DEM import?

[Francois Levy]

I see that DEM import hasn't been discussed here in _10 years_

 

Is it currently possible to import DEM datasets into Vectorworks? I’ve downloaded some LIDAR datasets from a municipality, and it’s showing up as a folder with numerous XML, RDD, and IMG files.

Edited June 21, 2023 by Francois Levy

[Kevin K]

@Francois Levy I would have imagined that other file formats would have been available for that data.  

Like .DWG or .STL, etc?

Apparently not 😞 

 

[Jeff Prince]

I think vectorworks hasn’t advanced on that, but it will import LiDAR files, which is what was used to make the DEM in all likelihood.

 

If you can’t get the source LiDAR used to make the DEM, you could convert the DEM into contours in QGIS or contours/point/surface in Rhino (with grasshopper routine).

[Francois Levy]

Jeff, I don't use Rhino, and I'm not going to introduce it into my workflow for one project (I'm an architect, not a land designer; this is a one-off where getting a proper survey is proving difficult). Kevin, yeah, in fact there were Shapefiles I was able to dig up, but unfortunately all contours are 2D and have no Z data.

[Jeff Prince]

13 minutes ago, Francois Levy said:

Jeff, I don't use Rhino, and I'm not going to introduce it into my workflow for one project (I'm an architect, not a land designer; this is a one-off where getting a proper survey is proving difficult). Kevin, yeah, in fact there were Shapefiles I was able to dig up, but unfortunately all contours are 2D and have no Z data.

 

What about QGIS?

If you use geographic information, it's a good tool to have if you can afford the purchase price.

[zoomer]

Also coming from the architectural side,

no landscape experience and basically still not that confident

with my georeferencing attempts.

 

I stumbled over QGIS as it is Supported by Speckle.

And by following the posts on their Forum I realized that it is

a very capable and versatile tool.

(And I like FOSS in general)

As Converter only as well as in general.

 

So I am a bit frustrated that I do not yet am familiar or confident in QGIS

(or with Blender, Unreal, .....)