I Tested ChatGPT-6 Astra for Interior Design: The Results

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ChatGPT-6 Astra is here, and naturally, the first question that popped into my head was: What can this actually do for interior designers?

Coming in at a pretty steep price point of $99 USD / $139 CAD per month, I was curious to see whether the new model could actually offer enough value to justify the cost.

Apparently, ChatGPT-6 could take a floor plan, before photos, and a mood board and turn them into a 3D SketchUp model.

Obviously, I had to test this out ASAP.

If it actually works, this could be a pretty big deal for interior designers. Espically, designers who aren’t particularly tech-savvy—or who currently outsource their 3D modelling and/or drawings.

This upgrade could also just be helpful for designers who want to work more efficiently (duh).

So, I decided to put ChatGPT-6 to a few tests to see what the design capabilities were like.

Can it actually do it? Let’s find out.

Testing the Capabilities of ChatGPT-6 for Interior Designers

Can It Create SketchUp Models?

For this experiment, I decided to use materials from a past interior design project. I wanted to see whether ChatGPT-6 Astra could take the type of information I would normally use to build a room in SketchUp—namely a furniture plan, before photos, and a mood board—and turn it into a usable 3D model.

The test involved uploading:

A furniture plan with most of the room dimensions and furniture placement.

A mood board with the selected furniture, lighting, rug, drapery, artwork, and paint colour.

Three before photos of the client’s space; here is one for reference.

My prompt was simple: create a to-scale SketchUp model using the furniture plan, mood board, and photos as reference.

ChatGPT prompted me to use Work mode and then started asking intelligent follow-up questions about missing information. Honestly, I loved that part. It caught details that were not shown clearly in the images, such as the ceiling height, built-in dimensions, door and window sizes, window placement, and paint colour.

Once I filled in the missing information, it got to work.

A few minutes later, it told me it had created a SketchUp-ready model.

I gasped. Three minutes? Where was this when I was in design school?

But, of course, the real question was: was the model accurate?

And…the verdict is:

No. Not really.

ChatGPT did not quite get it right. The resulting model was a rough 3D interchange file rather than a polished, native SketchUp model. When imported into SketchUp, the geometry looked a little wonky. The furniture was made from basic placeholder shapes, some materials did not come through properly, and the model was not detailed enough to be useful for a professional design workflow.

This was definitely a letdown because this was the feature I was most excited to test.

Still, I do think it is impressive that AI can already interpret a floor plan, room photos, and furnishing selections well enough to attempt a basic scaled room model. We are just not at the point where interior designers can confidently upload project information and receive an accurate, clean, editable SketchUp file ready for rendering or client presentation.

At least, not yet.

Can ChatGPT-6 Astra Draw in AutoCAD?

Next, I wanted to test whether Astra could turn a hand-drawn floor plan into a CAD file.

I uploaded a simple hand sketch of a floor plan, complete with room labels, approximate dimensions, doors, windows, wall thicknesses, and a basic layout.

My prompt was simple: create a DWG file from this hand drawing.

ChatGPT got to work and, a couple of minutes later, returned a drafted floor plan and a preview.

The important limitation here is that ChatGPT could not directly create a native DWG file. Instead, it created an editable DXF file, which can be opened in AutoCAD and then saved as a DWG.

Comparing the preview drawing to the original sketch, I was actually impressed. It captured the overall footprint, room layout, wall thicknesses, doors, windows, room labels, and dimensions relatively well. It also separated the drawing into useful CAD layers.

As a starting point for tracing a rough plan into CAD, this was more useful than I expected.

So, when it comes to AI drafting, I am cautiously impressed—and I definitely want to explore this function further.

Can ChatGPT-6 Astra Create Photorealistic Renders?

The final capability I wanted to test was its ability to create photorealistic interior renders.

Although Astra did not impress me with the SketchUp model test, I was curious to see how it would perform if I gave it a 3D visual that I had already created.

Here is the original 3D visual:

I uploaded it into ChatGPT-6 and asked it to make the image photorealistic.

Here is the result:

I think the output is actually pretty good. It is not the most realistic architectural visualization I have ever seen, but it is presentable. The materials look more believable, the lighting is warmer, and it added tasteful decor.

I then gave ChatGPT a reference image for a new pendant light and asked it to swap the existing fixtures.

The new variation looked surprisingly close to the reference. The overall kitchen design, cabinetry, island, colour palette, and camera angle stayed consistent while the lighting fixtures were updated.

To be fair, even the free version of ChatGPT can already do a fairly good job with visual edits like this. But Astra was fast, and it did a strong job of maintaining the design while making a specific change.

So, Is ChatGPT-6 Astra Worth It for Interior Designers?

After testing Astra’s SketchUp, CAD drafting, and photorealistic rendering capabilities, I would say the answer depends on what you want it to do.

It is fast—and at a higher price point, it should be.

The SketchUp-model test was disappointing. This was the feature I most wanted to work, and it did not produce an accurate native SketchUp model. It is simply not ready to replace a skilled designer building a model properly. If you want to automate your SketchUp drawings, read: The Best LiDAR Scanner App

That said, I think AI drafting and design documentation are clearly on the horizon.

This moment reminds me of the early days of AI interior design visualization. The first results were not great, but the technology improved quickly. Now, AI image tools can create impressive concept visuals and help designers communicate ideas much faster.

AI-assisted drawing and drafting feel like they are at the beginning of that same journey. It can already help with rough plans, initial CAD tracing, space-planning ideas, and visual communication. But in terms of accuracy, documentation, and construction-ready output, we are not exactly there yet.

So, is ChatGPT-6 Astra worth upgrading to for interior designers?

For now, I think I will stick with Claude. But I will absolutely keep watching Astra for further updates.

Also read: Claude Chrome Extension: The New Must-Have Tool for Interior Designers