About Canvas

Add assets, engineering diagrams, sensor data, charts, images, work orders (events), and 3D models from your Cognite Data Fusion (CDF) project to a canvas. Visualize and explore data from different data sets, summarize results, leave comments, and share with or mention people to collaborate with your coworkers. For instance, you can use a canvas for:

• Root-cause analysis: Add related data and create cause-map diagrams, create timelines with events, collaborate with coworkers, and download the investigation as a .pdf file.
• Live board: Sketch things out, for instance in routine meetings.
• System health checks: Set color-coded thresholds on engineering diagrams to monitor systems and equipment. For instance, pump values, corrosion rates or operating temperatures.

Get started

1. Navigate to Industrial tools > Canvas.

2. Select + Create canvas to start a new canvas, or toggle between Private and Public to open existing canvases.

   • A private canvas is only visible to you unless you share the canvas with other users. Shared private canvases appear with a Shared with me icon on the Private tab.
   • Use Share to collaborate with coworkers or make a canvas public.

3. Select Add data to add and connect assets, time series, charts, files, events, and 3D models. You can also drag and drop local .pdf files and images directly onto a canvas (Ctrl+V/CMD+V).

4. Select Open canvas history to see and restore previous versions of a canvas. You can't edit previous canvas versions. Canvas checks for updates every 5 minutes and auto-saves any changes.

5. Use Lock canvas under the (...) icon to prevent unwanted changes to your canvases.

6. When you've finalized your work on the canvas, download a .pdf file, for instance, for evidence and conclusions.

tip

To re-use a canvas, duplicate it from the overview page or select ... on a canvas.

Navigate in a canvas

To explore the items on a canvas and to collaborate with your coworkers:

• Select the Spacebar key and use the mouse to pan, or use two or more fingers on a touchpad.

• Select and drag to move items on the canvas.

• Use the zoom controls, the scroll wheel on a mouse, or pinch and stretch on a touchpad to zoom in and out.

  

Explore and collaborate

• Select any item on the canvas to see options for changing labels, finding related data, and opening Data explorer.

• For assets and events, such as work orders, use Change fields to select which properties to display.

• For time series, select a time frame to navigate between current and historical data or set a specific date. Select Apply to all charts and time series to use the time frame for all time series on the canvas. You can also open the time series in Charts to further trend and analyze the data.

• Add sticky notes, shapes, stamps, and connections from the toolbar to a canvas or engineering diagram. Select an item to bring up options for formatting and color-coded thresholds for monitoring.

• Select Cause map () from the toolbar to create diagrams, typically while performing a root-cause analysis. Keep adding using the dots around the card. Add stamps, sticky notes, images or data to the cards. Select a card to set a status, bring up options for formatting and color-coded thresholds for monitoring.

  

• Find or summarize information by selecting Copilot within a .pdf document or ask questions across multiple .pdf documents.

• Use Comment from the toolbar to add comments and mention (@name) coworkers. You'll get an email if someone mentions you in a comment. Open the Comments panel from the top bar to see all comments.

Set thresholds for items on a canvas

Beta

The features described in this section are currently in beta testing and are subject to change.

Set thresholds for items on a canvas or engineering diagrams by setting up color-coded rules. For instance, to keep track of pump values, corrosion rates, or operating temperatures. Canvas checks for updates every 30 seconds, and will change the color of an item when a set threshold is breached.

1. Add a markup on a diagram, such as a sticky note, shape, stamp, connection, and select > Create rule.
2. Give the rule a name and optionally, create a rule group. For instance, for all operation pressure rules.
3. Under Trigger, select the data you want to add the rule to.
4. In Criteria, set the thresholds.
5. In Formatting, select the colors to display.

To show and hide groups, navigate to ... in the top bar and select Manage conditional formatting rules.

Options from engineering diagrams

Add engineering diagrams to a canvas for a holistic view of a system. On an engineering diagram, you can:

• Select the purple or orange links and the plus sign (+) to add related engineering diagrams, assets, files, and time series.

• Add shapes, stamps, text, connections, and sticky notes. Set rules to monitor these items.

• For assets:

  • View live sensor data by pinning a time series connected to the asset to the canvas. Add rules to set threshold values, such as temperatures, and use colors to visualize any breaches.
  • If there's a 3D model connected to the asset, select the 3D icon to open the 3D view.

Troubleshooting

• If you can't add comments or mention coworkers, check with your internal help desk or CDF admin that user profiles are enabled for the CDF project.

• If you can't open a file, it may be because the file ID was changed, the file is corrupted, or you lack admin rights. Check with your internal help desk or CDF admin to further investigate this issue.