How to Use Archsynth: Your First Render in 10 Minutes

Published · Verified against the official product

New to the tool? This Archsynth tutorial takes you from empty account to a client-ready render in about ten minutes. Short version: create an account, upload a sketch or model screenshot, choose Sketch to Render, describe the mood, and generate — the engine returns a photoreal image in roughly 14 seconds. The details below keep your first credits from going to waste.

Step 1 — Create your account

  1. Open the Archsynth web app and sign up with email or Google.
  2. New accounts start with free trial credits — enough to test several renders before choosing a plan.
  3. No installation: everything runs in the browser, so it works the same on a studio workstation and a site laptop.

Step 2 — Upload something visual

Archsynth reads geometry from almost any input, but inputs are not equal:

  • Best: clean line sketches, SketchUp/Rhino viewport captures, massing screenshots with clear edges.
  • Workable: site photos, hand sketches on paper photographed straight-on in even light.
  • Avoid: cluttered photos, heavy shadows across linework, extreme wide-angle distortion.

Crop out desk edges and fingers before uploading — the model treats everything in frame as design intent.

Step 3 — Describe the mood and generate

  1. Select Sketch to Render and paste or upload your image.
  2. Write a short prompt: building type, materials, lighting, and setting. “Two-storey timber house, dusk lighting, forest site, warm interior glow” beats a paragraph of adjectives.
  3. Optionally add a style reference photo — the render borrows its materials and light.
  4. Generate. A typical render lands in about 14 seconds; queue a few variations in parallel rather than perfecting one prompt.

Step 4 — Iterate like it’s cheap (because it is)

On paid plans a render costs pennies — current per-render rates for every tier are on the pricing page — so the winning workflow is volume: generate four variations, pick the strongest, then refine that one with Inpainting (swap a material, clear clutter) or Generative Fill (extend the crop). Reserve Image Upscaling for the final pick — upscaling every draft burns credits with no decision value.

Step 5 — Export, or go 3D

Download the image for boards and decks, or push further: Image to 3D reconstructs the render as a mesh you can open in SketchUp, Rhino, or Revit, and Image to CAD extracts drawable geometry. The SketchUp workflow guide covers the round-trip in detail.

Common first-session mistakes

  • One giant prompt. Split ideas across variations instead.
  • Rendering the whole site plan. Crop to the building — context dilutes the subject.
  • Skipping the trial math. Check how many credits each tool consumes on the pricing page before a marathon session.

Stuck on something this guide doesn’t cover? The FAQ answers the recurring questions, and the official in-app assistant can analyze your specific image.