Raster Background
The raster background feature in Giza allows you to set a Bitmap or Jpeg image as scaled background in which you can then draw or place furniture over top of. This can be useful when you do not have a .DWG file to import or do not have time to draft the architectural elements of the plan. Setting a raster background would let you space plan the furniture with reasonable accuracy. Blueprints or printouts could be scanned and saved as a .JPG or .BMP. and then set as the raster background. A PDF could be converted to an image file using the built-in Windows snipping tool or by taking a screenshot and then saving it as a .JPG or .BMP.
Selecting the File and Setting the Scale
- Open Giza to a blank new drawing.
- From the File menu, select Raster Background...
- The Raster Background Dialog should then appear.
- Click Browse... to choose the image that will be used as the background.
- Click the Set Register Pts. in Image button to set the scale.
- The raster background image will then load on the screen. A yellow line will appear toward the bottom of the screen with two yellow square grips. The distance between those two points is specified in the distance field of the dialog.
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Left Click and drag each end of the yellow line to a place in the drawing so that the distance between the grips matches the distance value you enter in the Raster Background dialog window.
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For example: In this drawing, I know the door openings are a standard 3 feet wide. I have dragged the yellow grips and set them the width of the door and I then entered 3' in the distance box. This tells the program that the distance between those two points will be 3 feet. When you press OK, the image will be scaled correctly so that if you measure that area it should report 3 feet.
- Once you have set the points in the drawing and have specified the correct distance, click the OK button. The image will then be set and scaled in your 2D drawing space. You may need to click the Zoom All button to bring the image to focus after setting it. Take a measurement using the ruler to check the general accuracy of the background. If all is well, you may now begin placing your furniture into the drawing. If you need to make any adjustments, simply go back to the File menu, and select Raster Background again to bring the dialog back up. You may then readjust your registration points or specify a different distance.
Tips:
- The image you choose must be a valid .BMP (Bitmap) or .JPG (Jpeg) file.
- The file name of the raster image should be 30 characters or less. Very long image file names may not work correctly and can prevent the raster image from loading correctly when you next reopen your drawing.