Short answer: Yes, if your school and studio instructor allow it. Check the brief first, keep the design, plans and sections your own, and say openly where AI was used. BentoMesh can turn a sketch, a SketchUp view or an exported AutoCAD drawing into a presentation image, but the result is a visual for discussion, not a drawing you can measure from, and the free tier adds a watermark.
Batuhan Oğan · 13 min read · Published: 2026-10-13 · Updated: 2026-10-13
Yes, if your school and your studio instructor allow it. Rules vary a lot: some studios let you use AI visualization at the presentation stage, some require you to disclose it, some ban it, and some say nothing at all. Before you generate anything, answer three questions in this order:
1. What does the brief say? Read the course outline, the studio or thesis brief, the jury announcement and, if your school has one, its academic integrity policy.
2. Is the design mine? The massing, the plan logic and the section decisions have to be yours. AI rendering does not design the building; it produces an image of the design you built.
3. Can I disclose it? If you could not tell your jury plainly that you used it, do not use it.
This guide is about BentoMesh, a Turkish-first AI visualization platform for architects and interior designers (the interface also comes in English, French, German, Spanish and Italian). It turns a sketch, a SketchUp view or an exported drawing into a presentation image. The result is a visual for discussion and decisions: it does not produce measurable plans, sections or elevations, and it does not replace a physical model.
A note on terms: "jury" here means the review panel that assesses your work at the end of a term (a final review or crit in some countries), and "graduation project" is the final-year thesis studio, called bitirme projesi in Turkish schools.
The route depends on what you have. In every case the image is generated on BentoMesh's servers, so you do not need to install a render engine or own a powerful graphics card.
| What you have | Route | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| Hand sketch | The sketch-to-render tool (Eskizden Render in the Turkish interface) works from the geometry and proportions of your lines | Clear, high-contrast lines; photograph the paper flat, without shadows |
| SketchUp model | The optional plugin sends the active view from Extensions → BentoMesh → Render Al… (the command label is Turkish for "take a render"), or you upload a screenshot to the AI render tool; see the SketchUp page | SketchUp 2017 or later on Windows or macOS; it sends a picture of the view, not your model file |
| AutoCAD drawing | No plugin: export the plan, elevation or 3D view as PNG or JPEG and upload it (AutoCAD page) | Clean line weights, white background |
| Revit, Rhino, ArchiCAD | Same: save the view as PNG or JPEG | Plugins exist only for SketchUp and 3ds Max |
| Black-and-white floor plan | Kat Planı Renklendirme (floor plan colorizing) makes a colored, furnished top view | Room names and walls should be clearly visible |
If a phone photo is too large to upload, shrink it first with Dosya Küçültme, the free file shrinker; it runs in your browser and uses no credits. Downloading the plugin requires a signed-in account.
Always put the result next to your source. Window counts, furniture shapes or wall lines can change, and BentoMesh does not promise that geometry is preserved exactly. Treat any difference as an error in the image, not as a design improvement you can claim.
Three stages of the term need different things, so use the tool differently.
The goal is a quick decision. In Render Lab you can try different lighting, camera, material and atmosphere readings of the same view; for interiors, Stil Karşılaştırma (style comparison) shows several decoration styles side by side. You need options to discuss with your instructor, not a polished board.
The goal is to build the story. Pick a consistent set of views from the same viewpoint and enlarge the weaker ones with the upscaler. Render Analizi (render analysis) can act as a second pair of eyes on composition, light and color harmony; it is an assessment, not a verdict, and you still decide.
The goal is to defend the work. A juror may spot a window in your perspective and look for it on the plan. If image and plan disagree, your credibility suffers, so check every final image against your model and drawings. For a presentation clip, Render'dan Video (render-to-video) turns one render into a short clip; it is camera movement added to a single frame, not a 3D animation or a real-time walkthrough.
Illustrative scenario (fictional): A student photographs a massing sketch for the weekly crit and gets two lighting readings, develops the instructor's preferred direction in SketchUp, then renders a consistent set from the same viewpoint for the final jury and checks each image against the plan.
AI rendering does not replace plans, sections, elevations, detail resolution or a physical model. Those are what juries typically assess.
Signing up is free. When you verify your email, a one-time welcome credit is added to your balance; the amount changes over time, so this guide gives no figure. It does not renew by itself. Once it runs out you need either credit packs that never expire or a monthly plan that renews each month. Current figures are published only on the pricing and subscription pages, and you can sign up here. Whether that is enough for a student depends on the project. The welcome credit is a starting point for first experiments, but how far it goes in a deadline week of heavy revisions depends on its current amount and on how many attempts you make. Run a small test early in the term and measure your own usage.
