Service for creating layouts of rooms and interiors

Exactly a year ago, we and a partner decided to become startups. More precisely, we realized that now we are partner startups. How our life has changed after that is the topic of a separate article. Now I would like to pay attention to our offspring - the service of planning premises and interiors.

So, a couple of years ago, both founders almost simultaneously fell into a life situation that everyone has - it is time for repairs.
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We, as IT specialists, immediately began to look for some systems that would help us to somehow plan our plans. Having spent meticulous research, we were left with nothing. Why? Because, as demanding developers, they were looking for the perfect software.

What in our understanding was ideal:
- lack of Flash;
- performance on computers and tablets;
- 3D-mode with the ability to rotate in real time, but not prerender from 8 angles;
- cloud storage, i.e. the ability to return to the saved data from different devices;
- sharing, because repair is a joint matter, so it’s impossible not to share the plan with your wife, let alone repair executives;
- simplicity, because we didn’t want an auto-cascade, we wanted a Sims game, just a bit more close to reality;
- no need to pay for the service;
- well, just an adequate interface.

To be honest, there are a lot of similar services, floorplanner.com, homestyler.com are among the best. All we have found is flash and flash again, some inconvenient interfaces, lack of basic functionality (for example, geometry is a bit more complicated than a square room), pseudo 3D (fixed viewing angles, or just pre-designers), etc.

We did not give up their criteria for choosing a service. As experienced developers, and by that time we had been working as a team for a couple of years as a programmer / designer team, we’ve done our own service. At first it was a prototype that allows you to create layouts of rooms with arbitrary geometry and the ability to arrange a minimum set of furniture there. Later, having passed the qualifying round and received an invitation from the Farminers incubator, we discarded all extraneous affairs and devoted all our time only to the planner.

We have already solved our problems, I made repairs in the apartment, my partner built a house. And now we want to turn it into a full-fledged public service.

What is Planner 5D now?

The foundation

The service is developed using HTML5, it runs on any devices where there is support for it. It may even be a TV if it is equipped with a browser (in particular, we tried out Panasonic and Samsung personally).

Graphics

2D is a vector (SVG), and 3D is WebGL, so everything works within a browser. We are constantly trying to improve the quality of the picture. In addition to dynamic shadows, highlights, etc., we made it possible to change the materials of objects. Those. in any, say, a sofa, you can change both the upholstery (fabric, leather ...) and the tree legs, frame, etc.

Work with the scheduler

We try to make it as simple as possible; this is one of our top priorities. The goal was to make a sims similarity. Sometimes it seems to us that we have achieved our goal.

Community and Socialization

In addition to sharing on facebook and twitter, we want to make a full-fledged internal community. With a general gallery of custom projects, discussion, etc.

Embed. Advanced share

One of the features that we gladly implemented was embedding into third-party resources. Any layout can be embedded as a YouTube video or Yandex / Google maps. Copy the code, paste on saytik, voila.



Also there is the ability to export the resulting images in high resolution (jpg or png).

Cloud

(also tired of this term, but what to do?)
All data is stored on the server, i.e. the user can start creating the layout at home on the iPad, continue to the office from the browser, and show the result in the evening to the whole family on the TV. If there is no connection with the server at the moment of saving the data, the project is saved locally and then sent to the server as soon as possible.

For end users, the service is absolutely free. We earn money by entering into partnership agreements with manufacturers / retailers of furniture, plumbing, household goods, wallpaper, windows, doors, etc.

Partners either build a planner to their site, giving them “try on” the selected product to customers, or place their products in our catalog directly on the Planner 5D website.

In addition, we cooperate with the real estate sector. Soon, several projects will be launched that will use the planner as an option on your website for selling / renting houses and apartments.

In the near future release of a separate application on the iPad (we think closer to November). There, on the tablet, augmented reality. Those. “Fitting” of furniture, finishing materials and household goods right in your room, based on the created layout.

We know that the service is not perfect, and we improve it every day. Perhaps this is wrong, but we are trying to embody everything that users ask for. Often they write letters with requests to add a particular object, and sometimes a new functionality. And we try to implement the request as quickly as possible. After all, the service, although it is done by our hands, but the desires of users are embodied in it, because this is an absolutely “user-friendly” project.

At the beginning of the summer I spent a whole month in Silicon Valley, showing service on various thematic parties, company representatives and investors. Fidbeck managed to collect a huge. Most importantly, people liked it and are waiting for the development of the product.

Having taken courage, we offer our beloved Habra to evaluate our work :) We do not hope for indulgence, we are waiting for absolutely honest, but constructive criticism :)

References:
Website: planner5d.com
Video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwXQkhsMRRA
Facebook: www.facebook.com/Planner5D

If suddenly it will be interesting to someone to learn about the technical part or about what and how the project was implemented, we will be happy to write a separate post.