Export

Selected Objects in Current Layer

Exports only selected 3D objects from the current layer; if no objects are selected, all 3D objects from the active layer are exported

All Visible Objects in Current Layer

Exports all visible 3D objects from the current layer (including objects in design layer viewports). Exclude or include specific types of objects using the check boxes; for example, export walls but not lights.

All Visible Objects in All Layers

Exports all visible 3D objects from all layers in the Vectorworks file (including objects in design layer viewports). Exclude or include specific types of objects using the check boxes; for example, export walls but not lights.

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.

Export Objects

Exports all kinds of Vectorworks 3D objects except walls, 3D loci, symbols, lights, and plug-in objects

Export 3D Loci

Exports each 3D locus as a one-vertex 3ds mesh

Export Walls

Exports walls

Export 3D Symbols

Exports each 3D symbol as a group of 3D meshes

Export Plug-in Objects

Exports each plug-in object as a group of 3D meshes

Export Lights

Exports Vectorworks light objects as 3ds light objects. Vectorworks point lights are exported as 3ds omni lights, and Vectorworks directional and spot lights are exported as 3ds spot lights.

Export Current View as Camera

If the current view is set with one of the perspective options (Narrow Perspective, Normal Perspective, Wide Perspective, or a custom perspective), this option exports the view as a 3ds camera object

Scale

Opens the Export 3DS Scale dialog box, for specifying a scale to apply to all exported objects; see Scaling 3ds objects for export

Export Materials

Exports colors that are attached to the exported objects as 3ds materials; this includes colors both from the Attributes palette and from render textures

Export Textures as

If Export Materials is selected, this option exports each render texture to a texture image file. Select the export file format from the list. Exported image files are automatically named with sequential numbers starting at zero. For example, a Vectorworks file with two textures would export two image files named Textr0.jpg and Textr1.jpg.

When exporting multiple drawings with textures, be sure to save them to different folders—otherwise, new textures will overwrite existing exported textures.

(3DS) Model Width/Height/Depth

Displays the original dimensions of the object(s) selected for import or export; if there are multiple objects, the scaling center is the center of the selection bounding box

Custom

Allows entry of custom dimensions for imported or exported objects in the Desired Width, Desired Height, and Desired Depth fields. Select Maintain Proportions to automatically adjust the proportions when a custom width, height, or depth is entered.

Scale

Allows entry of a scaling factor to be applied to imported or exported objects. Either select a Scale from the list, or select Custom from the top of the list and enter a Custom Scale value. When the scale factor changes, the dimension values also change to show the exact size of the selection bounding box for the given scale.