Zircon3D 3.0 introduces new capabilities for room-level visualization, electrical and energy-system modeling, dashboard monitoring, object placement, and Designer productivity.

This release significantly expands what can be represented inside a Zircon3D project, from room-specific sensor conditions and historical trends to electrical routing, rooftop solar equipment, custom room geometry, and embedded 3D building views.

New Features

Data-Driven Room Box Views

Room Box View can represent values such as occupancy, temperature, humidity, availability, alarms, or other room-level states by changing a room’s color based on incoming data. You can also disable Box View for individual rooms, such as hallways or utility areas, to keep the visualization focused.

At the building level, Room Box View provides a quick visual overview of conditions across multiple floors, using color rules to highlight occupancy, temperature, alarms, or other operational states. This makes it useful for offices, facilities, and other larger commercial environments.

To use it: Create a Room Box View in Layers and configure its color rules. In Edit Building, select a room and drag a sensor into Data Links. Then open Preview and select the Room Box View from the visualization dropdown in the status bar.

Tip: In View Settings, you can adjust the Room Box Opacity or hide the Room Box card for a cleaner view.

Room-Level Heatmaps

Enable Room Heatmap for an individual room to generate a heatmap using only the sensors assigned to that room, keeping its visualization independent from the surrounding floor-level heatmap.

To enable it: In Edit Building, select a room, then turn on Room Heatmap in the Properties panel.

Electrical Routing

Create visual electrical connections between equipment directly inside the 3D building model. Routing can connect equipment on the same floor, across multiple floors, or between indoor and rooftop equipment. Assign electrical roles to objects to make them available for routing.

This provides a foundation for visualizing electrical infrastructure such as panels, meters, outlets, solar equipment, batteries, EV chargers, and other connected systems.

To use it: In Edit Routing, click Add Path, select one port, then select another port to create the connection.

Ground-Level Object Placement

Place supported equipment and other objects directly at ground level around the building. This makes it possible to model exterior infrastructure and equipment that does not belong to a specific floor, expanding Zircon3D beyond the building interior.

To use it: In Edit Building, click Add and select Add Ground. A ground area is created based on the site view; click the Ground label to adjust its size.

Rooftop Equipment Placement

Mount supported objects directly onto roof surfaces.

This is particularly useful for equipment such as solar panels and other rooftop systems, allowing them to become part of the same interactive building model as indoor equipment.

Custom-Sized Solar Arrays

Use the new PV Array object to quickly create configurable solar panel installations. You can customize the number of rows and columns, panel dimensions, horizontal and vertical spacing, and panel and frame materials, making it easier to create solar layouts that better match real installations without placing each panel manually.

To use it: In the Model Library, find Solar PV Array under Energy & Electrical, then drag it onto the roof or ground. Use the Properties panel to customize its layout, dimensions, materials, and colors.

Custom Room Shapes

Use Modify shape to create more accurate room geometry by extending existing rooms or cutting away sections for irregular floorplans, alcoves, recesses, and other non-rectangular spaces. Hold Shift while drawing to create edges at any angle instead of being limited to aligned directions.

To use it: In Edit Building, select the room, then click Modify shape in the Properties panel. Click an existing edge or corner to start, then add points to define the new outline. Draw outside the room to extend it, or inside the room to cut away a section. Hold Shift while drawing to create edges at any angle.

Copy Rooms and Objects

Create rooms and objects more efficiently with new copy and paste workflows. Hold Ctrl to select multiple rooms or objects, then keep holding Ctrl while dragging to duplicate the entire selection. You can also use Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V to copy and paste. This is especially useful for repeated rooms, equipment layouts, furniture arrangements, and other similar building structures.

Dashboard Enhancements

Dashboards receive several major improvements in v3.0, with new visualization options and faster editing workflows:

• View Profile Tile – Add a saved 3D building view directly to a dashboard, including its configured camera position and visualization state.
• History Line Chart – Display historical sensor data over a selected period and compare multiple properties in the same chart.
• Gauge Thresholds – Configure gauge ranges with Yellow and Red thresholds to highlight warning and critical values.
• Custom Property Icons – Choose the icon, color, and position for Property tiles, with additional icons for energy and electrical monitoring.
• Quick Duplication – Hold Ctrl while dragging a dashboard tile to duplicate it together with its existing settings.

Improved Touch Controls

Improved touch navigation on tablets and phones. Use one finger to rotate the floorplan or adjust the view up and down, pinch with two fingers to zoom in and out, and move two fingers in the same direction to pan the view.

Designer Help Menu

Access Designer assistance directly from Help in the bottom status bar.
The Help menu provides convenient access to: Editing hints, Keyboard shortcuts, Official documentation, Video tutorials

Improvements

v3.0 includes a range of usability and visual improvements across Zircon3D. View Settings now provide more control over the 3D scene, including shadow quality, floor reflections, Room Box opacity, and geometry outlines, helping balance visual quality, clarity, and rendering performance across different devices and project types. New Show Ports and Show Routing options make it easier to control electrical routing overlays, with these settings also supported in saved View Profiles.

The Model Library has been reorganized into clearer categories, while device lists are now more room-aware, automatically filtering and updating based on room and device selection. Stair selection has also been refined for easier editing, and new quick-access rotation controls make it easier to rotate selected rooms and objects without relying only on the on-screen position helper. Zircon3D project import and export is now supported, making it easier to transfer projects between Zircon3D applications.

