Smart Web Export turns any SketchUp model into a shareable 3D web link and QR code, viewable on any phone, tablet or computer, with nothing to install on your client's end.

Export in one click and share the link however you like: a quote, a drawing, an email. Your client can stand the building on their table as a scale model, lift its roof off to see inside, place a chair at 1:1 in the room, and measure anything on screen.

Includes augmented reality on iOS and Android, hideable tags you choose yourself, a dashboard to manage every model, an embed snippet for your own website, and your logo in place of ours on paid plans.

Free to start — 3 active models, no credit card required.

How to use Smart Web Export for SketchUp

Smart Web Export turns any SketchUp model into a shareable 3D web link and QR code, viewable on any phone, tablet or computer — no app, no plugin on your client's end.

Before you start

• Save your SketchUp file. The export works from the saved .skp, and refuses to run on a model that has never been saved.
• What gets exported is what is visible. Hidden groups, components and tags are left out. Hide anything your client should not see, before exporting. The one exception is a tag you mark as hideable: it is always included, so that your client can switch it on.
• An account is only asked for when you publish. The settings screen opens without one. Signing up is free and takes a minute, and you will get an email to confirm your address before your first model goes online.

Exporting a model

1. Open your model in SketchUp.
2. Go to Extensions > Smart Web Export > Export model, or click the button on the Smart Web Export toolbar.
3. Set the link up:
   • How long it stays live — 7 days, 30 days, or no expiry on paid plans.
   • A name and tags, to find it again later in your model list.
   • Augmented reality — at 1:1 for furniture and joinery, or as a scale model on a table for a building. Measurements stay real either way.
   • Hideable tags — pick up to four. Your client gets a checkbox for each and can, for instance, lift the roof off to see inside. You choose the labels and the state the link opens in.
   • Measuring tool, visible edges, auto-rotation, scene background, unlimited zoom.
4. Click Start export. The model is cleaned, optimised and compressed for you — there is nothing to prepare beforehand.
5. You get a link and a QR code. Copy either one.
6. Share it on a quote, a drawing, an email or a PDF. Your client opens it in any browser.

Viewing the model

• Click the link, or scan the QR code, to open the 3D viewer in any browser.
• On a phone, tap the augmented reality button to place the model in the room at 1:1, or on a table as a scale model. Works on iOS with Safari and on Android with Chrome.
• Whatever your client hides or measures on their side changes nothing for anyone else. What you set at export is what everyone sees on opening.

Managing your models

Open Manage models, inside the extension or from any web browser, to:

• Rename, tag, search and sort your models
• Change the background, augmented reality, measuring, edges, auto-rotation, unlimited zoom and the labels of your hideable tags — without re-exporting
• Get an embed snippet to put the viewer on your own website
• Refresh a published link with a new version of the model, keeping the same link and the same QR code
• Pause a link to free a slot, or delete it

Account settings

A second tab, also available on the web, lets you upload your logo and a clickable address shown on the public viewer in place of ours (paid plans), change the interface language, sign out, upgrade, or cancel your subscription.

Plans

Free to start — 3 active models, 7-day links, no credit card. Paid plans lift the 7-day limit, add active models and put your own branding on the viewer. Full pricing: https://www.lab-atelier.com/sketchup-extensions/smart-web-export

Requirements

SketchUp 2021 or later, on Windows and macOS. A model must come out under 50 MB once compressed; if it does not, hide what your client does not need and export again.

Need help?

support@lab-atelier.com

Smart Web Export — Full documentation

What gets exported

Export follows visibility, not a manual selection. Hidden groups, components and tags are excluded automatically, so hiding is how you choose what to share.

One deliberate exception: a tag you mark as hideable is always included, whatever its state in SketchUp. It has to be, since the point is to let your client switch it on.

Softened edges stay softened, and construction lines are never exported.

Export settings

Everything below is set in the export window. Everything except the augmented reality scale can also be changed afterwards from the model list, without re-exporting.

• Link duration — 7 days, 30 days, or no expiry on paid plans.
• Augmented reality — at 1:1, or as a scale model. Choose a target size and the model is scaled down to it; it is never scaled up, so a door handle will not become a 50 cm object. Measurements always report the real dimensions of the project, even on a scale model.
• Hideable tags — up to four SketchUp tags. Each becomes a checkbox in the viewer. You set the label your client reads and whether the link opens with that part shown or hidden. Edges follow the geometry they belong to.
• Measuring tool — the viewer measures point to point on the model. Shown in metric or imperial, following the unit system of your SketchUp file.
• Visible edges — decides whether edges are drawn when the link opens.
• Auto-rotation — the model turns slowly on its own, gallery style.
• Scene background — a preset or any colour you choose.
• Unlimited zoom — lets the visitor go right inside the model. Useful for site plans and sections.

