Items in 3D: from a photo, GLB, check and SketchUp

How to use it

1. Open «Library» → «Items in 3D» (or «More» → «All tools» → «Items in 3D») and click «Add furniture»: the «Where does the furniture come from?» window opens. Choose «From photos» to build a model, or click «I have a GLB file» to upload a ready one.
2. For a photo, choose a JPG, PNG or WEBP of up to 10 MB showing the whole product on a plain background. A ready model must be a static GLB 2.0 of up to 25 MB with embedded textures.
3. Right after you choose a photo, AURA checks it for free and tells you if it shows an interior or a hall, several objects or a collage, or if the photo is small or heavily compressed. This is a hint, not a ban: you can start the build with such a photo too. See «Photo check before building» for more.
4. The main photo needs a front view. If you like, expand «Add views» and upload photos of the same object from the back, left and/or right. Any of these fields can stay empty. Each photo has a preview, a replace option and a «Remove» button.
5. On a product card you can also choose extra views from photos you have already added. Decide left and right while looking at the object from the front. Shoot the whole object on a plain background in similar lighting.
6. Enter a name and the real width, depth and height in millimeters, as whole numbers. Fill in all three sizes.
7. Start the build or the upload. Building from a photo usually takes a few minutes; you can close the window and come back to the model later.
8. Open the model and compare the shape, legs, ends and dimensions with the original. After checking it by hand, confirm the check.

«Add furniture»: where an item comes from

The «Items in 3D» page (and the same page inside a project) starts with the «Add furniture» button: it opens the «Where does the furniture come from?» window with the ways below. The former buttons «Create from a photo», «Upload GLB», «Take from the library» and «Add from my models» are gone from the page: they became lines of this window.

1. «From photos»: AURA builds a model from your photo; the card says «AI builds it in about 3 minutes» and the price. If the daily limit is used up or there is a pause after failures, the card is inactive and names the time when you can try again. The «3D model from a photo» form opens (the «How to use it» section).
2. «From the AURA gallery»: ready-made models from other studios, free. The «AURA Gallery» opens on items in 3D: find a model and click «Add to my models» (the «AURA gallery: publish a model and take a ready one» section). This card is missing if the section is not open to you.
3. «From my models» (only inside a project): your studio’s models from other projects. A choice of your models opens; tick the ones you need.
4. «I have a GLB file» (a link under the cards, on the «Items in 3D» page outside a project): upload a ready model; it does not use the build limit.

• The «From photos» card is there for those who can build models: in a project, the owner and an editor the owner has allotted generations to. For everyone else the window offers the other ways, and the project page explains why building is missing.
• While there are no items, the page says «No 3D furniture yet» and a hint: «Add a chair or a table from a photo or take a ready-made model from the AURA gallery». For a project viewer the hint is replaced by a line saying that the owner and editors have not added models yet.
• The «Add furniture» button is missing for those who cannot add items: a viewer and a commenter of the project.
• The quickest start is the «Create» window (the «Create» button in the header, Ctrl+K or Cmd+K): the «3D model from a photo» goal, with its price on the right, opens the photo form on the «Items in 3D» page at once, without the «Where does the furniture come from?» window. If the daily limit is used up, the form shows it in its limit line and «Build the model» waits. The goal is in Design and in Production. On the Design home page the goal «Create a 3D model» opens the same form.

Photo check before building

The model is built from everything in the photo. If the shot shows a hall, a row of chairs or a collage of several frames, you get a mock-up of a scene rather than a product. That is why, before the paid run, AURA checks the main photo and the extra views for free. The warning appears under the photo in the «3D model from a photo» window and in the 3D panel of the visualization wizard.

1. «The photo seems to show more than one product» means the shot shows an interior, a hall or several separate objects. Leave one product in the photo: for example, cut one card out of a collage or photograph the product on its own.
2. «The photo is small» or «The photo is heavily compressed»: the pattern, fine details and texture may get lost. Use the original shot rather than one forwarded through a messenger, ideally at least 1000 px on the short side.
3. «The product is cut out on a transparent background with a dark base»: before building, AURA places the product on a light background itself, otherwise black metal on a black base loses its outline.