Bug Fixes

Zircon3D 3.0 also includes a range of stability fixes and smaller corrections across the Viewer and Designer. These include fixes related to editing workflows, object interaction, visualization, dashboard behavior, and general UI consistency.

Learn how Zircon3D maps real-time IoT sensor data to interactive 3D models, heatmaps, dashboards, and digital twin views through Home Assistant.

Collecting IoT sensor data is usually not the hardest part of an IoT project.

Platforms such as Home Assistant, MQTT brokers, building management systems, gateways, and industrial controllers can already collect temperature, humidity, air quality, occupancy, energy, equipment status, and other measurements.

The more difficult question is:

How can we show real-time IoT sensor data in its actual physical location inside a 3D model?

A traditional IoT dashboard presents values through cards, charts, tables, and gauges. These are useful, but they often remove the spatial context of the data. A value may tell you that one sensor reports a high temperature, but it does not immediately show where that sensor is located, which room is affected, or what equipment is nearby.

A 3D IoT visualization adds this missing spatial context.

Instead of looking at an isolated list of sensor values, users can see the building, room, greenhouse, office, facility, or equipment layout and understand what is happening in the real environment.

This is the type of problem Zircon3D is designed to solve.

Zircon3D combines an interactive 3D environment with real-time IoT sensor data, heatmaps, dashboards, and device controls

What Is a 3D IoT Digital Twin?

The term “digital twin” can describe several different types of systems.

At the most advanced level, a digital twin may include engineering simulation, predictive models, structural analysis, physics calculations, maintenance planning, and lifecycle management.

However, many IoT projects have a more practical objective:

• Display a building or facility as an interactive 3D model.
• Place sensors and connected devices in their real locations.
• Show live values and device states.
• Highlight environmental conditions with heatmaps.
• Review historical changes.
• Control supported devices from the same interface.

This can be described as a visual or operational digital twin.

Its purpose is not to simulate every physical process. Its purpose is to create a live spatial view of the real environment so that operators can understand conditions more quickly.

Zircon3D focuses on this visualization layer.

The Traditional Way: Building a Custom 3D IoT Application

A developer building a 3D IoT visualization from scratch may consider a technology stack such as:

• Blender for creating the 3D model.
• glTF or GLB for exporting the model.
• Three.js, Babylon.js, or Unity for rendering.
• MQTT or WebSocket for real-time communication.
• A backend service for authentication and device mapping.
• A database for current and historical sensor values.
• Custom shaders, labels, charts, and user-interface components.
• Custom code to associate sensor IDs with objects in the 3D scene.

This approach offers complete control, but it can quickly become a large software-development project.

Rendering a model is only the beginning. The application must also manage camera controls, model optimization, device synchronization, data mapping, sensor history, user permissions, mobile performance, dashboards, error handling, and deployment.

For a research project or highly specialized industrial application, custom development may be appropriate. For a smart home, greenhouse, office, school, laboratory, farm, or small facility, building all of these components from the beginning may not be necessary.

Zircon3D provides these capabilities as a ready-to-use visualization platform.

Creating the 3D Environment

Zircon3D includes a visual designer for creating buildings, floors, walls, rooms, doors, windows, furniture, and other objects.

Users do not need to create the entire building in Blender or write code to display it. The floorplan can be created directly in the Zircon3D Designer.

For specialized assets, users can also upload their own .glb models. This makes it possible to add custom equipment, machinery, furniture, greenhouse components, facility assets, or other objects that are not available in the standard model library.

Simple resizable objects can also be used as equipment blocks, platforms, partitions, cabinets, tables, storage areas, or placeholders.

This provides two ways to build a scene:

1. Create the building and its rooms directly in Zircon3D.
2. Add custom GLB models for specialized equipment or visual details.

How Sensor Data Is Mapped to the 3D Model

One of the most important questions in a digital twin project is how to associate a sensor with the correct location or object.

In a custom Three.js or Unity application, this normally requires manually assigning identifiers to meshes or scene objects and then writing code that updates those objects when new data arrives.

Zircon3D uses a visual mapping workflow instead.

After devices and entities are imported from Home Assistant, a user can position a monitored device at its real location inside the 3D floorplan. Its entities can then be used by different visualization components.

For example, a temperature sensor can be:

• Positioned in the room where it is installed.
• Displayed through a floating information card.
• Included in a temperature heatmap.
• Added to a dashboard.
• Included in a saved monitoring view.
• Used during historical heatmap replay.

The same approach can be used for humidity, air quality, carbon dioxide, energy, occupancy, battery level, equipment state, and other numeric or status-based entities.

This means the relationship between the physical world and the digital model is created visually rather than through custom mesh scripting.

Sensors and Home Assistant entities can be positioned visually at their real locations inside the 3D floorplan.

Handling Real-Time IoT Sensor Data

Zircon3D currently integrates with Home Assistant, which acts as the IoT integration and device-management layer.

Home Assistant collects data from connected devices and exposes them as devices and entities. Zircon3D imports those entities and receives their state changes through a local proxy service.

When a value changes in Home Assistant, the corresponding Zircon3D visualization can update automatically.

These updates can appear in several forms:

• A new numeric value on a floating sensor card.
• A change in a device’s on/off state.
• A status indicator showing that a door, window, or lock is open.
• A changing color or pattern in a heatmap.
• An updated dashboard gauge, value card, or chart.
• A control card reflecting the current state of a device.

