# Rayon for faculty ## Rayon is the best online CAD software, enabling faculty and students to teach and learn architecture/interior design in a modern, collaborative platform. Rayon is **free for students from accredited institutions!** * To set up your account, you can create your **free faculty account** [**at this link.**](https://www.rayon.design/app/auth/student-signup) * If your institution is not accredited, [**simply feel in this form.**](https://b1kzip68v9f.typeform.com/to/d9WNl3bl#source=docs) *** ### What is Rayon? Rayon is an **online, collaborative software for architects, interior designers**, etc allowing users to draft, stylise and present their work. It is a one-stop-solution to create complete drawing sets. More importantly, Rayon is **a professional CAD tool**, that offers the full depth that is typical to well known drawing software in the AEC. Here are some useful links to discover Rayon... * [Rayon 20-minute demo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2kc4kXJrkA) * [Rayon's website](https://rayon.design) * [Rayon's signup page](https://www.rayon.design/app/auth/student-signup) ### Why use Rayon to teach? Our hope by opening the software for free to faculty and instructors is **to finally offer a collaborative CAD environment that provides architecture and interior architecture/design curriculums the means to teach with a modern tool set**. As a professional CAD environment that supports multiplayer editing and reviewing, Rayon is essentially **the ideal platform to gather architecture/interior design students,** and is adopted by 150k+ students around the world. ### How does Rayon work?
1) Start simple: create an account * Rayon is simpler to access than legacy software; all you need is a browser. * To get started, you can [create an account right here](https://rayon.design/app/auth/student-signup). * Everything about Rayon signup steps [can be found here](https://docs.rayon.design/documentation/rayons-basics/signing-up). **Tip** — We recommend you install our native app, to access Rayon faster. [Download page here](https://www.rayon.design/download).
2) Work with the data you already have: DWG / CTB / PDF, etc * **Rayon allows you to work with the files you already have** (DWG, PDFs, Images). * **DWG** can be read entirely. Rayon transposes their entire layer structure, blocks, hatch files etc. Import is lossless, making you feel like you started within a CAD software you already know. * **CTBs** can be entirely replicated easily in Rayon, by using Rayon's styles. More on this [topic right here](https://docs.rayon.design/documentation/design/styles).
3) Draft like you know how * **Drawing habits from legacy CAD softwares translate in Rayon, to make you feel at home:** Rayon works with a command line, tools can be called using shortcuts, drawing are organised with layers, etc. * Everything about Rayon's design experience [can be found here](https://docs.rayon.design/documentation/design).
4) Prepare your class' content * Models you make can be shared with students by inviting them as co-editors. [More about sharing ability here.](https://docs.rayon.design/documentation/rayons-basics/sharing-commenting-annotating#h_f9c38d116b-1) * Models can also be turned into templates to facilitate sharing them to your class. Also, your students can be gathered in a shared repository (a workspace), where they can deposit their work. These features are part of the *academia* plan, for which your university needs to apply if it is not part of our program already. [Please submit this form](https://b1kzip68v9f.typeform.com/to/YnkcFT25#source=docs) to give your school access to Rayon's full scope of sharing features. * Everything about libraries and templates [can be found here](https://docs.rayon.design/documentation/publishing-and-sharing/publishing-a-library).
5) Chat and offer feedbacks * Rayon is a **multiplayer software**. * It is the first software for architects that finally brings live co-editing to design teams. * Additionally, Rayon allows you to comment/annotate your work, to make sure your team stays in sync. * Everything about Rayon's collaborative layer [can be found at this link](https://docs.rayon.design/documentation/rayons-basics/sharing-commenting-annotating).
### FAQ Questions faculty usually ask, answers we usually give!
Is my school/university accredited already? To know, simply create a Rayon account using your institutional email, and choose the "student/faculty" option in the onboarding. If your school is accredited, you will receive a validation email right after the end of your onboarding, confirming that you have been granted a student account.
My university does not provide faculty with institutional emails. Can I send you my student ID for proof? Unfortunately, no. Non-institutional emails (like Gmail, Hotmail, etc.) will not be eligible for a faculty account.
I created a Rayon account, but I did not mention I am a faculty in the onboarding. How can I fix this? That should not be a problem; even if you did not take the right step during the onboarding, you should have received a free student plan if your institution is accredited.
My school gave me an alumni email; can I use it to get a student plan? Unfortunately, no. We only grant a faculty plan to active/enrolled faculty. Alumni email are therefore not accepted.
*** ### We are always available Book a demo with our team, [right here](https://b1kzip68v9f.typeform.com/to/Hgr0eQ4k#source=docs).\ To get some support, reach out to us through our **in-app support chat**. \ More about [our support policy right here](https://docs.rayon.design/other-resources/others/support).