Questions and answers
The basics
What is facadetool?
facadetool is a web app that turns a photograph of a building facade into a vector architectural drawing. You upload a photo and download a DXF file for CAD and a PNG image of the drawing. More than 35,000 architects, surveyors, students and researchers in over 80 countries use it.
How do I turn a photo of a building into a CAD drawing?
Sign in at facadetool.com, open the app, choose a drawing mode and upload your photo. Use the four corner crop to cut away the sky, the ground and the neighbouring buildings, then send it. Most drawings take a few minutes, and you can close the page meanwhile: the finished DXF and PNG appear in My Files.
Can I get a facade elevation drawing from a single photograph?
Yes. The elevation mode draws a whole facade from one photograph: openings, frames, cornices, string courses, joints and ornament become vector lines. A photo taken straight on, from far enough back to fit the whole facade, gives the best elevation. facadetool corrects moderate perspective; very oblique photos lose accuracy.
Is facadetool an AI image generator?
No. facadetool does not restyle buildings or invent new ones from a prompt. It draws the building that is in your photograph, line by line, as a CAD draft you can edit.
Photos, modes and files
Which drawing mode should I choose?
Use focus for one door, window or detail, tiles and ornaments (1 credit). Use heritage for stone walls, ruins and irregular masonry: it keeps broken and weathered parts as they stand instead of straightening them (3 credits). Use elevation for a whole facade with the most detail (3 credits). Use sketch for drawings that are already orthographic, such as plans, sections and scanned drawings (3 credits).
What makes a good photo for facadetool?
Stand opposite the facade so the camera faces it straight on, and fit the whole facade in the frame. Avoid strong shadows and burnt out highlights, keep cars, trees and people out of the way where you can, and avoid the edges of ultra wide lenses. Photos can be JPG, PNG or WEBP, up to 10 MB (7 MB for focus).
What files do I get?
A DXF with the drawing as vector lines, and a PNG image of the same drawing. Both stay in My Files, where you can download them again at any time together with your original photo.
Which programs open the drawings?
The DXF opens in AutoCAD, Rhino, ArchiCAD, Vectorworks, BricsCAD and any other program that reads DXF. There are also plug-ins for AutoCAD and Rhino that place the drawing straight into your model.
Is there an AutoCAD or Rhino plug-in?
Yes. The AutoCAD plug-in works in AutoCAD 2025 on Windows and is free to install. The Rhino plug-in works on Windows and Mac and is listed on food4rhino. Both send your photo to facadetool and place the result in your drawing, and each conversion uses the credits on your facadetool account.
Is the DXF clean enough to use straight away?
It is a strong base drawing that usually needs a few minutes of cleanup in CAD: joining endpoints, deleting stray lines and assigning layers. It saves the bulk of the tracing time, not all of it.
Accuracy and scale
How accurate is a drawing made from a photo? Can I use it as a survey?
The drawing is a CAD draft made from a photograph, not a measured survey. Accuracy depends on the photo: straight on, well lit photos of the whole facade work best, while oblique angles, wide angle lens distortion and obstructions such as trees, cars or scaffolding reduce it. For documentation, scale the drawing with one known dimension and check critical dimensions on site.
How do I bring the DXF to real size?
For exact measurements, measure one dimension on site, such as a door width or the width of the facade, then scale the drawing in CAD so that line matches it (in AutoCAD, the SCALE command with the Reference option). Everything else scales with it.
Pricing and credits
How much does facadetool cost?
Drawings are paid with credits: focus uses 1 credit, the other modes 3. Starter is $10 once for 12 credits. Popular is $20 a month for 30 credits, Studio $50 a month for 90 and Studio Pro $100 a month for 210, with a shared credit pool for you and up to 4 teammates. A year of Popular, Studio or Studio Pro costs 10 times the monthly price. Students pay $9, $16, $40 and $80. Payments on the website are one time card payments: nothing renews automatically and card details are not stored.
Do credits expire?
Starter credits must be used within 7 days; unused ones burn after that. Credits from the monthly plans do not burn: credits left after 30 days are frozen and come back when you buy a monthly plan again. With yearly payment the credits last a year.
What happens if a drawing fails?
Its credits come back to your account automatically, usually within a minute or two; a drawing that stops responding is refunded after 25 minutes. Refunded credits keep the expiry of the credits the drawing used, and always last at least 24 hours.
Is there a student discount?
Yes. Apply with your school email: a recognised school address is confirmed by email, otherwise you upload a student document for review. Student prices then apply to Starter and the monthly plans for 12 months at a time, renewable up to 4 years in total, or until the date on your document. Yearly payment is not available at student prices.
Is there an API or a plan for larger teams?
Yes. Enterprise plans with custom credits, API access and team access are arranged by email at support@facadetool.com.
Privacy and your account
Are my photos and drawings private?
Yes. Your photos and drawings are tied to your account and are not shown to other users. They are not used for AI training unless you explicitly opt in. Photos you choose to share on facadetool Atlas follow the Atlas policy in the privacy policy.
How do I delete my account?
On the website, open Profile Settings and choose Delete Account; in the iPhone or Android app, choose Account and then Delete account. It deletes your account, your remaining credits, photos, drawings, projects and student documents; payment records are kept for the period the tax law requires.
Which languages does facadetool support?
The site and the app are in English and Turkish. The drawing pipeline works on photographs of buildings from any country.
Something not answered here? Write to support@facadetool.com.