The visualization therefore remains connected to the real environment rather than becoming a static 3D rendering.

Can Zircon3D Visualize MQTT Sensor Data?

Zircon3D does not currently require users to connect it directly to every individual IoT protocol.

Instead, Home Assistant provides the integration layer.

When an MQTT sensor is configured in Home Assistant and exposed as an entity, Zircon3D can use that entity in the same way as other Home Assistant data.

A typical data flow can therefore look like this:

IoT sensor → MQTT broker → Home Assistant → Zircon3D

This separation keeps the responsibilities clear:

• The device platform or MQTT broker transports the sensor data.
• Home Assistant manages integrations, entities, and device states.
• Zircon3D provides the interactive 3D visualization.

Users do not need to create a separate MQTT-to-Three.js application simply to place live sensor values inside a building model.

More Than Sensor Labels: Spatial Heatmaps

Displaying a value above a sensor is useful, but it still represents only one measurement point.

Heatmaps provide a broader understanding of how conditions change across a space.

Zircon3D can map multiple sensors into a heatmap layer and display the estimated distribution of a quantity across the floorplan.

Common examples include:

• Temperature distribution across rooms.
• Humidity differences inside a greenhouse.
• Carbon-dioxide levels in classrooms or offices.
• Air-quality conditions across a facility.
• Wi-Fi signal strength.
• Custom numeric sensor measurements.

This helps answer questions that are difficult to understand from a table:

• Which part of the building is becoming too warm?
• Is humidity concentrated in one greenhouse zone?
• Are environmental conditions consistent between rooms?
• Which area changes first when the HVAC system starts?
• Where are additional sensors needed?

Heatmap replay can also be used to examine how conditions changed over a selected period, adding a time dimension to the 3D IoT visualization.

Spatial heatmaps make it easier to understand how temperature, humidity, air quality, and other measurements vary across the environment.

Combining 3D Visualization with IoT Dashboards

Not every value is best represented directly on the model.

A good monitoring interface combines spatial visualization with conventional dashboard components.

Zircon3D allows dashboards to be displayed together with the 3D scene. A monitoring view can therefore include:

• The interactive building model.
• Floating sensor values.
• Environmental heatmaps.
• Gauges and value cards.
• Historical charts.
• Device status indicators.
• Control cards.
• Saved camera and display settings.

The 3D model answers where something is happening, while the dashboard provides detailed values and trends.

The 3D model explains where an event is happening, while dashboard cards provide detailed values and trends.

Monitoring and Controlling Connected Devices

A digital twin does not have to be view-only.

Zircon3D supports control cards for compatible Home Assistant entities, including lights, switches, covers, climate devices, locks, and fans.

A user can select a device in its physical location and access the relevant controls. Depending on the device, this may include:

• Turning a light or switch on and off.
• Adjusting light brightness or color.
• Opening or closing a cover.
• Changing a thermostat setting.
• Controlling a fan.
• Locking or unlocking a supported lock entity.

Commands are sent through Home Assistant rather than directly from Zircon3D to the physical device.

This allows Zircon3D to remain a visualization and interaction layer while Home Assistant continues to manage device communication and automation.

Supported Home Assistant devices can be monitored and controlled from their physical locations in the 3D model.

Local-First IoT Data and Privacy

Privacy is an important consideration for smart buildings and digital twins.

When Zircon3D is installed through the Home Assistant add-on or Docker service, communication with Home Assistant occurs locally.

Sensor readings, device states, and locally stored monitoring history remain on the user’s own system. Zircon3D Cloud is used for account and license management rather than storing live Home Assistant monitoring data.

This local-first architecture can be useful for:

• Private homes.
• Schools and educational projects.
• Small businesses.
• Farms and greenhouses.
• Laboratories.
• Facilities with sensitive operational data.
• Installations with limited internet connectivity.

The visualization can continue to operate as part of the local environment without sending every sensor update to an external IoT visualization service.

What Zircon3D Is and What It Is Not

Zircon3D is best suited to spatial monitoring and interaction.

It can show where sensors and devices are located, visualize their current values, present environmental heatmaps, display historical information, and provide supported device controls.

It is not intended to replace specialized engineering tools for:

• Finite-element analysis.
• Structural deformation simulation.
• Computational fluid dynamics.
• Mechanical stress analysis.
• Physics-based equipment simulation.
• Predictive engineering models.

For a digital twin that must simulate how pressure physically deforms a machine component, specialized engineering software or a custom application may still be required.

For a digital twin that needs to show the current pressure, temperature, position, alarm state, or operating condition of equipment inside a building or facility, Zircon3D can provide the visualization layer without requiring a new application to be developed from scratch.

A Practical Workflow for Building a 3D IoT Visualization

A basic Zircon3D project can follow this process:

1. Connect sensors to Home Assistant

Configure the IoT devices and confirm that their values appear as Home Assistant entities.

2. Create the building or facility layout

Use Zircon3D Designer to create floors, rooms, walls, doors, windows, and important physical areas.

3. Add equipment and custom models

Use built-in objects, resizable simple objects, or uploaded GLB models to represent important equipment and assets.

4. Position monitored devices

Place each sensor or device at the location that corresponds to its installation in the real environment.

5. Map the sensor data

Display the entities through floating cards, dashboards, heatmap layers, status indicators, or saved monitoring views.

6. Create operational views

Save different camera positions and visualization settings for purposes such as environmental monitoring, security, energy, equipment status, or executive overview.

