In recent decades, there has been a growing interest in developing computational models to predict the inelastic deformation and fracture of polymer composites, especially within the aerospace and automotive industries. This trend stems from a necessity to minimize both product development time and cost while striving to conceive and produce more competitive products. The Smeared Crack Model (SCM) represents a fully 3D model predicting the onset and propagation of ply failure mechanisms. However, a significant amount of input properties is required, and their determination from experiments or inverse calibration is demanding. Motivated by this challenge, a procedure is devised to quickly estimate toughness and strength properties for a unidirectional composite, based on only a few experimentally determined properties. Moreover, the SCM is endorsed with a novel plasticity prediction method relying on the shear strength and elastic modulus, to improve its predictions. Illustrative examples are presented to show the accuracy of the proposed estimations and subsequent numerical results. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 101056682.