This month we welcomed an evolution to our design application, which merges our 2D tool Sketch, and our 3D tool Modify into the existing Design tab, enabling a completely seamless workflow. So the good news is that you’ll no longer have to switch back and forth between Sketch and Modify and their differing functions. In Design you now have access to the same tools in both 2D and 3D, and just need to toggle between 2D and 3D views. Easy right? This evolution means a big deal to us as we continue to make Spacemaker intuitive to use so you can get started on your site planning in no time.
Part of Spacemaker for a long time, Sketch was created as an easy 2D digital sketching tool to allow users to get drawing straightaway; Modify complemented this by allowing users to refine their designs in more detail in 3D. As with pretty much everything we do at Spacemaker, we listened to user feedback and carried out extensive research. From this, we deduced that by removing the need to switch between the two and by ensuring there was a unified set of functions, we could create a more seamless and straight-forward design experience.
Whereas some of our users’ favourite functions such as Parking, Division lines, Auto buildings, Quick move and Quick rotate were previously only available in 2D, now they’ve been transferred to 3D. Here are some highlights:
- By combining Division lines (to subdivide the site) and Auto buildings (to fill the plot with buildings of a certain typology) users can now create a concept completely in 3D with just a few clicks.
- Want to instantly move and rotate a building? Just use Quick move and Quick rotate – this makes it simpler to make fast sketches. To work more precisely, the existing move and rotate tools are still available.
- We worked extra hard on adapting the Parking tool into 3D, which now follows the site’s terrain. Plus a new wire frame mode means users can see the underground garage they’re designing below the site.
- Lastly we also took this as an opportunity to restructure the right hand menu with different themes and input fields so it looks much clearer.
At Spacemaker, we strongly believe that the waterfall model, which often fragments site planning into sequential, siloed phases, needs to make way for a collaborative and iterative workflow. Unifying Design gave us the opportunity to align our own platform with this by merging the 2D and 3D worlds so our users could work more efficiently. Plus you now have the best of both in one: the sketching experience, which we know our users appreciated about Sketch, and the ability to fine-tune in more detail.
The huge improvement with Design is that the whole design experience now feels more consistent. We’d love to know what you think about Design, or any of Spacemaker’s other functions. Get in touch with us here.