7. Display the visualization

Open Zircon3D directly or embed a saved view inside a Home Assistant dashboard.

This process creates a practical digital twin without requiring users to build their own 3D engine, WebSocket service, device-mapping database, and visualization interface.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need Three.js or Unity to build a 3D IoT dashboard?

Not necessarily. These tools are useful for completely custom applications, but Zircon3D provides a ready-made 3D visualization environment for buildings, rooms, sensors, and Home Assistant entities.

Can I use a model created in Blender?

Yes. Custom assets can be exported from Blender in GLB format and uploaded to Zircon3D. The building layout can also be created directly with the Zircon3D Designer.

How do I connect a sensor to a specific location?

Import the sensor entity from Home Assistant, mount the monitored device in the 3D floorplan, and position it at the corresponding physical location. Its values can then be shown through cards, heatmaps, dashboards, and monitoring views.

Does Zircon3D support real-time sensor updates?

Yes. Changes received from Home Assistant can automatically update the 3D view, sensor cards, dashboards, and heatmaps.

Can it visualize MQTT data?

Yes, when the MQTT sensor or device is configured as an entity in Home Assistant. Zircon3D uses the entity exposed by Home Assistant rather than connecting separately to the MQTT broker.

Does it require a cloud IoT platform?

No external cloud IoT platform is required for Home Assistant monitoring. The Zircon3D proxy can run locally as a Home Assistant add-on or Docker service, and monitoring data stays within the local environment.

Is Zircon3D only for smart homes?

No. The same approach can be used for greenhouses, farms, offices, schools, laboratories, workshops, equipment rooms, and small or medium-sized facilities.

A More Accessible Approach to 3D IoT Visualization

Building a digital twin no longer has to begin with selecting a game engine and creating an entire custom software stack.

When the objective is to visualize real-time sensor data in its physical context, Zircon3D provides a more direct approach:

• Create an interactive 3D building model.
• Position sensors and devices in their real locations.
• Connect live Home Assistant entities.
• Display values, states, dashboards, and heatmaps.
• Review historical environmental changes.
• Control supported devices.
• Keep monitoring data local.

The result is a practical 3D IoT visualization that connects the digital model with the real environment while reducing the development work normally required.

Explore Zircon3D, read the documentation, or join the Zircon3D community to learn more.

Update – Zircon3D 3.0 Released

Zircon3D 3.0 is now available, delivering several items previously listed on this roadmap, including Room-Level Heatmaps, Room Box View, Electrical Routing, Solar Arrays, dashboard enhancements, improved touch controls, and more.

See the full Zircon3D 3.0 release announcement for details.

What’s Next

AI Generate floor models from drawings

AI-assisted creation of Zircon3D building models from floor plans, drawings, images, or other existing building information.

AI assistant

Using AI to understand the current building, devices, and monitoring data and assist with common tasks or analysis.
An AI assistant that can answer questions about Zircon3D, explain features, and help troubleshoot or configure projects.

Suggest a Feature

We’d love to hear your ideas and feedback.
If there are features you’d like to see in Zircon3D, please share them in our forum
Your suggestions help us understand real use cases and prioritize future improvements.

Notes

Items listed in this roadmap are directional and not guaranteed commitments. Priorities may change based on technical progress, user feedback, and real-world use cases.

We’re excited to introduce Zircon3D v2.2, a feature-rich update focused on making 3D building visualization more flexible, interactive, and useful for real-world smart home and facility scenarios.

Watch the v2.2 release video here:

This release adds support for custom GLB models, editable simple cube objects, more smart device control cards, room-level Box View styling, multiple selection, and many bug fixes and performance improvements.

Custom Models: Upload Your Own .glb Models

You can now import your own .glb 3D models into Zircon3D.

This makes it possible to add custom furniture, equipment, machines, facility assets, or any other 3D model that better represents your real space.

This is especially useful when the built-in model library is not enough for your specific project.

Simple Cube Object

We added a new Simple Cube Object.

This object is very flexible: you can edit its:

• Width
• Depth
• Height
• Color or material

Even though it starts as a simple cube/block, it can be resized into many useful forms, such as a table, platform, partition, box, equipment block, parking area, raised base, or simple placeholder object.

It is a small feature, but very practical for quickly building custom scenes.

More Smart Device Control Cards

Zircon3D v2.2 adds more interactive control cards for Home Assistant entities.

The enhanced control cards include:

Light Card - Supports brightness percentage and color control.

Cover Card - For garage doors, windows, shades, blinds, curtains, and other cover entities.

Climate Card - For air conditioners, heat pumps, thermostats, and similar climate devices.

Lock Card - For door locks and other lock entities.

Fan Card - For fan entities, with related controls.

These cards make Zircon3D not only a 3D visualization interface, but also a more convenient 3D control layer for your smart home.

Status Bubbles on the Floorplan
Control cards also show clear colored status bubbles directly on the floorplan. This makes important states much easier to notice at a glance, such as when a window is open, a garage door is open, or a door is unlocked.

This provides a more intuitive way to understand the real status of your home or building directly from the 3D view.

Room Box View

We added Box View support at the room level.

You can now show rooms as colored box-style blocks and assign colors to different rooms. This provides a cleaner and more abstract way to understand room layout, zones, or functional areas.

In the next version, we plan to extend this feature so the room Box View can be mapped to monitoring sensor data, allowing rooms to be colored dynamically based on real-time values. For example room occupancy or other sensor data.