• The check does not block anything: the «Build the model» button stays available. The decision is yours.
• The check does not catch a set of objects on a plain background, for example two tables with chairs on a black background. The check of the finished model will show such a set: «several separate large objects».
• Before sending, AURA prepares the photo itself: it puts a cutout on a contrasting background, crops the margins and enlarges a small shot. This does not add new details.

Original and cleaned version

A model from a photo has two files. The original stays exactly as the neural network built it. The cleaned one is made from it by a free automatic cleanup: small stray pieces that hang next to the product without touching it are removed, matching points are merged, faces are turned outward, and the size is fitted to the dimensions you entered. Materials and texture do not change. There is no smoothing: it would round off thin wire.

A new model from a photo uses the cleaned version right away. In the model window above the viewer there is an «Original / Cleaned» switch; the version that goes into the floor plan and visualizations is marked «in use».

1. To look at the other version, click it in the switch. The model in the viewer changes, and under the switch it says which version is currently in use.
2. To use the version on screen in the floor plan and visualizations, click «Use this version».
3. Each version has its own owner check: the mark belongs to a specific file. After switching to an unchecked version, compare it with the product and confirm the check. If you go back to the checked version, its mark comes back.
4. Models built earlier and uploaded GLB files have no cleaned version. In the window of such a model, click «Make the cleaned version». It is free and does not use the limit. Cleanup usually takes less than a minute; you can close the window, and the page will tell you when the version is ready.
5. If the original version is already checked, the cleaned one does not become the version in use by itself: switch to it once you have compared it with the product.

• If cleanup fails, the model stays as it is and you can use it. The «Try again» button runs the cleanup again.
• Cleanup does not remove large extra objects: if the photo showed a hall or a collage, the model keeps several objects. It is better to build such a model again from a photo of a single product.
• Floor plans and scenes already created keep the file the model was added with.

Mesh check: «The model may contain mesh defects»

After a build or an upload, AURA automatically checks each version of the model. In the browser the model may look fine, while SketchUp and other programs show holes, pieces sticking out, faces turned inside out or dark spots. If the check finds such places, the warning «The model may contain mesh defects» appears in the model window and on its card.

1. If the model has a cleaned version, switch to it: small stray pieces are removed there, and faces are turned outward. If there is no cleaned version, click «Make the cleaned version».
2. If the defects remain, photograph the product again following the hint (one whole product on a plain contrasting background) and build the model again.
3. If the manufacturer has a 3D model of the product, upload its GLB with «Add furniture» → «I have a GLB file»: it is more accurate than any model built from a photo.

• The check also reports separately: «several separate large objects» (the photo showed a set, a collage or a hall), proportions that differ from the entered dimensions by more than 15 %, dark dots on the texture (usually from a small or compressed photo) and very small faces under 1 mm², where SketchUp may show gaps.
• In a GLB uploaded from SketchUp or another program, open planes also count as holes. For such files the warning is for information only: if the model looks right, you can use it.
• The warning does not replace a manual check. Compare the model with the product from all sides before confirming.

Model size and the dimensions you entered

The width, depth and height you enter set the product's place in the floor plan. The cleaned version and the SketchUp files are fitted to them. In the model window the «File size» line shows the result, and the model card says «The model is fitted to these dimensions» or «The model's proportions differ from these dimensions».

1. «Exactly to the entered dimensions» means the model's proportions differ from the entered ones by no more than 15 %, and the model is stretched along each axis to your width, depth and height.
2. «The model's proportions differ from the entered ones by N %»: stretching the model further would distort the shape, and round tubes would become oval. So the model is scaled evenly by the largest entered side, for example by height. Check the product's dimensions and the model's shape.
3. «Width and depth swapped»: they seem to have been mixed up when entered. The model is fitted so that the shape is distorted less; check the dimensions.
4. For the original version, the «File size» line says that the file is at its own scale. When the model is downloaded for SketchUp it is still fitted to the entered dimensions by the same rules. In the floor plan, «Hall in 3D» and the GLB and OBJ downloaded from it the model is not stretched along one axis: it keeps its proportions and fits into its place, and if the place on the plan was stretched by hand, it follows it. See «A model at its size on the plan» in the article about «Hall in 3D».

