Tools & global settings¶
Tools available across all steps include the 3D preview with visibility controls, colors and the parts list, plus the settings button at the top right.
Controls and icon help¶
All scrollable areas in the app hide their scrollbars. Use the mouse wheel, trackpad, touch or keyboard to scroll.
In narrow windows, the header and action bar stay pinned only when the entire visibility panel fits below them. Otherwise, both bars scroll with the content.
Keep the pointer over an icon briefly to read its tooltip. When navigating with the Tab key, help appears immediately on the focused control. Escape dismisses it. Help text follows the selected language.
Set dimensions with the shared number control: minus and plus change the value one step at a time, while the blue slider moves it within the permitted range. This also applies to Bomb Blast dimensions and angles. Greyed-out controls are unavailable in the current state.
The controls in the parameter panel are grouped by function. Click a group heading to expand its settings. Opening another group automatically closes the previous one. Your values and unapplied drafts are preserved.
Decimal fields in dimension dialogs and drawing tools accept a point or comma as the decimal separator. The complete input must be a valid number; extra characters or multiple separators are not accepted as a partial number. When drawing a free floor plan, an outline offset or an interior wall, first set the direction or offset side with the pointer, then enter the dimension and confirm with Enter. The direction is retained when you move into the number field. Lengths and offset distances must be greater than zero.
3D preview¶
The preview is always visible — it shows the model from every step. Rotating, panning and zooming work with the mouse (orbit control). In the top left corner of the preview sits the view cube: a click on one of its faces jumps to a fixed view — Right · Left · Back · Front · Top · Bottom.
With less viewport height, Archie remains at the bottom. Spacing and selection tiles in the main panel become up to ten percent more compact; text and drawing surfaces are not distorted. Longer content remains scrollable when space is insufficient.
Visibility¶
The swatch before X-Ray opens the background palette. Default keeps the existing dark background. Choosing a colour hides the environment and saves the choice in this browser.
In Visibility, click the light bulb itself to show or hide a group. A lit bulb means visible; a dark bulb means hidden. This affects the preview only.
The visibility panel keeps the same height when switching between Section, Storeys and Components. Long lists scroll horizontally within the row. The remaining space belongs to the 3D preview.
Display and sections¶
| Switch | What it does |
|---|---|
| X-Ray | Makes walls semi-transparent. Off by default; automatically on in Additions and fixtures, and in Extras while Bomb Blast is enabled. After the first manual click, your choice is preserved. |
| Environment | Show or hide the ground/sky environment (off by default). |
The light stays at the viewer's upper left. Rotating the building changes the shadows on its facades. X-Ray shows no shadows.
In Section, each icon shows all three origin axes; the corresponding section axis is yellow. X and Y cut vertically, Z horizontally. Minus, plus and the slider move the section position. The button beside X and Y changes the removed side. Cut faces stay open; ground and sky are not cut.
Groups and components¶
- Floors — Ground floor, Floor 1, Floor 2 … and Roof switchable separately. If your building has extensions, each extension gets a switch of its own ("Extension 1", "Extension 2" …); it switches the whole body with its windows, doors and its roof.
- Components — across floors, e.g. exterior walls, interior walls, slabs, openings, flooring, stairs, railings, balconies, terraces, columns, canopies.
A switch only appears if the component or the body exists in the model at all.
Extension roofs hang on two switches
The roof of an extension disappears both with its extension and with the Roof switch — hide "Roof" and all roofs are gone, those of the extensions included.
View only
Hiding doesn't change your model. At export you can decide separately whether only the visible parts are output — see Export.
Colors¶
Visibility → Colours opens the colour dialog inside the main panel while the 3D preview stays visible. Select the main building or an existing annex at the top. Walls, slabs, roof, components and openings show the available colour groups. Walls and slabs can be coloured together or individually. Openings distinguish windows, doors and passages with their present details. The roof-terrace floor and railing have separate colours; its continuous storey band uses the wall-band colour. Discard restores the initial colours; Apply saves the draft.
