Drawing Openings
Openings are architectural elements — windows, doors, gates, and barriers — that you can place on your plan for visual reference. Unlike obstacles or walls, openings do not affect camera field of view calculations; they are purely decorative drawing aids rendered in a top-down technical-drawing style. Use them to give clients a realistic impression of the site layout and to make camera coverage diagrams easier to read.
When to use this
- When you want to show a client where doors, windows, or gates are located relative to camera positions
- When creating a detailed floor-plan-style design that includes architectural context
- When you need to illustrate access points (doors, gates) and their swing direction for security planning
- When designing entrances or perimeter barriers and want visual markers on the plan
- When you want to enrich a PDF export or report with a more complete picture of the site
Adding an opening
To add an opening object, click Draw → Opening in the left toolbar.
A door object is placed at the center of the current view by default. The object is selected immediately and its mini toolbar appears at the top of the canvas, where you can configure it.
Note: The initial size of the opening is automatically scaled to match the project's current pixels-per-meter setting, so the object appears at a realistic, interactable size regardless of how much you have zoomed in or out.
Opening types
Every opening object has a type that controls how it is drawn. You can change the type at any time in the mini toolbar without losing the object's position or rotation.
| Type | Appearance | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| Window | Rectangular frame with two glass panes rendered inside the wall thickness | Interior and exterior windows |
| Door | Rectangular door leaf with a quarter-circle swing arc indicating the sweep area | Single-leaf doors |
| Gate | Two door leaves opening from the center with corresponding swing arcs | Double gates or wide entrances |
| Barrier / Bollards | A row of bollards or a horizontal barrier bar | Vehicle access control, car park barriers |
Configuring an opening
After placing or selecting an opening, its mini toolbar appears at the top of the canvas. The toolbar contains the following controls:
- Type selector – Switch between Window, Door, Gate, and Barrier / Bollards
- Opening angle (Door and Gate only) – Adjusts how far the door or gate leaf is shown open, from 0 ° (closed) to 90 °
- Hinge side (Door only) – Toggles between a left-hand and right-hand hinge. The swing arc moves to the selected side accordingly
- Stroke color – Changes the outline and frame color of the element
- Fill color – Changes the fill color of the glazing area (Window) or door leaf (Door, Gate)
- Snap to walls – Enables or disables automatic wall snapping for this individual object (see Snapping to walls below)
Resizing and rotating
Opening objects use the same transformer anchors as obstacles and other resizable elements:
- Click on an opening to select it — a set of resize handles and a rotation handle appear around the object
- Drag a corner or edge handle to resize the opening. The width and thickness scale proportionally or independently depending on which handle you drag
- Drag the rotation handle (the small circle above the object) to rotate the opening to any angle
Changes to width and thickness are stored in real-world meters relative to the project scale, so the object keeps its correct proportions if you re-scale the project later.
Snapping to walls
When Snap to walls is enabled in the mini toolbar, the opening snaps to the nearest wall when you release it after dragging. A visual indicator appears while you drag to show where the object will land:
- A dashed blue line extends from the object's snap point to the nearest wall
- A blue dot marks the exact position on the wall where the object will snap
The snap point varies by type to reflect how each element physically relates to a wall:
- Window – snaps by its centerline (the midpoint of the frame thickness), so the frame sits centred inside the wall thickness
- Door / Gate – snaps by its base edge (the hinge line), so the door leaf sits flush with the wall face
The snap preserves the orientation you have chosen. For example, if you rotate a door so it opens inward and then drag it close to a wall, it will snap with the swing arc facing inward — it will not flip to the outside automatically.
Tip: Snap to walls is a per-object setting. You can have some openings snapping while others are positioned freely.
Selecting openings
Openings are selected like any other object on the canvas:
- Click on an opening to select it and show the mini toolbar
- Drag to move the selected opening to a new position
- Multi-select by holding Shift or entering Selection Mode — openings participate in multi-selection and can be moved as a group together with cameras, devices, and other objects
Tips
- Use Snap to walls to position openings precisely without manual alignment — the dashed preview line shows the snap target before you release
- If an opening does not snap after rotating it, make sure the element center is within approximately 100 px of the wall on screen; you may need to zoom in or drag it slightly closer
- Change the hinge side of a door before snapping to make sure the swing arc ends up on the correct side of the wall
- The opening angle slider lets you show a door partially open to indicate a typical operating state rather than fully open or fully closed
- Because openings do not block camera FOV, you can overlap them with walls and cameras freely without affecting coverage calculations
- Use Ctrl+C / Ctrl+V to duplicate an opening and place identical copies along a wall, then adjust the position of each copy