• If the dimensions were entered wrong, for example centimetres instead of millimetres, open the model and click «Correct the dimensions» next to the dimensions. Type the sizes in millimetres or click «Multiply by 10», then «Save sizes». The model file and the check mark stay. The model's author can correct the dimensions once it is ready.
• When the entered sizes look like centimetres (a 45 × 45 × 90 mm chair), a hint «If you typed centimetres, multiply them by 10» and the «Multiply by 10» button appear under the fields: it multiplies all three sizes at once. If the sizes are right, click «All correct».
• Floor plans keep the dimensions the model was placed with. Plans you place the model on after the correction get the new dimensions. On an existing plan, stretch the model's place to the right size: the 3D scene shows the model at its size on the plan.

Transparent material: acrylic chairs, wine glasses, glass

A model from a photo is built with one solid material, so a clear acrylic chair, a wine glass or a glass vase comes out opaque. The «Transparent material» tick shows such a model see-through in the model window and in the project's 3D scene.

Metal parts stay as they are: on a «Prizm» chair with silver legs the seat and the back become see-through, while the legs stay shiny metal. A model without metal, such as a wine glass, becomes see-through as a whole.

1. Open the model in «Items in 3D» and find the «Transparent material» tick under the viewer.
2. Tick it: the model in the viewer becomes see-through at once. Untick it if the product is actually opaque.
3. The line under the tick says who decided: «Detected from the product name», «Detected from the product photo» or «Turned on by hand». To return to the automatic choice after a manual one, press «Detect automatically».

• AURA ticks it by itself when the name has words such as «transparent», «acrylic», «glass», «crystal», «wine glass». For a new model from a photo AURA also looks at the photo itself: this catches clear chairs whose name only says the colour.
• The model file does not change and is not built again, and the limit is not used. You can tick and untick it as often as you like.
• Only the author of the model changes the tick. For a model from the AURA Gallery the name decides.

Limit of 3D models from photos

Each build of a model from a photo needs a paid run of the Hunyuan3D neural network at the provider fal.ai. That is why the number of such runs per account is limited. The remaining amount is shown in the model creation window, in the 3D panel of the «Products» card in a visualization and on the project’s «Items in 3D» page, for example «Available in 24 h: 18 of 20». When the limit is used up, the «From photos» card in the «Where does the furniture come from?» window is inactive and says when a place frees up. The «?» icon on the limit line briefly explains it.

1. The limit counts over a rolling 24 hours, not a calendar day. Every run takes a place: both while the model is building and after it is ready.
2. One generation takes one place, even if views are added to the main photo: 1–4 photos of one product count as one generation.
3. A place frees up exactly 24 hours after the run that took it. If the limit is used up, the «From photos» card is unavailable, and the limit line shows when the next generation will be available, for example «The next generation will be available at 14:35». The time is shown by your device's clock; at that time the page updates the remaining amount by itself.

• Failed builds do not use the limit: the place comes back as soon as the model gets the error status. But after several failures in a row, runs from photos are paused for a short time. See «Pause after failed builds» for more.
• Uploading a ready GLB does not use the limit. While the limit is used up, you can upload a model from the manufacturer or from a 3D program.
• Inside a project, building from a photo uses the project owner's limit, not the limit of whoever clicked the button. See «Items in 3D in a project» for more.

Pause after failed builds

A failed build does not take a place in the limit, but the provider fal.ai still charges for it. To keep failed runs from repeating over and over, building from a photo has a few restrictions. They do not affect uploading a ready GLB.

Only failures where the provider processed the photo but the model did not work out are counted: the provider could not build it or AURA did not accept the finished file. Service failures are not counted: for example, the provider did not accept the task or stopped responding, or the file could not be downloaded or saved. The card of such a model says «The model was not built because of a service failure, not because of the photo. Try again later.»