Multiple Selection

You can now select multiple objects or rooms by holding the Ctrl key.

This allows you to move or delete multiple items at once, making editing much faster and more convenient when working with larger floorplans.

Bug Fixes and Performance Improvements

This release also includes many bug fixes and performance improvements across the Designer and Viewer.

We continue to improve stability, usability, and the overall editing experience as Zircon3D grows into a more powerful 3D visualization platform.

Try Zircon3D v2.2

Thank you to everyone who continues to test Zircon3D, share feedback, and help us improve the product.

Get started with Zircon3D: https://zircon3d.com
Documentation: https://zircon3d.com/docs
Community forum: https://forum.zircon3d.com
YouTube tutorials: https://www.youtube.com/@Zircon3D
Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/zircon3d

No. Zircon3D is not open source / FOSS.

Zircon3D is a commercial product developed by Lichr Inc. We provide a Free plan for general home users, but the main Zircon3D application source code is not open source.

What is public?

Some installation-related resources are public, such as the Home Assistant add-on repository and setup instructions. These are provided so users can install and run Zircon3D with Home Assistant.

You can find the documentation here:
https://zircon3d.com/docs

What is not open source?

The main Zircon3D application source code, including the 3D Designer, Viewer, rendering system, device mapping logic, and related product features, is not open source.

Can I use Zircon3D for free?

Yes. Zircon3D has a Free plan for home users. Paid Home and Business plans are available for users who need more monitoring devices, advanced visualization features, or larger/commercial use cases.

Why is Zircon3D not open source?

Zircon3D is built and maintained as a commercial product. Keeping the main application closed-source helps us continue development, provide support, improve the product, and build long-term sustainability.

We understand that some users prefer open-source solutions, and we respect that. For users who are comfortable with a commercial product that includes a Free plan, Zircon3D is available to try with Home Assistant.

This usually happens due to a Home Assistant ingress authorization issue.

Related: https://forum.zircon3d.com/topic/6/

How to fix it

You have two options:

Option 1 (Recommended)
Use port :11200 to access Zircon3D directly.

• Open Zircon3D via http://<your-ha-ip>:11200
• Copy and use the view link from there
• This avoids the ingress issue entirely

Option 2 (Using default HA port 8123)
If you’re accessing through port 8123, you need to authorize Zircon3D first:

• Open Home Assistant
• Click the Zircon3D tab in the left sidebar
• Then reload your dashboard/view

Why this happens

Home Assistant only initializes ingress access after the add-on UI is opened once. If you try to load an embedded Zircon3D view before that, it may return a 401 Unauthorized error.

If the issue persists, feel free to reach out with details about your setup

Zircon3D allows you to visualize not only raw sensor data, but also custom computed values using tools like Home Assistant template sensors.

This guide shows how to create a Temperature Delta heatmap, but the same approach works for any custom metric.

What is “Pre-Processed Data”?

Pre-processed data means:

Data that is calculated or transformed before visualization

Examples:

• Temperature Delta (current vs target)
• VPD (humidity + temperature)
• Energy efficiency metrics
• Custom scoring or alerts

Step 1 Create a Template Sensor

In Home Assistant:

template:
  - sensor:
      - name: "Living Room Temperature Delta"
        unique_id: "living_room_temperature_delta"
        unit_of_measurement: "°C"
        state: >
          {{ (
              state_attr('climate.living_room', 'current_temperature')
              - state_attr('climate.living_room', 'temperature')
            ) | abs | round(1) }}

Repeat for other rooms with consistent naming.

Step 2 Create a Heatmap in Zircon3D

• Add a new heatmap layer
• Name it (e.g., Temperature Delta)
• Select your template sensors

Step 3 Use Matching Rules (Recommended)

To scale easily across rooms:

• Use a rule like:
  uid contains temperature_delta

This automatically includes all matching sensors.

Step 4 Configure Color Mapping

Example:

• 0°C → Green (good)
• 3°C → Yellow (moderate)
• 5°C → Red (needs attention)

Lower values = better comfort

Step 5 Assign Devices to Floorplan

• Place climate/HVAC devices in your 3D layout
• Or update existing ones to use the heatmap

Step 6 View the Heatmap

Switch to the heatmap layer to see your data visualized in 3D.

Beyond Temperature Delta

You can apply this method to:

• Greenhouse climate (VPD, humidity)
• Energy usage per zone
• Occupancy and utilization
• Air quality metrics

Related

• Main article: See Temperature Differences Across Your Home in 3D
• Docs: https://zircon3d.com/docs

Turn Derived Data into Real Spatial Insight with Zircon3D

Understanding how well your HVAC system performs is not just about reading temperatures, it’s about seeing how conditions vary across your entire space.

With Zircon3D, you can go beyond raw sensor data and visualize derived values like Temperature Delta directly on your 3D floorplan.

What is Temperature Delta?

Temperature Delta = |Actual Temperature − Target Temperature|

This value shows how far each area is from its desired condition:

• Small difference → Comfortable & balanced
• Large difference → Struggling to reach target

Why this matters

A Temperature Delta heatmap helps you instantly identify:

• Rooms that are too slow to heat or cool
• Areas with poor airflow or distribution
• Zones affected by insulation or layout issues
• Imbalance across floors or large spaces

Instead of guessing, you can see the problem in seconds.

Example: Temperature Delta Heatmap

In this example:

The bedroom shows a 4°C difference, highlighted in orange/red which indicating the room is struggling to reach its target temperature.