The viewer

The link opens in any modern browser, on a phone, a tablet or a computer. Nothing is installed on your client's side. Augmented reality is offered when the device supports it: iOS with Safari, Android with Chrome.

The visual choices are yours, not your client's. What you set at export is what they see when they open the link. The only control they get is the one you gave them: the checkboxes for the tags you chose to make hideable.

Managing your models

Available inside the extension and from any web browser:

• Rename, tag, search and sort by name, status, date, expiry or views
• Change every viewer setting per model, without re-exporting
• See how many times each link has been opened, and when it was last viewed
• Get an embed snippet to place the viewer on your own site, with augmented reality still working inside the frame
• Refresh a link with a new version of the model, keeping the link and QR code
• Pause a link to free a slot, or delete it for good

Account

Upload a logo and a clickable address, shown on the public viewer in place of ours (paid plans). Change language, sign out, upgrade, cancel, or delete your account and everything in it.

Privacy

The people you send a link to are not tracked: no cookie, no third-party analytics, no IP address recorded. The only figure kept is how many times the link was opened, and it is for you. Full policy: https://www.lab-atelier.com/sketchup-extensions/smart-web-export/privacy-policy

Plans and limits

Free: 3 active models, 7-day links, 50 MB per model. Paid: more active models, no expiry, your own branding. Full pricing: https://www.lab-atelier.com/sketchup-extensions/smart-web-export

Support

support@lab-atelier.com

Version 1.1.0

Now genuinely works on SketchUp 2021, 2022 and 2023. Version 1.0.1 relied on SketchUp's own glTF exporter, which only exists from SketchUp 2024. The extension announced 2021 but could not actually export below 2024. The GLB file is now written by the extension itself. On SketchUp 2021 the geometry compression step is skipped automatically — the file is larger, but the export goes through.

New

• Hideable tags. Pick up to four SketchUp tags at export time; whoever opens your link gets a checkbox for each and can, for instance, lift the roof off to see inside. You choose the labels and the state the link opens in.
• Visible edges, redrawn. Edges are read from your SketchUp model rather than guessed from the geometry. What SketchUp draws is what the viewer draws.
• Refresh a published link from the model list. One button reopens the export window already set to that link, with its settings restored. It warns you if the open SketchUp file is not the one the link was published from.
• Embed code. A ready-made snippet to drop the viewer into your own website, with augmented reality kept working inside the frame.
• The export window opens without an account. You can see and set every option first. An account is only asked for when you publish.
• Sort your models by name, status, creation date, expiry or views.
• A demonstration QR code on the first screen: scan it and the viewer opens on your phone, exactly as it will for your client.
• Privacy notice on the account screen and in the settings.

Improved

• Colours, textures and smoothing now match what SketchUp shows. Tinted materials keep their tint, back-face materials are exported, and repeated textures no longer come out at the wrong scale.
• Unlimited zoom can now be changed after export, like every other viewer setting. It previously had to be decided once and for all at export time.
• Settings of an existing model are restored when you update it, instead of having to set them all again.
• The export window shows how many active models you have against your plan.
• Clearer messages when an export is refused, with a way back to the settings instead of a dead end.
• Interface completed across French, English, Italian, German, Spanish and Portuguese.

Fixed

• Black window on SketchUp 2021. The interface used JavaScript that the embedded browser of that version does not understand.
• Crash a second after exporting, on models with several nested components carrying the same tag.
• Grey surfaces. Some faces came out flat grey because their lighting normals disagreed with the geometry. They are detected and corrected.
• Export freezing on the loading spinner with no message. The export now gives up and tells you if nothing has happened after two minutes.
• Silent fallback. An export that failed halfway used to look like it had succeeded, minus the tags and edges. It now fails clearly.
• The version number shown in the settings was stuck at 1.0.1.

Also, online — applies to links published with earlier versions too

• 3D files are no longer downloadable from a public storage address. A paused, expired or deleted link now stops serving its file, not just its page.
• New accounts confirm their email address before they can publish.