Vectorworks Landmark Comparison October 2026 · 10 min read

Vectorworks Landmark vs Hadaa: Draw It in Landmark, Show It as a Photograph

Vectorworks Landmark is where a landscape design gets drawn, modelled and documented with precision. A photograph of that design is another job: in Landmark it means building the garden as a full 3D model — hardscape, plants, the house — then texturing, lighting and rendering it. Hadaa’s CAD ↔ Photo starts from the drawing itself, saved as a .dwg: it reads the file’s own geometry, builds the garden in 3D, house included, and renders it as a photograph that is checked against the drawing. No other landscape tool renders the DWG file itself.

A photorealistic render of a round stone-paved fire pit area from above. A dry-stone fire pit with burning logs sits in the centre, a curved low stone seat wall runs round the back, and five white wooden Adirondack chairs and two small round tables are set in an arc. Stepping stones lead away across the lawn. Behind are a swing set, a sandpit and a trampoline on wood chips, and a brick boundary wall. A 3D model of a round paved fire pit area from above. A stone fire pit sits in the centre with its embers glowing, a curved low stone seat wall runs round the back, and five white wooden Adirondack chairs and two small round tables are set in an arc. Stepping stones lead away across the lawn. Behind are a swing set, a sandpit and a trampoline on a wood-chip play area, and a brick boundary wall. 3D model Render
The fire pit circle: stone pit, seat wall and five chairs.

A real render beside the view drawn from its DWG. Drag the handle to compare.

Quick Answer

  • From a DWG to a photograph: Hadaa wins — it reads the .dwg and builds the 3D garden itself. Landmark renders what has been modelled in it.
  • Checked against the drawing: Hadaa wins — every view is measured against the drawing it came from and made again until it matches, up to 3 times.
  • Precise drafting and construction documents: Landmark wins — Hadaa doesn’t draft at all.
  • Site model, grading, plant schedules and quantities: Landmark wins.
  • Best together: draw and document in Landmark, export the .dwg, render it in Hadaa for the client.
See Your DWG Rendered →

CAD ↔ Photo is in Signature Studio: $199 a month or $1,990 a year, 2,000 credits a month, on the web.

Disclosure: Hadaa is our product. Vectorworks Landmark is a far bigger tool than ours in every way but one — we’ve described it as honestly as we’d want them to describe us.

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Comparison Table How Hadaa Renders the DWG Where Landmark Wins 5 Key Differences Pricing Who Should Use Each FAQ Verdict

Comparison Table

Scroll horizontally on mobile. Landmark takes every row about making the drawing; Hadaa takes the rows about turning it into a photograph.

What you get Hadaa (CAD ↔ Photo) Vectorworks Landmark
Photograph of a drawn plan βœ… From the .dwg itself From the 3D model you build in it
3D model of the garden βœ… Built from the file’s layers, blocks and levels Modelled by you, with precise tools
What the engine chose βœ… Every height and roof listed before you spend a credit Whatever was modelled
Render checked against the plan βœ… Every view made again until it matches, verdict shown ❌ Renders the model as built
The design in your own site photo βœ… Walk Around Composite it yourself
Works from any CAD tool’s DWG βœ… Any .dwg, whichever program saved it Imports DWG to redraw or model over
Precise 2D drafting ❌ Not a drafting tool βœ… Yes
Site model and grading ❌ Reads the levels you drew βœ… Yes
Plant schedules and worksheets ❌ No βœ… Yes
Construction documents ❌ No βœ… Yes
Price Signature Studio $199/mo or $1,990/yr Subscription, monthly or annual, priced by region

