Hall in 3D: the project’s hall in three dimensions

Who can see the hall in 3D

• «Hall in 3D» is still in beta and since 8 October 2026 open to every account. If you do not see the «Hall in 3D» card or button, write to support.
• The project scene is visible to everyone who can open the plan itself in the «Space» step: the project's owner, editor, commenter and viewer. There is no need to open the scene for members separately. A client who has access only to selected frames does not see «Hall in 3D».

Where to open the hall in 3D

1. In the plan editor, click «Hall in 3D» in the top bar, the filled button on the right. Unsaved plan changes are saved before you switch: the hall is built from the saved plan.
2. On a plan card in «Floor plans» click «Hall in 3D» next to «Open» («More» → «All tools» → «Floor plans»). In the project’s list of plans this button is called «View in 3D». In a project the same way goes through the «Space» step: the «Hall in 3D» card with the «Open the hall in 3D» button.
3. Or click the «Open the hall in 3D» goal in the «Create» window: it opens the hall of the project you choose. If the project has several plans, the hall opens the most recently changed one, and you can pick another in the «Hall view» window.

• The full «Hall in 3D» with views, finishes, photos and the video tour lives in a project. A plan without a project opens in 3D as a quick view right in the editor: the «Hall in 3D» button works there, and its card in «Floor plans» has both «Hall in 3D» and «Add to a project». A copy of the plan goes into the project, and the copy has the full «Hall in 3D».
• If the project has no plan yet, the «Hall in 3D» window with three ways in opens over the empty hall (the «Hall in 3D: three ways in» section); the owner and editors see it. If you close the window, the page keeps the words «This project has no 3D scene yet» and the «Create floor plan» button; other members wait until a plan appears.
• The buttons and the card are visible to everyone who has «Hall in 3D», which is every account now. A client who has access only to selected frames does not see them.

Hall in 3D: three ways in

«Hall in 3D» is built from the project’s floor plan, not from a single photo. So when the project has no plan yet, the «Hall in 3D» window opens over the empty hall and asks what you have: «A single photo is not enough to build a 3D hall. Choose what you have and the hall assembles itself.»

1. «Set the sizes» (marked «Fastest»): the length and width of the hall, the doors and a ready table layout, free and at once. The plan editor opens on the «Hall sizes» window, and you can move the tables afterwards.
2. «Upload a drawing»: a venue plan as PNG, JPG, WebP or PDF up to 20 MB, free. The plan editor opens on the «Underlay» window, where the drawing is fitted to a wall (the floor plan article, section «Underlay, measuring and guides»).
3. «Film the venue on a phone»: a video of 2 or 3 minutes, from which AURA builds a 3D scan of the real venue and a draft plan with its sizes. It costs money: the price and the wait («30 to 90 minutes») are on the card. The «Film the venue» button opens «Hall in 3D» on the «Real venue» window (the «Real venue from a 3D scan» and «Plan from a 3D scan» sections).

• The window opens inside a project, and at its bottom it says «The hall in 3D lives in the project “…”.» Nothing is created until you choose a way in.
• «Set the sizes» or «Upload a drawing» takes the project’s latest plan, and if there is no plan yet, it creates a «Banquet, round tables» plan in the project for the number of guests from the passport (60 without a passport) and opens it in the editor. «Film the venue» also takes the project’s latest plan, and if there is none, it creates an empty plan «Hall from a 3D scan (draft)»: the scan will set its sizes.
• The window opens by itself only when there is no plan and you can edit the project. A viewer or commenter is left with the page that says «This project has no 3D scene yet».

How to use it

1. Open the scene in one of the ways from the «Where to open the hall in 3D» section. The hall fills the whole screen on a dark background and builds itself: the floor and walls to the plan's dimensions, openings where the plan has doors and windows, objects in the same places and with the same rotation.
2. A top bar floats above the hall: the «Back to the project's space» arrow, the project name and «Hall in 3D · plan «…»», and the «Open floor plan», «Download for SketchUp» and «Snapshot» buttons.
3. On the left is a narrow toolbar with the «Hall view», «Finishing», «Views», «Fly-through», «Video tour», «Photo», «Real venue» and «Pins» icons. Each opens a small window next to it. In the «Hall view» window: «How to look» («From above» rotates the hall with the mouse or a finger, «Walk» puts you in the hall at an eye height of 1.6 m), «Light» («Day» or «Evening» with warm lamps under the ceiling), «Picture quality» («Normal» or «High»), «See-through walls» («Auto» or «Off»), the «Names in the hall» block (the «Furniture names», «Labels» and «Seating» checkboxes and the «Find a guest» search, section «Labels and seating in the hall»), the «1 m grid on the floor» checkbox and, if items are shown simplified, the reasons for it.
4. In «From above» mode the controls work as in SketchUp. Drag the scene with the left mouse button to rotate the hall. With the right or middle button, or while holding Shift, the hall pans. The wheel, after you click on the scene, zooms towards the point under the cursor. On a touchpad two fingers pan the hall, a pinch zooms, and two fingers with Shift rotate it. On a phone or tablet one finger rotates, and two fingers pan and zoom towards the point between them. A double click or a double tap on an item aims the camera at it; on the floor it makes that point the centre of rotation, and in «Walk» it takes you there. The hall moves only while the mouse button or a finger is pressed: if you release the button outside the scene or switch to another window, the hall stops and the cursor turns back into a hand.
5. In «Walk», move with the W, A, S, D keys or the arrows and look around with the mouse. On a phone, walk and turn with the arrow buttons in the corner of the scene. In «Walk», the hall has a simple ceiling at wall height; the downloaded file has no ceiling. In the top right corner the mini-plan shows where you stand and takes you to the place you click (the «Mini-plan on a walk» section). In a building with several floors a «Go up to floor 2» button appears near the stairs, and the «Space» key presses it (the «Climbing the stairs on a walk» section).
6. At the bottom is a row of buttons: «?» opens the «How to move» window with tips for the current mode (on a walk through a building with floors it has lines about the stairs and «Space»), «Reset view» returns the camera, «Venue scan» (when the plan has a ready 3D scan) switches between the real venue and the drawn one, «Full screen» (the F key; exit with the same button or Esc), the book icon «How to use this section» opens this article, and «Aura Guide» answers questions.
7. Toolbar windows do not open by themselves and do not cover the hall: one window is open at a time. While you rotate, slide and zoom the hall, the window stays in place, so you can frame the camera and press the button you need in it right away. A window closes after use, with a click outside the hall and the window, the cross button or the Esc key. On a phone, the toolbar sits at the bottom, the window opens from below and closes with a tap on the hall.
8. To hand the hall over to a designer, click «Download for SketchUp» and choose «Download GLB» (SketchUp 2023 and later, Blender) or «Download OBJ» (any version of SketchUp Pro). The file has walls with openings, furniture and decor at real size, with the same floor and wall materials and colours chosen in the scene, and a light baseboard along the walls.

Mini-plan on a walk

1. Switch to «Walk» (the «Hall view» window, «How to look») or choose the «From the entrance» view. A mini-plan appears in the top right corner: the hall from above, as on the plan, with its tables, chairs, stage, decor and adjoining areas.
2. The dot on the mini-plan shows where you stand, and the light sector from it shows what is on the screen now. They move with you at every step and turn.
3. Click or tap a place on the mini-plan and you move there smoothly, looking the same way, at an eye height of 1.6 m. If you drag across the mini-plan with the mouse button or a finger held down, the dot follows.
4. In a building with several floors the title of the mini-plan reads «Mini-plan · Floor 2»: so you can see which floor you stand on. The mini-plan no longer has floor tabs of its own: you go to another floor with the floor switch above the scene, which takes you at once to the stair landing of that floor, without climbing.
5. The stairs on the mini-plan have captions: «↑ 2» stands at the top end of the stairs to the second floor, and «↓ 1» at their opening on the second floor. Click the stairs on the mini-plan or their button under it («↑ 2»): you stand by the stairs facing the way up, and the «Go up to floor 2» button appears at once.
6. To keep the mini-plan out of the way, click «Collapse mini-plan» to the right of its title. It becomes a small map button, and that button opens it again.

