PointCab and Nemetschek VectorWorks

You achieve an effective workflow when you preprocess your desired results in PointCab.

[1] – [2] With PointCab, you create true-to-deformation plans, layouts, sections, views, meshes, DTMs, vector drawings and other more easily and quickly as in your CAD system. Then, you can use the results in your CAD system thanks to the universal DWG format.

[3] Due to PointCab, you can easily and quickly work with Allplan, even with huge point clouds. By generating plans and sectional views as ortho photos, you transfer only the information that is relevant for modeling.

[4] With PointCab, you can “adjust” your point cloud for Allplan. You can just extract the desired areas of the point cloud or single 3D points and reduce data volume extremely while maintaining the desired accuracy.

Tutorial video

Import of PointCab results in Vectorworks

Tutorial units

Import layouts and sections

In this tutorial, we show you how to import and use your PointCab results in Vectorworks. First, we create a layout and a sectional view in PointCab. You can choose default settings (DXF output) for creating layout and section. Both jobs are processed when you click on the button Process all jobs. Afterwards, we create another layout – without details – in order to create vector lines:

You can open the detailed layout in PointCab by double-clcking on the job. Then, you can output the second layout as vector lines. For that purpose, you primarily have to select a zone to be vectorized. Before export, you can adjust the vector lines by using the vector toolbar.

Start processing for exporting the vector lines:

Now, we want to import our results in Vectorworks. We start Vectorworks:

Start Vectorworks

By selecting the menu File -> Import, you can import all PointCab results in DXF format. We start with the layout:

Import DXF files

The DXF files are in the respective PointCab directory Project_results -> Orthofotos -> Layout EG results.

Now, you can define the import options:

DXF import options

Finally, you have to confirm the import:

Import succeeded

In this layout, dimensioning can immediately be made:

Create dimensioning

Dimension the wall thickness

Now, we additionally import the vector lines of the layout. Wir importieren nun zusätzlich unsere Vektorlinien des Grundrisses:

Import DXF files

The results of the vector line export are in the directory PointCab_results -> 3D

Now, the detailed layout and vector lines are available.

Vector lines and layout

By using the automatically created lines, you can directly generate intelligent 3D objects.

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