Images

Importing Images
Editing the imported image

Importing images

There are situations in which it can be useful to import a bitmap image into a model or a drawing, so that it can be used as a reference.

Suppose the designer has created the preliminary sketch on the paper and you have this sketch as the base on which to create the real model. This may happen, for example, if the designer is far away and can't send you but a fax with a first draft.

You can turn the sketch into a bitmap image with a scanner and import it into the program using the Insert Image command.

You can profitably import images into drawings, for example to customize title blocks.

Recognized image file formats are:

.bmp	BMP format (Windows Bitmap)
.tif	TIFF format (Tagged Image File)
.gif	GIF format (CompuServe Graphics Interchange)
.jpg	JPEG format (Joint Photographic Expert Group - SA/CCITT)
.png	PNG format (Portable Network Graphics)

Once the file is selected :

In the Model environment
the image is placed onto the current Work Plane, its lower-left corner coincident with the Work Plane origin.
In the Drawing environment
the image is placed with its lower-left corner on the origin.

A set of Options is available to enable you to control the image colors and the resize quality to be used when importing it into the model drawing. These options can be very useful especially when the image to be imported is a big one and contains many colors.

Editing the imported image

Some editing operations slightly differ depending on the environment you're working in:

Model environment
Drawing environment

Some other operations are the same in both environments:

To change the scale of the image you can use the Rescale command. You can select the rescaling mode in a set of three (based on the pixel size in the real world, based on DPI and scale, based on a distance to be applied to two selected points).
The image can be removed using the Remove command.
A proper set of parameters, in the Image category of the System Options, enables you to control the quality of the image.

Model environment

In the Model environment, if you move the Work Plane after loading an image, the image will remain in its original position. To move it onto the new Work Plane, use the Move to Work Plane command.

You can translate, rotate and resize the image on the Work Plane using the Edit command. An anchor handle consisting of an origin and two axes will be displayed in the lower-left corner of the image, and a circular marker in the higher-right corner.

To translate the image on the Work Plane, drag the origin of the anchor handle to the new position you want the image to be placed in.
To rotate the image on the Work Plane, drag the arrow corresponding to the X or Y axis.
To resize the image on the Work Plane, drag the circular marker on the higher-right corner to a new position: the image will be enlarged/reduced accordingly.

Note
If an image is inserted into a constrained view, it will be oriented along the view plane rather than along the Work Plane, thus enabling you to easily load three different standard views of the object (top, front, right) into the model.

Drawing environment

In the Drawing environment, you can translate and resize the image using the Edit command. An anchor handle consisting of an origin and two axes will be displayed in the lower-left corner of the image, and a circular marker in the higher-right corner.

To translate the image, drag the origin of the anchor handle to the new position you want the image to be placed in.
To resize the image, drag the circular marker on the higher-right corner to a new position: the image will be enlarged/reduced accordingly.