JPGs, Photoshop files in Plotmaker

[Ignacio Azpiazu]

I am producing elevations in Artlantis to obtain a given scale when the image is printed at 150 dpi. Plotmaker seems to be messing it up though -- I need to go to set the imported drawing at 100 dpi to get the scale right.

The Artlantis output, dpi, scale, etc. are right. Somebody just told me he thinks he's heard about problems with bitmaps in Plotmaker, although I've been through this process before (using 2.3) and I don't remember anything like this.

Will be very grateful for any idea. I am on a deadline and will be in trouble if I can't figure the way out.

[Djordje]

Ignacio wrote:
I am producing elevations in Artlantis to obtain a given scale when the image is printed at 150 dpi. Plotmaker seems to be messing it up though -- I need to go to set the imported drawing at 100 dpi to get the scale right.

What is your pixel count?

Required size(in inches)=pixel count/dpi

So, for a 10 inch long (wide) image at 150 dpi you need an image 1500 pixels long (wide).

How are you calculating the correct scale in rendering? The best way to check it is to overlay an elevation view from ArchiCAD at the correct scale, and see what happens.

What I would do is:

- measure the exact total lenght of the placed elevation (having a terrain slab or a mesh helps here) at a given scale in PlotMaker

- render in Art•Lantis, and afterwards crop the image EXACTLY to the edges of the terrain mesh/slab

- resize the image with the widht as the ruling factor in PlotMaker, knowing what the elevation lenght (widht) at wanted scale is (you can measure it on the placed elevation/overlay the elevation)

You can precisely decide the size of any image placed in PlotMaker. Images are NOT scaled vectoriual files, so you have to calculate thair wanted SIZE, multiply it by DPI to get the needed pixel count. THAT is what is important!

Also, use the uncompressed formats, as JPG can lose quite a bit of info.

HTH,

[tsturm]

I have used Djoride's method before of using an ArchiCAD elevation to scale renderings to the right size.

I often do something simliar when I bring in a scanned file as a base image in AC.

Overlay a true CAD on the Bitmapped image.

[Anonymous]

In Artlantis 4.5 one can RENDER A PARALLEL VIEW TO A SCALE, and as long as the dpi in Plotmaker matches that specified in Artlantis we seem to get correctly scaled results.

Leaping into AC9’s “integrated” Lightworks, on the promise of an ‘integrated’ workflow, we find we can’t produce elevations to scale in such a reliable manner. Any ideas – or are we confined to the “Matching line drawings” technique described above? One of the hazards in this technique is that the rendered images have too much/ too little resolution….

[Ignacio Azpiazu]

Well, it is not me, and it is not Artlantis. I am now having the same problem with a 6000x4000 jpg or Photoshop (happens both ways) image.

I bring it into Plotmaker, set it to '150 dpi', and it gives me a width of 2'-2" instead of 40". I asked around and other people have had the same problem. The image displays a funny size from the start --the default 72 dpi picture takes up much less real estate than a real 72 dpi would.