What is the difference between the Figure & Drawing tools?

[Anonymous]

What is the difference between the Figure & Drawing tools?

Why are there two tools that are so similar?

Which tool would be best for me to bring in PDFs of architectural drawings so I can draw minor changes over them and then make a print of the original PDF showing the minor changes that I've made?

[Karl Ottenstein]

johncassel wrote:
What is the difference between the Figure & Drawing tools?

The Drawing Tool does let you choose which page of a multipage PDF to place. The Figure Tool always places the first page.

The image placed with the Figure Tool is embedded into the project file. A drawing placed with the Drawing Tool can be linked to an external file and will thus update if the external file is updated.

A PDF placed with the Drawing Tool, is still a PDF - whether embedded or linked - and so if it is resized, all of the text and vector graphics scale absolutely cleanly.

A PDF placed with the Figure Tool is converted to a bitmap image at 300 (?) dpi. If you then stretch it, you get bad pixelization because just the converted bitmap version is being stretched. It is not like an Adobe "smart object" which would go back to the source PDF and re-convert to a bitmap at the new dimensions.

An image placed with the Figure Tool can be distorted. It will scale proportionally only if the shift key is held down while stretching. (An image placed with the Drawing Tool cannot be distorted.)

The distortion is very important, as I have found almost every received scanned PDF that I have dealt with is not scaled 100% correct in both axes. So, as I stretch the image to known measurements - I have to finish by distorting it along either the width or height to get the entire image to be to proper scale.

Images placed with the Figure Tool can be mirrored - those with the Drawing Tool cannot. If you are placing an image of a standard manufacturer detail (e.g.) - as long as there is no text involved, it is handy to mirror it if necessary to match the orientation in the model that you are calling it out from.

I find the info on pixel size in the Figure Tool useful

The Drawing Tool, however, has the ability to display a color image in grayscale which the Figure Tool cannot do. That could be useful, although I've not needed it with images.

I've noted many of these differences in the attached screenshot comparing the two dialogs.

And one last thing: Link was the first person that I recall noticed the Image Format pane's ability to re-save images in other file formats way back when. Kind of a strange feature to have there, but can by handy for people with no other software for such things. (Mac people have Preview which handles all of the available formats.) Since the Figure Tool will accept an image copied to the clipboard, you can marquee-copy anything in the 3D window, leave 3D and open the Figure Tool and click the Paste button, and the use the Save As to save the 'screenshot' in any format. Or use the Figure Tool to place it in a drawing with transparency. (You can make your own funky 3D-looking annotation symbols this way.) I don't know if anyone actually uses any of these particular features though!

It would of course be nice if these tools were combined into one.

Cheers,
Karl

[Karl Ottenstein]

On the specific question, John, I would use the Drawing Tool to bring in the PDFs if they were generated from CAD since, as noted below, the Drawing Tool lets you rescale the PDF with a very clean result as the content is still vector-format, not pixels.

But, if the PDFs were scanned, then you may run into the situation I mention below where you have to distort the image in either width or height to get it to scale in both x and y dimensions. In that case, the Figure Tool is your only option. The PDF may not open with enough pixels with the Figure Tool to avoid a lot of pixelation. If so, you may want to open the PDF in Photoshop and specify a size and dpi that will give a better result when saved and placed with the Figure Tool.

Cheers,
Karl

[David Maudlin]

Karl's comparison should be added to the ArchiCAD Help files.

David

[vistasp]

David wrote:
Karl's comparison should be added to the ArchiCAD Help files.

Also the wiki / tips & tricks section (which hasn't seen a new post since July). 😉

[Anonymous]

Karl,
Thank you very much for the very clear overview of these two tools. Your answer helped me quickly understand the features and limitations that each tool has.
I would be very interested to hear the thoughts of the developers on why there are two separate tools that are so similar.
Mahalo,
John

[Mats_Knutsson]

Great stuff Karl. It should be on wiki.

[Karl Ottenstein]

Thanks, guys! The list is a little random ... and actually still pretty incomplete. I think I'd like to combine it with the additional list of differences in a table format that is easier to read quickly before putting it in the Tips/Tricks or Wiki. It might prove more useful that way...? Will give it a shot today...

Cheers,
Karl

[Anonymous]

Thank Karl,
Nice !
The good way for the next release 15 is maybe this one :
Just have the possibility to "decompose in the current view" the selecting drawing if this one is a bitmap image and then we find it in the figure tools.
And better if the drawing tool called a vector pdf file, convert it directly into ArchiCAD

because now I have to open Illustrator to do it and after exporting the file in dwg format and in a second time put this file into Archicad)

[Karl Ottenstein]

Masse wrote:
Just have the possibility to "decompose in the current view" the selecting drawing if this one is a bitmap image and then we find it in the figure tools.

Maybe? Except I think we would be better off if the tools were combined, since an advantage of the Drawing Tool is that (very) large image files can be kept externally and just linked, while the Figure Tool can only embed the content into the project file.

And better if the drawing tool called a vector pdf file, convert it directly into ArchiCAD because now I have to open Illustrator to do it and after exporting the file in dwg format and in a second time put this file into Archicad)

This would be a great feature, too, but I think it should be part of the Open / Merge / Hotlink (etc) dialogs which are content-based rather than the Figure/Drawing tools which place a single non-editable object?

Cheers,
Karl