Ability to import and open .eps, .svg. Ai files

[Caleb L.]

Will there ever be the ability for Vectorworks to import, open, read and edit .eps, .svg and or .Ai files?

[Art V]

Probably not in the foreseeable future, if ever. EPS and to some extend SVG are export formats and not meant for editing and generally lack the accuracy of CAD files. .AI files would probably only be possible to import if they were saved with PDF compatibility and then you might as well use PDF. 

 

Adobe is cheating/not complying with the EPS standard when they save their EPS files with Adobe Illustrator compatibility, which means they attach the Illustrator file at the end of the EPS data so that it remains fully editable in AI. Because this is proprietary most if not all non-Adobe software is ignoring that part and use only the "proper" EPS section and therefore the EPS files are not as good to edit as it would be with Illustrator which does read the aforementioned AI part of the EPS file.

[Stephan Moenninghoff]

Just SVG import would be nice. Never mind EPS. Not sure about what you mean by lack of accuracy. SVG is quite accurate in my experience. 

[Art V]

On 4/16/2022 at 8:00 PM, Stephan Moenninghoff said:

Just SVG import would be nice. Never mind EPS. Not sure about what you mean by lack of accuracy. SVG is quite accurate in my experience. 

Because a lot of SVG files come from  non-CAD software that does more often than not lack the accuracy that CAD software is capable of.

 

So yes from a DTP software perspective SVG can be quite accurate for the given purpose, but as an exchange format from other other (e.g. CAD) software I'd rather use e.g. DXF for 2D stuff for compatibility reasons even though that may have its own issues as well. Of course this depends on what one is doing and ones requirements.

 

A lot depends on how well native objects are translated into SVG objects and in my experience such translations can introduce small deviations that may cause issues in CAD software. So in my opinion SVG is good for publishing, importing for general shapes (i.e. not requiring a high level of accuracy) but in general less ideal as a format for importing detailed things that require a high level of accuracy.

[Brian(J)]

There is an inexpensive SVG export tool that works very well for me:

https://fitplot.it/vwplugins/exportSVG.html

 

The same author also wrote an Import SVG tool for the Italian VW distributor which I would like but can't get.