Bring a PDF drawing or an image (a scanned plan, site photo or sketch) onto a story so you can trace over it. Imports come in at 50% opacity so your own work stays readable on top, and you can rescale them after import with Scale Object.

Before you start

If you use layers, set the layer you want to work on as the active layer in the Layers section of the left panel. New objects go to the active layer, which must be visible and unlocked.
Know which story the drawing belongs to. You pick the story during import, and imported PDFs and images can't be moved to another story later with the Story field in the Properties tab of the right panel.
For multi-page PDFs, note which page you need. You select the page to import in the import dialog.

Import a PDF

Click the project name at the top of the screen to open the project menu.
Choose Import.
In the Import dialog, drag the PDF onto the Drag & Drop File area, or click Or Browse File and pick it on your computer. The dialog accepts PDF (.pdf).
Check the story. The active story is shown by default; use the arrow keys or enter a different story to change it.
Choose the drawing's scale from the scale dropdown.
If the PDF has several pages, select the page to import.
Click Import.

Note: If you're not sure of the PDF's scale, import it anyway and correct the scale afterwards with Scale Object (see below).

Import an image

Click the project name to open the project menu.
Choose Import.
In the Import dialog, drag the image onto the Drag & Drop File area, or click Or Browse File and pick it. Supported Images formats are .jpg, .png, .jpeg and .bmp.
Check the story (the active story is shown by default) and click Import.
Rescale the image to real-world size with Scale Object before you start tracing.

Rescale an import with Scale Object

Use this when an import came in at the wrong size, or an image has no scale at all.

Select the imported PDF or image on the canvas.
In the Properties tab of the right panel, click Scale Object.
Align the two scale markers to the ends of a known dimension on the drawing, such as a gridline spacing, a dimensioned wall or a scale bar.
Match that distance to the corresponding dimension in your project. The import resizes to fit.

Tip: Use a long dimension rather than a short one. Small alignment errors matter less over a longer distance.

Adjust opacity

PDFs and images come in at 50% opacity so they read as an underlay. To change it, select the import and set Opacity in the Properties tab of the right panel. Lower it to let your traced spaces and walls stand out, or raise it when you need to read fine linework or text on the drawing.

Trace over an import

Make sure the import is on the correct story and scaled.
Pick a drawing tool and draw directly over the import. Imports stay visible while you draw, so you can follow the underlying lines.
Lock the import so you don't move it by accident while tracing. If it sits on its own layer, you can lock that layer under Layers in the left panel.

Tip: Keep reference drawings on their own layer. You can then lock, hide or show them all at once from Layers in the left panel, and hidden layers are left out of exports.

Work with overlapping imports

When several PDFs, images or CAD files overlap, they stack in import order, with the newest on top. The order is saved with the project.

To reorder, right-click an import and choose Bring to Front or Send to Back.
Press Tab to cycle the selection through overlapping imports in stacking order.
Drag a selection box left to right to select only items fully inside it, or right to left to select everything it crosses.

Troubleshooting

The import is the wrong size. Select it and use Scale Object against a dimension you trust.
I can't see my traced work over the import. Lower the import's Opacity in the Properties tab.
The import is on the wrong story. The Story field in the Properties tab isn't available for PDFs and images. Delete the import and import it again onto the correct story.
An import didn't carry over to a new design proposal. PDFs and images can't be duplicated across proposals. Import the file again in the other proposal.

Import CAD Files
Import a Site
Layers
Design Proposals

Import PDFs and Images