Link with Scanned Image

Module(s): Scan

You can use the Link with Scanned Image tool to associate a bitmap image with the active work file and/or to set parameters which govern the appearance of the image without altering the bitmap image file itself.

• Before you can associate a scanned image with a drawing file, the image must be available in the current project in RLC format.
  If the data is only available as a file in TIFF, BMP or another common bitmap format and has to be converted to RLC format first, use Link with Scanned Image to import the data directly and convert it to RLC format.
  Alternatively, you can use Converter.
  

  The RLC format is a compressed pixel format operating in black and white mode. Due to its structure, it is especially well suited to hybrid data processing, i.e., the simultaneous display, processing and printing of pixel data in combination with vector data. In the Scan module, bitmap files (e.g., scans of drawings) can be stored in RLC format as a scanned image. Bitmap files received in BMP or TIF format can be converted into RLC format.

  Note: Although Allplan can convert any standard bitmap format to RLC format, it is advisable to use TIFF format (TIFF G4 is best) as data in this format can be converted quickly.

Importing scanned images

To associate a scanned image with a drawing file

1. Click Link with Scanned Image (How).
   

   Activate Link with Scanned Image in one of the following ways

   • Menu bar: Create Bonus Tools Scan

   • Palette: Tools Create area in the following module(s):

   Scan

2. To select a scanned image in the Link with Scanned Image dialog box, do the following:

   The scanned image is available in the current project as a RLC file:

   • Click the Scanned image button and select the file.

     The image is available in any format and/or in any path:

   • Click Import.
   • Select Format, Path and Name of the source file.
   • Enter the Name of the target file in RLC format.
   • Enter the brightness limit value for the conversion in the dialog box.
     

     RLC-format scanned images are always single-color bitmaps. When you convert a color bitmap file in TIFF, BMP or another common bitmap format, the system will prompt you for the brightness limit value below which color pixels are transferred to the bitmap image and above which color pixels are not converted.

     Setting a brightness limit value of 20%, for instance, will only convert the darker regions of the bitmap.

     The default setting is 50%.

   • Confirm the entries.
     The RLC file obtained in this manner is automatically saved in the current project.
3. Define the display parameters of the image in the Link with Scanned Image dialog box.
4. Click OK to confirm the settings.

   The file is loaded and it is associated with the drawing file.

Note: If the drawing file does not yet have a name, it is given the name Associated scanned image. When the association is cleared, the name is deleted provided that it has not been changed.