1. Three failures in a row. If three builds from photos fail in a row, new runs from photos are paused for 60 minutes after the last failure. During this time the «From photos» card and the «Build the model» button are unavailable, and the limit line shows when runs will be available again, for example «A new run from a photo will be available at 14:35». The time is shown by your device's clock; at that time the page updates the line by itself.
2. A series of failures lasts until the first successful model from a photo: once a model is built, the count starts over. Failures older than 24 hours are not counted. If a build fails again after the pause and there has still been no successful model, the pause starts once more.
3. The same photo. If a model from one photo fails twice within 24 hours, that photo is temporarily not accepted. Under the «Build the model» button it says when you can try it again: 24 hours after the first of those failures. Meanwhile you can run another photo of the product right away.
4. While the model is building. A photo that a model is already being built from cannot be run again. Wait for the result. After two failures in a row, and from then on until a successful model is built, models from photos are built one at a time: the next run is available when the current one finishes.

• You can remove a failed generation: «Delete» with the trash can on its card, then «Remove from the list». Finished models cannot be deleted this way, because they may be used in floor plans and projects. Removing a failed generation from the list does not lift the pause or release the photo: the failure still counts.
• Instead of retrying, choose another photo (the whole object, on a plain background, no collage and no blur) or upload a ready GLB from the manufacturer. Tips on shooting are in «How to improve shape and details».
• If models do not build from any photo, contact support: if the cause is a failure at the provider, support will lift the pause and release the photo.

Items in 3D in a project

You can show a model from your library in a project, so that the board, visualizations, floor plan and 3D are all at hand in one place. The file is not copied, and the model stays with its author: if you remove it from the project, it stays in your library; if the project is deleted, the model does not disappear either. One model can be in several projects at once.

1. Open «Items in 3D» and click «Add to a project…» on the card or in the model window. The list shows the projects where you are the owner or an editor. The «In the project» mark shows where the model already is; you can remove it from there with the same button.
2. Or open «Items in 3D» in the project itself (the «Space» step → the «Items in 3D» card) and click «Add furniture» → «From my models»: choose your models, including ones that are still building.
3. To build a model from a photo right in the project, click «Add furniture» → «From photos» there. The model appears in the project and in your library. The «From photos» card is available to the owner and to an editor the owner has allotted generations to; for everyone else the page explains why building is missing.
4. Project members open the model, see the check and the «May contain mesh defects» mark, and download the file with «Download for…»: for SketchUp, other programs or as GLB.
5. The owner and editors put a checked model onto the project's floor plan («Put on the floor plan»): your latest floor plan of this project opens, or a new one if there is none yet, and the model is placed on the sheet; the «Back to the project's 3D models» arrow in the editor returns you to «Items in 3D». A model is put into a project visualization («Use in visualization») by those who can run generations in the project: the owner allots them to editors. The button opens a visualization with the model among the products, and «Back to the project» in its top bar returns you to «Items in 3D». Or right in the plan editor: «Add» → «Furniture and 3D models», the «Project models» or «My 3D models» tab; drag a card onto the plan or click it.

• Who can do what. The owner and editors add their own models and put them on the floor plan, and, if they can run generations, into a visualization too. The owner can always build from photos, and an editor only when the owner has allotted generations to them. A commenter and a viewer open models and download files; they have no «Add furniture» button. A client who only has access to selected frames cannot open «Items in 3D», and an outsider sees nothing.
• A project’s «Items in 3D» follow the project owner’s access: if the 3D models module is not enabled for the owner, none of the members has the «Items in 3D» card in the «Space» step, while your personal «Items in 3D» depends on your own access. The number on the card shows how many models are in the project right now and changes when a model is added or removed.
• You can only add your own model: even an editor cannot add someone else's. A model can be removed from a project by its author and by the project owner, but not by another editor. The author can remove their model even if they were later made a viewer or removed from the project: this is how they close access to their file. To remove a model from a project you are no longer a member of, use the «Add to a project…» window in «Items in 3D».
• Only the model's author can change it (rename, check, make the cleaned version, switch versions). The check is also up to the author: an unchecked model does not go into a visualization or onto the floor plan, and its card says «Not checked by the author».
• Whose limit. Building from a photo in a project uses the project owner's daily limit, not the limit of whoever clicked the button. This limit is shared by all builds in the owner's projects and the owner's own builds. Next to the button it says whose limit it is and how much is left; if it is used up, the message gives the time when a place frees up. Only those who can build see the remaining limit. Generations allotted to an editor act as a permission and are not used up by builds.
• The pause after several failed builds in a row and the refusal to retry the same photo apply to whoever starts the run: an editor's failures do not stop the owner. The owner's limit is shared across all their projects, so it cannot be bypassed by creating models in different projects.
• If a model is removed from a project, finished frames and floor plans keep what they took from it, but members lose access to the model file, for example to view the floor plan in «Hall in 3D». The original photo the author built the model from is not shown to members: the card only shows a picture of the model itself.
• For now, a project presentation offers the owner's models: models added by an editor do not appear there.

