3D modelling for architects · Windows

Model the way you already draw.

Akar is a 3D modeller from Tesseract Studio, an architecture practice in Hyderabad. It has the tools you know from SketchUp and a few it doesn't, turns AutoCAD plans into 3D floors, and has an Assistant that builds what you describe.

Download for Windows Free · 0.12.1 · 48 MB · Windows 10 and 11

The Akar window: menus and toolbars along the top, the Large Tool Set on the left, the 3D view with the start-up scale figure standing at the origin, and the panel strip on the right — Akar as it opens: a new model with the start-up figure, 1,829 mm tall, for scale.

DrawingAkar 0.12.1

Unitsmm, m, ft-in

OpensDWG, DXF, OBJ, IFC…

PriceFree

Drawn byTesseract Studio

SHEET 01 · TOOLS

The tools are where your hands expect them.

230 of 251features of SketchUp Pro 2022 work the same way in Akar, down to the keys and the status-bar hints, in our own side-by-side test.

Typed lengths, inference snapping, Shift to lock a direction, the same shortcuts. Groups and components, tags and the Outliner, sections with hatches, shadows by date and place, scenes and animations.

SHEET 02 · ONLY IN AKAR

Built in, with no extensions to hunt for.

Tools that SketchUp leaves to add-ons, or doesn't have at all.

Edit

Mirror

Pick three points for the mirror plane, or two for an upright one. Tap Ctrl to keep the original.

Edit

Round Corners

Round, sharp or bevelled corners with a live preview. Set the offset and segments as you go.

Edit

Bend

Bend a group along any path, a line, an arc or a curve, stretched or kept to length.

Draw

Swept Blend

Sweep along a path through several different profiles, and the shape flows smoothly from one to the next.

Draw

Working plane

Lock drawing to any plane: a face, a floor level or three points. Every point lands on it.

Sculpt

Sculpt tools

Soft forms for furniture and objects: brushes, creases, Thicken, cushions with tufting, and jali or Voronoi cut-outs.

AutoCAD

Plans to floors

A DWG plan becomes walls, doors, windows and rooms, then 3D floors with frames and glass. See below.

Assistant

Describe it, or attach a photo or drawing, and it builds the model with you. Keep or undo in one click.

Office

Quantities

Wall areas and volumes by thickness, a door and window schedule, and room areas from an imported plan.

SHEET 03 · FROM PLAN TO 3D

Bring in an AutoCAD plan. Get floors back.

Import the DWG

File › Import AutoCAD Plan. Several plans on one sheet? Pick the ones you want.

Say which floor

Ground, first, second… Floors stack at their heights and line up by their walls.

Answer a few questions

A gap that might be a door, a room without a name, an odd wall thickness. Tell it once which layers are walls.

Build

Walls, slabs, door and window frames with glass, painted and grouped by floor.

SHEET 04 · ASSISTANT

Say what you want in your own words.

YouDraw a 4 m by 3.5 m bedroom with 230 mm walls, 3 m high, standing on a 150 mm slab.

Akar

✓ Box 4,460 × 3,960 × 150 mm high, in a new group "Slab"✓ Room walls 4,000 × 3,500 mm inside, 230 mm thick, 3,000 mm high

I've drawn the bedroom: 230 mm walls 3,000 mm high on a 150 mm slab. I can add a door or a window next.

KeepUndo

YouAdd a 900 × 2100 door in the south wall and a 1500 × 1200 window at 900 sill in the east wall.

Attach a photo, a PDF or a DWGIt asks a few questions on a card (width, height, finish) or goes ahead with sensible guesses.
It checks its own workIt looks at the model from the photo's angle and measures the outline against the photo.
Rooms, floors, stairs, built-insWalls, openings, slabs, staircases, railings, kitchens, wardrobes, TV units.

The Assistant runs on Claude, by Anthropic. In this early version it uses your own Claude account (a Pro or Max plan, through the free Claude Code app) or an Anthropic API key. Everything else in Akar works without it.

SHEET 05 · FILES

It talks to the rest of your office.

Opens

DWGDXFOBJSTLDAEglTFIFCFBX3DSKMZPNG/JPG

Saves 3D

OBJDAESTLglTFIFCUSDZDXF

Saves drawings and pictures

DWGDXFPDFPNGJPGMP4

Models are saved as .akr files. Plugins add tools, panels and file types, and install from one .akrplugin file.

Download

Akar 0.12.1 for Windows

Free. One setup file, nothing else to install.

Download Akar-Setup-0.12.1.exe

48 MB · installs for you alone, no administrator rights needed

Windows: Windows 10 (version 1809 or later) or Windows 11, 64-bit
Graphics: OpenGL 3.3. Tested on Intel HD 630, Intel Arc and NVIDIA RTX.
Disk: About 150 MB
Assistant: Internet, and a Claude Pro or Max plan (through Claude Code) or an Anthropic API key

Installing

Download the setup file and open it.
If Windows says "Windows protected your PC", click More info, then Run anyway. Windows shows this for new programs until enough people have installed them.
Click through the setup. Akar goes in your Start menu and .akr files open with it.
On a laptop with two graphics chips, set Akar to High performance in Windows Settings › Display › Graphics.
For the Assistant, install Claude Code, sign in, then in Akar open the Assistant and choose ⚙ › Connect Claude.

Early version

Tell us what you made, and what got in your way.

Akar is in its first round of testing with architects. A note about what worked, what broke and what you missed helps more than you'd think.

tools@tesseractstudio.co