• A click behind a wall or in an adjoining area does not take you out of the hall: you stop inside, 30 cm from the wall.
• On a phone the mini-plan starts collapsed into a button in the top right corner, so it does not cover the walk buttons at the bottom. Whether it is open or collapsed is remembered on this device.
• The mini-plan lies over the scene and never gets into snapshots, view previews, the fly-through video or downloaded files. You cannot change the layout on it: that is done in the floor plan editor.
• The walk looks through a 50° lens, like a photo of the hall, so nearby furniture is not stretched at the edges of the frame. Until 10.10.2026 the angle was 68°. Views saved earlier keep their own angle.
• The live scene of a client link has no mini-plan.
• When there are no stairs between neighbouring floors, the line «There are no stairs between the floors. The floor switch above the scene takes you there at once.» stands under the title of the mini-plan, and the «Floor» block of the «Hall view» window offers «Add stairs» (the «Climbing the stairs on a walk» section).

Labels and seating in the hall

Three kinds of names hang over the hall, each with its own checkbox in the «Names in the hall» block of the «Hall view» window. The choice is remembered on this device.

1. «Furniture names»: «Tables» (the default) shows the names of the tables and the stage, «All» also those of decor, catalogue chairs and doors, «No» hides them. The names stand on small see-through plaques, long ones are cut short (shown in full on hover), a nearer name hides a farther one, and they never overlap. Columns and aisles have no names, and with more than 60 objects those nearest the middle of the hall are named.
2. «Labels»: the texts you wrote on the plan with the «Caption» tool («Guest entrance», «Photo zone»). They hang 1.8 m above their point, in italics and without a plate. The checkbox appears if the plan has labels; they are shown by default.
3. «Seating»: each guest's name over the back of the chair, as on the plan (a long name is cut to 28 characters). So that a hall of 300 guests does not turn into a cloud of names, the names are seen only up close, within 8 m of the camera, and are off by default. The checkbox appears if guests are written on the plan (the guest seating article).
4. «Find a guest»: start typing a first name or a surname, for example «ivan», and pick the guest in the list («Ivanova Anna · Table 3») with the mouse or with the arrows and Enter. The camera flies to the guest's chair: in «From above» it stands behind the back 2.5 m away and looks down at 35°, and on a «Walk» you stand 1.2 m behind the chair facing it. «Seating» turns on by itself, and the guest's name lights up for 4 seconds. If the guest is on another floor, the scene shows that floor first.

• Labels and names are only on the screen: they do not go into snapshots, the fly-through, the video tour or the downloaded GLB and OBJ.
• Guests' names are seen by those who can open the plan: the project's owner, editors, commenters and viewers. A client with the «Walk through the hall» link sees the plan's labels, but no guests' names, neither over the chairs nor in the search.

See-through walls

1. Open the «Hall view» window with its icon on the left and find the «See-through walls» switch.
2. «Auto» is on from the start. When you look at the hall from outside in «From above» mode, the wall between you and the middle of the hall turns semi-transparent: you see the tables and decor by that wall through it, and the wall's outline stays. Rotate the hall and another wall turns semi-transparent.
3. «Off» keeps all walls solid, as in a real hall. This is handy for looking at the whole hall from outside.
4. If the building has several floors and «All floors» is chosen in the floor switch above the scene or in the «Floor» block of the «Hall view» window (in the former look of the block it is «All»), the walls of the lower floors turn transparent at once and stay that way from every side: the building looks like a glass model, and the tables and furniture inside the lower floors are in sight. The walls of the top floor work as usual: the wall between you and the hall turns transparent. «Off» keeps the lower floors solid too.

• In «Walk» the walls are always solid and the switch does not affect them. Below it the window then says «In walk mode the walls are always solid.»
• In the ready-made «Whole hall» view the walls are cut at 1.2 m and do not turn semi-transparent: they do not hide the hall. In a building with «All floors» chosen, the ready view «Whole floor» cuts only the walls of the top floor, and the lower floors stay transparent.
• Snapshots, view previews and the fly-through video show the walls as the screen does. In the file downloaded for SketchUp the walls are always whole and solid.
• The choice is remembered on this device and in this browser; it is not passed on to other project members.

Light, shadows and picture quality

The scene is lit softly, like a hall in daylight: furniture and decor cast shadows on the floor and the walls, the corners of the hall and the space under tables are a little darker, and tables and chairs have a light shadow on the floor, so they stand on it rather than float above it. Colours are slightly warm and contrasty, like a photo. In the evening warm lamps under the ceiling light the hall, and on a walk they light the ceiling too.

1. Open the «Hall view» window with the icon on the left and find the «Picture quality» switch.
2. «High»: soft shadows from the furniture and shading in the corners and under furniture. It is on by default on a computer.
3. «Normal»: simpler shadows, no shading in the corners and a slightly less sharp picture, but the scene opens faster and moves more smoothly. It is on by default on a phone, a tablet and a weak computer.
4. The one-metre grid on the floor is now hidden. To judge distances, tick «1 m grid on the floor» in the same window.

• Snapshots, view previews, the fly-through video and the walk look the way «Picture quality» is set.
• The quality and grid choice is remembered on this device and in this browser; other project members do not get it. A client opening the presentation link sees the hall in the quality that suits their device.
• If you have not chosen a quality and the scene moves in jerks on «High», AURA switches it to «Normal» by itself after a couple of seconds of movement, and the switch shows it. You can choose «High» again, and AURA no longer changes your choice. The scene behaves the same way for a client opening the presentation link. If the scene still moves in jerks, choose «Normal». Shadows, shading and the grid are not part of the file downloaded for SketchUp.
• The pattern on 3D models (upholstery, wood) stays sharp both from afar and at an angle.

Views

• The «Views» icon opens the views window: saved views with small previews and key numbers, the «Remember this view» button and ready-made views. A view remembers where the camera is, where it looks and how wide it sees. Rotate the hall or stand where you need in «Walk» and click «Remember this view». A name field opens right away with «View 1» (or the next free number) selected. Type your own name, for example «Guest entrance», or press Enter to keep the number. You can rename a view later with the pencil button. When you choose a view, the window closes and the whole hall is visible. The «Views» window stays open while you rotate and zoom the hall, and in «From above» the camera comes as close as 0.6 m to the point it turns around, so you can also save a close-up of your own, for example the setting of one table.
• A view's preview is taken from its camera and is updated when the light, the wall and floor colours or the drawing on the floor change. The camera on the screen does not move when this happens.
• Clicking a view moves the camera to it smoothly, and the «From above» or «Walk» mode switches by itself. If reduced motion is turned on in the system settings, the camera jumps right away, without the flight. Any movement with the mouse, the wheel, a finger or the keys stops the flight where it was heading.
• The 1–9 keys switch between the first nine saved views when the cursor is not in an input field; they also work in the snapshot window once a size is chosen. Change the order with the «Up» and «Down» arrows in the view's row: after a step, the focus stays on the arrow, so you can keep moving the view with the keyboard.
• Every scene has ready-made views without saving anything. «From above» shows the whole hall as on the plan. «Whole hall» shows it from a corner with the walls and columns cut at 1.2 m (section «Whole hall with the walls cut»). «From the entrance» puts the camera at the plan's first door at eye height, or, if the plan has no door, at the middle of the nearest wall. «From the stage» appears when the plan has a stage: the camera stands on it at eye height. After the first step in «Walk», you are back on the hall floor. In a building of several floors the ready views are worked out for the chosen floor (section «Floors in 3D»).
• Views are stored with the floor plan and are visible to everyone who sees the scene. The project's owner and editors save, rename, reorder and delete them; a commenter and a viewer can go to views and take snapshots of them, but not change them. Each plan has its own views, up to 30 per scene.
• A view keeps the exact camera position. On a narrow phone screen, the edges of a frame saved on a wide monitor may be cut off. If the plan has been made smaller since then, a view from «Walk» puts the camera inside the hall, by the nearest wall.
• On a phone, there are no tips about the 1–9 keys, and in «Walk» the «Views» window does not cover the step and turn buttons.