How to rename a model

1. Open the model in «Items in 3D» and click the pencil next to its name. In the model list you can click «Rename» right on the card.
2. Correct the name (up to 100 characters) and press Enter or click «Save». Esc or «Cancel» keeps the old name.
3. The new name appears right away in the model window and in the list. If saving fails, the old name comes back, and the field opens again with the text you typed and the reason.

• Only the name changes. The model file, the dimensions and the check mark stay the same.
• Floor plans and visualizations already created keep the model's old name.
• An empty name cannot be saved. A failed generation cannot be renamed: it can only be removed from the list.
• A model's dimensions are corrected separately: the «Correct the dimensions» button next to the dimensions (section «Model size and the dimensions you entered»).

Frames from a short video

1. In the create-from-photo form, click «Choose frames from a video». MP4, MOV or WebM of up to 60 seconds and 150 MB will do, if the browser supports the codec. If reading fails, try MP4 with H.264 or separate photos.
2. Wait for the selection: the sharper frames are picked from neighboring frames in different parts of the clip. The video is processed in the browser and is not sent to the server.
3. Click a thumbnail, look at the large frame and set the side: «Front · main view», «Back», «Left» or «Right». The main frame is required; the others are optional. One frame cannot be used for two sides.
4. Check that the whole object is in frame, the details are not blurred and the views are set correctly. «Clear selection» removes the assignment. The selection does not detect sides automatically and does not guarantee that every frame is sharp.
5. Click «Use selected frames». Only the selected photos are uploaded; they replace the photos in the form. Check the name and dimensions, then click «Build the model» separately. «Cancel» closes the selection without starting a generation.

How to improve shape and details

1. For one model, photograph one and the same object. Do not use a collage of several views, a row of chairs or a furniture set in one photo: the model will include extra objects. The photo check warns you about such a shot before the run.
2. The object must be fully visible, with some background around the backrest and the legs. Choose a plain background that contrasts with the product, even light and original photos without blur or compression. Upload extra views as separate files.
3. Thin, wrought iron and openwork furniture is the hardest. Photograph it on a plain contrasting background: black or dark metal against a white or light gray wall, white against gray. On a busy floor or a background of the same color, the pattern and the balls at the ends of the legs get lost.
4. For such furniture, add 3 views: «Back», «Left» and «Right». Shoot exactly from these sides, on the same background and in the same light. Nearly identical front shots only confuse the model: in our comparison, two almost frontal frames made the model worse than a single photo.
5. For a video, walk slowly around the still object, keeping it fully in frame; then check the selected frames by hand.
6. After the generation, rotate the model and compare the silhouette, the number of legs, the openings, the backrest and the dimensions with the original. If there are extra objects or the shape is wrong, repeat with better source photos. Do not confirm the check for such a result.

• AI fills in what is not visible in the photo. Extra views reduce the uncertainty but do not guarantee an exact copy, especially for thin metal, transparent surfaces and complex patterns.
• An honest word about the limits of thin wrought iron furniture. On the complex chairs from our test set, photo preparation and the new build model noticeably improved the result: the backrest wave became round, the balls at the ends of the legs appeared, and the stripes on the cushion are even. But even now the neural network may simplify a fine pattern, add a detail that is not visible in the photo (for example, a tube at the back leg or a crossbar under the seat), and the proportions of a thin chair often differ from the entered ones by 25–35 %.
• If the pattern or the shape still does not match, there are three ways: photograph the product again following the tips above; upload the manufacturer's GLB; or refine the model by hand in a 3D program after downloading it with «Download for…».
• Increasing the texture resolution does not fix extra objects or wrong geometry. For an exact production item, a prepared model from the manufacturer or manual refinement is preferable.

