What is a 3D floor plan, and how do you make one?
The term covers everything from a coloured plan with furniture outlines to a photo-real top-down render. Here is what people usually mean, what each kind is good for, and the quickest way to get one from the plan you already have.
Updated 8 Oct 2026 · by the Cortex Digital Hub team
Quick answer. A 3D floor plan is a top-down view of a home drawn with height: walls have thickness and shadow, rooms contain furniture at scale, and floors and materials are shown as they would look. It is the image on a brochure's unit page and on property portals. Unlike a perspective render it keeps the whole layout visible at once, and unlike a walkthrough it is a single still image. You make one by giving a 2D plan to a rendering tool or a visualisation studio; Cortex does it in about a minute, keeping your plan's walls, openings and labels, with the first render free.
Render a plan in 3D → Free · opens 2D to 3D Floor Plan
Step by step
- Get the 2D plan as an image: a brochure page exported as PNG, a CAD export or a flat, sharp photo of a print. Crop to the unit.
- Open 2D to 3D Floor Plan and upload it. Choose a style preset or add a reference photo of an interior you like.
- Render. Lumen takes 30 to 60 seconds; the result shows furnished rooms with the room names and sizes from your plan.
- Finish in the Studio for free: switch styles, recolour the sofa or floor, change the background, add a title, download at 1K, 2K or 4K.
Tips that save a second attempt
- The quality of a 3D floor plan is mostly the quality of the 2D plan underneath it. Sharp lines and legible labels in; clean render out.
- Judge a 3D plan by fidelity first and beauty second. A gorgeous image of a different layout is worse than useless on a listing.
- If you want one look across many units, settle the style on the first render and save it; apply it to every other plan.
- Print needs 4K; the web is happy at 2K; WhatsApp is fine at 1K. Rendering at 2K and upgrading the keeper to 4K is the cheapest path.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between a 3D floor plan and a 3D render?
A 3D floor plan is a render, but a specific kind: top-down, whole layout visible, roof removed. People usually say "3D render" for an eye-level perspective of one room or the building's exterior.
Can a 3D floor plan be made from a photo of a plan?
Yes, if the photo is sharp and square-on. For a skewed or shadowed photo, run it through Floor Plan Redraw first and send the clean 2D to the 3D tool.
Are 3D floor plans accurate?
They are as accurate as the plan they are built from, provided the tool preserves it. Cortex keeps walls, openings, shafts and the printed sizes; furniture scale is inferred from those sizes.
What does a 3D render cost?
The first render is free with an account. After that a 2K Lumen render is 25 credits (₹12.50 at ₹0.50 a credit), 4K is 55 and the premium Atlas engine is 60. Restyling, recolouring, backgrounds and titles in the Studio are free.
Is the plan uploaded?
For the AI floor-plan tools, yes: the image is sent to the rendering engine to produce the result and is not stored afterwards. The image, PDF and video tools on the site run entirely on your device.