Whole hall with the walls cut

1. Open «Views» and click «Whole hall» among the ready-made views.
2. The camera flies smoothly to the corner of the hall nearest to the entrance and looks down at the hall at an angle, like at a dollhouse. The walls, the columns and the door frames go down to 1.2 m with a light cut on top, so the whole layout is in sight, and the door openings stay where they are. The whole hall fits in the frame on any screen.
3. Rotate and zoom the hall as usual: the walls stay cut.
4. To bring the walls back to full height, click «Restore walls» at the bottom of the screen, choose another view, switch to «Walk» or click «Reset view».

• Around the hall there is light ground with a soft shadow of the low walls, with no lawn and no horizon.
• If you click «Remember this view» here, the view keeps the cut walls too. Its preview, «View snapshots to the presentation», «View snapshots to the board» and the fly-through video then show the hall with the walls cut, and in the fly-through the walls go down and up smoothly. A snapshot taken with «Snapshot» in this view also has the walls cut.
• You can place a team pin here too: a click on the cut top of a wall puts the pin on it, a click beside it goes through to the floor.
• See-through walls do not turn on in this view: the low walls do not hide the hall. In «Walk» and in the usual «From above» view the walls are whole, as before. In the file downloaded for SketchUp the walls are always full height.
• A client with the presentation link also sees the ready-made «Whole hall» view.

Floors in 3D

When the floor plan has several floors (the floor plan article, section «Floors»), the scene stacks them. A 250 mm slab lies between the floors, with openings and guard rails over the stairs, and the ceiling of a lower floor is the underside of the slab.

1. At the top left above the scene stands the floor switch: «Floor 1», «Floor 2» and so on, and «All floors» last. It is the same one around the hall and on a walk. Pick a floor and the scene shows it, with the floors above hidden. «All floors» shows the whole building. The «?» next to the switch explains it in short.
2. The same choice in detail is in the «Hall view» window: under «How to look» stands a «Floor» block with a list of rows: «All floors», and under it the floors from the top one down, for example «Floor 3», «Floor 2», «Floor 1». The floor names are read in full, and each row shows the number of its objects on the right.
3. Pick a row. With a floor chosen, the floors above it are hidden, and the ready view «Whole floor» shows it from a corner with the walls cut 1.2 m above its floor. «All floors» shows all floors together, nothing cut, and the walls of the lower floors turn transparent so you can see what is inside (the «See-through walls» section). Under the list a line says what is in view now, for example «Floors shown: 2 of 3. Everything above the chosen one is hidden.» or «The whole building is shown: 3 floors.»; when «See-through walls» is off, it reminds you that the building is closed by its walls and advises «See-through walls: Auto» or one floor.
4. In «Views» the ready views are worked out for the chosen floor: «From above», «Whole floor», «From the entrance» (at the first door of that floor), «From the stairs» (from the top landing of the stairs that arrive on the floor), «From the stage» (when the floor has a stage) and «Whole building» from outside, nothing cut and with the lower floors' walls transparent: the floor switch then stands on «All floors».
5. To climb the stairs, walk up to them in «Walk»: a «Go up to floor 2» button appears nearby (the «Climbing the stairs on a walk» section). You can also simply walk forward onto the stairs: the camera rises with the steps, at the top you are on the next floor, and the «Floor» block moves to it. Going down works the same way. The handrails do not let you step off the stairs sideways. You can step onto the stairs only at the bottom step or from the landing of the upper floor: from the side, or from the high end on the lower floor, the stairs do not let you in, just like the guard rail of the opening at the top.
6. In «Walk» the switch above the scene and the rows of the «Floor» block show which floor you stand on, and another floor takes you to the landing of its stairs at once, without climbing. «All floors» is not needed on a walk: every floor is in view there. The mini-plan of a walk no longer has floor tabs of its own: it shows the floor you stand on (the «Mini-plan on a walk» section).
7. «View in 3D» in the plan editor opens the scene on the floor that is open in the plan, and «Open floor plan» in the scene opens the plan on the floor shown in 3D. If the plan no longer has that floor, the first one opens.

• Each floor's ceiling height is set in the plan editor. For a building, the «Ceiling» tab of «Finishing» shows the floors' heights and the «Change in the floor plan» link instead of the «Ceiling height, m» field.
• The plan's windows in the scene: an opening in the wall with glass, while the wall below the sill and above the window stays. The baseboard runs on under a window.
• A view remembers its floor: views, their snapshots and photos from 3D open on their own floor. In a fly-through the camera cuts straight between views on different floors instead of flying through the slab.
• «Download for SketchUp» keeps every floor, hidden ones too, each as a group named after the floor. The windows' glass is semi-transparent in the file, and the walls of every floor are whole and solid: the transparent walls of the lower floors are on the screen only.
• The client opening the presentation link switches floors and climbs the stairs on a walk as well.
• A real venue from a 3D scan is placed only on the first floor of a building for now: it replaces the walls, floor and ceiling of the first floor, and the floors above stay drawn.
• When there are no stairs between neighbouring floors, the «Floor» block says «There are no stairs between the floors» and offers «Add stairs»: the button opens the plan, where the stairs are placed for you and you only check them. A viewer is advised to ask the project owner, and an account without the beta access «Floors, stairs and windows» is told that stairs are added by those who have it.
• On a walk the badge with the name of the floor you came to by the stairs appears under the floor switch and does not cover it.

Climbing the stairs on a walk

In a building with several floors you can go up and down the stairs in «Walk»: a button appears near the stairs. AURA places the stairs between floors by itself when you add a floor in the floor plan (the floor plan article, section «Floors»).

1. Switch to «Walk» (the «Hall view» window, «How to look») and walk up to the stairs, closer than 2.5 m to their bottom step. A «Go up to floor 2» button appears at the bottom centre (on a phone at the left, above the step buttons). At the top edge of stairs that arrive on your floor, closer than 1.5 m, «Go down to floor 1» appears. There is no button on the stairs themselves.
2. Press the button or the «Space» key (on a computer; the button says «Space»). The climb goes by itself: first you walk up to the stairs and turn along them, then you go up. While it goes on, the button says «Going up…» (going down: «Going down…»). Any step key or a press on the step buttons stops the climb: you stay where you were and walk on yourself. If reduced motion is on in the system settings, you are at the top at once.
3. At the top you stand on the landing facing forward: the name of the floor appears at the top for 2.5 seconds, the screen reads «You are on floor 2», and the «Floor» block moves to that floor.
4. On the first walk through a building with floors and stairs, a hint appears at the bottom for 10 seconds: to go up, walk up to the stairs and a button appears; the stairs themselves are marked on the mini-plan with an arrow. Its cross or the first key you press closes the hint earlier, and it is not shown again on this device.
5. The stairs on the mini-plan have captions: «↑ 2» stands at the top end of the stairs to the second floor, and «↓ 1» at their opening on the second floor. Click the stairs on the mini-plan or their button under it («↑ 2»): you stand by the stairs facing the way up, and the climb button appears at once. The floor switch above the scene («Floor 2») takes you to that floor at once, without climbing.
6. When there are no stairs between the floors, you cannot climb: the floor switch above the scene and the «Floor» block only take you there. In that case the «Floor» block and the mini-plan say «There are no stairs between the floors» and offer «Add stairs»: the button opens the plan, where the stairs are placed for you.

