Explore the intricate process of background image rendering, including how to attach an image file, adjust its position in relation to the building, and manipulate ImageFrame variables. The article also demonstrates how to use the Wipeout command and the Insert block function to enhance the rendering.
Key Insights
- The article explains how to attach a background image to a rendering, adjusting its scale and position, and modifying its drawing order to ensure the building is not obscured.
- It discusses the ImageFrame command and its three variables (0, 1, and 2), which determine whether the ImageFrame border is visible in the drawing and/or the plot.
- The article also demonstrates the use of the Wipeout command and the Insert block feature to enhance the detail of the rendering, including techniques to trace building outlines and add elements such as trees.
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Let's bring in a background image for our rendering. So I'm going to go to the Insert tab, Reference Attach, and what I want to attach is not a drawing, but instead I want to attach an image file. So I'm going to select All Image Files, and there's an image file called CAD302Garden.jpg. I'm going to click Open, Specify on Screen.
I'm going to deselect Scale because I've already sized this image for you. I'm going to click OK, and I'm going to place the image at the end right there. Now, you can see that the image is hiding our building, so I'm going to go back to the Home tab, go to Modify, go to Drawing Order, and choose Send to Back.
I'm going to send that image to the back, so it's now behind the building, and I'm going to Save. If I were to go to Plot and do a Preview, do you see how there is a border around the image? So what I'm going to do is use a command called ImageFrame—spelled I-M-A-G-E-F-R-A-M-E. ImageFrame has three variables: 0,1, and 2. If the ImageFrame variable is set to 1, then the ImageFrame border prints.
If the ImageFrame variable is set to 0, you can see that it turns off. When I plot, you can see that the border does not show. When ImageFrame is set to 0, I don't see the ImageFrame border on the image itself.
I can always go to the edge and delete it, move it, whatever. There's also another variable called ImageFrame2, so the values are ImageFrame 0,1, and 2. When the ImageFrame value is set to 2, I see the border in the drawing, but if I were to plot it, the border itself would not plot. So again, typically, most of us keep our ImageFrame variable set to 2 so that we can see the ImageFrame border in our drawing but know that it will not plot.
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So I'm going to save the file. We've taken our background image and moved it behind the geometry so the geometry is visible. The thing is, we'd really like to have the house block out the background image.
So I'm going to begin by drawing a polyline, and I'm just going to trace the outside of the house. I'm going to start from a point and work around the house. I'm simply going to make a relatively simple polyline, in this case going to the midpoint, then to the endpoint, working my way around.
I'm not going to get overly detailed as we go through because you can understand the process of what's happening. Again, I'm making a polyline that traces around the building, and we're almost there. So please pardon me for one more moment.
I've gotten to the bottom. I'm going to just click in space and then press C to close, and save the file. There is a command called Wipeout.
Under the Wipeout command, you can see that we have two options: one for frames and one for polyline. So I'm going to choose the polyline option. I'm going to select the closed polyline, and it's asking whether I want to erase the polyline—yes or no? I'm going to say no.
So what it's done is it has wiped out the image. But if I were to go to Plot and do a Preview, do you see how the frame around the Wipeout is being displayed? So I'm going to undo. I'm going to go back into Wipeout. I'm going to first choose the frame option, and then say I do not want to display the frame.
I'm going to turn off the frame, and then go back into Wipeout, choose the polyline, and again, when asked whether to erase the polyline, I'm going to say no. Then I'm going to take my house and use Drawing Order—Tools, Drawing Order, Bring to Front—save the file again, and now when I plot the drawing, because I've moved the geometry in front, you can see that the Wipeout command has, in fact, blocked out the image in the back.
This process is a little bit cumbersome, but it does work well. I'm going to save the file. There's one more thing I would like to do on the rendering, which is to bring in a tree.
So I'm going to go to Insert, Block Insert. I'm going to click Browse. I have my landscape tree.
Specify insertion point on screen. Okay, I'm dragging it in. I'm just going to plant the tree near this line right there.
To make sure that this tree is in front of the house, I'm going to go to Drawing Order—Tools, Drawing Order, Bring to Front—so I brought the tree to the front. Press Control + S to save, plot the drawing, go to Preview, and you can see that we now have our tree in front of the house. I'm going to press Escape to cancel, then press Control + S to save. The last thing I want to do is position the rendering, so I'm going to go to the Home tab, choose Move, then use a crossing selection.
I'm going to move from the end of the image to the endpoint up here, and then move the previous selection set using an arbitrary base point at -1.5, -1.5. So again, I'm just moving the image a little bit away from the corner. Zoom Extents, save the file. Again, I can go to Plot, do a Preview, and I see the image there.
I'm just going to right-click and choose Plot, and I'm going to make sure that I'm saving it on my C drive, in my CAD 302, and name the file appropriately. You can see it says VDCI title sheet 100, and then this is the layout itself. I'm just going to delete that out so that I'm not carrying the layout information in the file name.
There's my image so far. Please get to this point, and then we'll start adding more notes onto our title sheet.
