Planning data must be processed by various involved parties/service providers in the course of a project. The variety of software solutions available on the market may require converting the data into a different format.

pCon.planner offers various export options to achieve the best possible compatibility. However, the amount of geometry of 3D models is much higher compared to pure 2D data. Experience has shown that not all programs can handle such data volumes well, so that problems sometimes occur when importing data from pCon.planner into another application. Our software therefore offers options for preparing plans before they are passed on to architects, for example.

To create a 2D floor plan based on a 3D plan without any 3D information, there are the following possibilities, depending on the required level of detail:

1. use the extended DWG export

The extended export dialog for DWG files increases the compatibility of your DWG files with external programs.
You can access the dialog by going to File > Export > Geometry in pCon.planner, assigning a file name, and confirming.

In the “Modify” section, you can activate various reduction options:
– Remove 3D geometry
– Reduce layers
– Remove add-ons

Enabling all 3 options will remove a maximum of 3D content, and optimize the file as much as possible.
Please note that elements without 2D representation, e.g. simple geometry types like cuboids or elements from the 3D Warehouse, will not be included in the exported file.
If these elements are required, a 2D representation must be generated manually in advance. The 2D Projection option in the Edit tab under Tools is suitable for this purpose. The 2D projection can also be generated from several selected elements at the same time. It is useful to put the generated 2D representation on a separate layer, e.g. “2D Projection Decoration”.

2. creating a vector export from the “Top” view

Set the “Top” view in the open planning in a work area (menu at the top left of the window) and adjust the image section to your requirements.

Tip: Double-clicking in an empty planning area centers the view on the complete planning.

Now set the display to wireframe mode in the View tab and check the display. If necessary, adjust the planning by hiding elements.

If you are satisfied with the display and the image section, switch to the “Presentation” tab and select the “Vector graphic” entry.
In the render dialog that opens, set “Wireframe” as the renderer. If desired, you can also adjust the settings for line width and color.

Click on the green start button to generate a corresponding rendering, which you can save in various formats by clicking on the save button.

3. manual removal of 3D data

Create a new file from the project to keep the original planning for further processing.

Step by step, hide or delete all labels and other elements outside the planning that are not needed.

Now the 3D planes are hidden or deleted. Here you must check whether a 2D representation of all required elements is available (if necessary, create it later, e.g. using the 2D projection). The following should be noted:
3D planes that correspond to our naming scheme (*_D3_*) can be selected and edited via the filter settings in the plane manager.
Geometries whose planes do not follow the pCon.planner naming scheme cannot be assigned automatically. They must be hidden/deleted manually.

After successfully deleting all 3D elements, you should run the purge function, and then save the file.

Now, for example, a vector export (Presentation tab) can be created and saved as a PDF, or a further reduced file can be created via File > Export > Geometry.

If you want a pure 2D result, it is necessary to remove all 3D elements from the design beforehand.
Otherwise, the hidden 3D layers would no longer be visible, but still remain in the planning, and there would be hardly any effect on the file size.

Alternatively, individual elements and layers can be saved separately:
1. select element(s) directly in the planning and create a new file via File > Save Selection.
2. select objects of the layer via the layer dialog (if required, all furniture of a category/area etc. can be placed on a (new) layer in advance, and create a new file via File > Save Selection.