• Keep the top and the bottom of the stairs no closer than 0.9 m to the walls: then it is easy to step onto them and off them. Automatic stairs are placed that way, and «Checks» of the plan will show stairs you put too close to a wall.
• The button and «Space» work on a walk on a computer; on a phone there is only the button, at the left above the step buttons.
• A click on the stairs themselves in «Hall in 3D» does nothing yet: the button and the mini-plan lead to the stairs.

PNG snapshots

• The main button of the top bar, «Snapshot», opens a small snapshot window. Choose a size: «As on screen», 1920 × 1080 or 3840 × 2160, and click «Download PNG». The snapshot shows only the hall: no labels, buttons or panels. The file is named after the project and the view, for example «Anna's wedding · View 1.png»; if the camera was moved after the view was chosen, «View» stands in place of the view's name.
• At 1920 × 1080 or 3840 × 2160, the camera stays where it is on the screen, but the frame is wider or narrower so that it fills the picture without bars.
• The 3840 × 2160 size is available on a computer. If the graphics card cannot handle it, AURA asks you to choose a smaller size.
• «Snapshots of all views (ZIP)» downloads one archive with a picture of every saved view; the files are numbered in the order of the list. After the archive, the camera returns to where it was. An archive is not built at 3840 × 2160: it is too heavy for the browser.
• The project's owner and editors can click «Save to project documents»: the snapshot goes to the project's «Documents» tab, in the «General documents» section. The «Open documents» link leads straight there.
• If you have access to presentations and the right to change the project, the bottom of the «Views» window has the «View snapshots to the presentation» button. It takes each saved view at 1920 × 1080 and, in one action, puts the pictures into the project presentation's materials under the names «3D · view name»; the camera on the screen does not move. The snapshots are sent in small batches: if the connection drops halfway, the panel says how many snapshots have already been added, and clicking again does not duplicate them. In the presentation editor, all that is left is to drag them onto a slide; the «Open the presentation» link leads there. While there are no views, the button is inactive: save a view first.

View snapshots to the board

1. Save the views you need in the «Views» window: each saved view becomes one picture.
2. At the bottom of the «Views» window, click «View snapshots to the board». Each view is taken at 1920 × 1080; the camera on the screen does not move.
3. The snapshots are placed on the project's idea board in a new «3D views» frame: as a grid, to the right of everything already on the board, so they do not cover anything. Under each picture is a caption with the view's name. The «Open board» link under the button leads there.

• The button is available to the project's owner and editors. While there are no views, it is inactive, and under it you see «Save at least one view first».
• The project board works on its owner's plan for all members. If the board is not included in the owner's plan, the button is visible but inactive, and under it you see why and what to do instead: send the snapshots to the presentation or download them as an archive in the «Snapshot» window. Once the owner enables the board, the button becomes active.
• If the board is open to you only for viewing, the snapshots are not added: the window shows that the project's owner and editors add them.
• First all the views are taken, then the «3D views» frame appears on the board and each snapshot goes straight into it, while the line under the button shows «Adding picture N of M to the board». If the connection drops halfway, the window says how many snapshots are already on the board, and no uploaded pictures are left outside the frame. If not a single snapshot was placed, the empty frame is removed by itself. Each click creates a new «3D views» frame; you can delete the old one on the board.
• To send snapshots to the presentation materials, use the neighbouring «View snapshots to the presentation» button (the «PNG snapshots» section).

Take a photo from 3D

1. Set the camera the way the frame should look: rotate the hall in «From above» mode, stand where you need in «Walk» or pick a saved view.
2. Click the «Photo» icon on the toolbar on the left. The «Take a photo» window opens.
3. In the «What to add or change» field, write a short wish, for example «warm evening light, fresh flowers on the tables». You can leave the field empty: then AURA only makes the hall photorealistic and adds nothing.
4. The price is shown under the field. Click «Take a photo». AURA takes the current view without labels, pins, the metre grid, route arrows or the drawing on the floor and prepares the photo, usually within a minute. The photo keeps the scene's time of day: with the «Evening» light you get an evening photo. The words «night», «evening» or «night lighting» in the wish make the photo a night one even with the day light: a dark sky in the windows, fixtures and candles lit. You can close the window: the photo keeps being made and appears when you open the window again.
5. The finished photo appears in the window. Clicking it opens the photo full size. «To the presentation» puts the photo into the project presentation's materials, «To the board» puts it on the project's idea board in a new «Photo from 3D» frame, and «Download» saves a JPEG file.

• The camera, the hall and every object of the plan stay in place, in the same number and the same sizes. The materials, light and shadows change. AI draws the plain boxes standing in for products without a 3D model as real objects of the same size.
• Tables on the photo keep the plan's shape without extra bulges, and chairs stand facing their own table: AURA passes how many tables are in the frame and how many chairs each has. Materials look natural without a plastic sheen, and the flowers on the tables follow contemporary floristry.
• AI does not add new furniture. The wish can change the light and the mood, the materials and colours of the floor, the walls and the textiles (tablecloths, chair covers, drapes) and add small decor on or next to the plan's objects, for example flowers on the tables. Without a wish the objects' colours and the hall's materials stay as they are in the scene. Windows show only a plausible outdoor view. There are no captions, grid, frames or highlights in the photo.
• If catalogue products or 3D models you have access to stand in the frame, AURA sends up to four of their photos as samples so that the objects in the photo look like the real ones. Products outside the frame are not sent.
• The owner and editors of the project make photos; an editor needs no separate generation allowance. A commenter and a viewer see the finished photos in the window's ribbon but do not make new ones.
• The project owner pays from their wallet, as for any operation in the project. The default price is 5 pendants per photo; the exact price is shown under the field before the start and in the «Operation prices» table. If the photo does not work out, the pendants come back by themselves. Pressing again after a lost connection with the same wish and view does not charge a second time; if you changed the wish or the camera, it is a new photo.
• While a teammate is making their photo, the window shows its progress, and you can make your own right away.
• One person makes up to 20 photos a day across all projects; failed photos do not count. When few photos are left for today, the window says how many more you can make.
• The ribbon at the bottom of the window shows the project's latest photos: clicking a photo opens it in the window, and from there you can send it to the presentation or the board again.
• «Take a photo» is not a visualization: a visualization from a venue photo is created in the «Create visualization» wizard, while here the photo is made in «Hall in 3D» from the floor plan. The free «PNG snapshot» saves the scene's view as it is, without photorealism.
• If the photo is temporarily unavailable through our fault, for example the service has run out of its paid balance, the «Take a photo» button is inactive and the window says why. Nothing is charged, and the photo opens again by itself in a few minutes. If the failure happened after the start, the pendants return to the wallet.

Fly-through video

1. Click the «Fly-through» icon in the toolbar on the left.
2. The window tells you how the camera will fly: through the saved views in order («The camera flies through the saved views in order»), or, if there are fewer than two views, around the hall in a circle. Change the order of views with the arrows in the «Views» window.
3. Click «Record fly-through». Recording runs in real time; the bar and the «Recording the fly-through: N%» line show how much is done. Do not close or minimise the tab: the window reminds you with the line «Do not minimise the tab while recording».
4. The finished video downloads by itself; the file is named «Fly-through · project name». To stop the recording, click «Cancel recording» or press Esc: the file is not downloaded.

• The video lasts 10 to 20 seconds: 12 seconds around the hall, or about 4 seconds per transition through the views. The size is up to 1920 × 1080, in the shape of the scene window.
• The format depends on the browser: WebM in Chrome, Edge and Firefox, MP4 in Safari. In a browser that cannot record video, there is no «Fly-through» icon. If the graphics card cannot cope, make the window smaller and try again.
• While recording, the 1–9 keys do not switch views, and the «Fly-through» window does not close when you click the hall.
• If the tab was minimised anyway or you switched to another one, the recording pauses: the browser does not draw frames in a background tab. When you come back, recording continues from the same point, so the video has no frozen frames or jumps; the recording just takes longer. The «Fly-through» window tells you there was a pause.
• «Fly-through» is free: your browser records the video, it shows the same drawn scene as the screen, and the file downloads right away. A photorealistic video of a walk with a link for the client is made by «Video tour» (the «Video tour» section), and one photorealistic frame by «Take a photo».

