How to import and trace an existing floor plan

Add the image

1. 1

   Click Import photo

   Click Import photo in the top bar. You can also open Settings and click Import next to Photo underlay. As a guest the button shows a lock: sign in or create a free account first.

2. 2

   Upload the picture

   In Import plan, stay on the Image underlay tab. Click Click to upload or drag & drop, and pick a PNG or JPG. A clear, straight-on photo or scan works best.

   

Set the scale

1. 3

   Click Set scale

   The Reference image panel opens in the right sidebar. Click Set scale.

   

2. 4

   Click two points on a known distance

   Click one end, then the other end, of something you know the length of: a dimensioned wall, a door or the scale bar on the drawing. Hold Shift to lock the angle, press Esc to cancel.

3. 5

   Type the real length

   Type the real length, for example 4 m, and click Apply scale. The image resizes so those two points sit exactly that far apart, and locks itself so it cannot move while you trace.

   

Trace over it

1. 6

   Position and lock it

   While the image is unlocked, pick the Select tool and drag its dashed frame to move it, or a corner to resize it. Clicking inside the picture selects walls as usual and never moves it. The image locks itself when you set the scale or pick any drawing tool (a toast says so, with Unlock). Lock or unlock it any time with the Lock chip on its top-left corner, the lock on the Reference Image row in Layers, or the lock in the Reference image panel. The lock is saved with the plan.

2. 7

   Fade it

   Drag the Opacity slider down so your walls stay easy to see on top.

3. 8

   Draw the walls

   Draw walls, rooms, doors and windows over the image with the normal tools. Snapping works as usual.

4. 9

   Remove it when you are done

   Click Remove image in the panel. To hide it for a moment instead, turn off Reference Image in the Layers panel.

Open a SpacePlanner plan file

Someone sent you a plan saved from SpacePlanner (a .spaceplanner.json or .json file)? Open it and you get the same plan: every floor, finish, piece of furniture and setting.

1. 10

   Open it

   Open the Plans menu (the SpacePlanner logo at the top left; on a phone, the More menu) and click Open plan file. Or drag the file onto the editor. Under Import photo, the Paste JSON tab has the same button.

2. 11

   Where it opens

   Signed in, the plan opens as a new project in your account; the plan you had open is not changed. Without an account it replaces the plan in this browser (you are asked first if it has work in it). A plan with several floors keeps all of them; sign up to save them to your account.

Paste plan JSON

If another tool gave you a simple plan as JSON (a footprint and rooms), you can build it straight onto the canvas.

1. 12

   Open Paste JSON

   Click Import photo, then the Paste JSON tab.

2. 13

   Paste and draw

   Paste the JSON and click Draw on canvas. The easiest format gives the footprint size (plan_width_cm and plan_height_cm) and each room as fractions from 0 to 1 (x, y, w, h); shared walls are built for you. A walls array works too.

Tips

• Set the scale before you trace. Anything traced before calibration ends up the wrong size afterwards.
• Measure the longest dimension you can find on the drawing. A long distance gives a more accurate scale than a short one.
• No known distance? Drag a corner of the unlocked image to size it by eye, then check a door: most are about 80 to 90 cm wide.
• A SpacePlanner plan file pasted into Paste JSON opens as the whole plan, the same as Open plan file.
• The Rebuild with AI tab is marked Soon: automatic rebuilding from a photo is paused while a new version is built.

Common problems

Import photo is locked

Importing needs a free account. Click it to sign up or log in; your current drawing comes with you.

The upload does nothing

Only image files work: PNG or JPG. A PDF or a DWG file cannot be imported. Take a screenshot of the PDF page and upload that.

My traced plan is the wrong size

The scale was set on a short or wrong distance. Click Set scale again on a long, dimensioned wall. Walls you already drew do not rescale.

The image moves when I draw

Lock it: click the Lock chip on the image's top-left corner (or the lock in the Reference image panel or the Layers panel). It also locks itself when you set the scale or pick a drawing tool. Even unlocked, only dragging its dashed frame or a corner with the Select tool moves it.

I cannot move the image

It is locked. Click the Locked chip on its top-left corner to unlock it, then drag its dashed frame (not the middle of the picture) with the Select tool.

Could not read any rooms from the JSON

The JSON needs a "walls" array or a "rooms" array. Check for a missing comma or bracket.