Drawing Settings

Double-clicking the Drawing tool opens the Drawing Settings dialog box, which contains four panels: Identification, Properties, Frame, and Title. At the bottom of the dialog box, as for all tools, the current layer choice is displayed in a pop-up menu.
Drawing ID: Assign an ID to the placed drawing.
Note: For a Drawing placed in a model view, this field is empty.
By Layout: If you choose this option, the Drawing’s ID depends on the Layout Settings of the Layout on which the Drawing is placed. In Layout Settings, consult the “IDs of Drawings on this Layout” tab page.
By View ID: The Drawing ID will be equivalent to the ID of its source View, if any.
Custom: Enter a custom Drawing ID in the text field to the right.
Include Drawing in ID sequence: Check this box to include your drawing in the ID sequence, even if it is a custom ID.
Drawing Name: Choose a method for assigning a Name to this Drawing. If the source of the placed drawing is an ARCHICAD view, the following choices are available:
By View: Name only
By View: ID + Name
Source File: This field displays the file path of the placed Drawing, if it is an externally linked file. Click the folder icon to choose to display the file path as absolute or relative.
ARCHICAD view: This field appears if the Drawing source is an ARCHICAD view (internal or external), and it displays the view’s file path.
Page No.: This field appears if the Drawing source is a multi-page document (e.g. a PDF file), and it displays the page number used for the placed Drawing.
Update Type: Choose a radio button to determine the update method for this Drawing.
Auto: This means that the drawing placed on the layout will be updated automatically when the layout is activated. If a drawing comes from a different source than the currently opened project file, then ARCHICAD will check whether it requires updating or not.
Manual: This means that the drawing is frozen in the state its source view or file was in when placed on the layout. This can be useful if you wish to keep the drawings untouched until they are approved or you are ready to move on to the next stage in your work.
The Last Updated and Update Status fields provide feedback on the current update status of this drawing.
Store Drawing in the Project File: This box is checked by default. Both internal and external drawings will be stored in the project file.
Note: If it is not checked, then the Drawings’ external source files (if any) must be made available if you open the project in a different location.
The first four fields - Width, Height, Magnification, and Drawing Scale - are interrelated (as indicated by the lock icon). A change in any of the fields will result in corresponding changes in the other three fields, so that the drawing’s proportions remain fixed. Use these fields to set the size of the placed Drawing in either measurement units or as a percent of its original size (the Magnification).
Note: If desired, you can use one of two automatic Magnification options: Fit to Layout, or (if the Drawing is placed in a grid) Fit to Grid Cell.
Drawing Scale: By default, this field indicates the scale of the drawing as defined in its ARCHICAD source view.
Note: For Drawings placed on Model Views, and for placed Images and PDF documents, no scale is shown. Instead, the drawing’s Resolution (in dpi) is indicated.
Note: If your source drawing size, as defined in Master Layout Settings, is larger than the paper size you choose here, ARCHICAD will automatically resize the drawing’s output size to make it fit on the page.
Original Scale: This field provides feedback on the scale of the drawing’s source view.
Include Scale in Autotexting and Indexes: Drawing scale can be included on your output via Autotext (e.g. in an Index or on a Layout). However, for some Drawings, the resulting scale value may be misleading - for example, if the Drawing is placed as part of a PDF file. Since ARCHICAD cannot interpret the content of the PDF, there is no point in displaying a Drawing scale in this case. Uncheck this box for such Drawings.
Anchor Point: The Anchor point is used as the point by which the drawing is placed onto the layout (the Anchor is the point at which the cursor is attached to the drawing as you maneuver it into place on the Layout).This same Anchor Point will serve as the drawing’s fixed point in case its elements are modified (e.g. stretched) in its source view.
Use Drawing’s internal origin as anchor: Check this box to use the Drawing’s origin as an anchor point after placing it.
Anchor Point: Click one of the nine points to use as an anchor point.
Angle: Enter a rotation angle in degrees for the Drawing position, if desired.
Relative to Orientation (the angle will be measured relative to the Oriented View)
Absolute to Coordinate System (the angle will be measured from the (0,0) point of the project coordinates).
By View: the placed Drawing uses the pen set assigned to the Drawing’s source view. (Pen sets can be assigned to a view in View Settings.)
By Source File: if the placed drawing’s source is an external vectorial file, this source file’s pen set is used by default.
