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Arcvelle
Open Studio

Lesson 1 of 8 · 8 min

A tour of Arcvelle Studio

Find your way around Arcvelle Studio: the top bar, the six left-hand panels, the 2D plan, the 3D view and the properties panel.

In this lesson you will

  • Name the main areas of the Studio and say what each one is for
  • Switch between the 2D, Split and 3D views
  • Open a template and find it again in the Projects panel
  • Know where your work is saved and how to back it up

Arcvelle Studio runs entirely in your browser on a desktop or tablet. There is nothing to install and no account to create. This lesson walks you round the screen so that the rest of the course makes sense.

The top bar

  1. Open the Studio. If you have never used it on this browser, it opens a sample studio apartment so you have something to look at.
  2. On the left of the top bar is the project name. Click it and type to rename the project. Next to it you will see Saved or Saving…, which tells you the autosave has caught up.
  3. The two arrows are Undo and Redo. You can also press Ctrl+Z and Ctrl+Y (Cmd on a Mac).
  4. The button with the stacked-layers icon is the floor switcher. It shows the floor you are editing and lets you add more floors.
  5. In the middle are 2D, Split and 3D. Split shows the plan and the 3D view side by side, and every change appears in both.
  6. On the right are Materials, Export, Share and Render. You will use all four in the last two lessons.

The left-hand rail

The narrow strip on the left opens six panels. Click a button once to open its panel and again to close it.

  • Build: drawing tools, doors and windows, plan settings and plan tracing.
  • Furnish: the model library, with search and categories.
  • Smart layout: automatic furnishing by room and style.
  • Templates: ready-made rooms and homes to start from.
  • Views: saved camera positions for renders and tours.
  • Projects: every project saved in this browser, plus import.

The properties panel

The panel on the right changes with what you select. With nothing selected it shows the project's floor area, room count and item count, the lighting preset and a list of rooms. Click a wall, a door, a room or a piece of furniture and it shows the settings for that thing instead. Press Esc to clear the selection.

Try a template

  1. Open the Templates panel and pick any design, such as the Japandi living room.
  2. Switch to 3D and drag in the view to orbit round it.
  3. Open Projects. Both the sample and the template are listed under Saved in this browser.

Where your work lives

Projects save automatically in this browser on this device. There is no cloud copy yet. To keep a backup or move a project to another computer, use Export and download the Project file (JSON), then use Import .json in the Projects panel on the other machine.

Try it now

Open the Studio