Designing a new digital twin should be simple. In this guide, you’ll find practical tips, shortcuts, and often-overlooked features that help you work more efficiently in HakoBio’s Solution Builder.
Watch the walkthrough video below to get a quick visual overview of the key tools and workflows. Everything shown in the video is also explained in detail in the dedicated sections further down.
Manage Facility and Room Characteristics
Project-Level Details
From the Info panel on the left, you can access key project information, including the total footprint, area, and volume of your facility.
This is also where you can adjust the ceiling height for the entire structure. Any changes you make here will automatically update the calculated volume of your facility.
You can also update the general details of your project here. Rename your facility or fill in fields such as project owner, facility type, location, or any other relevant metadata that will help contextualize your digital twin.
Room-Level Characteristics
To manage information for a specific room, simply select the room in your layout by double-clicking on it.
Here, you can:
- Update the room name
- Adjust the room-specific ceiling height
- Add optional zone characteristics such as intended use, equipment class, or your own custom data fields
These definitions not only help you stay organized during the design phase but also become valuable inputs in reports and downstream project documentation.
Define Floor Zones
Floor zones allow you to visually organize a room without adding physical walls, ideal for marking special-use areas, restricted pathways, or operational zones.
To add a new floor zone:
- Open the Floor Zone tool from the builder menu on the left.
- Define the dimensions.
- Add a custom name and customize the color to align with your internal coding system (e.g., safety levels, equipment zones, workflows).
- Drag and drop it into your room.
Floor zones help you communicate functional intent clearly, without affecting the structural layout.
You can resize floor zones at any time. Double-click the zone’s border to select it, open the info panel on the left, and adjust the dimensions as needed.
Save Frequently Used Spaces as Room Templates
If you’ve created a room configuration you expect to reuse, like standard cleanrooms, labs, or offices, you can save it as a template.
To create one:
- Click the room to select it.
- In the top-right corner, choose Create template with selection.
Your new template will appear under the Templates tab, where it can be dragged into any future project. Templates help ensure consistency across multiple digital twins while saving significant design time.
You can also mark an entire project as a template. Simply toggle the “Template Project” switch at the top of the workspace.
Use Resizable Placeholder Items
Many items in the Product Portfolio, such as desks, shelves, windows, and certain utilities, can be resized to match your exact requirements.
To resize an item:
- Drag and drop it into your project.
- Double-click to select it.
- Use the Info panel to enter custom dimensions.
If the dimensions cannot be edited, that item is not resizable.
You can quickly find adjustable items by searching “resizable” in the equipment library.
This list also includes placeholder items, which are especially helpful when the exact equipment model isn’t available. You can design your full layout now and swap in the final equipment later.
And if you’re missing something important, feel free to contact us – we continuously expand the Product Portfolio based on user needs.
Navigate the Workspace with the Right-Side Menu
The menu tools on the right side of the screen give you quick access to all navigation and visualization tools:
- Move & Rotate: Adjust your viewing angle to inspect your layout from any perspective.
- Zoom In / Zoom Out: Navigate large facilities or detailed areas with ease.
- Screenshot Tool: Capture your current view for reviews, reports, or presentations.
- View Mode: Switch between 2D, 3D, and Immersive View depending on how you want to explore or showcase your facility.
- Wall Visibility Options: Toggle between floor-only view, full walls, or transparent walls.
- Lock / Unlock Button: Existing projects open in “locked” mode to prevent accidental edits, but you can unlock rooms and/or equipment if you need to make changes.
- Display Legends: Visualize your custom zone characteristics directly on the floor plan. This helps you see any custom attribute you’ve defined for the different rooms in your digital twin.
These tools help you stay in control of your workspace and present your layouts clearly, whether you’re designing, reviewing, or collaborating.
Generate Project Reports
Once your digital twin design is ready, you can create a project report.
The automatically generated report includes:
- Footprint, surface area, volume
- Room-by-room metrics
- Full product list and associated costs
- All characteristics assigned to rooms or zones
Reports are fully editable, so you can tailor them to match your internal documentation requirements or client presentation standards. When you’re finished, export your report to PDF or Excel, or share the link directly for quick collaboration.