Click Store Drawing’s Pen Set as to save the edited Pen Set under a new name among the project’s pen sets.
Click Overwrite following Pen Set, then choose a Pen Set to overwrite and replace among the project’s pen sets.
Note: When printing a layout, you have the option to choose black and white output regardless of the color setting in Drawing Settings, by activating the Black and White checkbox in Print Layout Settings.
Transparent Background: Check this box to ensure that the Drawing is displayed with a transparent background.
Use this if you want to control the display of the Drawing by showing or hiding its own layers (i.e. the layers in the source file). Click Drawing’s own Layers to bring up a list of the Drawing’s own (embedded) layers. For any layer you wish to hide, click the “eye” icon to close it.
Once you click OK to close Drawing Settings, any change you made in the Embedded Layers’ show/hide status will be carried out in ARCHICAD (that is, elements on layers you set to “hidden” will disappear); no drawing update is necessary.
Should you explode this Drawing, then only the elements on currently visible layers of the Drawing will be placed into the ARCHICAD project.
Note: If there are multiple elements at the cursor location, the embedded layer of the topmost item will be hidden.
Full Precision (drawing shown with full details, always rebuilt)
Quick Preview (faster navigation; Drawing rebuilt only upon explicit Rebuild of the Layout, or when a Drawing update occurs)
No Preview (fastest navigation)
If you choose Quick Preview, the text “Quick Preview” will be displayed. The drawing content is an accurate vectorial preview, but you may lose certain details: certain dashed line types and fills will be shown as solid.
If you choose No Preview, the Drawing frame will be shown with the text “No Preview” in place of the Drawing content. (You may prefer this option to reduce redraw time if you are working on a Layout with multiple drawings, and you do not need to see this Drawing’s content as you work.).
Frame’s behavior: These radio buttons indicate the status of the drawing frame.
To reset the frame to fit the drawing, click Fit Frame to Drawing. The Frame is now shown as a solid line.
Split Drawing among Multiple Layouts: This checkbox is active and applicable only if the selected Drawing is created from a Schedule or Index view. If this box is checked, such Drawings will be split into multiple Layouts, if the contents cannot be fit onto a single Layout page.
Add Printable Border: Check this box to add a printable border for your drawing. Use the controls below to choose a line type and pen color for this border.
Border Offset: Enter an offset value for the printable border.
Note: This control is active only if you check the Add Printable Border checkbox.
Note: Drawing Titles can be applied only to Drawings which are placed on Layouts. Drawings in Model Views do not have Drawing Titles.
Note: You can also create a custom Title Type.
Note: You can further customize pens and formats in the Title’s Parameter window in the lower part of this panel.
Flip Title: Check this box to flip (mirror) the title graphically.
Uniform Symbol Pens: Check this box to ensure that all graphic (non-text) elements of the title will uniformly show the color as set in the pencolor control of the panel (regardless of any other pens chosen in the title’s Parameter list window.)
Uniform Text Format: Check this box to ensure that all text elements in the title will uniformly follow the text format as set in the text formatting buttons (Bold, Italic, Underline) of this panel. If you check this box, title text will follow this format regardless of any other text formats set up in the title’s Parameter list window.
Title’s Preview Area: The window at right shows a symbolic preview of the Title in one of two formats. Click one of the two buttons to display a preview:
Back Reference: Click this button to access the Back Reference dialog box. If the current drawing is based on a source marker, then this dialog box will list any Layout whose Drawing displays the source marker of the current drawing.
First check the Enable Back Reference box, then choose one or more of the Layouts whose ID you wish to display. (Check Select All available if you want the Drawing Title to display the ID’s of all Layouts listed here.)
Note: The Back Reference feature works only with Drawing Titles whose parameter for Show Back References is set to On.
Parameter list window: Lists the parameters of the drawing title (such as position, width and height of the drawing title, and its textual content, such as Name, ID and Scale.). Click on any parameter to modify it according to your preference.
Position: Use this parameter to assign the Title’s position as relative to either the Layout or to the Drawing, then set the Title’s side and alignment.
Rotation: If the Title position is set to Layout, you can turn the Rotate with Position on or off. If it is on, the Title will be rotated along with the Layout, keeping its original position relative to the Layout.
If the Title position is set to Drawing, you have three Rotation options: