How to show a client a space you have not built yet

Present a direction from a plan alone: review the model against the source drawing, compare saved arrangements, then send a GLB, a USDZ for Apple AR, or a presentation image.

INK TO BRICKUpdated October 7, 20266 min read

A sofa and moving boxes beside a clear route through an apartment. — Editorial illustration made with Midjourney.

On this page

Practise comparing two design optionsKeep openings fixed. Open Design options, choose New option, move the furniture, then use Compare options and Add comment. Nothing is sent to a client; options and review stay in this browser. No account needed. See your home in 3D before you pay; editing it needs a plan.

Try the client living room Use my own floor plan

Start with a checked floor plan and a 3D model the client can explore. Review the layout together, save the agreed arrangement, then choose images that explain specific decisions. Give every view a room name and revision so comments refer to the same proposal.

Choose the questions to review

Agree on the decisions the meeting needs to resolve. Use an overhead view for the layout and an eye-level view for a particular room. If the source plan does not specify ceiling height or another detail, label the assumption instead of presenting it as measured.

Room size: show the checked dimensions and a familiar furniture footprint together.
Windows and lighting: show window positions and label any proposed lighting. A generated image is not a daylight analysis.
Furniture fit: compare actual product dimensions with the checked room and show the remaining clearances.
Materials and atmosphere: use a still image to discuss a finish or color, and keep the source view beside it for comparison.

Review the reconstructed model first

You upload the floor plan you already have, one file at a time, as a PDF, PNG, JPEG, SVG, or DXF of 25 MiB or smaller, and the conversion prepares a conceptual 3D model. Select the required brochure page and crop in the local preparation workspace before uploading; the PDF floor plan route covers that preparation and the drawing context used to interpret scale, including up to 30 reference measurements. Check the reported scale status and compare a second independent dimension before relying on distances. Before you change anything, review the reconstructed conditions against the separate source drawing and keep a baseline option. The manual editor supports native wall and opening edits as well as furniture and finishes; inspect each changed relationship before presenting it. To check a distance yourself, the measure tool takes two points and reports the length without changing the model. The editor’s Units control offers Metric or Feet and inches. For reference, 1 m is about 3 ft 3 in.

A furnished apartment seen from above with the ceiling removed: a living room with a sofa and a round table, a kitchen island with stools, a dining table, two bedrooms, a bathroom, and a terrace behind a railing. — The apartment study that ships with the sign-in screen, rendered by the INK TO BRICK viewer with the ceiling removed. A reference study, not a customer project.

Saved directions, one model underneath

Furniture and finish studies can preserve a baseline arrangement. Keep geometry changes explicit and compare them with the separate source drawing. Review the existing saved options, then use chat for supported requests or the manual editor to place furniture and assign finishes directly. Keep a baseline option while developing alternatives on the same canvas. Keep the arrangement you showed the client as its own saved revision. Every plan includes revision history and side-by-side comparison. The furniture library lists each piece’s width, depth, height, and required clearances. Its footprint is labeled catalog bounds, not a product image: compare it with the actual product dimensions, then measure the remaining space against the checked model.

What you hand over

OutputWhat it isWhere it goes

The baseline modelThe existing conditions from the drawing, with named spacesThe screen you present from, at the client’s pace

Design optionOne direction: furniture placements and finish assignments, kept apart from the modelA before and after against the neutral model, side by side

GLB or glTFThe 3D scene, exported on every planA viewer that opens those formats, or your own tools

USDZThe same scene packaged for AR, on every planAR Quick Look on a compatible iPhone or iPad; Android needs a separate GLB workflow

A presentation imageDefault PNG, JPEG, or WebP exports at 1280 by 960 are included on every plan. Custom views, sizes, lighting, and visibility require Pro or Team.A slide, an email, a document that opens anywhere

Public showcase pageA link anyone can open without signing inThe client, and anyone the client forwards it to

What a project produces, and what each output is good for.

Publishing a release, in the order the app asks for it

Review the project title, summary and saved release before sharing its public page. Your projects stay private unless you publish them, and the allowances are listed on pricing. The visitor experience is open without an account at the public showcase.

Save the release draft, refresh the private preview, and look at it. That preview is what a reader will get.
Input and Normalized floor plan images stay private unless you explicitly include them in a published release. The private generated-image gallery, collaborators, billing records and internal processing evidence are not part of the public project page.
Publish the profile. Until you do, the project’s public page stays unavailable.
Choose the URL name carefully. It is permanent, including while the profile is unpublished, and unpublishing later does not retract the page from the internet: cached copies and search results may outlive it.

Choose a view for the presentation

Members with editing access can generate a photoreal image from the current 3D view. The captured view, camera, scene and materials guide the image’s composition and layout. Compare the original and generated views in the private project gallery before using the result in a presentation.

Each gallery image stays linked to its captured source view and model revision. You can download the image, open the associated revision or download the exact source GLB. That connection keeps the client conversation attached to the model even when it starts with an image. Which file to send for which purpose is set out in the export format guide.

What to check before presenting

A generated image is a visualization, not a photograph of the completed space. Agree on that distinction with the client, and explain the difference between a render and a model. The lighting presets are three fixed presets, not a daylight study for your building’s orientation. Not every drawing resolves either: scale can come back unresolved, and a 3D file is not produced for every source. The model states its own limit: Conceptual model only. Not a survey or construction document. The viewer provides a saved-revision GLB and room-map JSON. Before publication, the project creator or an assigned customer Editor with an available seat can use the 20-format export library, including DXF, DWG and SketchUp SKP on Pro and Team, along with IFC and STEP, when the plan includes access. Those files do not become a native Revit project, parametric authoring history or engineering validation. The published page carries approximate overall dimensions and a space count, plus approximate room measurements when the model includes measurable room geometry. Private view links support guest notes on a saved model, professional replies, resolved notes and a recorded agreed direction. Core, Pro and Team add client links where the client picks an option. On a phone, review alternatives, leave notes, share the saved version and make light edits; use a larger screen for precise modeling.

The image presents the direction, while the model helps the client examine how the rooms connect and where the furniture sits. Saved alternatives give the discussion something to compare, and the saved revision connects the chosen arrangement with the visualization made from it. Confirm workspace access and any image generation allowance before promising a client a date. The longer version of this workflow is on interior design proposals, and floor plan to 3D describes the conversion the whole thing starts with.

Give each review one decision

For a furniture proposal, send the saved layout and ask about placement before asking about finishes. Use a matching model view and generated image for the later material discussion. Record which option the client approved and what remains undecided. A clear question is more useful than a gallery of views showing subtly different arrangements.

Inspect a reference in 3D

Look at the same route from two sides. Which relationship between furniture and openings becomes clearer from the second angle? Use the sample editor to change the layout.

L-shaped home: An open kitchen, dining and living room that turns toward a bedroom wing. — L-shaped home: a separate layout reference, not a reconstruction of your plan or the editable scene linked above. It supports orbit and zoom; it cannot measure, edit walls or verify a saved revision. Image: model capture, not a photograph of a built property.

Open this model in 3D