Video tour

1. In the «Views» window, save the views the camera should pass through and put them in order with the arrows. With fewer than two views, the camera slowly goes around the hall in a circle.
2. Click the «Video tour» icon on the toolbar on the left. The window tells you how the camera will go: through the saved views in order or around the hall.
3. Choose the length: 10 s, 20 s or 30 s. 20 s is chosen from the start.
4. In the «What to add or change» field you may write a short wish, for example «warm evening light, fresh flowers on the tables». The light comes from the scene: «Day» or «Evening». The furniture does not move and no new furniture appears.
5. Under the field you see the price per 5 seconds and the «Total for N s» line with the sum for the chosen length. If the project owner's wallet does not have enough, the window says how much more is needed and offers a «Top up» link, and the «Create video tour» button is inactive.
6. Click «Create video tour». First your browser prepares the frames of the walk («Preparing frames N%»); do not close the tab while they are being prepared. «Cancel» stops the preparation, and nothing is charged. Then the walk is uploaded to the server («Uploading N%»). While the frames are prepared and uploaded, the other tools of the left panel wait. If the scene shows the «Real venue» and its scan is still loading, the «Create video tour» button stays inactive until it appears, so the walk does not change halls halfway.
7. After that the tour is made on the server, and the bar shows how much is done: «Queued», «Photos of the key frames», «Bringing the video to life», «Joining the film». The video is made in 5-second pieces one after another, so the wait is usually about 6 minutes for 10 seconds, 12 for 20 and 18 for 30, and the bar moves on with every finished piece. You can close the window and even leave the page: the tour keeps being made and appears in the list.
8. The finished tour appears in the list with its first frame. «Watch the video tour» loads the video and starts the player. «Download» saves an MP4 file, «Client link» makes a link where the client watches the tour, and «To the board» puts the video on the project's idea board in a new «Video tour» frame.

• The camera, the hall and every object of the plan stay in place. The tour is filmed without labels, pins, the metre grid, route arrows or the drawing on the floor, and AI makes the frames photorealistic: the wish can change the light, the mood, the floor and wall materials, textiles and small decor on the plan's objects, as in «Take a photo». The video is 1280 × 720, 24 frames per second, without sound.
• «Client link» opens the tour on a page of its own, without signing in to AURA: the video large, the project name, a «Made in AURA» badge and a «Make a tour like this» button. The link is copied by itself if the browser allows it, and it is shown in a field under the tour. Pressing again gives the same link. «Disable link» closes it: neither the page nor the video itself opens at the old address. The link also closes when the project is moved to the trash. Search engines do not show this page.
• The «To the board» button is shown if the video is no larger than 25 MB. If the board is not part of the project owner's plan, the button is inactive. If the board is open to you for viewing only, videos are added to it by the project's owner and editors.
• Video tours are made by the project's owner and editors; they also make and disable the client link. A commenter and a viewer see the finished tours in the list and can download them.
• The project owner pays from their wallet. The default price is 15 pendants for every 5 seconds (since 13.10, it used to be 8): a 10 s tour costs 30 pendants, 20 s 60, 30 s 90. Tours started before 13.10 are not recalculated. The exact price is shown before the start and in the «Operation prices» table. If the tour does not work out, the money comes back to the wallet by itself, and the list says what happened. If no answer came after the upload, click «Create video tour» again: the same tour with the same wish, length and views is not paid for twice.
• One person makes up to 6 video tours a day across all projects; failed tours do not count. One of your tours is made at a time, and you can start the next one when it is ready. A teammate's tour does not hold you back, and the list shows how it is going.
• The list holds the project's last 12 tours with their length, the time they were made and the file size.
• If the browser cannot prepare video, the window asks you to open the scene in a recent Chrome, Edge or Safari. If the graphics card could not cope with the frames, make the window smaller and try again.
• A video tour is not a «Fly-through»: the free «Fly-through» records a video of the same drawn scene in the browser and downloads the file at once, while a video tour is paid, photorealistic, made on the server and gives a link for the client. If the scene shows the «Real venue», the tour films it and keeps the venue's scan as it is, while the plan's furniture and decor become photorealistic.
• In the AURA phone app the video tour opens with the «Video tour» button at the bottom of «Hall in 3D», next to «Photo». The phone prepares the frames of the walk: keep the app open while «Preparing frames» runs. If you minimize the app, the preparation stops and nothing is charged. After «Uploading» you can close the app: the tour is finished on the server. You watch the finished tour right in the window with «Watch the video tour». «Share» hands the MP4 file to the phone's share menu, where you can save it to photos or files, and «Share link» sends the client's link.
• If the video tour is temporarily unavailable through our fault, for example the video service has run out of its paid balance, the «Create video tour» button is inactive and the window says «The service is temporarily unavailable through our fault. Nothing was charged, please try again later.». No frames are prepared and nothing is charged; the tour opens again by itself a few minutes after the service is back. If the failure happened after the start, the pendants return to the wallet and the tour says «The video service is temporarily unavailable through our fault».

Real venue from a 3D scan

«Real venue» puts a 3D scan of the actual venue into the scene in place of the drawn walls and floor, and the plan's furniture and decor stand inside it. The scan is built from a video you film on a phone or uploaded as a ready file. Each plan of the project has its own scan.

1. Click the «Real venue» icon on the toolbar on the left. If there is no scan yet, choose «Film the venue on a phone» or «Upload a ready scan».
2. «Film the venue on a phone» shows how to film: turn on all the lights and do not change them while filming, close doors and windows to the bright outside or film with your back to them, clear the hall of people, film with the main 1× camera and lock the exposure with a long press on the screen. Start filming already on the move and walk slowly along the walls facing into the hall, then make a second round through the middle or at another height. Along the way tilt the phone slightly up and down so the frame catches where the walls meet the floor and the ceiling, and on every round keep something distinctive in the frame: the stage, the bar, columns, doors. Finish on the move too, a few metres past the starting point. 2–3 minutes are enough for a hall of up to 600 m²; do not spin on the spot and keep away from mirrors.
3. Click «Choose a video»: on a phone you can take a video from the gallery or film one right away. An MP4 or MOV of up to 1000 MB and no longer than 5 minutes will do. The price is shown under the button. Click «Build the 3D scan».
4. The video is uploaded in parts, and the bar shows how much is uploaded. Do not close the page or the window until the upload ends: while the file is uploading, the window does not close on a click in the hall, on Esc, on a pin or on another tool, and it says why. While the scan is being aligned with the plan, the other tools and the pins also wait for «Save» or «Cancel». If the upload stopped, click «Retry» or pick the same file with «Choose the same file»: the upload goes on from the same point.
5. Then AURA builds the scan: «Queued», «Reconstructing the venue», «Preparing for display». It usually takes 30–90 minutes, and you can close the page. While the video is being uploaded or waits in the queue, «Cancel» cancels the scan and the money comes back.
6. The finished scan appears in the scene. While it loads, the drawn venue stays in place and the «Venue scan» button in the bottom row shows how much has loaded. When the scan takes the place of the drawn venue, a message at the bottom says so. The «Venue scan» button and the «Show the real venue» checkbox in the window switch between the real venue and the drawn one, and the choice is remembered on this device. The window says how many points the scan has and how many megabytes it takes.
7. AURA places the scan on the plan by itself: it finds the scan's floor, ceiling and walls, turns it along the walls and fits its size to the hall on the plan. If the walls do not match, click «Align with the plan»: the camera goes to the «Whole hall» view, and the plan's walls light up as an outline over the scan. On a phone the hall is framed above the settings window so that all of it is in sight.
8. Move the scan so that its walls lie on the outline: «Rotate 90°», the «Rotation, °» (from −180 to 180) and «Zoom, %» (from 50 to 200) sliders, and the «Shift X, cm», «Shift Y, cm» and «Floor height, cm» fields (up to 2 m up or down). If the scan's floor lies on a slope, level it with the «Tilt» sliders: «Along the venue's length, °» and «Across the venue's width, °», up to 5° either way in steps of 0.1°. «As it was» brings back the way AURA placed the scan.
9. Or click «By two corners»: in the scan, click a corner of the hall or the middle of a table, the stage or a column (AURA takes the point of the scan you clicked), then choose what it is on the plan: a corner («Top left», «Top right», «Bottom right» or «Bottom left») or an object in the «Or an object of the plan» list. Mark a second point the same way. AURA turns, moves and fits the scan by itself and keeps the tilt. Take two points far from each other: tables and the stage show better in a scan than corners.
10. Click «Save»: every project member sees the alignment. «Cancel» leaves without saving.

