3D camera controls
Drag to look around, scroll to move closer, hit a compass arrow to face any wall, and toggle the ceiling for a clean top-down look.
Press View in 3D and your plan becomes a room you can move around in. Every camera control is a mouse gesture or one of the six buttons at the bottom right of the 3D view — this page walks through each one.
If you want to stand inside the plan at eye level rather than orbit around it, that's walk mode; the controls here are for the orbit view.
Step by step
- 1
Enter and leave 3D
View in 3D is the cube button in the canvas toolbar. The 3D view opens full-screen with the plan framed in the middle. The red ✕ at the top right — Close 3D view — takes you back to the 2D plan; Esc does not close the viewer, it only steps out of walk mode.
- 2
Rotate: left-drag
Hold the left mouse button and drag. Sideways swings the camera around the plan; up and down changes the angle, from a low eye-level view to almost straight overhead (the camera stops just short of the horizon, so you can't go under the floor). On a trackpad, one-finger drag.
- 3
Pan: right-drag
Hold the right mouse button and drag to slide the whole scene, so the part you care about sits in the middle of the screen. On a trackpad, two-finger drag; on a touch screen, two fingers.
- 4
Zoom: scroll
Scroll forward to move in close to a piece, scroll back to pull out to the whole floor. Pinch on a trackpad or touch screen. Zoom has sensible limits at both ends so you can't lose the plan.
- 5
Reset camera
The house button — Reset camera — puts the camera straight back to the framed view of the whole plan. Use it whenever you've orbited or zoomed into a corner you can't find your way out of.
- 6
Ceiling, shadows and quality
Three toggles change what's drawn. Ceiling (Hide ceiling / Show ceiling) removes the ceiling so you can look straight down into every room. Shadows (Hide shadows / Show shadows) switches the lighting model — turn it off on a slower machine. Quality (Switch to high quality / standard quality) adds ambient shading and a sharper render at the cost of speed. A blue button means the option is on.
Tips
Look down into rooms
Hide the ceiling, then left-drag downward to lift the camera overhead. It's the quickest way to judge a whole layout at once.
Slow machine?
Shadows off and standard quality make the biggest difference. See Browser support and performance.
Common mistakes
Pressing Esc to leave 3D
Esc only exits walk mode or the room picker. Use the red ✕ at the top right to return to the plan.
Dragging on the buttons
Start a drag on the scene itself, not on the control row at the bottom — those are buttons.
Frequently asked questions
How do I rotate the 3D view?
Hold the left mouse button and drag (one finger on a touch screen). Sideways orbits around the plan; up and down changes the angle.
How do I pan?
Hold the right mouse button and drag, or two-finger drag on a trackpad or touch screen.
How do I zoom?
Scroll the mouse wheel, or pinch on a trackpad or touch screen.
I'm lost — how do I get the whole plan back?
Press the house button at the bottom right (Reset camera).
How do I see inside the rooms from above?
Press the ceiling button to hide the ceiling, then drag downward to raise the camera overhead.
Where is the walk / first-person view?
The footprints button, next to Reset camera. See the walk mode guide.
Start designing your room
Draw it, furnish it, walk through it in 3D — on web, iOS, and Android.
Open RoomSketch3DOne-time purchase · No subscription · Web, iOS & Android