Create your first project and model

Last updated: October 1, 2026

Get from sign-in to a live model you can work in: create a project, then bring in a model from Revit or Rhino, draw one in Motif, or ask the agent to build it for you.

Create a project

A project in Motif Design is a building or a job. It holds your models, your assets, and the people invited to work on them.

  1. On the All Projects page, click + New Project.

  2. Enter a project name and select your units.

  3. Click Create.

Every new project comes with a default model. From here, there are three ways to get geometry into it — pick the one that matches what you're starting with.

Bring in a Revit or Rhino model

Use this when you already have the building modeled in Revit or Rhino. Your geometry, rooms, and levels come across automatically.

⚠ You'll need the Motif Design plugin installed first. See 📄 Design: Install the Motif Plugin (Revit & Rhino) for full details.

  1. Open your project in Revit or Rhino.

  2. Open the Motif plugin panel.

    1. In Revit, go to the Motif tab in the top ribbon and click Show Motif.

    2. In Rhino, run the command MotifPlugin.

  3. If you're not signed in yet, click Sign In and complete sign-in in the browser tab that opens.

  4. In the plugin panel, choose the Project you just created, and enter the Model name you want to see in Motif Design.

  5. Click Publish 3D model.

The published model appears on your project page as its own model, next to the default model. Open it to navigate it, model against it, and ask the agent about it.

⚠ Re-publishing from Revit replaces the model. Anything you've added in Motif to a Revit-published model is lost when it's re-published. If the model will keep getting updates, link it into your own model as a reference instead and do your work there. See 📄 Link another model into your modelfor full details.

Draw your model in Motif

Use this when you're starting from scratch, or from a sketch or floor plan image. Everything runs in the browser — no plugin needed.

  1. On the project page, open the Default Model.

  2. Select the Wall tool.

  3. Click to place your first point, then keep clicking to chain walls together. Motif snaps to endpoints, edges, and centers as you go, and walls join themselves at corners and intersections.

  4. Set the wall height, or attach the top of the wall to the level above so it moves with the level.

  5. Add floors and ceilings by sketching a closed boundary and turning it into a floor or ceiling.

Your views stay live: anything you draw in 3D shows up in plan and section, and edits in plan update the 3D model.

💡 Have a floor plan image or PDF? Drag it into the model, scale it to real-world size, and draw walls over it. See 📄 Trace over a floor plan imagefor full details.

See 📄 Model walls, floors, and ceilingsfor full details.

Ask the agent to build it

Use this when you'd rather describe what you want than draw it. Motif's AI agent models directly in your project, and you can refine the result by hand.

  1. Open the Default Model (or any model you want to work in).

  2. Open the agent panel.

  3. Describe what you want. For example:

    • "Create a 60 ft by 40 ft single-story office shell with 12 ft walls."

    • "Add three levels at 14 ft floor-to-floor."

    • "Close the gap between the selected walls."

  4. Review what the agent creates, then keep asking or adjust it with the modeling tools.

💡 Starting from a floor plan? Drag the image into the agent chat and ask it to draw the walls for you — for example, "Draw the walls from this floor plan."

💡 Already have a model open? Ask "What's in this model?" for a plain-language breakdown of what's there before you start changing it.

See 📄 Working with AI agents in Motif Designfor full details.

Need help? Reach out to us at community.motif.io