What is pCon.planner?
pCon.planner is software enabling the design of rooms and other interior spaces together with furnishings and decor.
A combination of tools and functions makes it easy to use for designing rooms and editing the designs. You can add a variety of elements like windows, doors, glazed fronts, staircases and any other elements. Then you can fill the room with furniture, plants and other decor where the Cylindo master asset finds its place or usability. There is a database with many elements and can be found here: pCon.catalog
Besides planning and furnishing, presentation of the results is a fundamental function of the pCon.planner. There are several ways to present your final drawing:
- Set an animation route and simulate a walk through your drawing;
- High-quality renderings that can be shared on social media;
- Uploading full 3D scenes;
Terminology
- Object: General term for a simple product such as table or a stool, whose focus is mostly on graphic representation of the product;
- Articles: Objects that are configurable are called Articles. Articles are based on the OFML (Office furniture modeling language) data format. OFML articles are equipped with a certain number of commercially relevant features which may or may not be interdependent. From manufacturer to manufacturer, an “article’s” properties may vary in quantity, nature or interdependency.
Supported file formats
pCon.planner provide functions for Load/Import and Save/Export and have support for many file formats (3D objects, pictures, text) and the full list can be found here: pCon supported file formats
Importing Cylindo assets
pCon.planner has its own library of assets (products and materials) which can be imported into the drawing, but also has support for external files.
Geometry
pCon.planner have support for Cylindo’s most used file formats:
- FBX - shows the geometry without the materials applied
- OBJ - shows the geometry without the materials applied
- GLTF/GLB - GLB binary format shows the whole asset with geometry and materials (recommended for assets ingestion in pCon planner - best result)
- USD/USDZ - USDZ format shows the whole asset with geometry and materials
Visual representation of cylindo master asset in pCon planer
Materials
pCon.planner have its material library with many materials: Material Catalog
Besides that, there is a material editor where you can create new materials and edit them. They are using PBR approach, so the first thing will be to choose a new or already existing shader from their database and input our files (maps) that we are creating automatically or manually from every Cylindo material:
- Diffuse (Albedo) map
- Roughness map
- Metallic map
- Normal map
Important note (R&D recommendation): The best result for ingesting assets into pCon.planner will be using GLB files, because they are binary files that have information for the geometry and the materials as well (e.g. image in the Geometry heading).
Creating Articles
Functions of ‘Set Articles’
The functions that enable Set Articles to be created and managed are to be found on the Articles tab, Set Articles group. There is an explanation of the individual commands in the table below:
Features of ‘Set Articles’
Set Articles possess a number of features to enable them to be described in more detail. These include Name, Long Text, Article Number and Manufacturer ID.
These are displayed in the Set Article tab category in the Properties Editor if at least one of the articles belonging to the set has been selected. The text which has been entered will be displayed in the Article Explorer, the Article List and the price quotation form.
Step-by-step guide (creating Articles)
- Choose the Cylindo product with the wanted configuration and choose the download feature in CMS to download the file. We recommend selecting a .GLB file, low poly with high-resolution material (2K textures).
- Open the pCon.planner PRO, import the wanted product with “File/Import” or open “Media Browser” and insert the file. Base unit for importing .GLB files should be “Meter”.
- After importing, select the product you want to create an article for, select the “Article” tab and chose “Create User Article”.
- After choosing “Create User Article” on the right side panel a new tab will be opened - “Article” where you add the wanted data for the product.
- After entering the data the “Product information” panel will look like the image below.
- You can also see the “Article explorer” to see all your articles and create an “Article list” with all articles in the scene.