Tutorial 22: Interactive 3D Building & Panel Visualization

Turn a saved project into something you can spin — open it in cv-web and orbit the building, then drop into any panel as a live 3D concrete solid, all in the browser.

Every lesson so far has produced geometry; this one lets you look at it in the round. The interactive viewer lives in cv-web, ConstructiVision’s browser companion at simplestruct.com — no AutoCAD, no install, nothing to download. The same project data you draw in the plugin renders in the browser as a real-time 3D model you can orbit, zoom, and shade: the whole building in Building mode, and a single panel as an extruded concrete solid — openings, blockouts, and reveals cut clean through it — in Panel mode. This lesson is a guided first tour of that viewer, grounded in Using cv-web.

cv-web is in Web Beta

The browser app — including this interactive viewer — is a live Web Beta. It is real and usable today; specific controls and labels may still shift as the beta matures. Where this lesson names an exact button, it matches the app at time of writing; if a control has moved, the same capability is usually one click away in the viewer toolbar.

Note

This lesson also exists in the browser. Work it in ConstructiVision on the web — same steps, same values, so you can follow either and end up with the same panel.

What you will build

Not a file — a way of seeing a project you already have. By the end you will have:

  • a project open in the cv-web editor at simplestruct.com;

  • the whole project explored in Building mode as an orbitable 3D model;

  • a single panel opened as a shaded 3D solid, spun through the view presets (front, back, the four isometrics, top, bottom) and cycled through Wireframe → Hidden → Shaded;

  • comfort with the viewer’s core moves — orbit, zoom, pan, the Grid / Ground / Marks toggles, and the 3D ⇄ 2D switch — the browser controls you will use on every project from here on.

Before you start

  • A browser and a SimpleStruct account. Go to simplestruct.com and sign in. Viewing is free and read-only for anyone signed in — full in-browser editing unlocks with a membership, but nothing in this lesson requires editing. If you do not have an account yet, Create your account walks through it (a company email address is required; public providers like gmail are refused).

  • A project to look at. Any of these works:

    • a cloud project your team has saved — open it from My Projects (Work with cloud projects);

    • a project you import by dragging a .cvp file onto the My Projects drop zone — for example one exported from the AutoCAD plugin, the way Tutorial 16: From CAD to cv-web carries a project across;

    • or, if you just want to explore, a built-in sample from the ConstructiVision Web welcome screen — ConstructiVision Sample Building (60 panels) is a good, busy building to orbit.

Tip

No project of your own yet? Load a sample first. It gives you a full multi-panel building to learn the viewer on, and nothing you do while looking around changes anyone’s data.

Lesson

Step 1 — Open a project in cv-web

Signed in at simplestruct.com, open the ConstructiVision Web editor and get a project loaded — Open one from My Projects, drag a .cvp onto the drop zone, or pick a sample from the welcome screen. The editor opens with a top menu bar across the top and a mode strip — Project · Building · Elevations · Brace · Cast · Panel — that chooses what you are looking at. The viewer you are about to use is the same for every mode; only the subject changes.

Step 2 — See the whole building in 3D

Click Building in the mode strip. cv-web composes the project into a single building view. Use the 3D / 2D toggle (near the mode strip) to put it in 3D, and the project stands up as a model you can move around:

  • Orbit — left-click-drag anywhere in the viewport to rotate the camera around the building.

  • Zoom — mouse wheel, or the + / − buttons on the viewer toolbar.

  • Pan — the toolbar’s arrow buttons (◀ ▶ ▲ ▼) slide the view without rotating it.

This is the browser standing in for the walk-around you would otherwise do only in AutoCAD — the erected panels, in place, from any angle. Flip the toggle back to 2D to compare the same building as a flat plan; the toggle is non-destructive, so switch as often as you like.

Step 3 — Drop into a single panel

Click Panel in the mode strip. A PANELS list appears down the left side — every panel in the project, each row showing its mark and size (and a ⚠️ / ⛔ badge if cv-web’s structural checks flagged something). Click any panel to make it active; with the 3D view selected, it renders as an extruded concrete solid. This is the payoff: rough openings, doors, dock levelers, square and round blockouts, and reveal strips are all cut as real voids and recesses through the solid, not drawn on top of it — so a window is a hole you can see daylight through when you orbit past it.

Step 4 — Spin the panel through the view presets

The panel viewer’s toolbar carries a 3×3 grid of view presets — the standard shop views, one click each:

  • the four corners are isometrics — Back-Left, Back-Right, Front-Left, and Front-Right Iso;

  • the edges are the orthographic faces — Back (B), Left (L), Right (R), and Front (F);

  • the center button is Zoom Extents — it re-frames the panel to fill the viewport, your reset if you orbit or zoom yourself lost.

Just below the grid, TP and BT give you Top and Bottom looks. Click through several and watch the panel snap to each canonical angle; then left-drag to orbit freely off a preset when you want an in-between view. (You can also switch between ⊙ Navigate and ⬚ Select on the toolbar — Navigate is the orbit-and-look mode this tour uses.)

