Exporting Web Views (3D only)

Vectorworks Design Series products export web views that allow for an interactive 3D viewing experience on any device that is connected to the internet, including head-mounted displays.

The web view author can control the size and complexity of the web view, so that it can be downloaded easily and navigated smoothly by the viewer. In addition to the 3D model objects, 2D planar graphics such as dimensions, text, and planar graphics with hatches can be exported, as can point clouds, to provide additional context and information for the model.

Point clouds larger than 500,000 points are reduced to 500,000 points during the export, to control file size.

►    Click here for a video tip about this topic (internet access required).

To export a web view:

1. Prepare the drawing to view:

●    If all visible objects are to be exported, set the drawing’s visibilities as desired.

●    If only selected objects should be exported, select the objects.

●    If a clip cube is used to control what portions of the drawing should export, set the clip cube.

●    Set the drawing to a 3D perspective view. The view automatically changes to perspective on export, if a perspective view is not set in advance.

2. Select File > Export > Export Web View (3D only).

The Export Web View dialog box opens.

►    Click to show/hide the parameters.

Parameter	Description
Custom Logo	Displays the logo automatically included in the top left corner of the web view; a Vectorworks logo displays by default
Choose Image	Click to select a logo image file; for best results, the image should include an alpha channel mask
Render Options
Quality	Set the conversion quality of 3D objects that have curved surfaces. Quality is determined by the number of polygons in the export; using fewer, larger polygons results in lower quality. Exporting more polygons slows down the export and increases the size of the output file.
Full Color	Exports a full-color model
White model	Exports a white model, changing surface colors to white, but retaining transparent textures, for a simple model effect
Clip Cube	If a clip cube is active in the drawing, exports only the part of the model inside the clip cube. All clipped objects that are exported display as hollow in the viewer.
Ambient Occlusion	Displays the rendering with ambient occlusion lighting effects to darken corners and create depth; if selected, specify the Strength and Size (see Ambient Light and Sunlight). Ambient occlusion is available only on desktop viewers until WebGL2 is made available on mobile devices.
Draw Edges	Displays the rendering with lines drawn around object edges for greater definition; if selected, specify the Thickness and Crease Angle (see OpenGL Options)
Export
All visible objects	Exports all visible 3D objects and 2D planar graphics that can be viewed in 3D views from all layers in the Vectorworks file (including objects in design layer viewports)
Selected objects only	Exports only selected objects
Save on	A folder containing all the contents necessary for creating the interactive web view is saved in the designated location. ●    Temporary Cloud Storage: An uploaded web view is temporarily stored on the Vectorworks server for sharing. After 14 days, it is automatically removed. The web view can be exported again, with a new URL, if needed (login not required). ●    Vectorworks Cloud Storage: The web view files are saved into your Vectorworks Cloud Storage (login required). ●    [Third-party cloud] storage: The file is saved into a third-party storage account integrated with your Vectorworks Cloud Storage (login required). ●    Local Storage: The generated folder is saved to the location indicated after clicking Export. These files can be copied onto a server to share with others. Files saved locally, including previews, do not open correctly in the Google Chrome, Microsoft Internet Explorer, or Microsoft Edge browsers because of unavoidable security issues with the browsers. To view the web view from a folder on your local drive, open the index.html file using a different browser. Firefox and Safari (on Mac) are recommended.
Get Shareable Link	If the web view is uploaded to cloud storage, opens the Shareable Link dialog box after the web view is generated; see Getting Shareable Links of Rendered Views
Preview	Click to preview the web view with the current settings before exporting

3. Select the export options, and then click Export.

4. Specify the export file name and destination, and then click Save.

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Viewing Web Views from an Internet Browser

Viewing a Model with the Clip Cube

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