Where the model file is stored and who can download it

3D model files are stored privately: there is no public link to the GLB either for your own models or for models from the library. AURA gives out the file only after sign-in and a permission check.

• The file can be downloaded by the model's author, by members of a project the model was added to, and by those who added or bought the model in the library, if the author allowed downloading. Files are downloaded with the «Download for…» button in the model window.
• A file address copied from the browser will not open without signing in to AURA. To pass a model to a colleague, add it to a shared project.
• A model with «Only in AURA» has no download buttons: the file is sent only for display in the viewer, in the floor plan and in «Hall in 3D».
• The model picture on the card is just an ordinary picture: the model itself cannot be rebuilt from it.

Good to know

• «Ready» means the build has finished, not that the likeness is confirmed. The owner confirms the check after inspecting the model; the original and cleaned versions are checked separately.
• Building from photos is limited over 24 hours: a place frees up 24 hours after the run, not at midnight. See «Limit of 3D models from photos» for more.
• Model dimensions, like the floor plan, are in millimeters: 1 m = 1000 mm. Models created earlier are shown in millimeters without changes: 75 cm is displayed as 750 mm.
• A model from a single photo can be wrong about hidden details. Do not present an automatic result as a measurement of the product.
• One to four photos are used in one generation and take one place in the 24-hour limit. Wait until all the selected photos have uploaded before starting.
• The photos must show the same object, one photo per view. Extra sides help clarify hidden details but do not guarantee an exact copy. Checking the finished model and the real dimensions is still required.
• If extra views are temporarily unavailable, the window says so. To continue, remove the extra photos and keep the main one.
• The «Cards / List» switch above the list changes the view: cards are larger, while the list shows the name, type, date, version and actions as icons in one row (hover over an icon to see a tooltip; the trash can icon means «Delete»). Your choice is remembered in this browser, separately for each page.

AURA Gallery: publish a model and take a ready one

Chairs, tables and other products are the same at many studios, and there is no point in building them again. The «AURA Gallery» has items in 3D («From the AURA gallery»): studios publish checked models, and others add them to their own. The section is in beta for now and open to every account.

An added model sits in «Items in 3D» marked «From the library». You can put it on the floor plan and use it in visualizations and projects. It does not use the 24-hour limit of builds from photos, and the file is not copied.

1. To publish your model, open it in «Items in 3D». Only models you have checked can be published: confirm the check first. Mesh defects do not block publishing; the card will be marked «May contain mesh defects».
2. In the «Library» block, click «Publish in the library». Enter a name, a category, tags for search, the manufacturer or rental company if you like, and how to show you (studio or name). The dimensions are taken from the model.
3. Choose the terms. «Only in AURA»: the model works in the floor plan, visualizations and projects, but its files cannot be downloaded. «With GLB download»: those who added the model can download the GLB and the SketchUp files. Later the terms can only be relaxed.
4. Confirm that you have the right to publish the model: it is yours or you have the author's permission, and it does not infringe anyone's rights. Click «Publish». Publishing is free.
5. To take someone else's model, click «Add furniture» → «From the AURA gallery». Filter by category and by dimensions in millimeters, search by name, tag or manufacturer, sort by «New» or «Added more often». Click «View» to rotate the model in 3D, and «Add to my models».
6. If you are about to build a model from a photo, the «3D model from a photo» window and the 3D panel in a visualization compare the photo with the library for free before the run and suggest «This model may already exist» with a «See in the library» link. This is a hint: you can start the build in any case.
7. If something is wrong with a model, click «Report» in its window in the library and choose a reason. A moderator reviews the complaint.