How Hadaa Renders the DWG

Our Product

Hadaa CAD ↔ Photo — The Last Step After the Drawing

βœ… Reads the .dwg βœ… 3D model, house included βœ… Checked against the drawing βœ… Walk Around βœ… Signature Studio
A photorealistic aerial render of the whole property from a high corner. The house with its grey shingled roof fills the near edge. The walled garden beyond it holds a round stone landing, a pergola, a fire pit circle, a play area, a long evergreen hedge, a swimming pool with umbrellas and a pool house at the far end, with trees along the boundary and long afternoon shadows. A 3D model of the whole property from a high corner. The house with its dark roof fills the near edge. The walled garden beyond it holds a round landing, a pergola, a fire pit circle, a play area, a long evergreen hedge, a swimming pool with umbrellas and a pool house at the far end, with trees along the boundary. 3D model Render
The whole site from the air.
A photorealistic render of the garden seen straight down like a plan. The house with its grey shingled roof is at the left. The garden shows a round stone landing, a pergola with a dining table, a fire pit circle, a play area with a trampoline, a long hedge, a pool with umbrellas and a pool house, flower beds and trees, inside a boundary wall. A 3D model of the garden seen straight down like a plan. The house with its dark roof is at the left in the 16:9 picture and at the bottom in the portrait one. The garden shows a round landing, a pergola with a dining table, a fire pit circle, a play area with a trampoline, a long hedge, a blue pool with a pool house, flower beds and trees, inside a boundary wall. 3D model Render
The plan, straight down.
A photorealistic render of a cedar pergola on three round brick pillars, seen from a raised angle. Under its slatted roof stands a long timber dining table with chairs. A dark granite-topped outdoor kitchen counter with a steel grill runs along the left side, and square planters sit at the pillars' feet. A hedge, a brick wall and an autumn maple surround the pale paved terrace. A 3D model of a cedar pergola on three round brick pillars, seen from a raised angle. Under its slatted roof stands a long timber dining table with chairs. A dark-topped outdoor kitchen counter with a built-in grill runs along the left side, and square planters sit at the pillars' feet. A hedge, a brick wall and an autumn maple surround the paved terrace. 3D model Render
The pergola, its pillars, the dining table and the kitchen counter.

A screenshot is a picture of your design. The .dwg is the design itself: real units, a layer for every kind of thing, every tree placed by name. Hadaa CAD Engine builds the garden straight from it, and lists every height and roof it chose before you spend a credit. From it, Hadaa builds the garden — beds, paths, walls, fences, trees and the house — as a 3D model you can turn, slide and zoom from 20Β° above the ground to straight above. What each thing is made of is read from the drawing’s labels and hatches, and you can change any of it by clicking the model.

Then it renders: five recommended views — the plan and all four sides — or a shot you frame yourself, and Walk Around puts the design into a photo you took on site. Every view is measured against your drawing β€” 27 kinds of thing, among them the roof, paving, trees, fence, water and lawn β€” and made again, up to 3 times, until it matches. The verdict is shown under every render.

Reading the drawing, the 3D model, edits and materials are included in Signature Studio. Credits go on the images: 9 an image, 15 in high detail, and a checked view takes 1–3 images. A view we can’t make costs you nothing.

The honest boundary: Hadaa doesn’t draft, doesn’t grade a site, doesn’t schedule plants and doesn’t edit the DWG. Everything that makes the drawing is Landmark’s ground, covered below.

Bottom line

Landmark makes the drawing. Hadaa makes the photograph of it, without a second model, and checks it against the drawing.

See Your DWG Rendered →

Where Vectorworks Landmark Wins

πŸ“ Landscape CAD and BIM β›° Site model and grading 🌿 Plant tools and schedules πŸ“„ Construction documents

Credit where it’s due: Vectorworks Landmark is a complete professional landscape design environment. It drafts in 2D with precision, models the site in 3D with grading, places plants with their data and schedules them, counts quantities in worksheets, and produces the construction documents a contractor builds from. It reads and writes DWG, so it sits comfortably in a firm that exchanges files with architects and engineers.

It also renders, with Renderworks or a dedicated renderer you send the model to — but the photograph shows the 3D model, so the hardscape, the planting and the house have to be built, textured and lit first, and nothing checks the picture against the plan. Vectorworks sells Landmark by subscription, monthly or annual, and its own buy page shows the price for your region.

Where Landmark fits — and where it doesn’t

  • Genuinely better: precise drafting and a full construction set
  • Genuinely better: site modelling, grading and earthworks
  • Genuinely better: plant data, schedules and quantity worksheets
  • Not built for: turning a drawn plan into a photograph without modelling it
  • Not built for: checking a render against the plan it came from
  • A deep professional tool with a learning curve to match

5 Key Differences

Five things that change what you end up with — three where Hadaa comes out ahead on the photograph, and two where Landmark genuinely wins.

1

The drawing is the model

Hadaa reads the .dwg’s layers, blocks, labels and levels and builds the 3D garden from them. A Landmark render needs the garden modelled in 3D first. The consequence: a design drawn in 2D can be shown as a photograph without being built twice.

2

The render is held to the plan

Each Hadaa view is measured against the drawing it came from and made again until it matches, and the verdict is shown under the render. The consequence: a tree that went missing is named, not discovered by the client.

3

Any CAD tool’s DWG

Hadaa reads the .dwg whichever program saved it — AutoCAD, DynaSCAPE or a Vectorworks export — and lists every height and roof it chose. The consequence: a firm can render drawings from a consultant or an older project without opening them in Landmark.

4

Drafting and documents: Landmark wins

Credit where it’s due. Drawing the design, grading the site, scheduling the plants and producing the construction set are Landmark’s work, and Hadaa does none of it.

