With the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence, a new generation of AI-powered tools took architectural rendering by storm.
AI renderers let you visualize your CAD models, sketches, and floor plans orders of magnitude quicker than traditional rendering tools, without sacrificing quality.
How much quicker?
In 10 seconds per render.
But speed is just one of their many benefits.
Here are some more advantages of AI rendering software over traditional rendering tools:
Before diving into the top AI rendering tools list, let's first discuss the key selection criteria to help you make the right choice.
While on the surface, most AI renderers may look the same, some generate dramatically better results than others.
Here are the main aspects you should look for when evaluating AI rendering tools:
Now, let's have a look at some of the most robust AI renderers on the market.
MyArchitectAI is a leading AI-powered architecture rendering tool praised by users for its impressive photorealism and accuracy.
It lets you upload images of your CAD models or sketches for the AI engine to visualize in under 10 seconds.
You can choose from two rendering engines:
1. Accurate engine, that preserves the geometry, materials, colors, and textures from your uploaded design:
2. Style transfer engine, that lets you transfer the style from a reference image onto your design to generate unique concepts:
This provides architects and interior designers a fast way to explore design concepts and create polished visualizations for client presentations or projects.
In addition to speed, MyArchitectAI also provides a high level of photorealism and detail in its renderings. You can customize lighting, materials, and views using custom prompts (scene descriptions) to produce the exact perspectives and scenes you need.
Pricing: first 10 renders a month are free. Then, a $29/month subscription gets you unlimited renders.
Midjourney is a popular AI image generation tool that can be also used to render architectural designs. Users describe designs using text prompts and Midjourney's AI system generates conceptual images based on the descriptions.
In addition to basic text prompts, Midjourney also accepts image inputs which architects can use to upload their 3D models or sketches. The platform has seen rapid advancement in quality and detail. While Midjourney is best for the concept phase of the project, its AI renders provide a good starting point for visualization too.
To get the best results from Midjourney, you'll need to learn how to create an effective prompt. This list of architecture Midjourney prompts will give you a head start.
Pricing: starts at $10/month which gets you 3.3 hrs/month of processing time.
SketchUp's own AI extension lets you render your architectural and interior designs for free as it's included in your subscription.
While it doesn't offer the level of accuracy and realism as MyArchitectAI, it's still a useful tool for early conceptualization.
Here's how to visualize your model using SketchUp Diffusion:
We also created a detailed tutorial on how to render in SketchUp if you need more details.
Pricing: included for free for active SketchUp Go, Pro, and Studio subscribers for a limited time.
This simple AI renderer lets you visualize your architectural designs using 3 settings:
It generates visualizations very quickly but doesn't have an accurate mode, so it's better used for generating concepts early on in the process.
Architect Render also has an AI virtual staging feature that allows real estate agents to declutter and virtually furnish empty rooms of their property listings.
Pricing: starts at $15/month. Free plan available.
This AI rendering software is a good choice for architects and interior designers looking for an all-in-one tool to enhance their conceptualization process.
Here are some of the main features offered by AI TWO:
The tool generates decently realistic AI renders in under 20 seconds but lacks precision to become your main renderer.
Pricing: starts at $14.99. Limited free plan available.
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Fabrie provides an AI-assisted tool called Imagine that allows architects to generate conceptual renderings from image input and text descriptions. By typing design parameters like the building type, key features and surroundings, Imagine uses its generative AI to produce a variety of 3D visualization options within seconds.
This quick ideation feature makes Fabrie a good fit for early design phases when exploring different architectural concepts. The quality is not as high-fidelity as dedicated rendering software but works well for discussing initial schemes with clients or during brainstorming sessions.
Pricing: as the tool is still in the beta stage, you can try it for free with 300 credits/day.
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InteriorAI is an AI-powered interior design tool that helps you visualize and iterate conceptual space plans in seconds.
By uploading a photo of an empty room, floor plan, or a SketchUp model, InteriorAI's generative AI engine automatically populates the space with realistic furnishings, fixtures, decor and more based on the input design.
Realtors will find the app's AI virtual staging feature most useful as it lets them increase their listings' perceived value.
In addition to still images, InteriorAI can also generate interactive 3D flythroughs of spaces for more detailed review.
Pricing: starts at $39/month which gets you 1,000 renders every month.
Sketch2Render uses AI for rendering architectural sketches and models into photorealistic 3D scenes.
This software is best suited for basic visualizations not requiring high detail or accuracy. The AI engine analyzes sketch elements to construct 3D building forms with correct dimensions before applying textures, lighting and landscape elements to produce polished 3D visualizations.
Sketch2Render's level of detail and customization in materials is more limited compared to other AI rendering tools listed before though.
Pricing: 10 renders a month for free. Then, $49/month for unlimited renders.
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Archi is an artificial intelligence rendering software that accepts 2D sketches, diagrams or 3D models as input. It analyzes the designs and automatically constructs 3D building models with accurate dimensions and layouts before photorealistically rendering scenes. Archi also supports customizing lighting, materials, landscape and camera angles using custom prompts.
The AI renders provide architects with high-quality visualizations that can be directly presented to clients or used in construction documentation. Similar to InteriorAI, Archi also offers a virtual staging feature.
Pricing: starts at $19/month and includes unlimited renders.
Veras is one of the oldest AI rendering software on the market that launched back in 2022.
It's available both as a web app and as a plugin working inside major CAD and BIM software such as SketchUp, Revit, Rhinoceros, and Vectorworks.
Veras lets you create both precise renders and loose, creative concepts thanks to its many creative controls including:
While it doesn't have a modern look like some of the previously mentioned tools, don't let the old-school-looking interface fool you. Veras is a very capable AI renderer.
Pricing: starts at $49/month. Free trial available.
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Architect AI is another simple AI rendering app. It allows uploading images of floor plans, sections or CAD models for quick rendering.
You can select from multiple architectural styles, landscapes, and settings to bring your design concept to life.
Pricing: first 10 renders are free. Then, you can buy credits starting at $1.99 per 10 credits.
AI-based renderers are quickly becoming an integral part of modern architecture and interior design studios' design workflows.
As the artificial intelligence technology powering them keeps getting more powerful every day, these renderers will only keep producing more and more realistic and accurate results.
So if you still haven't adopted them, now is the time.
Yes, many AI rendering tools can generate photorealistic scenes directly from 3D models. The AI analyzes the 3D geometry and applies textures, lighting and post-processing to produce renders similar in quality to specialized rendering programs in a fraction of time. If you need to render your CAD model, we curated lists of AI tools specifically for Sketchup and Archicad.
Most AI rendering programs are very easy to use - designers simply need to upload basic inputs like CAD models, elevations, sketches, or floor plans, select styles and landscape type, and the AI engine will generate photorealistic renders in literally seconds. Some key steps are selecting the input type, adjusting any generation parameters (e.g. architectural style, lighting, landscape), and materials for the final images.
There is no single best option as tools excel in different areas. For rapid early conceptualization, software like MyArchitectAI, Sketch2Render, and Arch are effective. Fabrie caters well to collaboration and iterative design development. We recommend signing up to a free plan and testing a couple of tools mentioned above to see which one creates the best results for your needs.
While AI can generate conceptual designs and visualizations, full architectural design still requires human creativity, problem-solving skills and attention to details like building codes and regulations. AI is best used as a tool to augment human design capabilities rather than replace architects. At least for now.
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