Clicking a colour point in the central colour dialog opens the palette in the existing Visibility panel on the left. Colours are chosen only there; component editors have no separate colour points. Tabs offer historic colours, standard colours and the manufacturers in alphabetical order: Anycubic, Bambu Lab, Creality, ELEGOO, eSUN, HATCHBOX, OVERTURE, Polymaker, Prusament and SUNLU. Each manufacturer combines solid normal PLA and matte PLA in colour order; PETG, gradients and effect filaments are excluded. You can filter the product line. Tooltips identify the filament, colour name, hex code, finish, region and colour source.
Small square swatches use the full panel width. The fixed panel height accommodates at least five rows; additional colours scroll inside the palette. The colour sample and hex field sit in the header to the right of X. A selection remains a hex colour in the existing component-colour draft; it does not select a slicer filament, printer profile or AMS slot. Normal and matte differ in the swatch appearance. Automatic decoration colours contrast with the wall colour, for example grey on white walls; explicitly selected detail colours are preserved.
Components on the selected level¶
The component list on the right shows components located on, or passing through, the selected level. It does so regardless of the current placement tool. A chimney starting on the ground floor therefore remains selectable on the floors above.
On the Roof tab, the list includes features on the entire roof landscape, including bays and extensions. Click an entry or its dimension to open the appropriate editor and highlight the component. Editing a chimney that passes through the current level keeps you on that level; you are editing the same chimney.
Groups of three or more components of the same type can be collapsed. Choose the level in the main panel on the left; the list has no extra floor accordion. Clicking Copy between floors activates the yellow-outlined icon and reveals the checkboxes. Select all components, a group or individual entries. The current floor is always the source. Below the list, choose the destination under Copy selected to, then confirm Copy now. Turning the mode off hides the checkboxes and clears the copy selection.
If a source stair is selected and the destination already contains stairs, the app asks before replacing them. Without a selected source stair, stairs on the destination floor are retained.
Using the floor plan¶
On first opening, the view fits the entire displayed plan with space around it. Use the mouse wheel to zoom in or far out; hold the wheel and drag to pan. Your view is retained when switching floors or tools. The Fit view button shows everything again at any time.
The roof view shows the main roof, bay roofs and extension roofs with ridges, hips, valleys and changes in roof pitch. Existing chimneys, dormers and skylights can be clicked directly, even when another component type is selected for placement. A single hit opens the appropriate editor immediately; overlapping components open a small selection list at the click position.
A loading message appears while roof surfaces are calculated. If calculation fails, PrintHaus displays the error; new features cannot be placed on an incomplete roof view.
Parameters stays open as a fixed heading. The smaller subgroups can be collapsed. Notes appear at the bottom inside the parameter panel and start expanded; help is at the upper right.
Undo / Redo¶
Top right in the main panel are two icon buttons, Undo and Redo. The keyboard shortcuts also work:
| Action | Shortcut |
|---|---|
| Undo | ⌘ Z (Mac) · Ctrl + Z (Windows) |
| Redo | ⌘ ⇧ Z (Mac) · Ctrl + ⇧ + Z (Windows) |
The native undo in text fields is unaffected.
Cascade warning
If you change something fundamental — floor-plan shape, dimensions, mirroring, a floor or the roof shape — some placed components may no longer fit afterwards. PrintHaus then shows a warning listing the affected components ("… will be deleted"). You confirm with "Change anyway" or cancel with "Cancel".
Settings¶
With the add-on enabled, STEP is the sixth separate print target beside STL. Select it explicitly for a separate CAD export. Normal print targets create no extra STEP files; there is no additional STEP switch.
Shell-only construction omits stair flights and intermediate slabs. The final slab of a walkable flat roof retains the opening of the uppermost stored stair and its selected floor-opening railing.
