saving at correct scale

[Anonymous]

Hi there,
I know, this is really basic but im having trouble saving a floor plan as say a jpeg and maintain its correct scale. Whether I save it as a simple image or save as image through print settings through using the drawing layout option It opens in photoshop incorrectly scaled.
If you could shed some light on this I would be greatful
Thanks.

[Anonymous]

In your case, what is correct output scale?

[Anonymous]

Hi there,
well probably either 1:100 or 1:200. Should just fit on an A2 sheet. Thats the only reason I can tell its wrong.

[Dwight]

A picture, being just a bunch of dots, has no scale like a vector plan might, so predicting the way Photoshop might see it is difficult. Scaling in Photoshop is easier with the CS3 version since there is a measuring and scaling tool - but you still need to assert the actual size of the drawing image.

Archicad's export to JPEG or any other pixellated format depends on several factors:

-- the extent of the plan view field
-- the size and resoluton of your display.
-- the zoom factor.

Another problem is that you often need to capture many pixels at higher than screen resolution.

To cope with this challenge, you'll want to put a large graphic scale on the floor plan before you export it and scale to that. This might let you anticipate how your setup exports an image.

Another way is to ignore the scale in Photoshop. Re-import the edited image to Archicad and make it match your other drawings there by eye.

Many users export PDF instead.

[Anonymous]

Hi there Dwight,
Thanks for the feedback. well at least its not quite as straight forward as I thought it might be. The resolution is something I was going to almost think about later. Just getting a plan out of archicad at the right scale is still the main problem. Ive tried exporting as a pdf from the print settings but get the same problem. when i open it up it is no longer to the correct scale. As far as photoshop goes. I would need to have CS3 as you say in order to measure it.
Still feel I must be missing something though. Surely you shouldnt have to do all your presentation work with your scale drawings within archicad?
Luke.

[Anonymous]

I find that you can do most of your presentation work in the Archicad Layout tool since you can import jepgs, tiffs etc.

If you want to get more professional in your presentations, then I strongly suggest that you invest in something like the Adobe CS 2/3 package. With Adobe Illustrator you can virtually do anything to your pdf converted plans.

I agree with Dwight and personally I would never do any editing to my plans in jpeg form via photoshop because of the scale issue. Always if you can convert your plans to pdf and edited it from there.

Cheers

[Anonymous]

Thanks for that mate. Dont know why i didnt even try to open the pdfs in illustrator. Will give that a go.

[Anonymous]

Do you have any idea why my PDFs keep opening at individual A4pages. Even if i set the paper size to be A1 it breaks it down into 8 A4 pages so when i open it in illustrator i have to open each page and then stich them together.
Any thoughts?
Thanks.