• The library keeps a snapshot of the file as of publication. If you later clean the model, switch its version or rename it, the library card and what others have already added do not change. To publish a new version of the file, click «Publish the current version»: the previous card will be taken down.
• «Take down» removes the card from the library, but those who have already added the model keep it: their floor plans and visualizations keep working. Only a moderator can remove a model from those who added it, if it infringes rights or contains prohibited content.
• The same file is published in the library only once. If such a model already exists, you will see a message. A file that was previously taken down by a moderator cannot be published again.
• The «Only in AURA» terms work inside AURA itself: download buttons and SketchUp export are unavailable for such models, and in a downloaded 3D file of a floor plan or project a simple box of the model's size is used instead. There is no public link to the file of such a model: the browser receives it only for display in the viewer, on request with your sign-in. It is worth honoring your agreements with the author.
• The «This model may already exist» hint works in the background and may not appear: if the comparison is unavailable, nothing prevents you from starting the build.

If it does not work

If the start button is unavailable, check the file, the name, three positive dimensions, that the upload has finished, the available limit and whether there is a pause after failed builds. If a card shows an error, open its message; before retrying after a network failure, check whether a result you already started has appeared.

How to open a model in SketchUp

Open the model and click «Download for…». For SketchUp, choose «SketchUp (DAE with texture)»: SketchUp imports this format without extensions, including version 2021. The file is made from the version open in the viewer, at the size from the library.

The ZIP archive contains a .dae file and a folder with the texture. Unpack the whole archive and do not separate the file from the folder: without it the model opens without color.

In SketchUp, choose «File → Import», the COLLADA (*.dae) type, and select the file. Keep file validation on (Validate COLLADA File). The model stands on the ground, facing the «Front» view, at the same size as in the library.

«SketchUp, shape only (STL)» works as a fallback: no color, sizes in millimeters. Import: «File → Import», STL type; in the import options keep the units as «millimeters».

«Blender, 3ds Max and others (OBJ)» downloads an archive with .obj, .mtl and the texture. SketchUp opens OBJ only with an extension.

«Original format (GLB)» gives the file as it is stored in AURA. SketchUp Desktop 2024 and newer imports it with «File → Import», GLTF Binary File (*.glb) type. Simply renaming .glb to .skp does not convert the model.

After importing, check the dimensions, orientation and materials.

• DAE, STL and OBJ carry over only the base color and the texture. Metallic shine, roughness and surface relief from the GLB do not get into these formats, so metal looks matte in SketchUp.
• A model from a photo consists of many triangles. To hide their edges, select the model and choose «Soften/Smooth Edges» in the context menu.
• If SketchUp shows gaps on thin details, this may be due to very small faces: the model check reports them separately. Contact support and attach the model: we are looking into how to fix it.
• COLLADA import: https://help.sketchup.com/en/sketchup/importing-and-exporting-collada-files
• glTF/GLB import: https://help.sketchup.com/en/sketchup/working-gltf-files
• STL import: https://help.sketchup.com/en/sketchup/importing-and-exporting-stl-files-3d-printing

For 3D printing (STL): scale, printer bed, walls and supports

With the «3D parts» beta (open to everyone now), a model's «Download for…» menu has a «For 3D printing (STL)» item. It first shows the scale, the size in millimeters, the mesh check, the wall thickness and whether supports are needed, and the file is downloaded after that.

1. Open the model and click «Download for…», then «For 3D printing (STL)».
2. In the «Printer bed» block, choose your printer or «Custom: W × D × H mm» and enter the bed size.
3. Choose the «Printing technology»: «FDM (plastic)» or «SLA (resin)». The minimum wall and the allowed overhang depend on it, and the choice is remembered in this browser.
4. Choose the scale: «1:1» (real millimeters), «In percent» or «By height», and click «Recalculate».
5. Check «Size in the file», «Scale», the volume, the mesh checks, the walls and the supports, then click «Download STL».