Nearby areas around 3°C (yellow) suggest moderate deviation.

Green zones (0–1°C) indicate rooms that are well balanced and comfortable

This kind of visualization makes it easy to spot HVAC distribution issues at a glance, especially in multi-room layouts.

From Raw Data to Insight

This example highlights a powerful capability of Zircon3D:

You can visualize computed data, instead of just raw sensors

Using a template sensor in Home Assistant, you can define your own metrics, such as:

• Temperature Delta heatmap (this example)
• VPD (Vapor Pressure Deficit) heatmap for greenhouses
• Energy usage heatmap per area
• Occupancy density heatmap
• Air quality indicators

Then, render them as a 3D heatmap.

Key Features Demonstrated

• ️ Support for user-defined data (template sensors)
• ️ Flexible entity matching (e.g., by name prefix)
• ️ Real-time 3D heatmap visualization
• ️ Works with existing HVAC / climate entities
• ️ Scales easily across multiple rooms

How It Works

1. Create a Template Sensor in Home Assistant

template:
  - sensor:
      - name: "Living Room Temperature Delta"
        unique_id: "living_room_temperature_delta"
        unit_of_measurement: "°C"
        state: >
          {{ (
              state_attr('climate.living_room', 'current_temperature')
              - state_attr('climate.living_room', 'temperature')
            ) | abs | round(1) }}

This calculates the difference between current and target temperature, and ensures it is always positive and easy to visualize.

2. Create a Heatmap in Zircon3D

• Add a new heatmap layer (e.g., Temperature Delta)
• Select your template sensors
• Use matching rules (e.g., uid contains temperature_delta) to automatically include multiple rooms

3. Configure Color Range

Example:

• 0°C → Green (good)
• 3°C → Yellow (moderate)
• 5°C → Red (needs attention)

Lower values indicate better comfort.

4. Assign Devices to the Floorplan

• Place your HVAC / climate devices in the 3D view
• Or update existing devices to use the new heatmap

5. View the Result

Switch to the heatmap layer and instantly see temperature differences across your space.

Why This is Powerful

This is more than a visualization, it’s a data-driven spatial analysis tool.

You are not limited to built-in metrics. With Zircon3D, you can:

• Define your own logic
• Compute custom values
• Visualize them in 3D space

Turning your system into a true 3D data dashboard

Learn More

• Get started with Zircon3D: https://zircon3d.com
• Documentation: https://zircon3d.com/docs
• Community forum (support & discussions): https://forum.zircon3d.com
• YouTube tutorials: https://www.youtube.com/@Zircon3D
• Join our Facebook group (updates & previews): https://www.facebook.com/groups/zircon3d

What’s Next?

This is just one example of what’s possible.
We’re continuing to expand support for:

• More advanced derived metrics
• Better visualization layers
• Business and enterprise use cases

Have ideas or use cases? Let us know, your feedback directly shapes future features.

I have created and added a floor plan to a new dashboard, but every time I load the dashboard the default mode of "Floating Cards" is "Compact" and not "Detailed" that I have selected before coping the URL. How can I set the "Detailed" mode as default?
Thank you.

error Failed to make session -> {"error":{"code":"auth/network-request-failed","customData":{"message":"TypeError: fetch failed","appName":"[DEFAULT]"},"name":"FirebaseError"}}

Can anyone solove my problem plz. i meet the firebaseerror when i load the addon.

Hi, I’m new to Home Assistant.

I have several motors controlling my window shades, and I’d like to control them from a 3D map of my home. Ideally, I want to click on a window in the map and see a slider that lets me adjust the shade position.

What is the best way to achieve this?

It's possible to update the door or windows image to show it open or closed depending on a sensor state?

A common question from new users is whether Zircon3D requires a cloud connection to run.

The short answer is no, Zircon3D is designed to run locally.

Local Operation

All core functionality of Zircon3D runs locally inside your Home Assistant add-on, including:

• 3D floorplan modeling
• Real-time data visualization
• Heatmaps and dashboards
• Sensor monitoring
• Device interaction and controls

Zircon3D reads data directly from your Home Assistant instance, so your monitoring and visualization continue to work even without external services.

Your data and floorplans remain stored locally on your system.

Zircon3D Account and Licensing

To use Zircon3D, you will need a Zircon3D online account.
This account is used for license management.

Normally, the add-on performs a quick online license verification.

Offline Activation

If your system does not have internet access, Zircon3D can still be activated.

You can generate a manual license token from the Zircon3D website and paste it into the add-on to activate your license.

This allows Zircon3D to continue operating in restricted or offline environments.

Optional Cloud Backup for Floorplans

Zircon3D also provides an optional cloud backup for your floorplan projects.

If enabled, your floorplan design can be uploaded to the cloud, which helps prevent data loss if you reinstall Home Assistant or move to another system.

Important to note:

• Only floorplan project data is stored in the cloud
• Sensor data and Home Assistant data are never uploaded
• Visualization still reads live data directly from Home Assistant

You can learn more about local vs cloud mode in this article:

Explained: Zircon3D Local vs Cloud Mode

Zircon3D is designed with privacy, flexibility, and resilience in mind. Whether you're running the Home Assistant Add-on or the standalone Docker version, we...

