The 3D design app for architecture and design students

What a design student needs

• Sketch fast and turn the sketch into a model without redrawing it somewhere else.
• Real dimensions, because a studio project is a building, a room or an object of a real size.
• A board to gather references, process sketches and models for a crit.
• Images and files for the portfolio, the 3D printer and the laser lab.
• One device you carry anyway: an iPad, an iPhone, or a Mac with Apple silicon.

From a sketch to a model

Start with Freestyle in the 3D editor: ink, pencil, marker, charcoal or chalk strokes that land in 3D, so the first idea can already be turned and looked at. Then draw exact profiles with Precision, set in meters, millimeters or feet, and build the model with Extrude, Push & Pull, Revolve and Loft (Sketch & model). For a site or a building, Components keep repeated elements linked: change one window or tree, and every copy follows.

Apple Pencil is optional. Fingers work for every tool on iPad and iPhone, and on a Mac the keyboard and trackpad do. The Help topics in the app, also at uMake Learn, walk through each tool.

For architecture projects, set the sun by time of day, season and north to study shadows on the site, and use render styles such as Architectural Clay or Technical Ink for clean study images (uMake for architecture). Your designs save as you work, offline too, and sync through a free uMake account, so a model started on an iPad in the studio opens on your iPhone or Mac at home.

Spaces: your pin-up board

A Space is an infinite board for sketches, notes, photos and live 3D designs. It works well as a pin-up wall for a project:

• Drag in site photos and precedents, and add sticky notes and text.
• Place your 3D designs as live cards that orbit on the board; Edit opens one in the full editor, and changes come back (Help: 3D designs in a Space).
• Put a plan or a photo on a faded, locked layer with Use as Underlay and sketch over it (Help: Layers).
• Put each design option on its own layer, and hide layers to compare them in the crit.
• Export the board as a PNG to send or print, or as a UMKS file to open in uMake.

Presenting in a crit

In the 3D editor, Slides captures views of the model and plays them full screen, and Markup Mode lets you sketch notes over a slide while the view stays still, which is handy when a tutor redlines your scheme (Help: Slides & Presenting). View in AR on iPhone or iPad puts the model on the crit table at real size.

Exporting for your portfolio and the workshop

uMake doesn’t write DWG or DXF. For drawings in a CAD tool or files for a laser cutter, export STEP or IGES and prepare them on a desktop.

The Education plan: free with a class link

Students get the Education plan through a link from their teacher or school, never by signing up alone. Open the link, sign in with the account you use in uMake (Apple, Google or email) and claim it. No card is needed (uMake for Education).

A class link gives 12 months from the day you claim it; a seat on a school’s license lasts as long as the license. AI tools still work with AI credit packs bought in the app. No link yet? Ask your teacher; schools can read about licenses on the Education page.