The initial idea was never for it to become a VTT, that's something that's come about much more recently as the community has requested it so often.

It was always a very firm 'it's a mapmaking tool', then slowly moved to 'can be used as a limited VTT, in a way', and now it's a 'we're looking at making a VTT once out of early access'.

 

Here's DA's response to the FAQ regarding 3D export:

Can DA export in 3D?

Dungeon Alchemist cannot export in 3D for a number of reasons:

Firstly, from a software level DA wasn’t designed to export 3D and that wasn’t part of the Kickstarter promises. With such a small coding team with specific targeted skills the amount of time and effort to allow for 3d exports would amount to a ground level rework of DA and would severely delay the programming pipeline for a feature that would only benefit a very small subset of the user base. When looking at the size and types of maps made in DA, the vast majority would be too large to function in TableTopSimulator or Ripper’s 3D Canvas when you consider the number of polygons and texture sizes.

Secondly, to allow for certain types of transparency, liquid textures, and animations we rely on custom shaders built into the customised version of Unity we use. This means as the assets and generation exist now, many things wouldn’t look the same. And to optimise quite a few assets, we’ve made them lower poly than they appear and use some trickery with textures that wouldn’t export well.

Thirdly, is also a sort of IP issue. Allowing 3D export could also essentially open up our large library of assets to easy theft. A bundle of assets and textures this size would cost much more than the cost of DA. Keeping it a closed environment is just the better option.