Defining and editing image resources
Image resources can be created by importing new image files or modifying existing image resources.
Changes to an image resource affect all instances of that resource in the drawing file.
To create or edit an image resource:
Do one of the following:
To create an image resource, select File > Import > Import Image File, and then select the image file to import. Alternatively, click the file to import and drag it into an open Vectorworks file. Proceed to step 3.
To create an image resource, from the Resource Manager, click New Resource, select Image, and then click Create. Alternatively, select Images from the list of resource types on the tool bar, and click New Image.
To create a new image resource based on an existing resource, from the Resource Manager, right-click on the resource, and select Duplicate from the context menu; name the new image resource in the Assign Name dialog box. From the Resource Manager, right-click on the new resource, and select Edit Image Attributes or Edit Image Effects from the context menu; see the two bullets below for more information about these options.
To edit an image resource, from the Resource Manager, right-click on the resource, select Edit Image Attributes from the context menu to adjust the color mode, compression, or resolution; see below for details of image attributes settings.
To edit an image resource, from the Resource Manager, right-click on the resource, select Edit Image Effects from the context menu to do more sophisticated enhancements, such as adjust the image’s exposure, shadows, and sharpness; see Image effects.
If you’re creating a resource from the Resource Manager, and there are no resources with an image already present in the file, select the image file to import and proceed to step 3. Otherwise, the Choose Image dialog box opens.
Click to show/hide the parameters.Click to show/hide the parameters.
|
Parameter |
Description |
|
Import an Image File |
Imports a new image. The resource is saved with the name of the original image file. |
|
Reuse an Image from Another Resource |
Reuses a previously imported image; select the resource that contains the image. The resource is saved with the name "Image" followed by a number. |
From the Image Import Options dialog box, specify the import parameters. See Importing images.
Image resources that are not in JPEG format can be compressed by JPEG with the Compress Images command. See Compressing images.
Image attributes
To set image attributes, do one of the following:
From the Import Image Options dialog box, click Edit Attributes.
Right-click the image resource in the Resource Manager and select Edit Image Attributes from the context menu.
From the Object Info palette of a selected image, click Image Attributes.
The Image Attributes dialog box opens. A preview of the image displays on the left, with the image attributes on the right. As attributes change, the preview dynamically updates.
Click to show/hide the parameters.Click to show/hide the parameters.
|
Parameter |
Description |
|
Raw Image Size |
Initially, this displays the file size of the original image; if image attributes change, displays the new file size, with the original file size in parentheses. This helps evaluate the effect of image attribute changes on the file size. |
|
Color Mode |
Modifies the color of the image. Changing the color mode reduces the file size, but color information is lost. Available options depend on the selected Compression Method (PNG changes the color depth in bits per pixel, while JPEG changes the color mode without affecting the color depth) and whether the original image includes an alpha channel. |
|
Compression Method |
Select either JPEG or PNG, as described in step 5 |
|
Resampling Method |
When resizing an image or changing its color mode, specify the resampling method to use; higher quality resampling provides better results, but increases the file size |
|
Dimensions
|
Changes the dimensions of the image by pixels or by percentage. To maintain the image aspect ratio, keep the lock enabled; changes to one dimension also change the other. A smaller image decreases file size, but reduces image quality. |
|
Resolution (at import only) |
Specifies the image resolution at import. Changing the resolution affects the image dimensions. |
|
Preview (after import only) |
Displays the effects of image attribute changes on the image in the drawing area |