On your first signed-in visit, first choose 3D printing or Scene export under Print export settings. For printing, explicitly choose a printer or manual build volume, print target, construction, doors and glazing. Only the 0.4 mm nozzle and 0.20 mm layer height are prefilled. Scene export asks only for quality. Apply saves the completed setup to your account. Missing choices or an attempt to close show “Please complete the print export settings.”. After a successful save, later sign-ins do not repeat setup; you can still change Settings. Already configured accounts keep their preferences.
The settings header contains the compact language selector, project loading, app version and feedback. Print options share the print export panel: two construction icons and two door icons in the first row, then two glazing icons and two colour icons. All eight tiles are square with labels below. Selection adds only a yellow outline. Cancel or Apply remains accessible at the bottom.
The MCP interface appears directly below STEP with Enabled or Not enabled. Below quotas and code redemption, Download plugin for AI chatbots spans the full width. Nickname (optional) is below the email address. Saving shows the name with a pencil for editing; saving an empty name removes it. The app and Archie work normally without a nickname. Archie uses it for greetings; recognised account details are redacted before permanent chat logging.
Every new account receives one download for private use and access to the AI interface after registration. This also applies to registration with Google or Apple. The welcome download is a total allowance and does not refill periodically. STEP requires a separate entitlement.
Save projects using the arrow icon above the 3D preview. Saving and loading require sign-in. Feedback can include selected attachments; the model attachment is off initially. Check images for personal information before sending.
Reset (red button) sits on the left of that same button row above the 3D preview: after a confirmation it discards all inputs and starts over at "Floors". From left to right the row reads Reset · Save · Back · Next.
Technical terms
Eaves, ridge, verge and the like are explained in the Glossary.
Registration and project backups¶
Every new account receives one download for private use and access to the AI interface after registration. This also applies to registration with Google or Apple. The welcome download is a total allowance and does not refill periodically. STEP requires a separate entitlement.
You can save your design as model.json at any time – even while you are building. Your print download stays available. Later, open Settings → Load project (model.json) to load the file and continue working.
Legal information¶
Legal notice and privacy links are stacked beside the YouTube icon at the bottom left. Clicking opens the text inside the app. Both panels use the same dimensions as the facade editor. Long text scrolls within the panel; the title and close button remain visible. Close it with the cross or Escape key. Legal content is available in German and English.
Scale calculator¶
Measurement units¶
Choose metric measurements or feet/inches in Settings. Building controls then use whole inches; switching units preserves existing dimensions exactly. Rounded displays are marked =. Small print dimensions use inch fractions. The scale calculator shows real dimensions in feet/inches and model dimensions in inches. At 1:100, 8 feet 4 inches equals exactly 1 inch on the model. The 1:n ratio stays unchanged; the calculator changes neither the building nor its export scale.
An open dimension dialog keeps the unit shown when it opened. Confirming a rounded display without editing it preserves the exact stored dimension.
MCP interface¶
Open your account settings and choose “Download plugin for AI chatbots”. Give the ZIP file to a chatbot that supports MCP connections and custom plugins, and ask it to install and connect PrintHaus. Sign in with your account in the PrintHaus login window and approve the connection.
You can then give the chatbot photos, a plan or your description. Ask it to create a building model using PrintHaus components and show you the preview. It uses your saved settings for shell, interior, printer and other print options.
Choose a capable AI model with image understanding and reliable tool use. The quality of the model plays a major part in how well it understands your reference and turns it into a high-quality building model.
With browser access, the chatbot opens the finished model directly in PrintHaus’s Export step and checks that it has loaded completely. You can review your building there at your own pace and start the download yourself. For later changes, the AI can pick up your last app-saved draft.
Remote MCP: https://printhaus.app/mcp
The AI reuses an existing PrintHaus sign-in. Otherwise it opens sign-in with Google, Apple or email. Google and Apple users do not need a separate PrintHaus password; sign-in takes place directly with the provider. The pending MCP connection then continues. Saved print settings are read from your account without asking again.