• The STL is in millimeters with the Z axis up. A furniture model at 1:1 is usually larger than the bed of a desktop printer, so you need a scale, otherwise the slicer will shrink the model by itself. If the model does not fit, click the suggested «Scale 1:N (height X mm)» button.
• If the dimensions on the model card differ from the size of the model itself by more than 10%, AURA shows both and offers «Stretch to the sizes on the card». Catalog dimensions are often generic: stretch only if you are sure of the numbers.
• Checks: «Mesh is closed», «Normals face outward», «One body», wall thickness and supports. If the mesh has gaps, the slicer may refuse it: try the cleaned version of the model.
• Wall thickness is measured in millimeters at the chosen scale and compared with the technology's minimum: 0.8 mm for FDM and 0.5 mm for SLA by default. «Thin wall» means thin areas take a noticeable part of the surface: increase the scale or choose another model. «Thinner in places» means there are few thin spots, usually small details. A smaller scale makes the walls thinner, so look at the result again after «Recalculate».
• A face that looks down steeper than the allowed angle (by default 45° from the vertical for FDM and 60° for SLA) is printed with supports. The thresholds used for the check are shown in the window in the walls and supports lines. AURA shows the steepest overhang, its area, the volume under the overhangs down to the bed or the model and the approximate support material. Faces lying on the bed are not counted.
• Accuracy: the thickness is measured at a few thousand points of the surface, and a thin spot between them may be missed. Supports are estimated for the model as it stands in the file (Z axis up): the slicer may turn it and count differently. For an open mesh the measurement is approximate, and if most of the surface has no other side (a plane, a curtain, a sheet), AURA says «Wall thickness: cannot be measured»: the slicer will not print a wall of zero thickness. If the model is too complex for the quick check, the walls or the support volume are marked as not checked: look at them in the slicer. The slicer is not run here: a visual model is not the same as a printable one, and the slicer and a test print have the final say.
• For small parts with exact dimensions (a bracket, a plate with holes, a candle holder, a box), the order's «3D parts» tool is more convenient. If no template fits the photo there, the «Make a 3D model from a photo» button opens the project's «Items in 3D» with that photo already in place.

In the mobile app

1. The «My 3D models» section opens from the home screen of the mobile app. Upload a GLB or choose photos of the item and enter the sizes in millimeters.
2. You can rotate the model with a finger and zoom with two fingers or with the buttons. Check the shape and sizes, then confirm the check of the current version of the file.
3. «Add angle to composition» saves the current view on a transparent background and adds it to the items already chosen in the current draft. A GLB stores the 3D model, while a PNG saves the chosen view.
4. The file menu has saving a GLB and export. The author's terms may allow work only inside AURA. The original and the cleaned versions are checked separately.

• After an unclear reply to a paid build, check the list of models. The app keeps waiting and does not send a repeat start. Publishing a model to the community is available to members of the 3D library beta.
• A finished model built from photos can be compared with the original shots in the expandable block. The check status applies to the chosen version. The saved PNG contains the current angle and a transparent background.

Model angle in the image composition

After opening, the model appears right away in the viewer. Choose an angle and tap «Add angle to composition». Confirming adds a PNG with a transparent background and the model's dimensions to the current draft, keeping its other items.

The «Open current composition» button returns to the overall composition of the image: there you can check the venue, items, parameters and the saving state. Adding an angle does not start a generation.

STL on the phone

In the mobile app, open the model card and tap «For 3D printing (STL)». You need access to 3D models, the 3D printing beta key and the author's permission to download. The original and the cleaned versions are chosen separately.

Enter the scale as a percentage or a target height, choose the printer bed and run the check. The report shows the dimensions, volume, whether the mesh is closed, the normals, the number of bodies and the placement on the bed. Changing the parameters requires a new check. The STL is saved through the system menu.

Stretching to the card's dimensions changes the proportions along the axes. If the model does not fit, you can take the suggested smaller scale.

• Mesh cleaning and this report do not check wall thickness and do not guarantee that the item is ready to print. Check the file in a slicer. Dimensional parts from four templates are created in the separate «3D parts» section.

Related guides

• Project overview: what's next, event brief and team
• How to invite someone to a project and to the visual board
• Create a visualization: «I'll build it» on one screen
• Library: five parts and the AURA Gallery
• Floor plan: dimensions, seating and export
• Hall in 3D: the project’s hall in three dimensions
• 3D parts: a part made to size and an STL for the printer