Introduction

Vectorworks has several options for importing information. these options allow you to import drawings from other computer systems, 3D models, images, PDFs, and other proprietary file types.
This means that you can use the Internet to locate useful parts or useful models for your projects and import them into Vectorworks. When you import these objects they will become native Vectorworks objects.
This manual will be looking at all of the options for importing. For some importing commands we will be looking at all of the options. For some of the importing commands (DXF/DWG) we will only look at these in general terms.

Beginner Topics

Import Image File…

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It is common to have to import image files and this command is the most common for importing image files. This command will import any image file (any image file format). you could say this is your “go to” command for importing images.

• Go to the Menu bar.
• Choose File > Import > Import Image  File…
• This will open a dialogue box for you to navigate to the location fear image file.
• Then click on the Open button, or you can double click on the image file.
• This will open a dialogue box for you to choose the settings for your imported image. I usually leave the compression options on JPEG.

Another option that you have is to Reference the image file. If you choose to Reference the image file, then any changes you make to the image file can be updated in your Vectorworks file.
When you click on the OK button, the image will be imported.
When the images imported you can change the size by using the selection tool and the Interactive Scaling cursor (reshape cursor), or they can be cropped.

Import PICT

PICT is an older Macintosh picture file format and you can use this import option to import these older files. tthis file format has become outdated since the Macintosh changed to OS X.
If you receive a file  with the extension .pct, then use this import option. Otherwise use the Import Image option.
The Macintosh has replaced this file format with PDF.

Import PICT as Bitmap

This is similar to the command above in that it relates to the older file format from the original Macintosh operating system. this particular command  would place the pict file as a bitmap (rasterized image file).

Import PDF

This is an extremely useful command for importing large scale drawings as well is importing multiple page documents.

• Go to the Menu bar.
• Choose File > Import > Import PDF…
• This will open a dialogue box for you to navigate to the location of the  image file.
• You can either click once on the image file then click on the Open button, or you can double click on the image file.
• This will open a dialogue box for you to choose the settings for your imported PDF.

Another option that you have is to Reference the image file. If you choose to Reference the image file, then any changes you make to the image file can be updated in your Vectorworks file.

• When you click on the OK button, the image will be imported.
• When the PDF pages are imported you can change the size by using the selection tool and the Interactive Scaling cursor (reshape cursor).
• Once you have the pages imported, you can move them around to make them more readable.

Import Worksheet

This option is for importing a spreadsheet, and the spreadsheet has be formatted correctly. This command only works if you have a worksheet active.

• Go to the Menu bar.
• Choose File > Import > Worksheet…
• Notice that there are a limited range of file types that you can import.
• The worksheet is imported into the active worksheet. In this example, the information was imported. Formulas were not imported, just the results.

Import ESF

EPSF (Encapsulated PostScript File) is an image file (postscript file) that also has a preview (the encapsulated part).

• Go to the Menu bar.
• Choose File > Import > EPSF…
• This will open a dialogue box for you to choose the preview options.
• Then you will open a dialogue box for you to navigate to the location of the  image file.

You can either click once on the file then click on the Open button, or you can double click on the image file.

Intermediate Topics

Drag and Drop Importing

This technique means that you do not have to use the Import commands. Vectorworks supports drag and drop importing for all the import commands.
It works really well when you can see the files you want to import and Vectorworks at the same time.
In this image you can see the file that I want to import and the Vectorworks drawing window.

• Click and drag the file you want to import.
• Drag the file to the Vectorworks drawing window.
• Release the mouse button to start the importing.

The options window will depend on the file that you drop. In this example the file was an image file, so I get the image importing options.
From here on it is the same as any other importing.

Import Shapefile

This command is extremely useful for users that need to import geo-referenced files. The shape files are usually polygons and ploylines with information attached.
Because the files are geo-referenced, you can import several files and they will line up.

• Go to the Menu bar.
• Choose File > Import > Import Shapefile…
• This will open a dialog box for you to navigate to the location of the  shapefiles.
• You can either click once on the file then click on the Open button, or you can double click on the file.
• In this dialog Vectorworks will only show the shapefiles.
• When you look in the original folder you will see that there are a lot of files. The files with the .shp extension are the shape files. The other files are needed for the location and data attached to the objects.

When you have selected the files, you will get the Import Shapefile dialog box.
Shapefiles usually create their own design layer. This can be edited if required.
You can choose the class for the information.

• Click on the OK button to finish.
• The information is goe-referenced, so you will have to use Fit to Objects to find it.
• When you import the next shape file, it will line up with the previous one, if the references are consistent.

More shapefiles can be imported.

Import Script

This is not used very often. It allows you to import Vectorworks objects that have been exported as a script.
This is part of the script file.

Import Single DXF/DWG

This is the most common DXF/DWG importing command. It is probably one of the most common importing commands that you need to learn. DXF/DWG is such a common way to share plans and details. It is not the best way to share 3D files or the best way to share a project.
With all of these DXF/DWG/DWF import commands, you MUST start with a new blank file. It’s not obvious at first, but later when you need to re scale all the information, you do not want that to affect your project.

Advanced Topics

There are many different formats for importing information. Use one of these when you are looking for information to import and you can’t use one of the other formats. For example, there are several web sites that offer 3D models using some of these formats.

• Import IFC
• Import REVIT
• Import Cinema 4D Textures
• Import 3DS
• Import IGES
• Import OBJ
• Import SAT
• Import STEP
• Import STL
• Import Rhino 3DM
• Import Parasolid

Import  SketchUp

I often find it easier to import the 3D model from sketchup than to build the model myself. There are a lot of sketch up models available on the Internet. I tend to use 3D Warehouse Because it is a large site with a lot of choice. They have a range of sketch up models that can be imported and usually I find that sketch up models from 2015 are the ones that import into Vectorworks.

Import Point Cloud

Point clouds are extremely useful for scanning existing buildings. Point clouds tend to have a large number of points (millions) and so you need to be able to filter the point cloud and isolate some of the points.

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