• «Upload a ready scan» takes a .ply (3DGS), .splat or .spz file from Polycam, Luma, Postshot or Teleport of up to 1000 MB. It is free, and checking the file usually takes up to a minute. An .spz scan may have no more than 3 million points, otherwise AURA asks you to upload it as .ply or .splat. From a large .ply or .splat AURA keeps the 3 million most visible points.
• A scan from a video costs 60 pendants by default, and the project owner pays from their wallet. The price is shown before the start and in the «Operation prices» table. The sum is reserved when the upload starts and comes back by itself if the scan does not work out, if it is cancelled or if the hall is not built within 4 hours. The window says what happened, and «Try again» starts a new scan.
• One person builds up to 3 scans from videos a day; failed and cancelled ones do not count. Uploading ready scans does not count either.
• Scans are added, aligned with the plan, cancelled and deleted by the project's owner and editors. A commenter and a viewer see the finished scan in the scene together with its alignment.
• While the real venue is shown, the drawn walls, floor, ceiling, columns, doors, the ground around the hall and the 1 m grid are hidden. The furniture, decor, 3D models, labels, pins and route arrows from the plan stay.
• The scan is shown only within the plan's walls and 30 cm around them: clouds of stray points outside the hall are hidden. When the camera is outside the hall, for example in the view from above, the top of the scan is cut at 80 % of the walls' height, and in the «Whole hall» view at the height of the wall cut, so that the scan's ceiling does not cover the hall. While the scan is being aligned with the plan, 1 m more of the scan around the walls is shown. «See-through walls» works only with the drawn walls and does not make the scan see-through.
• The real hall is controlled like the drawn one: the mouse wheel, a touchpad pinch and two fingers bring you nearer to the point of the scan under the cursor or between the fingers, and a double click or a double tap turns the camera to what the scan shows (the floor, a table, the stage, a wall), or to the plan's furniture when it is nearer. In the AURA app two fingers and a double tap work the same.
• «Walk», the mini-plan, «Views», «Snapshot», «Fly-through», «Take a photo» and «Video tour» work with the real venue too: the frame gets what is on the screen. «Take a photo» keeps the scanned hall as it is and draws the furniture and decor as real. The file downloaded for SketchUp does not include the scan: it has the drawn hall from the plan.
• The «Show to the client» checkbox is on from the start: the client sees the real venue in the presentation's «Walk through the hall» block, with the furniture and decor from the plan. Untick it if the client should not see the venue.
• On a phone the scene loads only the most visible part of the scan, up to 1 million points: it opens faster and does not overload the phone. On a computer it is 1.5 million points, and 3 million at «High» quality. An .spz scan is loaded whole.
• If a new scan was started while the plan already has a finished one, the scene and the client keep the previous one until the new one is ready. The window shows the new scan under the finished one as «A new scan is being made».
• «Delete the scan» asks right in the window: «Delete the scan? It cannot be brought back.» After «Delete» the scene shows the drawn hall again. To film the hall again, delete the scan and add a new one.
• In the AURA app «Real venue» opens with the «Real venue» button under «Hall in 3D». You can film the video at once with «Film a video» or take it from the gallery with «Choose a video», and a ready scan is picked with «Choose a scan file». If the video is kept in iCloud, the phone downloads it first, which can take a few minutes. Keep the app open while the file uploads: if you leave it, the upload goes on from the same place when you come back, and after a restart of the app with «Continue the upload». The scan for the phone is kept on the phone, so the next time the venue opens at once. The real venue opens full screen: «Overview», «Walk» with the joystick, «Views» and «Align with the plan» with sliders and fields, and in «By two corners» you mark a point of the scan with a tap. «Back to the drawn hall» returns to the usual scene. While you align the scan with the plan, «?» explains the alignment right on the screen and does not close the venue, so an unsaved alignment is not lost.
• If the 3D scan is temporarily unavailable through our fault, for example the scan service has run out of its paid balance, the venue cannot be filmed until the service is back, and the window says why: the video is not uploaded and nothing is charged. A ready scan file can still be uploaded. If the failure happened after the upload, the pendants return to the wallet.

Plan from a 3D scan

From a 3D scan AURA builds a draft floor plan: it finds the walls and the ceiling, works out the proportions and the height, and takes the scale from one length you know. A phone video does not know any sizes by itself, so without that length no plan is built.

1. Start in one of two ways: in the «Hall in 3D» window press «Film the venue» on the «Film the venue on a phone» card, or in the «Space» step on the «Floor plan» tab choose «From a 3D scan of the hall» among the ready halls. AURA creates an empty plan «Hall from a 3D scan (draft)» and opens the «Real venue» window.
2. Film the hall on a phone or upload a ready scan, as the «Real venue from a 3D scan» section describes. While the scan is being built, the scene shows an empty 12 × 18 m plan.
3. When the scan is ready, the «Real venue» window shows «The draft plan is ready». In «What you know» choose «Long wall», «Short wall», «Ceiling height» or «Two points on the scan» and enter the length in metres, for example 18.2.
4. For «Two points on the scan» press «Mark two points» and click two points of the floor in the scan whose distance you know, for example the edges of the stage or two columns. Then enter that distance.
5. Under the field you see what the hall will be, for example «The hall will be 12 × 20 m, ceiling 4 m.». If the number is wrong, fix it before building.
6. Press «Build the plan»: AURA writes the width, the length and the ceiling height into the plan, puts the scan along the plan’s walls and opens the plan editor. Check the sizes there and press «Sizes checked» (the floor plan article, section «Draft plan from a 3D scan»).

• For a ready scan from Polycam, Scaniverse and other LiDAR apps, where the scan is already in metres, the window asks: «The scan looks like it is in metres: the hall is … × … m, ceiling … m. Right?». The «Yes, the scan is in metres» button builds the plan without a length.
• Every ready scan, even one filmed for a plan already drawn, has the «Build a plan from the scan» button. It changes the width, the length and the ceiling height of that plan; the items on the plan stay where they are.
• A plan from a scan is a rectangle: an L-shaped hall, alcoves and columns do not get into the draft, you add them in the plan editor. If the walls are hard to see in the scan, the window warns: «The walls are hard to see in the scan: check the sizes in the plan after building it.». If no walls can be seen at all, there is no draft and the sizes are set by hand.
• A length that makes the hall under 1 m or over 100 m is not accepted. A mistake in the length carries over to the whole plan, so use a length you are sure of.
• The project owner and editors can build the plan. Building again with the same length gives the same plan. The source of the plan’s sizes, printed on the PDF and the SVG, says which length set the scale, for example «3D scan of the hall, scale by the long wall of 20 m».
• «Real venue» only shows the scan in 3D, «Plan from a 3D scan» sets the plan’s sizes from the scan, and the «Underlay» of the plan editor is the venue’s drawing under the plan.

