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.
Importing
Import Image
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 tthis file format has become outdated since the Macintosh changed to OS X.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).