3D view is laid out again from the drawing as it is now. Equipment you moved keeps its place. Walls, floors, storeys and pipes drawn in the designer are replaced by the new layout; items you added are kept.” The result says how many moved items kept their place.
Connect items to devices
Connect 3D items to devices the same way as 2D symbols, in the device’s or site’s Views with Edit symbols and Match everything. See Binding symbols to live data.
A design saved before items could be connected needs Make this drawing connectable once: “Its equipment is named from the labels on the drawing so each piece can be connected; nothing else changes.”
Alarms, readings and status on the view
| Feature | Behaviour |
|---|---|
| Alarms and readings on the items | “A linked item glows red (a critical or major alarm) or amber (a minor alarm, a warning) while its device has an open alarm or its own state says so, and shows its reading when names are on. A rule of the view wins over it.” |
| Names in the scene | Item names over the 3D view; a linked item shows its reading in place of its name. Rooms and zones are not named. |
| Status of places | Bind the card’s Status of the places below slot to Status under an asset: rooms and areas take the alarm colour (critical, pulsing), the warning colour or the OK colour, and nothing while the status is unknown. The status of a room is the worst status of the devices under it. Clicking a coloured room can open that room’s page on the board. |
| Storey | On a site, Storey picks which storey of the 3D view the site shows, with the ones below it, on the site’s page and every dashboard that shows the site. Every storey shows the whole building. |
The 3D cards
| Card | Draws | Main settings |
|---|---|---|
| Design, live (3D) | A stored design, live, with its items following the bound values | Picture (The 3D view chosen on the device’s page or A design of this card’s own), Design, Which view, View (3D or Plan), Ground grid, Roofs, Names in the scene, Alarms and readings on the items, Storey to draw or Storey from a dashboard parameter |
| 3D model | One or more published IFC models with sensor markers placed by coordinates | Models, sensor id, label, X, Y, Z and reading columns, marker colours (status column or ranges), legend, tooltips, start view, view cube, ground grid, Let viewers orbit, pan and zoom |
A Design, live (3D) card on a page about a device draws that device’s 3D view. A click on an item can run actions (Item click), for example open the room’s page.
Publish a model
Publish model for dashboards saves the design, exports it as an IFC model and stores it. “Save the design first: the model is made from the saved design.” Afterwards: “The model is published. Dashboards that show it load the new one.” The model line warns when the design has changed since: “The design has changed since (now version N): publish again to show the changes.” A 3D model card loads a published model by its address.
Requirements
- A browser with WebGL. Without it the card says “This browser cannot show 3D (WebGL is off or missing).” The 2D drawings and the dashboards still work.
- A 3D card takes the mouse wheel only after you click inside it (“Click the picture to zoom it with the wheel.”).
- 3D designs are not shown on display screens: “3D designs are not shown on a display screen.” Use a 2D drawing on wall screens.
- The viewer needs View 3D designs: “You do not have the permission to see 3D designs.”
Troubleshooting
| Message | Fix |
|---|---|
| “This design has nothing drawn yet.” | Open it in the designer and add items. |
| “Pick a design in the card’s settings.” | Set the card’s Design, or attach a 3D view to the page’s device. |
| “This 3D view is not linked to devices here yet.” | Connect its items on the Views. |
| “This workspace already holds as many 3D views as it can (200).” | Delete a design you no longer need. |
| “The drawing has no equipment yet. Add symbols to it and save it first.” | The 2D drawing is empty. |