📢 Zircon3D v2.2 Released! Check Out What’s New! (forum.zircon3d.com)

Summary

• 3D rendering and visualization run locally
• Data comes directly from Home Assistant
• Your monitoring data stays inside Home Assistant
• A Zircon3D account is required for licensing
• Offline activation is supported
• Optional cloud backup for floorplan projects

This design keeps Zircon3D aligned with the local-first philosophy of the Home Assistant ecosystem while still providing optional convenience features.

We’re excited to announce Zircon3D v2.1, bringing several usability improvements, better visualization controls, and refinements based on user feedback. This update focuses on improving the experience on mobile devices, heatmap visualization, and floorplan editing precision.

Below are the highlights of this release.
ou can also check out the video overview of this release here:
https://youtu.be/3_3LnBEamoQ

3D View Control Buttons (Mobile & Tablet Friendly)

To improve usability on touch devices, we added on-screen control buttons for common camera actions:

• Rotate view
• Pan the scene
• Zoom in/out

These controls make it much easier to navigate the 3D scene on tablets and phones, especially for wall-mounted dashboards or touchscreen environments.

Data Card Display & Heatmap Overlay Improvements

We improved how data cards interact with heatmaps and added new display controls to reduce visual clutter when monitoring your building, including:

• Better readability when heatmaps are active
• Reduced overlapping between heatmaps and data panels
• Cleaner visualization in environments with many sensors

These improvements make the heatmap view clearer and easier to interpret, especially in complex buildings with dense sensor deployments.

Card Display Modes

Three modes are available:

• Detailed – Show all sensor data panels (current behavior).
• Compact – Only show data panels related to the currently selected heatmap value.
• Hidden – Hide all floating data panels for a clean heatmap visualization.

This makes it easier to focus on specific environmental metrics without unrelated sensors cluttering the view.

Additional Display Options

Two new options provide further control over what appears in the 3D scene:

• Show Action Cards – Toggle the display of interactive device cards such as switches or cameras. These appear as small icon bubbles in the scene.
• Enable Occlusion – Prevent data panels and action icons from rendering through floors. Elements hidden behind floors will now remain hidden, improving visual realism in multi-floor buildings.

Sensor Icons for Better International Usability

Zircon3D now supports automatic sensor icons for common values such as:

• Temperature
• Humidity

These icons appear in the data panel, making sensor types easier to identify even when entity names are not in English.

Disable Wall/Room Auto-Attach Helper by Holding Shift

When editing floorplans, Zircon3D normally uses an auto-attach helper to snap walls and objects together.

For more precise editing, you can now:

Hold the Shift key to resize rooms freely without auto-attach helper.

This allows finer control when adjusting room shapes or sizes.

Preview Button for Quick Viewing

A new Preview button has been added to the top toolbar.

This allows you to instantly preview your building visualization without manually switching to another view tab. You can quickly check how your floorplan and devices appear in the final scene while editing.

This makes the workflow faster when designing your building, letting you switch between editing and viewing at any time with a single click.

Automatic Switching Between Editing Modes

Zircon3D now automatically switches between Building Edit Mode and Object Edit Mode based on the element you select in the scene.

• Building Edit Mode – for editing structural elements such as walls and rooms.
• Object Edit Mode – for editing objects such as furniture, doors, windows, and devices.

This removes the need to manually change editing modes and makes the editing workflow more intuitive when building your home or facility model.

Bug Fixes & Performance Improvements

As always, this release also includes:

• Various bug fixes
• Performance improvements
• General stability enhancements

Feedback Welcome

Many of these improvements were inspired by community feedback.
If you have suggestions or feature ideas, feel free to share them in the forum.

i working on an university project where im creating a 3D house but at the very last touches i couldnt find heater to add i tried to download gltf version from the internet and import it but i couldnt because there wasnt an import botton
can i get some help please i really need a heater in the house

Home Assistant is widely known as a powerful platform for smart homes. But in practice, many people also use it to monitor small businesses, workshops, farms, greenhouses, and commercial spaces.

As sensor networks grow and buildings become more complex, traditional dashboards often become cluttered and difficult to interpret.

Zircon3D was designed to solve this problem by adding a digital twin layer on top of Home Assistant, by turning raw sensor data into an interactive 3D representation of your physical space.

This approach makes it easier to monitor environments, identify patterns, and manage devices across an entire facility.

From Smart Home Dashboard to Digital Twin

Most Home Assistant dashboards list devices as cards or charts. This works well for a handful of sensors, but it becomes challenging when a building contains dozens or hundreds of devices.

Zircon3D introduces a 3D facility view where sensors, equipment, and spaces are mapped directly into a building model.

Instead of scrolling through lists, users can visually explore their environment and immediately understand what is happening in each location.

For example:

• Temperature sensors appear where they are physically installed
• Machines or appliances can be mapped to specific areas
• Environmental patterns become visible across rooms or zones

This spatial approach helps transform Home Assistant from a device dashboard into a visual monitoring system.

Business-Specific Capabilities

Multi-Building and Multi-Floor Monitoring

Small businesses often operate in spaces that include multiple floors or separate buildings. Zircon3D projects can organize these layouts into a single visual environment.

This allows users to monitor sensors across:

• different floors
• multiple buildings
• separate operational areas

All within one unified view.

Facility Monitoring and Equipment Mapping

Zircon3D makes it possible to associate sensors with the physical equipment or spaces they represent.

Common monitoring scenarios include:

• Energy consumption across rooms or machines
• Air quality monitoring in offices or labs
• Temperature tracking in storage rooms or server racks
• Environmental monitoring for plants or food storage

Instead of reading numbers in isolation, users can immediately see where the issue occurs in the building.

