An alternative to Autodesk Viewer: one offline HTML file instead of a hosted link

The difference in one line

A hosted viewer keeps your model on a server and gives people a link to it. Udraft 3D gives you a file, and the file is the viewer.

Side by side

The right-hand column describes hosted viewers in general as they present themselves; check each product's current terms for detail.

When a hosted viewer is the better choice

• You want live, always-current models with many people commenting in one place.
• You are already inside a platform (a common data environment) and the viewer comes with it.

When a file is the better choice

• The recipient has no account, no software and possibly no connection.
• The model is under an NDA and must not sit on a third-party server; use the Revit add-in.
• You need the deliverable to outlive the project account.

How it works

• Drop the file on the Create page. No account is needed for the open formats; Revit, DWG and Navisworks need an account with tokens.
• A minute or so later you download one HTML file. That file is the whole viewer: the geometry, the properties, the tools.
• Send it. It opens in any modern browser, on a laptop, a tablet or a phone, with nothing to install and no login. It works with the internet switched off.

What the person you send it to can do

• Orbit, pan and zoom; select elements and read their properties.
• Measure distances, angles and diameters with snapping.
• Cut sections, walk through at eye height, save views.
• Pin comments and markups, then export a review report or spreadsheet back to you.