5

Depth of the 3D model: Landmark wins

A model built carefully in Landmark can carry detail a 2D drawing never states. Hadaa builds from what the drawing holds, fills the gaps with sensible defaults and lists every one.

Pricing Comparison

Tier Hadaa Vectorworks Landmark
Entry Pro Studio $39/month β€” photo and sketch engines; CAD ↔ Photo is not included One product: Landmark
DWG to photograph Signature Studio $199/month or $1,990/year β€” CAD ↔ Photo, 2,000 credits a month Renders the 3D model you build in it
Included Reading, the 3D model, edits and materials; credits go on images (9, or 15 in high detail) Drafting, site model, plants, worksheets, documents, rendering
Billing Monthly, or yearly with 2 months free Subscription, monthly or annual, priced by region
What you're paying for A photograph of your drawing, checked against it The whole design and documentation environment

Vectorworks shows Landmark’s price for your region on its own buy page; we haven’t quoted a figure we couldn’t read there in October 2026.

Key pricing observation: these aren’t competing line items. Landmark is the software the design is made in; Signature Studio is what turns the finished drawing into photographs for the client, with 2,000 credits a month paying for the images. The cost it replaces is the time spent building and lighting a second, render-ready model.

Who Should Use Each

Use Hadaa if…

  • β†’ Your design is drawn and you need the client to see it as a photograph
  • β†’ You don't want to build and light a second, render-ready model
  • β†’ You want every render checked against the drawing
  • β†’ You want to put the design into a photo of the client's own site
  • β†’ You receive DWGs from other offices and need to show them too

Use Vectorworks Landmark if…

  • β†’ You need to draft the design itself, precisely
  • β†’ You model and grade the site
  • β†’ You schedule plants and count quantities
  • β†’ You produce construction documents
  • β†’ You want design, documents and BIM in one environment

Frequently Asked Questions

Can Hadaa render a drawing made in Vectorworks Landmark? β–Ό
Yes, once it is saved as a .dwg, which Vectorworks exports. CAD ↔ Photo in Signature Studio reads that file's own geometry β€” its layers, blocks, labels and levels β€” builds the garden in 3D, house included, and renders photographs from it. No other landscape tool renders the DWG file itself.
Is Vectorworks Landmark or Hadaa better? β–Ό
They do different jobs. Landmark is where a landscape design is drafted, modelled and documented with precision, from the site model to the plant schedule and the construction set. Hadaa takes the finished drawing and shows it to the client as a photograph, checked against the drawing. Most firms that draw in Landmark would use Hadaa beside it, not instead of it.
How much do Vectorworks Landmark and Hadaa cost? β–Ό
Vectorworks sells Landmark by subscription, monthly or annual, and its buy page shows the price for your region. Signature Studio is $199 a month or $1,990 a year with 2,000 credits a month; credits go on the images, 9 an image, 15 in high detail. Pro Studio at $39 a month does not include CAD ↔ Photo.
Doesn't Vectorworks Landmark already render? β–Ό
It renders its own 3D model, with Renderworks or a renderer you send it to. The photograph is only as complete as that model: hardscape, plants and the house have to be built in 3D, textured and lit first. Hadaa builds the 3D garden from the drawing itself, lists every height and roof it chose before you spend a credit, and measures every render against the drawing it came from.
What does Vectorworks Landmark do that Hadaa doesn't? β–Ό
Nearly everything a drawing needs before it is rendered: precise 2D drafting, a 3D site model and grading, plant tools and schedules, worksheets for quantities, and construction documents. Hadaa takes the finished drawing, builds it in 3D and photographs it, and leaves your DWG exactly as you drew it.
How does Hadaa handle a DWG that isn't perfect? β–Ό
It reads the file's own geometry, and where the file is silent it tells you: every height, roof and unrecognised layer is listed before you spend a credit, and you can set heights and materials yourself on the 3D model. Each render is measured against the drawing it came from and made again until it matches, up to 3 times; the closest is always delivered, with its verdict shown.
Can I use both? β–Ό
Yes, and that is the natural fit. Draw and document the design in Landmark, export the .dwg, and render it in Hadaa for the client presentation, as often as the design changes.

Verdict

Keep drawing in Landmark. For drafting, grading, planting plans and construction documents, Vectorworks Landmark is the professional tool.

Render the finished drawing in Hadaa. Export the .dwg and CAD ↔ Photo builds the garden in 3D from it, house included, renders it as a photograph and checks it against the drawing, with every height and roof it chose listed first. The client sees the design without anyone building a second model to show it.

See Your DWG Rendered → See every comparison

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