Render a House

Upload Your Design

What to upload, what formats work, and how to export from your favorite design tool.

Render a House accepts two kinds of input: images (sketches, drawings, photos, screenshots) and 3D models (GLB, GLTF, OBJ).

The upload screen

Upload screen

Before uploading, set:

  • Save to — pick a folder, create a new one (via New Folder...), or leave as "No folder"

    Folder selector on upload

  • Project name — optional. Leave blank and Render a House will generate a name based on what it sees in your image

Three ways to add a file:

  • Drag and drop onto the drop zone

    Drag and drop from Finder

  • Click to upload to open the file picker

    File picker

  • Sample images — scroll down the upload screen to use one of the example drawings

Supported formats

KindFormats
ImagePNG, JPEG, WebP
3D modelGLB, GLTF, OBJ

Max file size for images: 5 MB. 3D models have no size limit.

Recommended dimensions: 2000–3000 px on the longest side.

See Supported File Formats for the full breakdown.

Tips for best results

For image uploads

  • Clean, high-contrast drawings work best. A crisp export from your design tool beats a blurry phone picture every time
  • Crop tight. Whitespace and clutter confuse the AI. Leave a small margin around the building
  • Include context when it matters. To anchor a tree line, street, or cliff, show some of it in the drawing
  • Use a 3D screenshot with a neutral sky and flat lighting when exporting from SketchUp, Rhino, or 3ds Max. Avoid depth-of-field and motion blur

For 3D model uploads

  • GLB is the recommended 3D format. GLTF and OBJ also work. Sketchup, Blender, Rhino, and others can all export to GLB
  • Keep the file under ~100k polygons. 3D models have no file-size limit, but very dense meshes can slow the upload — decimate if needed

How to export from your design software

From the upload screen, click How to export from your design software for step-by-step instructions. Most common tools:

  • Sketchup — export to .glb. If your version doesn't support glTF export directly, reach out via Chat with human in the app and support can help convert the .skp for you
  • Rhino / Blender — native .glb export

For anything else, export a clean view as a JPEG or PNG — it's the simplest path and works with any design software.

What happens after upload

  1. Render a House processes your file and creates a view
  2. You land in the editor to configure render settings and generate your first render
  3. The original upload stays attached to the view forever — you can always re-render with different settings or add new views to the same project

Troubleshooting

"File too large" — images over 5 MB. Resize the image or take a screenshot at 2000–2500 px. 3D models have no size limit

Upload hangs — first, make sure your internet connection is working. Then try refreshing the page, a different browser, or incognito mode. Check you're not on a VPN. If it still fails, rename the file using only letters and numbers (no spaces or special characters)

Upload succeeds but the result ignores my drawing — the drawing is likely too low-contrast, too small, or has too much background. Crop tighter and upload a cleaner version

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