Top 6 common view angles in floor plan illustration

View angles play an important role in floor plan illustration. They allow the property and its spacing structure to be seen from a perspective where homebuyers can read the space easily to. On top of that, the selection of view angle in floor plan illustration is the key to showing property details comprehensively. While one angle is capable of showing certain aspects of the property, others might not.

As a floor plan creator, you should show the greatest amount of details and functional spatial relationship of the property while selecting a view angle that sparks viewer interest. This blog outlines the 5 most common viewpoints used in 3D floor plan illustration to help you get it clear. Let’s dive in!

1. Top view angle

The Top view, also known as the plan view, ​​is what you see when you look at the property directly from above. This is the most common view in floor plan design. It gives a bird-aye view, which shows the property most comprehensively and informatively. In a typical floor plan display, there are two views and the top view is the must or default.

Top view is also the default choice of photographers or floor plan drawers when producing hand sketches as input for a processed (redrawn) floor plan display. You can read more about different types of floor plan input to understand how it works.

Featured blog: Different floor plan input types and their output’s accuracy 

2. Titled view angle

To understand what the tilted view is, let’s unfold the concept of “tilting”. Tilting is when the camera is set up at a lower or higher diagonal point of view in relation to the shooting object. A downward tilt is for a high-angle shot with a bird’s-eye view while an upward tilt is for a low-angle shot and worm’s-eye view.

In real estate photography, downward tilting is often used in drone photography shots while upward tilting is barely applicable. As for floor plan design, tilt downward is the second most used view angle of them all. It offers all the information to be displayed just like the top view but with a slightly different, perhaps more interesting view. 

Admittedly, in 3D floor plan, the titled view is used most commonly as it allows a functional and informational display of the property.

3. 4 direction view angles

Apart from the two mentioned, there are four others used in floor plan illustration. Though not as commonly used as the top view and tilted view, the Northeast, Northwest, Southeast, and Southwest view is needed for a specific indication of the direction that the property faces.

Those views are also selected when there’s a need to showcase the property with the natural sunlight, main door, and window direction. A good angle is the one that allows the property to be seen in its best naturally lit conditions (most amount of sunlight received via windows) and at the best aesthetic perspectives (showing the most amount of details and selling points).

More or less related to feng shui, the use of these perspectives in floor plans is prevalent and has important meanings. It allows homebuyers and homeowners to make decisions when it comes to choosing the direction that suits their preferences.

So what floor plan view angle should I use?

Homebuyers often do not have a specific preference of what floor plan angles they want to see in the listing images. However, it’s important for real estate professionals to select the angle that reflects and demonstrates the property in the clearest way possible. Amongst them all, the top view and titled view are the most frequently used because they allow for the greatest amount of details to be shown. Diagonal angles (northeast, northwest, southeast, and southwest) are, yet, more suitable to show the lighting, window, and door directions.