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Modeling
About Archicad's design tools, element connections, modeling concepts, etc.

PDF as Trace Reference

Anonymous
Not applicable
I am trying to use a worksheet with a PDF as a trace reference from a consultant underneath model. I can see the trace reference when zoomed out, but if I zoom in to work in an area of my project, the trace line work disappears. I can see a shaded color that indicates a PDF trace is there, but it is not showing the line work from the PDF unless I am zoomed out. But that is too far to work with any accuracy. Any ideas?
10 REPLIES 10
Anonymous
Not applicable
This is a known bug (I'm the one who reported it). I believe they are working on fixing it.

I found that the closest zoom before it disappeared was close enough to work, but obviously this is quite frustrating. I don't recall if I tried it but perhaps changing the resolution of the PDF (Photoshop can do this) might help. I found that changing scale did not do any good.
Anonymous
Not applicable
OK. Thanks!
David Maudlin
Virtuoso
Daniel:

Another way to use the pdf for tracing/reference is to place it in the view you are working on (with the Figure Tool), scale and rotate it as necessary, set its background to transparent and then lock it so it cannot move. I have not had any problems with zooming using this method.

HTH

David
David Maudlin / Architect
www.davidmaudlin.com
Digital Architecture
AC27 USA • iMac 27" 4.0GHz Quad-core i7 OSX11 | 24 gb ram • MacBook Pro M3 Pro | 36 gb ram OSX14
Anonymous
Not applicable
David,

Yeah, I figured I would resort to this. I was hoping for a clean way to have the slightly transparent background that you get with trace reference. I will just do it the way you suggest until a bug fix. Thanks!
vfrontiers
Enthusiast
Daniel wrote:
David,

Yeah, I figured I would resort to this. I was hoping for a clean way to have the slightly transparent background that you get with trace reference. I will just do it the way you suggest until a bug fix. Thanks!
I ran into this as well. Not only PDF's, but TIFF's as well.

Seemed to be a memory issue, as viewing them when I first start the computer seems ok, but as the day goes on, they begin to turn BLACK.
Duane

Visual Frontiers

AC25 :|: AC26 :|: AC27
:|: Enscape3.4:|:TwinMotion

DellXPS 4.7ghz i7:|: 8gb GPU 1070ti / Alienware M18 Laptop
Rakela Raul
Participant
please fix it....micky mouse limitation, annoying
MACBKPro /32GiG / 240SSD
AC V6 to V18 - RVT V11 to V16
Dennis Lee
Booster
Open in GIMP, save as JPG. Super fast panning, zooming, as a trace reference.
ArchiCAD 25 & 24 USA
Windows 10 x64
Since ArchiCAD 9
Anonymous
Not applicable
How is this bug issue going? Still happens on Archicad 12, i tried from trace reference and within the main floor window, still dissappears... I dont have GIMP but ill look into it.

I agree that is must be a memory issue, but there should be a way to at least compress the pdf file so it doesn't bug so quickly.

Frustrating when u need to trace because old project drawings have no dimensions!!
Karl Ottenstein
Moderator
Works OK for me in 12 - put a PDF on a worksheet with Drawing tool and used it as a reference from plan ... zoomed way in without problem. But, it is a simple PDF/etc ... so if it is a memory thing as suggested, I'd need to try some bigger files.

Karl
One of the forum moderators
AC 27 USA and earlier   •   macOS Ventura 13.6.6, MacBook Pro M2 Max 12CPU/30GPU cores, 32GB
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