AR for Engineering

Interactive 3D & AR for engineering and design

Let a reviewer, student, or client turn the part and place the assembly on a real bench — without a CAD license or a heavy file download.

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Engineering work is created in 3D but shared as 2D drawings, screenshots, and PDFs that lose the spatial information that matters. AcademicAR publishes a CAD export as an interactive viewer with augmented reality, so a part, mechanism, or assembly can be rotated, examined, and placed at true scale on a desk or in a room — without anyone needing a CAD seat.

Export from SolidWorks, Fusion 360, Onshape, Blender, or any tool that writes GLB/OBJ/STL/FBX, upload, and share a QR code on a report, poster, datasheet, or course handout.

Why engineering needs interactive 3D

Drawings lose the third dimension.

An interactive model conveys fit, clearance, and form in a way orthographic views and renders can't.

AR validates real-world scale.

Placing a part or assembly at full size in the actual space catches size and ergonomics issues early.

No CAD seat to review.

Stakeholders open the model in a browser instead of installing software or wrangling a STEP file.

Viewer tools engineering teams reach for

Every published model opens in the same viewer. These are the tools that matter most for engineering work.

The AcademicAR viewer showing the layers tool on a 3D model — Layers Show, hide, recolour or fade each part of a multi-part model, one layer at a time.

The AcademicAR viewer showing the section plane tool on a 3D model — Section plane Cut through the model on the X, Y or Z axis to see what is inside.

The AcademicAR viewer showing the measure and label tool on a 3D model — Measure and label Pin labelled hotspots on named features and take distances at real scale.

How it works

Step 1
Upload your model

Drop in a GLB, STL, OBJ, FBX or STEP file, or a CT/MR segmentation. It's converted and optimized for the web automatically.
Step 2
Get a viewer & QR code

You get an interactive 3D viewer with tap-to-place AR, a short link, and a stable QR code.
Step 3
Share anywhere

Place the QR code on a slide, poster, handout, label, or paper. Your audience needs no app and no headset.

Ways engineering teams use it

Design reviews & reports

Share an interactive assembly so reviewers explore the geometry instead of flipping through rendered views.

Teaching mechanisms & CAD

Give students a rotatable model of the exact part on the slide to inspect features and tolerances.

Posters & capstone showcases

A QR code lets visitors open and place your design at full scale at a conference or expo.

Guides for engineering

From STEP to AR: Sharing CAD Assemblies in Engineering Research Upload STEP/STP, FBX, or OBJ assemblies and share them as interactive 3D with one layer per part, cross-sections, clearances, and AR — for engineering papers, theses, and teaching.

What Is a STEP (.stp) File and How to Open It Without CAD STEP and STP files explained: what's inside, which programs open them, and how to view and share a STEP assembly in your browser and AR without CAD.

How to Convert STL to GLB (and Why It Matters for Sharing) Convert STL to GLB for the web: set units and colour, keep the file small with Draco, and get a viewer link, AR, and a QR code in one step.

Engineering FAQ

Which CAD exports work?

Export to GLB, OBJ, STL, or FBX from your CAD or 3D tool. (Tessellate solids to a mesh first — AcademicAR works with meshes, not native CAD or STEP files.)