The AI receives a catalogue of recognized source locations and keyboard declarations through app_map and can load section details. coverage states the recognition limits; the catalogue does not establish a complete UI, interaction graph or set of keyboard bindings. The map distinguishes API operations, browser-only controls and states not yet checked; it does not expose source code. project_schema describes project fields. A successful call confirms the connection; installing a plugin alone does not.
The technical API reference is available through api_documentation and /api/v1/api-documentation. It describes methods, parameters, return values, permissions, errors and workflow examples. Select a method with method, search with query, or request the complete reference with view="full". Technical schemas come from the actual interface definitions; the app map adds product usage knowledge. Searches with no matches are reported explicitly. Internal source code is not exposed.
If the account or sign-in check is temporarily unavailable, PrintHaus reports a service error (503). This does not mean you have been signed out or the connection has been revoked. Keep the existing connection and retry the same operation after the service recovers. During OAuth token exchange, the error is temporarily_unavailable. Credentials confirmed to be invalid are still rejected.
Verified solutions¶
After configure_build, the AI first confirms storeys with prepare_tab 01, floor plan with 02 and roof with prepare_building 03. The base contains only geschosse, grundriss, dach and optional kommunwaende, including annex base shapes. A refused roof can first return printhaus-base-plan-v1 with solutions_available or fixed_requirements_conflict. Only native_candidate_verified identifies a checked alternative; this proof covers naked original-size base geometry, excluding print targets, later facade projections/components, textures and saved output.
The AI chooses one complete package against your reference within fixed wishes. It selects through prepare_building using the unchanged selection_receipt with the SAME original base project, configuration_receipt, 02 tab_receipt and fixed_paths. Account settings, catalogues, engine, connection, project and fixed paths remain bound. solution_selected supplies only the exact amended project, without saving or geometry_receipt. Inputs are never silently changed; values or partial edits are never reconstructed or combined.
The selected base is submitted to prepare_building again without selection_receipt. Changed storeys or floor plan require renewing 01/02 first; otherwise the matching 02 receipt is retained. Only base_geometry_checked with geometry_receipt confirms 03 and permits later components, dormer_placement and check_components. The AI then shows the original base PNG and continues without an approval question, applying objections before dependent work. Afterwards, check_components checks all selected later options and configured print targets. Texture relief and saved files remain checks in the output workflow.
Native storey data appears under floors in prepare_tab 02 and prepare_building, and under actual_floors in dormer_placement without group_layout. interior_wall_segments describes the actual interior segments, column_carriers the column carriers and their edges, and rooms the detected rooms with their key, label point, name and area. Coordinates and lengths are metres; flaeche is square metres, and name/anchor may be null. Interior indices start at zero; ground-floor main-list walls precede active annex walls. These output references are not new input fields and do not certify free placement regions. Empty lists cover only the submitted stage: later interior walls and carriers are absent from base preparation. A missing or failed result is not an evaluated empty result. A room calculation failure returns 503 room_geometry_unavailable with preserve_project=true, without successful geometry or a new preparation receipt. Preserve the complete project and resolve the reported calculation cause.
Glazing is project-wide through extras.fenster_variante: mono includes panes; ohne_scheiben omits them. If extras or that value is absent, the native model uses ohne_scheiben. Initial account setup still requires an explicit glazing choice. configure_build applies the binding saved account settings; the native default does not replace that selection.
An early roof_eave_profile_space contradiction requires native revalidation of the necessary condition with every permitted base root explicitly fixed, including kommunwaende even when empty. A fixed overhang alone or a rejected proposal does not prove an impossible task. Search failures and operational/CAD/render failures are not verified alternatives. For stale, changed or invalid receipts, the AI follows the specific returned stage recovery, preserving the complete draft and confirmed answers without a generic retry loop.
Without placement_paths: check_components constructs the complete draft natively for preview and every configured print target. construction_verified confirms the unchanged draft. solutions_available offers complete change packages; only native_candidate_verified identifies a construction-verified alternative. The AI chooses against your reference within your fixed requirements.
