For this month’s spotlight, I am sharing my experience using Planner 5D. Headquartered in Lithuania, the platform hosts over 64 million users and has helped create more than 300 million interior design plans. My client needed assistance with visualizing her floor plans for a home renovation project and sourcing products to bring her vision to life. Before this assignment, I had never heard of Planner 5D, and it was one of many platforms I explored to simplify my work. After spending several hours testing popular design tools, I found key features that made Planner 5D stand out for a first-time user. Let’s dive in!
Upload a Plan
Planner 5D can convert your existing floor plan into a digital plan. Although it is simple to manually build rooms in the software, this feature saves you time especially if you are designing multiple bedrooms or floors. Once you upload a plan, you will receive a notification when it is ready. Like any technology, the feature is not 100% perfect, but I only found myself making a few corrections based on the original plan. For readers who are apartment or house shopping and have received access to floor plans, this is a quick and easy way to get a visual of your future home and start plotting your designs. You can also use the 3D view to walkthrough your space!
Smart Wizard
If you prefer to design room by room but do not necessarily want to start from scratch, Smart Wizard offers creative assistance. First, you tell it the shape, layout, and dimensions of the room. Then, it can design the space based on the room type and your design aesthetic. For example, the wizard can design a minimalist bedroom in seconds based on your preference, and then you can go in and adjust it further. If you are new to the application and do not know where to start, this is a great way to get ideas on furniture, flooring, paint colors, and more.
Furniture Catalog
Boasting 6,500+ items, Planner 5D’s catalog is extensive and unique. I was pleasantly surprised by the furniture featured in their library, and they often use real items from popular stores. There is a Find Furniture icon in the toolbar that estimates your budget based on items in your room. Whenever possible, it provides links to retailers where you can purchase directly. Even when I could not find an exact furniture match for my client, I found very similar products to help build the visual. The team is also very receptive to feedback, and they welcome requests! I was provided a form to fill out to request additions to the furniture catalog.
Live Chat
When I saw the chat box in the bottom corner of my screen, I was almost positive that it was an AI bot that would guide me through their knowledge base. Not only did I get access to a real human, but they were also extremely responsive. No matter how simple a product is, it is encouraging to know that expert help is available. If I did not understand their written explanation, they sent me screenshots or screen recordings to walk me through step-by-step. Planner 5D’s live chat feature made me confident in exploring the software because I knew I could message someone from the team if I got stuck along the way and get a reply within minutes.
Floorplanner, RoomSketcher, and Spoak were some of the products that I tested when I first received this client project. Many of the tools are similar, but Planner 5D was by far my favorite. They offer a freemium model where the free version has a limited number of elements. This allows you to test the product to see if it is a good fit before committing. For this project, we ended up subscribing to the monthly plan for $19.99, but they offer a yearly access subscription for $59.99. Click here to learn more and get started.
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Disclosure: Hi Genius! Heads up: I have included an affiliate link in this post. If you find it as awesome as I do and make a purchase, I may earn a little something to replace the ink in my pens. Thank you for being part of the journey!