What students should know:
Whether you may use a watermarked image depends on your instructor. It may be fine for a weekly crit, but not on a final board or in an anonymous submission. Instead of cropping or hiding the watermark, produce the final image on a paid tier or choose another route.
AI rendering estimates a result instead of calculating light physically. It buys speed and convenience, and in return you give up part of the pixel-level control that a traditional engine offers. In these cases the traditional route is still the right one:
A practical route is a hybrid: AI rendering for weekly crits and for narrowing down options, a conventional engine for the few frames that go to the jury. In the process, BentoMesh belongs in front of a render engine, not in place of it.
The rule is usually written down somewhere, just not where everyone looks. Check the course outline, the studio or thesis brief, the jury announcement and your school's academic integrity policy. If none of them mentions AI, do not assume; ask your instructor in writing. A short email is enough:
"I plan to produce my perspective images from my own SketchUp model with an AI-assisted visualization tool. The design, plans and sections will be mine. Is this allowed, and how would you like me to state it?"
Keep the answer. If you work in a group, agree on the rule with your teammates: one person's use can affect the whole team's submission. Even where use is allowed, the disclosure should be part of the board or presentation. An example sentence:
"The perspective images were generated with AI assistance (BentoMesh) from views of my own SketchUp model. The massing, plans and sections are my own work. The images are representative; refer to the drawings for dimensions and materials."
Records make a disclosure credible. Keep in your process file the source sketch or model view, the date of each generation, the note you wrote, and the versions you chose and rejected. BentoMesh keeps your generations in your account history, but keep copies on your own computer as well. When a juror asks how you produced an image, you can show them.
Disclosure does not override a ban: where AI use is prohibited, stating it is not permission.
Your school defines plagiarism, and this guide gives no academic or legal ruling. A rough map:
Copyright has two layers. The source: you need the right to use whatever you upload. Your own drawings and photographs are fine; for an image downloaded from the web, a base drawing supplied by your school or a competition, or a classmate's model, check permission and terms. The output: within the general framework you can use what you create in BentoMesh in your work, but registered copyright protection for AI output is a separate and unsettled question. BentoMesh's Terms of Use are the reference for the exact scope. None of this is legal advice.
For a portfolio, internship application or social media, label the image as AI-assisted and representative. Before uploading an internship or client project, confirm that the employer allows cloud processing: the image is processed on BentoMesh's servers and by a third-party AI provider. BentoMesh does not use your uploaded images to train its own models, and your work appears in the community gallery (Explore) only if you choose to share it.
This guide is also available in Turkish: Türkçe sürüm / Read in Turkish.
Yes, if your school and instructor allow it. Some studios permit AI visualization at the presentation stage, some require disclosure, some prohibit it, and some are silent, in which case ask in writing. If you use it, the design, plans and sections must be yours, the AI should only visualize your own sketch or model, and you should say so openly. The output is a presentation image, not a measurable drawing.
Your school defines plagiarism, but the general line is clear. Visualizing your own design from your own model and disclosing it is usually acceptable. Rendering someone else's design or a web image and presenting it as yours, counting an AI-generated massing or plan as your own design, or hiding AI use is a problem. If you are unsure, ask your instructor in writing and keep the reply.
If the brief requires disclosure, yes. If it bans AI, do not use it: disclosure does not override a ban. Even where nothing is stated, disclosing is the safer choice. Add one sentence to the board or presentation notes: which tool made the images, from what source, that the massing, plans and sections are your own, and that the images are representative. Keep the source views and generation dates in a process file so you can show how you worked.
Signing up is free, and verifying your email adds a one-time welcome credit; amounts change, so check the pricing page. Images and videos made on the free tier carry a BentoMesh watermark, while paid plans do not. Accounts that verify a student email address may get a discount on some packs and subscriptions; check the pricing page for what is covered. The file shrinker is free; every other generation uses credits.
Upload a sketch to the sketch-to-render tool. In SketchUp, the optional plugin sends the active view, or you can upload a screenshot. AutoCAD has no plugin: export the plan, elevation or 3D view as PNG or JPEG and upload it. Compare the result with your source afterwards, because window counts, furniture shapes or wall lines can change and exact geometry is not guaranteed.
Only partly. AI rendering speeds up concept work and narrowing down options, but it estimates light instead of calculating it, offers no real-time 3D walkthrough and gives up some pixel-level control. If the course expects a render engine, or jurors will study the main image closely, use a conventional engine. A hybrid is a reasonable middle route: AI for crits and options, an engine for the final frames.
Within the general framework you can use what you create in BentoMesh in your work, provided you hold the rights to the source you uploaded. Label the images as AI-assisted and representative. If the project belongs to a school, employer or client, get their permission first, since images are processed in the cloud. The Terms of Use define the exact scope; this is not legal advice.