How ARfield Works

How it works — in three steps

Upload a model

Tap Load a model and choose a file. ARfield reads it and converts it in your browser — your file never leaves your device during conversion.

Inspect it properly

Measure between any two points in metres or millimetres. Identify any element — tap a wall and see its type, plus whatever your model records: family, level, tag. Read straight out of the IFC. Layers hides a floor or a whole element type in one tap, and See-through fades the building so you can look at the structure behind the finishes.

Place it on site — or send it

On a phone, tap View in AR to stand the building on the real site at full size and walk around it. Note pins a comment to the exact element, Snapshot captures the view with your measurements and notes on it, and a share link opens for anyone — no app, no account.

Supported file formats

Everything converts to the formats phones and browsers understand (GLB for Android & desktop, USDZ for iPhone) — automatically.

GLBGLTFSTL OBJPLYSTEP / STP IGES / IGSBREPIFC (Revit / BIM)

Architects

IFC is the open BIM format Revit, Archicad and Vectorworks all export natively (File → Export → IFC). Element names, types, levels and tags come through wherever your model records them, so tapping a wall tells you what it actually is.

DWG is not read directly — it's a 2D drawing format with no 3D building data. Export to IFC (architectural) or STEP (steel) instead.

Structural & mechanical engineers

STEP, IGES and BREP from Tekla, SolidWorks, Inventor and Fusion are read by a real CAD kernel — so the fabricator's steel opens alongside the architect's IFC in the same tool.

3D scanning (LiDAR & photogrammetry)

Scanned a room, site, or object with an iPhone/iPad LiDAR app (Polycam, Scaniverse, RealityScan) or desktop photogrammetry tool (CloudCompare, Meshroom)? Export as GLB, OBJ, or PLY — captured surface colour comes through automatically.

Seeing it at real size, on the real site

A model opens at table size by default — roughly 750 mm across, so placing it in AR lands it on a desk instead of burying you inside a wall. That is the right default for looking at something.

To stand it on the site at its real size, tap Full size 1:1. A 39.5 m culvert becomes 39.5 m. Walk around it, walk through it, hold a phone up where it will be built.

Whoever you sent the link to can do this too — no app, no account, nothing to install. The full-size version travels with the link.

Why there is a button rather than just pinching: phone AR apps cap pinch-zoom at about 10×. A 12 m house shrunk to fit a table needs 16× to get back to real size, and a 39.5 m culvert needs 53×. You could pinch until your fingers ache and never arrive. The button swaps in a true-size model instead, which is the only thing that actually works.

Working with the map

When you share a model you place a pin on a satellite map, and whoever opens the link sees that pin next to where they are standing. The map does more than sit there.

Turn the map. Two fingers on a phone or tablet; hold the right mouse button and drag on a computer. Useful when the site runs at an angle to north and you want the drawing the same way up as the road you are looking at.
Get back to north. Once the map is turned, a small compass appears in the corner. Tap it once and the map swings back to north-up and the compass takes itself away again — if you cannot see a compass, you are already north-up.
Let the map follow you. Double-tap the compass and the map turns as you turn, so whatever is in front of you is at the top of the screen. Tap once to stop. Phones and tablets only — a laptop has no compass to follow.
Save a view. The bookmark button remembers where the map is centred, how far in, and which way round, under a name you choose. Saved views are listed alphabetically, and can be renamed or removed. They stay on your own device and are not shared with anyone you send a link to.
Step back. The two arrows at the bottom of the map move back and forward through views you have already been at, the same way a browser's back button does.

About “follow me” and north: iPhones report true north. Most Android phones report magnetic north, which in South Africa is about 23° different, and the app says so on screen when that is what it is getting. It is the right tool for getting your bearings on site, not for setting anything out.

When they find something

The person you send a model to can tap the spot and tell you what is wrong — a clash, a missing handrail, something built differently to the drawing. They do not install anything, make an account or sign in to do it.

They open the link you sent and tap Report something.
You get an email with their note and the point on the model they marked.
It gets a reference — ARF-1042 — and joins a queue that keeps reminding you until you close it.
When you close it and say what was done, they are told, on a page they open without signing in.

If they leave an email address they get a receipt and can follow it. If they do not, the report still reaches you.

Working with colleagues

On the Practice and Studio plans you can invite people from your own practice into the same workspace, so models and share links belong to the firm rather than to one person's laptop. Practice includes 5 people, Studio 10.

A seat is a colleague, not a client. The people you send models to never need a seat, an account or an app — that is free and unlimited on every plan, including the free one.

Good to know

Nothing is uploaded to convert. Conversion happens entirely in your browser. A model is only stored on our servers if you choose to Share it.
STL & BREP files carry no unit information — ARfield assumes millimetres (the industry standard) and tells you so, so AR sizing is right.
iPhone AR needs a USDZ file — ARfield generates one automatically for every model, so AR works on iPhone too.

Open a model. Measure it, mark it up, stand it on the site.