Step 5 — Change how the panel is shaded

Find the shading buttons on the toolbar and click through all three:

  • Wireframe — edges only, see-through; good for reading geometry and voids at a glance.

  • Hidden — solid with hidden lines removed; the classic hidden-line shop look.

  • Shaded — a lit, solid concrete surface; the most building-like read.

Each is the same model rendered differently — a browser echo of the shade modes the AutoCAD plugin offers on its 3D panels.

Step 6 — Toggle the visual aids

Finish the tour with the viewer’s display toggles — near the shading buttons:

  • Grid — a reference grid in the scene.

  • Ground — a ground plane the panel or building sits on, for a sense of scale and up/down.

  • Marks — panel marks/labels drawn in the 3D scene, so you can tell which panel is which while orbiting a whole building.

Turn each on and off and settle on the combination you like. These are view preferences only — they change nothing in the project data, and they carry across as you move between Building and Panel modes.

Check your result

This lesson lives in the browser — there is no in-app grader

cv-web viewing is a read-only exploration, so there is no CV-CHECK command for it the way the AutoCAD lessons have. Confirm the outcomes yourself against the checklist below — if every item is true, you have the viewer.

You should now be able to do all of the following in cv-web:

  • Open a project and reach the Building mode, standing it up in 3D and orbiting it with a left-drag.

  • Switch to Panel mode, pick a panel from the PANELS list, and see it as a 3D solid with its openings cut through as real voids.

  • Snap the panel to at least three view presets (an isometric, a face, and Zoom Extents) and orbit freely off a preset.

  • Cycle the panel through Wireframe → Hidden → Shaded and back.

  • Toggle Grid, Ground, and Marks on and off, and flip 3D ⇄ 2D without losing your place.

If the editor shows a read-only banner, that is expected on a free account and does not block any of the above — viewing and orbiting are free. Sign-in trouble or a project that will not load is covered in Troubleshooting → cv-web (simplestruct.com).

Watch this lesson

Transcript (31 captions)

0:01 — Tutorial 22 — every lesson so far produced geometry. This one lets you look at it in the round.

0:07 — Start from a sample building — a full multi-panel project, so there is something real to look at.

0:13 — ConstructiVision Sample Building — 60 panels. Nothing you do while looking around changes anyone's data.

0:19 — The cv-web editor at simplestruct.com — no AutoCAD, no install, nothing to download.

0:24 — The mode strip chooses what you are looking at: Project, Building, Elevations, Brace, Cast, Panel.

0:30 — The viewer is the same in every mode. Only the subject changes.

0:34 — Building mode composes the whole project into one view.

0:37 — With a mode chosen, the 3D / 2D toggle appears.

0:41 — Switch to 3D and the project stands up as a model you can move around.

0:47 — Left-drag orbits. Wheel zooms. The toolbar arrows pan without rotating.

0:50 — This is the walk-around you would otherwise only get in AutoCAD — erected panels, from any angle.

0:57 — Flip back to 2D to compare the same building as a flat plan — the toggle changes nothing in the data.

1:04 — …and back. Switch as often as you like.

1:08 — Panel mode drops you into a single panel.

1:11 — The PANELS list runs down the left — every panel, with its mark and size.

1:17 — This is the payoff: openings, dock levelers, blockouts and reveals are cut as REAL voids through the solid — not drawn on top of it.

1:25 — Orbit past a window and you see daylight through it.

1:28 — The 3×3 grid is the standard shop views — one click each.

1:34 — The four corners are isometrics.

1:36 — The edges are the orthographic faces — Back, Left, Right, Front.

1:40 — Each one snaps the panel to a canonical angle.

1:43 — TP and BT give you Top and Bottom looks.

1:47 — The centre button is Zoom Extents — your reset if you orbit or zoom yourself lost.

1:53 — Wireframe — edges only, see-through. Good for reading geometry and voids at a glance.

1:58 — Hidden — solid with hidden lines removed. The classic shop look.

2:02 — Shaded — a lit concrete surface. The most building-like read.

2:06 — Grid — a reference grid in the scene.

2:09 — Ground — a plane to sit on, for a sense of scale and up/down.

2:14 — Marks — panel labels drawn in the 3D scene, so you know which panel is which while orbiting.

2:20 — These are view preferences only. They change nothing in the project, and they carry across modes.

2:26 — Viewing is free and read-only for anyone signed in. A read-only banner is expected on a free account — it blocks none of this.

Where next

  • The browser app in full: Using cv-web — everything cv-web adds beside the CAD plugin, and how the two share the same project files.

  • Get your own project into the viewer: Work with cloud projects — open, save, and import .cvp projects into your team’s cloud library.

  • The CAD → browser hand-off: Tutorial 16: From CAD to cv-web — carry a finished panel’s data from AutoCAD to cv-web, the round trip that puts your own work in front of this viewer.

  • Show a model without an account: Share a panel book by link — a share link opens your book, read-only, for anyone; and Analyze panel sets reads a panel set for typicality once it is uploaded.

  • Link a CAD seat to your account: Pair your workstation — one browser sign-in connects an AutoCAD workstation to the same organization.