Wall and floor colours

1. Click the «Finishing» icon: the «Walls, floor and ceiling» window opens. Choose «Floor» or «Walls» and the «Color» tab.
2. Choose «Neutral», «From photo» or «Own». «Neutral» gives light grey walls and a light beige floor. «From photo» takes the colours from the venue photo of the project's latest visualization, so they are approximate; if there is no photo yet, the option is inactive. «Own»: click «Walls» or «Floor» and pick a colour from the palette.
3. Click «Download for SketchUp»: in the GLB or OBJ file, the walls and floor will be the same colour as in the scene.

• By default the hall is neutral, so the SketchUp file comes straight away with grey walls and a light floor, without random colours from the photo. To get grey walls back after your own colours, choose «Neutral».
• If the surface had a material, the «Color» tab gives it its colour back at once. Your own floor or wall colour also replaces that surface's material.
• Colours are chosen by the project's owner and editors (the same people who can change the plan). A commenter and a viewer see the chosen colours but cannot change them. The choice is stored with the plan and is visible to everyone who sees the scene.
• The colours of tables, chairs and decor are set on the floor plan, not here.

Floor and wall materials

The floor and walls of the hall can be not only a plain colour but also a material with a real texture: parquet, marble, tiles, concrete, carpet, lawn, brick and more. Parquet boards, tiles and bricks keep their real size in the scene, so the hall looks like a photo.

1. Click the «Finishing» icon on the left toolbar: the «Walls, floor and ceiling» window opens.
2. Choose «Floor» or «Walls» and the «Material» tab.
3. Click a sample. Floor materials come in groups: «Wood and parquet» (light oak, natural oak, dark walnut, herringbone), «Stone and tiles» (white marble, dark marble, light tiles, terrazzo), «Concrete» (light and dark), «Carpet» (burgundy and grey) and «Outdoors» (lawn, wooden deck, paving stones). For walls: plaster, brick, concrete and wood panels.
4. The hall changes at once, and the choice is saved for all project members.

• A surface has either a material or a colour. To get the colour back, open the «Color» tab: the material is removed at once.
• Besides the ready-made materials you can add your own: a photo of the venue's finish with the «+ Own material» tile in any group (the «Your own floor, wall and ceiling material» section).
• A hall where nobody has ever chosen a material keeps its colours as before: neutral, from the venue photo or your own.
• The material goes into snapshots, the fly-through video, the client link from the presentation and the downloaded GLB: the file has the floor and walls with the same texture at the same size. OBJ carries the material only as a name and a colour.
• Materials are chosen by the project's owner and editors. A commenter and a viewer see the chosen material but cannot change it.

Your own floor, wall and ceiling material

Besides the ready-made materials you can lay a photo of the venue's real finish on the floor, walls or ceiling: parquet, tiles, carpet, a brick wall or a beamed ceiling. Your own material is kept in the studio, so it is available in all its projects, and the project members see it chosen in the scene.

1. Click the «Finishing» icon, choose «Floor», «Walls» or «Ceiling» and the «Material» tab.
2. In the group you need, click the «+ Own material» tile. The material goes into that group: parquet into «Wood and parquet», a ceiling photo into «Ceiling finish».
3. Drag a texture photo into the window or click to choose a file. JPG, PNG, WebP and HEIC up to 10 MB work. Not every browser opens HEIC: if you see an error, save the photo as JPG.
4. Name the material (up to 60 characters) and enter «Pattern size, cm»: the width of one repeat of the photo in the hall, from 10 to 1000 cm. If the photo shows 4 parquet boards of 20 cm, enter 80. The preview of four tiles shows how the pattern repeats and whether the seams show.
5. Click «Save in the studio». The material comes first in its group, marked «Own», and is laid on the chosen surface at once.

• A seamless texture works best: a photo taken straight from above or head-on, without shadows or perspective. On an ordinary photo the seams between repeats will show.
• AURA scales the photo down to 1024 pixels on its long side and lays it without relief, as a flat finish.
• The project's owner and editors choose an own material in the project. They see their own materials and those of the project owner's studio. A commenter and a viewer see the chosen material but cannot change it. A client with the presentation link sees the hall in this material.
• A studio keeps up to 50 own materials. To delete one, use the «Own materials» link under the swatches: the floor, walls or ceiling that use it go back to their colour in all projects. The material is also listed in «My studio» among the saved items, where it can be renamed.
• There are no ready-made ceiling materials: only your own material can be laid on the ceiling. «Color» on the ceiling tab brings back a plain colour.

Ceiling height and colour

1. Click the «Finishing» icon and choose «Ceiling».
2. In the «Ceiling height, m» field enter a height from 2.4 to 15 m and press Enter or click outside the field. The walls, columns and ceiling grow to this height, and the camera stays where it is.
3. To paint the ceiling, pick a colour in the «Ceiling color» palette. «As the lighting» brings the usual ceiling back: warm white by day and dimmed in the evening.
4. To lay your own finish on the ceiling, open the «Material» tab and choose your own material or add one with the «+ Own material» tile (the «Your own floor, wall and ceiling material» section).

• The usual height is 3 m. In a tall hall the evening lamps hang no higher than 4 m, like pendant lights.
• The ceiling is visible on a walk, while from above the hall is open. The downloaded file has no ceiling, but its walls and columns are as tall as in the scene.
• The ceiling height and colour are changed by the project's owner and editors; all members and the client opening the presentation link see the choice. In a building of several floors each floor's height is set in the plan editor: here you see the floors' heights and the «Change in the floor plan» link.

Project plans in the scene

• A project plan belongs to the team, so the scene shows all the project's plans, whoever created them. If there are several plans, choose the one you need in the «Floor plan» list in the «Hall view» window: a plan made by someone else has the author's name next to it.
• The «Open floor plan» button leads to the editor of this plan. For a commenter and a viewer it is called «View floor plan»: the plan opens for viewing only.
• Guest names do not get into the scene: a table shows only the number of seats.

Why an item is shown simplified

An item is shown with its own 3D model if the object on the plan has a verified model and it is available to you: it is your model, a model you added from the library, or a model added to the project (the project’s «Items in 3D»). Other objects are drawn as schematic furniture of the right size. The number of simplified items is shown on the «Hall view» icon, and its window says «Items shown simplified: N» and why.

• Schematic furniture looks like the real thing: a table of its shape from the plan (round, rectangular, half-round, serpentine) on legs or a base, without a tablecloth; a chair that is square (legs, seat, back) or round (a round seat on a base and a low back), depending on the «Chair shape» on the plan; a stage platform, an arch or a decor volume. A chair placed from the catalog or from a 3D model is also drawn as a chair if its name contains «chair» or «stool». If a chair still turned into a cabinet or a box, give the object on the plan a plain name, for example «Chiavari chair».
• A sofa, an armchair, a pouf or bench, a coffee table, a bar counter, a screen, a shelving unit and a plant in a pot are also drawn to look like themselves, not as a box: a sofa has legs, a seat with cushions, a back and arms, a bar counter has a body and a top, a screen has leaves, a shelving unit has shelves, a plant has a pot and a crown. AURA recognises them by the name of the product or of the object on the plan in Russian, English or Spanish. If the name gives no clue, for example «Chesterfield», choose the look yourself: in the floor plan, in the properties of decor, the «Shape» section, the «Look in 3D» field. «Block» keeps a plain volume, «Auto» recognises the look by the name again. The back of a sofa and an armchair faces away from the nearest table. If the product has no height, a sofa stands 850 mm tall, an armchair 800, a pouf and a coffee table 450, a bar counter 1100, a screen and a shelving unit 1800, a plant 1500 mm. An item with an available 3D model is shown with its own model, and «Look in 3D» does not change it.
• «No access to the model»: a model is visible to its author, to whoever added it from the library and to the members of the project it is linked to. So different members may see the same item differently. To let everyone see the model, add it to the project in «Items in 3D».
• «Over the scene limit»: so that the hall also opens on a phone, the scene loads up to 12 different models and limits the total size of their files. Copies of one model are drawn together, so a hall of chairs of one model, for example «Рыцарь», is shown with that model throughout (up to 600 items). Every model first gets at least one item, so a one-off piece such as a bar counter does not give way to a row of chairs. A very heavy model is shown on as many items as fit, starting with the first objects of the plan.
• «Model file not ready»: the model is still being checked, or its file was replaced after it was placed on the plan. Wait for the check and place the model on the plan again.
• «Model file did not load»: the file did not reach the browser or could not be read. Check the connection and click «Load again»: the scene opens once more.

