Global CAD and BIM provider, Vectorworks, Inc., has delivered a new sketch to the BIM workflow with Morpholio Trace integration. The Nemetschek Group’s subsidiary recently acquired Morpholio Trace, a long-established innovator in the mobile and tablet segment of the AEC software market.
Sketch-to-BIM
This integration comes with Vectorworks 2026 Update 5 and connects iPad sketching directly to Vectorworks.
Key Takeaways
- New Export to Morpholio Trace command — sends selected, scale-accurate sheets or viewports from Vectorworks via the cloud to a dedicated Vectorworks folder in Trace on their iPad.
- New Import from Morpholio Trace command — brings sketches from Trace back into Vectorworks files as images or vector-based linework, streamlining tracing to CAD/BIM workflows.
Architects today still begin design processes with hand sketching, and many use tablet-based software products like Morpholio Trace. The Apple Design Award-winning iPad app has been labeled “dream software for architects,” and combines the power of Apple Pencil technology with the incredible processing power of the Apple iPad.
Vectorworks 2026 now has full integration with the Apple award-winning app Morpholio Trace, now part of Vectorworks, Inc.
From initial concepts and design details to construction administration stage markups, Morpholio Trace delivers intelligent workflows for architects using the power of immediate hand to sketch workflows.
MORE: Vectorworks acquires popular Morpholio—Leading Mobile Design App
The new Trace integration with Vectorworks reflects a market-proven fact that drawing, tracing, and sketching remain central to how designers think, explore, and communicate ideas. Through the connection with Vectorworks on desktop, designers can move between various workflow scenarios and personas, from the immediacy of hand sketching to the intelligence of their BIM and CAD models.
ELLE Décore magazine called it “addictive” and awarded it “Best Apps” for interior design, home decor, and interior architecture.
“With this integration, we’re bringing the power of sketching and the precision of BIM closer together than ever before,” said Vectorworks Product Planner Iskra Nikolova. “Drawings and sketches now move seamlessly in both directions through Vectorworks Cloud Services. Designers can start in Vectorworks and then sketch in Trace, or begin in Trace and bring those ideas back into Vectorworks, enabling a fluid, flexible creative process without extra steps or friction. The release of this integration in Vectorworks 2026 Update 5 marks another milestone in our commitment to connected, mobile-friendly workflows that honor the craft of design.”
Getting Features
This new integration comes with Vectorworks 2026 Update 5, available now. This update is now accessible for all currently released English-language versions of Vectorworks 2026 through subscription and Vectorworks Service Select customers. Vectorworks users can install by selecting “Check for Updates from the Vectorworks menu (Mac) or Help menu (Windows).
To explore the new Morpholio Trace integration and all the latest features, start a free 7-day trial of Vectorworks Design Suite and download Morpholio Trace for iPad and iPhone in the Apple App Store.
Architosh Analysis and Commentary
Morpholio Trace works with more applications than just Vectorworks, as it can ingest 3D models created in various applications, from BIM to professional 3D modelers. Usually, you export your model out to a (.USDZ) or (.OBJ) file format to bring into Trace. Of course, the Vectorworks integration is even smoother than this, and it’s automated in the cloud.
Beyond Morpholio Trace, Morpholio Journal is another sister app for simply having a digital sketchbook. It features amazing pens and brushes, and you can also write in it. Then there is BoardPro, a mood board application. ELLE Décore magazine called it “addictive” and awarded it “Best Apps” for interior design, home decor, and interior architecture. This particular app is interesting because Vectorworks, as a company, has toyed with the idea of an industry vertical version of Vectorworks for interior professionals. Currently, interior professionals buy Vectorworks Architect or Vectorworks Design Suite to use as their CAD-BIM environment, but we could see an evolution in which both Vectorworks and this suite of apps (especially BoardPro) develop into a consolidated solution or package called Vectorworks Interiors.
The advantage Vectorworks has created through its industry vertical solutions is the delivery of a tailor-made solution for a particular type of AEC/O professional. Architosh has written about this in the past in some detail: the one-size-fits-all approach will eventually lose out to highly focused, more pointed, and specialized solutions. We don’t know for certain if that is where the company will go next, but the acquisition of Morpholio Trace offers interesting suggestions.
