Plan a camper van layout with AI: VanPlot AI edits your 3D van while you talk

What VanPlot AI actually does

Open a project and click Ask VanPlot AI… at the bottom of the canvas, or press A (on a phone it is the AI tab). Write a request and press Enter. The reply streams in and each change lands in the 3D scene as it happens: new items drop into place, and a card under the reply lists every change — "Adding a fixed bed ✓", "Moving the kitchen ✓". If a change can't be made, you see that too: an item that doesn't fit is refused with the reason, the same check a manual drag goes through.

It works on the van you have open and nothing else. It can:

• Design the whole van from a short description, with Design my van.
• Add, move, resize, turn, rename and recolour items, and set an item's weight, cost or power use.
• Remove items or clear the layout.
• Change the van — pick a different vehicle, or resize a custom one ("make it 20 cm longer").
• Rebuild a layout from a photo or a sketch you attach.
• Answer questions about the build: payload left, axle loads and centre of mass, cost, power and battery autonomy, water, berths, and what the design checks flag.

The answers are not the model's guesses. It reads the same build report the planner computes — the payload bar, the axle split, the power and water figures — so when it says the rear axle is at 92%, that is the number on your Build Sheet.

It also follows a few builder's rules without being asked: cabinets, the kitchen and the fridge are turned to face the aisle, not the wall; the sliding-door and rear-door entries stay clear; and it keeps a walkway. If what you asked would block a doorway, it says so and puts the item beside it.

Design my van: a whole layout in one go

Design my van, the panel's first button, asks three things — who is travelling, how you'll use the van, and what matters most (big bed, real kitchen, shower, storage, off-grid power, seating) — then places a complete layout in one pass. It shows the estimated credits before you confirm, usually 5–15.

What comes back is an ordinary layout. Every item can be dragged, swapped or deleted by hand, or by asking. I treat it as a first draft that respects the van's real interior, wheel arches and sliding-door opening — not as a finished design. If you don't like it, one undo removes the whole thing.

Eight prompts that work

The assistant is best with requests that name an item, a place and, where it matters, a size. These eight map directly onto what it can do:

1. "Design a weekender layout for two with a fixed bed across the back." — a full first draft; Design my van does the same with three questions.
2. "Move the bed to the back and turn it across the van." — a move plus a rotation; it tells you if the van is too narrow to sleep across (most mid-size vans are — see which vans you can sleep across).
3. "Make the kitchen 120 cm long and put it behind the driver's seat." — a resize and a move, checked against the walls and the other items.
4. "Add a 100 Ah lithium battery and an inverter under the bed." — it searches the catalog, picks the closest parts and finds a free spot.
5. "Switch to a Fiat Ducato L3H2 and keep the layout." — the van changes and the items re-settle, like changing the van by hand.
6. "Make the van 20 cm longer." — for a custom van, the interior grows and the exterior with it.
7. "How much payload is left, and what does the rear axle carry?" — answered from the build report; compare with the payload calculator.
8. "How many days does my water last for two, and what do the design checks flag?" — water autonomy plus the open warnings, in one reply.

Short and specific beats long and vague: "put the fridge 60 cm from the bulkhead" lands first time; "make it feel more open" gets a guess.

One reply, one undo step

Every reply is a single step in the editor's undo history, however many items it touched. Under each reply there is an Undo this turn button; the usual undo works too. Nothing the assistant does is permanent until you keep it, and it sees the van as it is now — including anything you changed by hand since the last message.

Retry asks again and Edit rewords your last message. Click a part and an About: Fridge chip makes "this" mean that part. Chats are saved per project — reopen, rename or delete them, or switch Save my chats off; saved chats are kept 12 months.

What it can't do (yet)

The assistant edits items and the van itself. A few things still need the editor's own tools:

• Wiring and plumbing runs — draw them in the Systems tab.
• Plain holes, skylights and rear-door windows — draw them in the Body inspector. A side window or roof fan is different: ask for one and the item cuts its own hole.
• Textures and materials — set them in the Inspector.
• Custom parts — make them with Create with AI or the component designer, then ask the assistant to place them.
• Photo renders — it can't paint one itself; ask and it offers a Render photo button under the reply.

It can also be wrong. It may put an item where you wouldn't, or read a vague request differently from how you meant it. The fix is the same every time: undo the reply and say it more precisely. It can't see your other projects, other people's builds or the web, and item names are treated as data, never as instructions.

What it costs

The assistant runs on paid AI models, so it uses credits: about 1–3 for a question or a small change, 5–15 for Design my van. It comes with the lifetime licence (€36 / $39 once), 50 credits included; the free trial has no AI. After that you buy one-time credit packs, from €9 — no subscription — whose credits never expire, with a bonus on bigger packs. Details: credits explained and pricing.

The planner itself never needs credits. Every check, the Build Sheet and the exports work without the assistant.

Try it on your own van

Plan your van on the free trial — Fiat Ducato, Mercedes Sprinter or any of the 29 — then get the lifetime licence and ask VanPlot AI for a first layout. The VanPlot AI guide in the docs lists every command; if you'd rather start from a photo of a build you like, see turning a van photo into an editable plan.

Questions