Modeling
Sketch and model
Precision, Pen and Freestyle, NURBS surfaces, Combine, Project Shape and Components.
uMake for architecture
From massing to sun study.
Sketch massing with Precision and Pen, turn a plan image into floor plans with the AI Design Partner, test the light, and hand off STEP or IGES files. On iPad, iPhone and Mac.
Free to download, with in-app purchases.
A day in uMake
A day at the drawing board.
Five moments from a working day on one scheme, and the uMake tools behind each one.
09:00 · Massing
Mass it out in minutes.
Draw a footprint with Precision and type exact lengths into its live dimensions, or rough it out with Pen, which snaps a held stroke to a clean line, arc or rectangle. Push & Pull gives it height, in meters or feet.
- Precision: exact lines and arcs, with dimensions you can type
- Pen: hold at the end of a stroke and it snaps to shape
- Components: change one tree or bay, and every linked copy follows
10:30 · Floor plans
Turn a plan image into 3D.
Attach a floor plan image, and the AI Design Partner builds it in 3D: measured walls and openings, rotated plans and concave rooms, up to three stories with slabs and straight or U stairs. What comes out is geometry you keep modeling.
- Walls, doors, windows, stairs and roofs stay editable by name
- Ask for changes in plain words, one turn at a time
- Choose the build detail: Quick, Detailed or Automatic
13:00 · Options
Pin up every option.
Gather sketches, site photos, plans and live 3D designs on one Space. Put each scheme on its own layer and show them one at a time in a crit, or trace a site plan with Use as Underlay. Open a design in the 3D editor, and the board updates when you come back.
- Layers you can name, hide, lock and fade
- Use as Underlay: trace over a faded, locked plan
- References dragged in from the web and other apps
15:00 · Daylight
Follow the sun.
In the 3D editor, set the Sun’s time of day, season and north, and the shadows follow. In Scene Studio, open a picture of the scheme from your Space and change the time of day, season or weather. Each change becomes a short clip.
- Sun: time of day, season and north
- Scene Studio: light, season and weather, as short clips
- Camera angles, or a full 360° orbit
17:00 · Review
Present it, then hand it off.
Live AI Preview renders a photoreal view beside the model as you work, in styles such as Architectural, Night or Clay. View in AR sets the model on a real table on iPhone or iPad, and with a plan you export STEP or IGES for your CAD tools.
- Live AI Preview: a photoreal render that follows each change
- View in AR on a real table or wall
- Export STEP, IGES, OBJ, STL or USDZ with a plan
Files
In from SketchUp, out to CAD.
Open SketchUp and CAD files wherever you are, and send STEP or IGES back to the office.
Bring in
Import and view, free
- SKPSketchUp models, converted on uMake’s servers (needs a connection)
- STEPIGESSolids and surfaces from your CAD tools
- OBJDAEGLBMeshes and scenes from other 3D apps
- SVGVector artwork
Send out
3D export needs a plan
- STEPIGESBack to your CAD tools
- OBJSTLMeshes for other apps, and for 3D-printed models
- USDZApple’s AR file format, with your materials
Spaces export PNG or UMKS, and Scene Studio saves MP4 video.
In practice
uMake continues to play a central role for me in rapidly developing multiple design strategies with ease.
Awards
Every building began as a line.
Sketch your next building.
uMake for iPad, iPhone and Mac