Import SVG Plugin for Vectorworks Now Available!

[Paolo]

I am excited to announce the release of the Import SVG plugin for Vectorworks — a long-awaited feature among users!
For the first time, you can now easily import SVG files directly into your Vectorworks projects.

This is the first plugin of its kind, filling a major gap for Vectorworks users. While this is the initial release and further refinements will follow based on user feedback, the plugin has already been thoroughly tested and has performed reliably across a wide range of scenarios.

In addition, Import SVG is also available at a discounted price as part of a bundle with the highly appreciated and widely used Export to SVG plugin — offering you a complete solution for SVG workflows in Vectorworks.

Learn more…

[Paolo]

The video here shows you how to import some SVGs — even complex ones — into Vectorworks®.
The paths get perfectly converted into Vectorworks® polylines.
Gradients are imported too and added to the document’s resources.
Group hierarchies are fully preserved.

 

 

[Paolo]

New! Try the Import SVG Plugin – Now Available as a Free Demo!

Since launching the Import SVG plugin, I've received interest but also understandable hesitation—after all, it's natural to want to try before you buy.

To help you evaluate it with confidence, I’ve released a free demo version, valid until June 1st, so you can test its features and decide if it’s right for your workflow.

 

💡 What does it do?
The plugin allows you to import SVG files directly into Vectorworks®, preserving vector quality and saving time.

 

🔍 Key Features:

Direct SVG import into your Vectorworks documents

Vector-accurate rendering

Simple and efficient integration

 

⚠️ Please note:

The demo version requires an internet connection to validate its expiration.

After June 1st, the demo will no longer function.

 

👉 Try it now and learn more here:
🌐 https://fitplot.it/vwplugins/importSVG.html

Download

 

Questions or feedback? I’d love to hear from you!

[Jeff Prince]

Your links do not seem to lead to a downloadable demo.  How are we supposed to try before we buy?  Can you make the Export SVG a demo too?

 

[Paolo]

@Jeff Prince, I have fixed the link, try again.

I could make also a demo (timed) version of Export to SVG, let’s see how it goes with this one…

[Jeff Prince]

@Paolo the link works and I installed it easily.

This looks like a simple way to get a SVG into Vectorworks for some basic functionality, with a few caveats.

I will be interested to see how your export from VWX performs with regard to stroke preservation.  It would be great to be able to compose a design in Vectorworks and then export it to Affinity Designer/Illustrator and have strokes and objects preserved/easily manipulated.

 

Here are some initial observations:

 

This looks good for basic import, but a lot of the geometry doesn't stay intact when coming over to VWX.

For instance, I drew a rectangle in Affinity Designer and this came into VWX as a rectangle object.

Circle, ellipse, triangle, and two point stokes all came into VWX as multiverticie polyline approximations of those shapes.

The line weights seem to import incorrectly with a 2 pixel stroke importing as 2.20mm.

Similarly, a 0 pixel stroke imports as 0.35mm.

 

Here is a test file I drew in Affinity Designer:

 

Here is what it looked like on import into VWX (ignore the butterfly, that was a separate test):

Not the objects are selected and surrounded by their huge pen setting.  Almost all of the objects imported as 1 item groups that had to be ungrouped.

 

The line weights were quick to fix via the attributes panel.

 

Circle did not import as a circle, has lots of vertices:

 

 

Same with Ellipse:

 

 

Rectangle made the trip nicely:

 

 

[Paolo]

About circles and ellipses, as long as the original svg has them defined as paths, the plugin translate them into polylines. Check your exported svg file for the circle / ellipse definition.

About line weights, try to import in a 1:1 scale layer. Anyway, I need to check this point.

 

The main purpose of these (Import and Export svg) plugins is to preserve the shapes first and the graphic attributes as long as possible, considering that Vectorworks cannot directly reproduce some SVG graphics (line caps, clip rects, some gradient mode, etc.).

 

[Jeff Prince]

14 minutes ago, Paolo said:

About line weights, try to import in a 1:1 scale layer. Anyway, I need to check this point.

worked perfect, thanks.

[Brian(J)]

What do you think the future holds with respect to compatibility with older versions? I know the Italian distributor had an import SVG option (that you wrote) in 2019 or 2020 but I assume this is different. I have often wondered if the Italian distributor would sell the plug-in separately from VW.

[Paolo]

Hello @Brian(J)

the Vectorworks italian version will have this new version included for free in the next 2025 service pack. The italian distributor and me simply agree that, after 6 years and after a wide code revision, I can try to sell the plugin abroad.

 

[Brian(J)]

Would you be willing to sell me the 2020 compatible version with the understanding that there would be no guarantee or support of it working for me? I am willing to take the risk because importing SVG's is very time consuming at the moment and I can't justify the cost of current VW for what has become a non-income producing hobby.

[Paolo]

@Brian(J), what Vectorworks version do you have? I am pretty sure the new import svg plugin should work in previous versions, if recompiled.

If there are requests, I could reconsider to prepare versions that I can test (2022, 2023, 2024). It takes time to recompile, test and maintain multiple versions…

[Claes Lundstrom]

Just out of curiosity, I tried the plugin demo on a fairly large model from my modeling app. It worked as expected, in fact very well, but it was a bit slow and took 7 minutes 45 seconds to import. As a comparison I imported a Script file (with is what I normally use when sending files to VW), which took about three seconds to import. Also, what surprised me was that it did not show up in scale.  I checked the file by sending it to Affinity Designer, where the scale was correct. Sure you can fix it, but when used in production, it is quite useful to be in scale. The model to the right is the Script version, which is correct in scale, compared to the SVG model version to the left. 

 

 

[Paolo]

It seems the old problem px vs pt.

As far as I have learned the svg default unit is pixel, so when units are not specified my plugin assumes px.

Some programs seems to adopt pt as defaults…

The ratio is one point = 1.333(3) pixels.

 

About the import time, the problem is that Vectorworks has not an efficient way (with Vectorscript commands) to handle fill rules as in SVG. In my algorithm I obtain a pretty result despite of time. It is a bit complicated to explain…

[Claes Lundstrom]

43 minutes ago, Paolo said:

It seems the old problem px vs pt.

As far as I have learned the svg default unit is pixel, so when units are not specified my plugin assumes px.

Some programs seems to adopt pt as defaults…

The ratio is one point = 1.333(3) pixels.

 

About the import time, the problem is that Vectorworks has not an efficient way (with Vectorscript commands) to handle fill rules as in SVG. In my algorithm I obtain a pretty result despite of time. It is a bit complicated to explain…

I would not take the speed problem too seriously. In most cases, you deal with fairly simple models, where the time doesn't matter much. I'm aware of the scaling problem. I had a similar problem when I wrote the export feature in my app.  I basically cloned what Affinity Designer does, and it seems as it work correctly, with cutting apps, Affinity and CorelDraw and with Photoshop, all typical receivers of these files. Again, the import looks ok, so that's good. 

[Brian(J)]

Paolo, are you suggesting I buy the plug-in and try it as an experiment? I’m willing if there is a somewhat reasonable chance it will work. And if not I’ve been using the export plug-in from before day 1 (a tiny bit of beta-testing) and have gotten so much value out of it it would still be worth it.

[Paolo]

@Brian(J) I remember very well you helped me in the export SVG very first tests, I am grateful, since that plugin has been very requested by Shaper Origin users.

I’ll give you the new import plugin for free, just let me know your Vectorworks version. But I cannot guarantee it will work as the VW2025 version, since I have not time to perform all the needed tests.