Getting Data In and Out

VRGS reads and writes a lot of formats, but there is no single "import" dialog that lists them. Import and export are properties of the thing you are importing: you right-click the group in the project tree that the data belongs in, and the file dialog that opens offers the formats that group accepts.

That is the one idea worth internalising. Once you know it, the answer to "can VRGS read this?" is always "right-click the group it would live in and look".

The fastest way to find out

Right-click the group in the project tree → Import (or Import → From File…). The file-type dropdown in the dialog is the authoritative list for that data type, and it is always current.

Importing

Point clouds

The richest importer in VRGS, and the one place where a long format list is offered directly.

Data tree → Point Clouds → Import → From File…

Format	Extension
LAS Lidar Data Exchange	.las
Compressed LAS	.laz
Stanford PLY	.ply
E57	.e57
Cyclone (Leica) PTX / PTS	.ptx / .pts
ArcInfo ASCII	.asc
USGS DEM	.dem
BIL (band interleaved by line)	.bil
ZMAP Grid	.dat
TIFF elevation	.tif, .tiff
NASA HiRISE	.img
Wavefront OBJ (points only)	.obj
Aarhus Workbench	.xyz
PIF point cloud	.pf, .pif
VRGS point cloud	.pcl
Riscan2VRGS batch file	.pclb
COLMAP binary points / images	.bin
Seismic 2D ASCII (5 column)	.asc
SEG-Y	.sgy, .segy
Any ASCII file	*.*

Two variants sit beside the main command on the same menu:

• As Tiles… — import straight to a tiled model rather than a single cloud, for data too large to hold at once. See Working with Large Models.
• Arc Info ASCII (.asc) Folder — import a whole folder of .asc grids in one pass.
• Import Gaussian Splat — Gaussian splat .ply files, which are a different thing from a point-cloud .ply despite the shared extension.

Plain ASCII needs describing

Choosing All Files or an unrecognised text file opens an ASCII import dialog where you tell VRGS which column is which. Have a sample line in front of you.

Triangulated meshes

Data tree → Triangular Meshes → Import → From File…

Format	Extension
Wavefront OBJ	.obj
Stanford PLY	.ply
glTF / GLB	.gltf / .glb
FBX	.fbx
STL	.stl
TIFF elevation	.tif, .tiff
NASA HiRISE	.img
Aarhus Workbench	.xyz

Scan Folder (OBJ Files) on the same menu imports every OBJ in a folder, which is how most photogrammetry packages emit a tiled export.

Once a mesh is in, its own Textures → Import submenu takes the texture separately: a Texture Map image, a Height Map to displace vertices, a Pix4D OPF project file (cameras and tie points), or a planetocentric cylindrical projection image.

Tiled models

Data tree → Tiled Model → Import accepts Scene Layer Package (.slpk) and GeoTIFF (.tif). Connect i3s Service on the same menu attaches a live ArcGIS SceneServer instead of a local file.

Cesium 3D Tiles and Google Photorealistic 3D Tiles are not imported — they are streamed, and switched on from the Overlays gallery on the Home ribbon.

Photographs, images and video

Data tree → Photographs → Import accepts .jpg, .bmp, .png, .tif, .tiff — and also .mp4, .avi and .mov. Video imported here is what you attach to a billboard to play inside the scene; see Virtual Field Trips.

Group	Accepts
Photographs	.jpg .bmp .png .tif .tiff .mp4 .avi .mov
Satellite Images	.tif .tiff .bmp .jpg .jp2
Billboards	.jpg .bmp .tif .tiff

Logs and wells

Data tree → Logs → Import → From File… accepts sedimentary log CSV/DAT files, Easycore logs (.csv) and LAS well logs (.las). Geophysical Log Tracks… on the same menu brings in curve data to hang beside an existing log. See LAS Well Log Import.

Waypoints and field data

Data tree → Waypoints → Import accepts GPX (.gpx), KML (.kml), LandXML (.xml) and plain ASCII — so a handheld GPS track or a set of field stations comes in directly. See GNSS Field Navigation.

Seismic, voxels and CT

• Seismic Volumes → Import reads SEG-Y (.sgy, .segy) through a dedicated dialog that detects the trace header layout. The branch only appears with the Seismic licence feature and the Vulkan renderer — see Why is this greyed out?.
• Eclipse Grid → Import reads .GRDECL.
• CT Image Stack imports an image stack, and is likewise licence-gated.

Interpretations from elsewhere

Two commands bring interpretation into an existing project rather than creating new data:

Command	What it does
Import interpretations from GeoJSON (ID_PROJECT_IMPORT_GEOJSON)	Reads a GeoJSON feature collection back into the interpretation tree. See GeoJSON Export.
Import from VRGS project (ID_FILE_IMPORT_PROJECT)	Pick another project's .vgp/.vgpx, tick the object types to bring across, and name the branch they land in.

Import from VRGS project covers polylines and orientations

The type list in that dialog is a registry, and at present it holds exactly two entries: Polylines and Orientations. Other object types are not offered. To move anything else between projects, export it to a file and import that.

Ground control points come in from CSV through the SfM workflow (Import Ground Control Points (CSV)…), and camera positions through Import Cameras — XML, Bundler .out, or Omega-Phi-Kappa text.