Thermal and Heatmap Analytics

One of Zircon3D’s most powerful features is the real-time heatmap system.

Heatmaps transform sensor data into a color-based visualization that reveals environmental patterns across a space.

This is especially useful for:

• greenhouses monitoring temperature or humidity distribution
• server rooms detecting heat concentration
• warehouses checking environmental uniformity
• offices analyzing comfort conditions

Users can also replay historical heatmaps to review how conditions changed throughout the day.

Performance on Home Assistant Hardware

Zircon3D uses a GPU-accelerated WebGL rendering engine, allowing complex 3D scenes to run smoothly inside a browser.

Even installations running on modest hardware, such as a Home Assistant OS system or small server can display interactive environments with large numbers of sensors.

The goal is to provide professional-level visualization without requiring enterprise-grade infrastructure.

Data Privacy and Local Control

For many small businesses, data privacy and operational security are essential.

Zircon3D runs entirely inside Home Assistant as a local add-on, which means:

• sensor data never leaves the local system
• building models remain private
• monitoring operates even without internet connectivity

This local-first design ensures that sensitive operational data stays under the user’s control.

Scalable Plans for Growing Systems

Zircon3D offers a free plan for smaller installations and personal projects.

As deployments grow, paid tiers provide higher limits for:

• project size
• building areas
• number of monitored entities

This allows users to start small and scale the system as their business expands.

More details can be found here:
https://zircon3d.com/pricing

Simplifying Complex Facilities

Large monitoring systems often overwhelm users with data. Zircon3D includes different view modes that help simplify complex environments.

For example:

• Transparent Mode makes walls semi-transparent to reveal sensors behind them
• Whiteout Mode highlights devices and monitoring data while reducing visual distractions

These modes allow managers to quickly locate devices and understand the state of a facility.

A Practical Alternative to Enterprise Systems

Enterprise facility-management platforms often require expensive hardware, specialized software, and complex deployment processes.

Zircon3D offers a lightweight alternative by building on top of the Home Assistant ecosystem:

• no specialized infrastructure required
• simple deployment as a Home Assistant add-on
• flexible enough for both individuals and businesses

For many small organizations, this makes advanced monitoring capabilities accessible without enterprise-level costs.

Learn More

Documentation:
https://zircon3d.com/docs

Home Assistant Community Discussion:
https://community.home-assistant.io/

Pricing Information:
https://zircon3d.com/pricing

YouTube Tutorials & Examples:
https://www.youtube.com/@Zircon3D

If you would like to cancel your Zircon3D subscription and remove your saved payment method, please follow the steps below.

Step 1 – Log in and Open the Console

1. Go to https://zircon3d.com
2. Click the Console button at the top right.
3. Log in to your account if prompted.

Step 2 – Go to Billing

1. In the left sidebar, click Billing.
2. You will see your current subscription plan.
3. Click the Update Plan button.

Step 3 – Cancel Subscription or Remove Card (Stripe Page)

After clicking Update Plan, you will be redirected to the secure Stripe Billing Portal.

From there, you can:

Cancel Subscription

• Click Cancel subscription
• Confirm the cancellation

Your subscription will remain active until the end of your current billing period.

Remove Payment Method

• Under Payment Methods, click the ⋯ (three dots) next to your card
• Select Delete

If multiple cards are saved, you can remove them individually.

Important Notes

• Subscription cancellations take effect at the end of your current billing cycle.
• Removing your card does not automatically cancel your subscription - please make sure to cancel first if that is your intention.
• All billing operations are securely handled by Stripe.

If you encounter any issues, please contact us as support@lichr.com and we’ll be happy to assist.

Is there no way to include a custom object? Even if it's a simple cube that I can block off an area and put a label on, that would work.

What happens to my projects if my subscription ends?

Short answer:
Your projects will NOT disappear.
Your data stays safe.
Your account will be downgraded to the Free plan, with some limits.

After your subscription ends, you’ll be on the Free plan, which includes:

• 1 editable project
• Up to 1000 m² building area
• Up to 25 monitored devices
• Heatmap view: Temperature (Free plan feature)

*This quota is based on the Free plan limits as of January 2026.

What if I have more than the Free plan allows?

You can still view everything, but editing is limited:

Multiple projects

• You can view all projects

• You can edit only one project at a time

• You decide which project to keep editable

• If it’s not the one you want:

  • Go to Project → More > → Project Settings
  • Delete it
  • The next project becomes editable
    This lets you choose which project fits the Free plan

Area / devices / features over quota

• Projects that exceed Free limits will show warnings (like in the screenshots)

• You can:

  • View everything
  • Remove devices, reduce area, or simplify the project

• Once it fits the Free plan limits, it works normally again

Important takeaway

• ️ No lock-out
• ️ No data loss
• ️ No forced deletion
• ️ You’re always in control of what to keep

If you later re-subscribe, all advanced features and higher limits are instantly available again.

Example after downgrade

In this screenshot, the project “test” is the active project and can be viewed, edited, and deleted. All other projects are automatically switched to view-only mode. They remain fully visible, but editing is disabled until you delete projects or adjust your setup to meet the Free plan quota.

View-only projects can be opened and viewed, but not edited; they can still be deleted from Project Settings → Advanced.

As my title states i am unable to load the load plans after leaving the editor. They do not load under view mode or trying to go back into editor. Is this a hardware issue?