For new or changed ordinary exterior openings in the main building, placement_paths can limit the check to their unchanged original paths. The complete draft remains as neighbour context. placement_checks_passed confirms only the named local checks; placement_check_incomplete is not a pass. Omit placement_paths for a complete construction decision or alternatives.
Planning stops at the first search level with completely constructed packages. For each distinct initial candidate successful at that level, it returns at most one complete follow-up chain. search_scope states this boundary; unexplored variants and deeper levels are not classified as impossible.
To select, it submits the unchanged selection_receipt with the SAME original project, geometry_receipt and fixed_paths. solution_selected returns the exact selected project. Individual values are not reconstructed. A changed base is prepared again, followed by saving, preview and export. Construction verification alone certifies neither texture relief nor a finished printer file.
Different print targets retain one common design with explicit _export.target_variants. Each variant identifies target_id, the complete configured target and exact edits before construction. start_job receives this identifier with the matching scale and model type. Doors, glazing or colours are never silently overridden at export. A saved target-specific file identifies the actual target used; fixed requirements remain binding.
fixed_requirements_conflict identifies the concrete rule contradiction and the fixed requirement that must be relaxed. The AI asks only about that decision. Technical interruptions retain their cause and job identifier; they do not mean that construction is impossible. Only an explicitly offered resume_available continuation is used with its unchanged arguments. Running jobs are not replaced.
The central AI instruction permits ordinary building models and their public parameters. Without the operator's explicit authorization, the AI must not reconstruct or copy the PrintHaus software or its internal algorithms. This guidance is not guaranteed copy protection. The server separately checks access rights and request limits.
Open the calculated result¶
With browser access, the chatbot opens the finished model directly in PrintHaus’s Export step and checks that it has loaded completely. You can review your building there at your own pace and start the download yourself. For later changes, the AI can pick up your last app-saved draft.
You can choose your preferred colour mode at any time under Settings → Print export settings → Colours, independently of the open model and model type. Your choice stays saved. BM supports multicolour printed parts; HM and MM still use one colour per printed part.
Question-mark help links sit at the right edge of their card or panel, with the usual inner spacing. In the window and door editors, help sits at the right of the full dialog header.
Wait information before an MCP response¶
An HTTP rejection can occur before the MCP response. A request-rate limit response contains the actual numeric retry_after_seconds; the existing Retry-After header is retained. Wait at least that interval, keep accepted job identifiers and retry only the rejected request. A request-rate limit does not prove insufficient RAM or a CAD bottleneck.
Account and licence has its help control at the top right. Both settings cards share a bottom edge. The Admin level and console use the protected account role. Nickname remains optional.
Archie: on-device dictation¶
The microphone beside Archie’s input appears when the browser supports on-device speech recognition for the selected German or English chat language. If the language pack is missing, clicking the microphone downloads it through the browser. After “Language pack ready”, another click starts dictation. Click again to stop recording. The browser transcribes on the device; there is no cloud fallback. Recognised text stays in the input for review and editing and reaches Archie only after you click “Send”. Text entry remains available without support, after denied microphone access, or if the pack download fails.
Reconstructing buildings from references¶
The chatbot records the actual task, image observations, known dimensions or explicitly labelled estimates, and important proportions. It considers relevant component groups, including colours, textures and details. It asks targeted questions about unresolved choices, such as a foundation and, where applicable, basement windows, while reusing previous answers. A limited edit preserves unrelated components.
The interface binds this information to the task with configure_build and checks before start_job that recorded features map to actual model fields and fixed requirements match. After job_result, the AI compares the original previews with the reference and uses review_reconstruction to report matches, differences and unseen areas for the exact model and images. This is the chatbot’s assessment, not independent server image recognition. A completed calculation alone does not prove reference fidelity. The light view remains the default; you start downloads in the app.