Exporting

The interpretation export dialog

Polylines, orientations, measurements and geopolygons all share one export dialog, reached from Export on the group's right-click menu. It offers six file types and a column of tick-boxes:

File type	Extension
XML (ASCII)	.xml
GeoJSON (ASCII)	.geojson
Comma Separated Values	.csv
GlobalMapper ASCII	.txt
Stereonet	.txt
Keyhole Markup Language	.kml

The tick-boxes control what goes into each record, and which ones appear depends on the object type:

Option	Effect
Export displayed items only	Skip anything currently switched off in the tree. Off by default — the export is otherwise the whole group.
RecordID	Include each object's identifier.
Vertices	Include the geometry, not just the summary row.
Orientations	Include dip / dip-direction.
Palaeocurrents	Include palaeocurrent readings.
Attributes	Include the key/value attributes attached to each object.
Errors	Include the fitting errors on measured orientations.
Probability Function	Include the fitted probability distribution.
Stratigraphy	Include the stratigraphic assignment.
Tree Path	Include where the object sat in the tree, so the structure survives a round trip.
Export to EPSG4326	Convert coordinates to WGS 84 lon/lat on the way out. Off by default.

Use XML, GeoJSON, CSV or GlobalMapper

The last two entries in the file-type list — Stereonet and Keyhole Markup Language — are not wired up consistently across object types: for some, selecting one writes nothing, and for others it writes a file in the other format. If you need a stereonet text file or KML, check the result before relying on it. The first four entries behave as labelled.

Meshes and point clouds

Right-click the item → Export.

Object	Formats
Triangulated mesh	Stanford PLY, GOCAD .ts, ASCII points only, ASCII Petrel points and attributes, Wavefront OBJ
Point cloud	LAS, LAZ, Stanford PLY, ASCII points only, ASCII Petrel points and attributes, .bnpts

A point-cloud export adds an Export in EPSG:4326 checkbox when the project has a coordinate system set, so you can hand out lon/lat data without reprojecting the working copy. See Coordinate Systems.

The whole scene at once

Export Model on the Home ribbon (ID_EDIT_COMPOSITOR) writes everything currently displayed as a single composite file. The format list is enumerated at run time from the exporter library, so it is long — Collada, glTF, GLB, OBJ, STL, PLY and more. This is the route to take a VRGS scene into a renderer, a game engine or a 3D-print pipeline.

Because it exports what is visible, curate the tree first: switch off what you do not want in the file, then export.

Export USD does nothing

The Export USD button exists on the ribbon but has no handler behind it in this release, so it stays greyed out. Use Export Model and pick glTF or Collada instead.

Everything else

Object	Export route and format
Scan lines	CSV spreadsheet, or JSON
Geobodies	CSV, or XML
Geomodel	ECLIPSE .GRDECL
DFN	Fractures to FAB, set statistics to CSV
DEM (discrete element)	Fractures to DFN
Flight path	CSV
Surfaces	ASCII surface points .dat
Sedimentary logs	LAS, AutoCAD DXF, IRAP Classic .rms_well, Digital Sed Log .adsl, log unit contact points .lcp, Geoscene deviation .dev, enhanced metafile .emf
Well logs	Log data CSV, JSON well log
Stereonet / rose diagram	SVG, or a spreadsheet
Attributes	Histogram, or the attribute itself
Photograph	Image file
Digital elevation model	GeoTIFF, or ASCII points
Colour maps	CSV, JSON or XML
Assets	OBJ

Several groups also offer a Spreadsheet view — right-click Measurements, Polylines, Faults or Geopolygons and you get a tabular window of the whole group, which is often faster than exporting when you just want to read the numbers. See Measuring.

Batch Export is not available

The Batch Export entry on the File menu has no handler in this release and does nothing. Export the groups you need individually.

Round-tripping between projects

For moving interpretation between projects or between colleagues, three routes exist and they are not equivalent:

Route	Keeps	Use when
GeoJSON export / import	Geometry, attributes, tree structure	Sharing interpretation with someone else's VRGS project, or with GIS
Import from VRGS project	Polylines and orientations only	Pulling a subset out of a project you have on disk
Interpretation version control	Full history	Working with others on the same evolving interpretation — see Interpretation Version Control

Tips and troubleshooting

• The model lands in the wrong place, or at the origin. The file had no georeferencing, or the project has no coordinate system. Fix that first — Coordinate Systems.
• The import worked but nothing is visible. Navigate to the object from its right-click menu. It is probably somewhere unexpected rather than missing.
• Export is greyed out. A Viewer licence disables export, save and GeoJSON import. See Why is this greyed out?.
• A texture did not come with the mesh. OBJ references its texture through a sidecar .mtl; keep the whole folder together, and import the texture separately if it still does not appear.
• The exported file has fewer objects than expected. Export displayed items only was ticked, or part of the group is switched off in the tree.
• A big import is slow or runs out of memory. Import as tiles instead — Working with Large Models.

See also

• GeoJSON Export — the interpretation interchange format in detail.
• Preparing a Model for Interpretation — what to do with a model once it is in.
• Coordinate Systems — making sure it lands where it should.
• LAS Well Log Import — well data specifically.
• Why is this greyed out? — when an import or export command is unavailable.