A model at its size on the plan

A product's 3D model in the scene is not stretched along one axis: a chair stays a chair and a table does not become a bench. The model is scaled as a whole, alike in width, depth and height, and fits into its place on the plan. It stands on the floor in the middle of its place and is turned as on the plan.

The size on the plan is the main one. While the model's place on the plan is the same as the product's dimensions, the model never gets bigger than them. If the width or depth of the place was changed by hand («Properties» says «Dimensions on the plan were changed manually»), the model in 3D follows the place on the plan and its height changes in the same proportion. So a model made with centimetres typed instead of millimetres can be enlarged simply by stretching its place on the plan.

• If the place on the plan is more than 15% wider or longer than the model, empty space is left around it in the scene. In the plan editor, «Properties» of such an object says «The plan size does not match the model» and shows the model's size in 3D. The «Take the model size» button fits the width and depth on the plan to the model in one step, which Ctrl/Cmd+Z undoes.
• The model's own dimensions are corrected by its author in «Items in 3D»: the «Correct the dimensions» button in the model window (the 3D models article, section «Model size and the dimensions you entered»). «Take the model size» changes the place on the plan, «Correct the dimensions» changes the model itself.
• Downloaded GLB and OBJ files are built the same way: models in the file are not stretched along one axis either and stand at their size on the plan.
• A chair with a 3D model by a table stands like the schematic chair in its place: its back away from the table, facing the table. Chairs after «Ungroup» and a chair placed from «Items in 3D» stand the same way.
• Chairs around a table whose item in the plan has a verified 3D model stand in the hall as that model. If a separate item stands in the place of a chair around the table, for example a «Рыцарь» chair, only that item is seen in 3D. Two identical items pasted into one spot are shown as one. The plan itself does not change.
• If a GLB file was saved with the Z axis up (this happens when exporting from SketchUp, 3ds Max or Blender without «+Y up»), the model would lie on its side in the scene. AURA compares its proportions with the item's dimensions and stands it upright: a bar counter stays a counter instead of a flat podium. For this the model needs its width, depth and height filled in.

Good to know

• A library model with the «Only in AURA» condition is visible in the scene but does not go into the downloaded GLB or OBJ file: the file has simple furniture of the same size in its place, as the «Download for SketchUp» menu says. «Download GLB», «Download OBJ» and «Download for the designer» in the plan editor work the same way.
• The plan stores only the floor dimensions. The walls in the scene are 3 m high until you set your own ceiling height in the «Finishing» window on the «Ceiling» tab, and in a building of several floors each floor has its own height from the plan. Doors are 2.1 m high unless the plan gives the door an «Opening height · mm». An item's height comes from its model or catalog card, and if it is not there, a typical height is used.
• A stage rises in the scene to the height of its step from the plan's «Properties». A stage lying wholly inside another stands on it as a step, and a table or decor standing wholly on a stage stands on its deck. The «From the stage» view looks from the top step (floor plan article, section «A stepped stage and stages on each other»).
• The plan's columns rise in the scene from the floor to the ceiling, to the height of the walls, and take the walls' colour unless the plan gives them their own. When you change the walls' colour, the columns change with them. If the walls have a material, the columns take its main colour.
• A light baseboard runs along the walls and stops at doors and passages, and runs on under windows. The plan's windows (the floor plan article, section «Window») open the wall with a sill and glass; the rest of the wall is solid.
• The scene follows the plan: to move a table or change its colour, change the plan and open the scene again.
• Visualizations from a venue photo do not use the scene yet: AI places items based on the venue photo. «Take a photo» makes a photorealistic photo right from the scene (the «Take a photo from 3D» section).
• If the plan has an underlay (a plan sent by the venue), the «Venue drawing on the floor» checkbox in the «Hall view» window shows it on the scene floor within the hall walls. It is off by default, and the choice is remembered on the device. The underlay is not included in the downloaded GLB and OBJ.
• If the plan has route arrows, they lie on the scene floor: the green one shows the guest route, the orange dashed one the setup route. The «Route arrows on the floor» checkbox in the «Hall view» window hides them, and the choice is remembered on the device. Downloaded GLB and OBJ files do not include the arrows.
• You can show the hall to the client right in the presentation: in the presentation editor, on the «Style» tab, tick «Walk through the hall». Through the link the client sees the hall from above, through your views and on a walk, with simple furniture of the same size in place of your 3D models. If the plan has a «Real venue» with «Show to the client» ticked, the client sees the real venue from the 3D scan (the «Real venue from a 3D scan» section). See the article about the client link for details.

3D scene in the mobile app

In the mobile app, open a project and its 3D scene. Access depends on a beta key. The scene uses the saved plan; rearrangements, sizes and doors are changed in the plan editor. After loading, the geometry of the hall is visible without any extra rotation. From Saved work, the «View in 3D» button opens exactly the chosen plan in its own project.

Rotate the hall with one finger and zoom with two. Movement buttons are available for walking around. The bottom panel is for choosing angles, light, colors and export; help opens with the «?» button at the top.

You can save up to 30 angles, change their name and order, and replace a view with the current camera. The angles are stored separately for each plan. A reader looks at the scene, the owner and editors change its settings.

A PNG is saved through the phone's menu at screen size, HD or UHD within what the device can do. A view archive, snapshots to documents, presentation materials and a board frame are available.

GLB saves the geometry and textures, OBJ with MTL saves the geometry and colors. Models with an AURA-only permission are visible in the scene and on snapshots, and in the downloaded 3D file they are replaced with simple shapes.

In the mobile app, the «Save» menu has «Record a flythrough as MP4». The clip lasts 10-20 seconds and is saved through the phone's system menu. While it is being prepared, keep the app open; the recording can be canceled. After a cancellation the app returns the previous angle and keeps the scene available; an unfinished clip is not sent to the phone's menu. In Expo Go only viewing the flythrough is available. The full check of video recording in a signed build is not finished yet.

If the answer about saving is lost, refresh the scene first. The app checks the result and does not offer to repeat the creation of the angle immediately.

Team pins in the room

1. Open «Pins» on the tool rail on the left and click «Place a pin». Turn the room so that the spot is in sight, and click the floor, a wall or the furniture.
2. Write what to change and click «Place». The pin remembers the point and the view it was seen from. @ and a colleague's name call them into the discussion; the message comes in Telegram if they connected the bot.
3. Clicking a pin's number in the room or its row in the list opens the thread, and the camera flies to where the pin was placed from. «Show in the room» does the same from the thread.
4. «Resolved» removes the pin from the room, «Show resolved» brings resolved pins back for a while.

• Scene pins and plan pins are kept apart: a pin in the room does not appear on the plan, and the other way round. Everyone who opens the project sees the pins; the owner, editors and commenters place them and reply.
• Pins are not in snapshots, fly-through videos or the SketchUp files.

Related guides

• Projects: create, find, archive
• How to invite someone to a project and to the visual board
• Items in 3D: from a photo, GLB, check and SketchUp
• Floor plan: dimensions, seating and export
• Showing the client a presentation: the link and why the button is unavailable