Sending a steel model to a client or to the shop
Sending the IFC means they cannot open it; sending screenshots means they cannot see the angle they want. One browser link solves it — and here is how to set passwords, expiry and visibility.
There are three traditional ways to get a model in front of other people on a project, and each has its own friction. Send the raw IFC and they need software most of them will not install. Send screenshots or a PDF and they cannot see the angle they actually care about, which costs another round of phone calls. Share your screen in a meeting and they have nothing left once the call ends.
A web link avoids all three. The recipient opens the full 3D model, orbits it themselves, clicks elements to read marks, and needs neither an account nor an install. The link goes in an email or a project chat like any other link.
Steps
Confirm conversion has finished
Check the model shows as ready in your list. You can share a model that is still converting, but the recipient will land on a conversion screen.
Turn sharing on
Open the share settings for the model and enable sharing. A unique link is generated.
Set access control to suit the audience
For a client or a reviewer, set a password and an expiry date so the link does not travel beyond the project. For your own shop crew, an expiry date is usually enough. Send the password separately from the link.
Decide whether weights are visible
The share page can show or hide element and total weights. Usually off when showing progress to a client, on when the shop is using it to prepare material.
Send it, after checking it yourself
Open the link once on your phone in a private window before sending. This single step prevents most "it does not open" replies.
What tools the recipient gets
Tools on a share page follow the plan of the model's owner, not the visitor. A paying user sending a link to a client gives that client the full measuring, sectioning, x-ray and isolation toolset, with no account or plan needed on their side. That is deliberate: the tools were paid for by the model's owner and should not be degraded because the person looking at it has not paid.
After the link goes out
- Sharing can be switched off at any time, which immediately invalidates links already sent.
- You can see how many times the link has been opened, which answers whether they actually looked.
- Updating the model does not require a new link: upload the new version in place and the existing link points at it.
- The number of simultaneously active links and their maximum lifetime are capped per plan; you will be prompted to retire old links when you hit the cap.