Datasheet

16
c h a p t e r 1: PREPARING DRAWINGS IN CAD OR BIM FOR ENHANCEMENT ■
Figure 1.18 lay2img.lsp open for editing in AutoCAD’s Visual LISP integrated development environment
7. Switch back to AutoCAD, type lay2img, and press Enter to open the Save Image
Files Of Each Layer dialog box, which prompts you to choose a path and a pre-
fix name to save the image files of each layer. Make a subfolder called Output
on your hard drive, type the prefix name
Home, and click Save.
The automated process begins, and an image is plotted for each layer of the
drawing. There is one image file for each layer in the CAD drawing. The filenames are
preceded by the name you typed in step 7 (
Home), but the layer name from AutoCAD
completes the filename after the dash. For example, one of the generated files is called
Home-Walls.png; Home is the prefix name you typed, and Walls is the layer name. The
program concatenates this descriptive text automatically into each filename.
Working with Revit Architecture 2011 Models
You can enhance Revit plans, elevations, and section drawings in Photoshop, just as
you can AutoCAD drawings. However, there is no easy way to automate Revit to out-
put every layer as a separate image file. Therefore, our approach will be to export each
drawing as a single image for later enhancement in Photoshop.
In the single-layer approach, we lose the ability to control lineweight in
Photoshop, but this isn’t the end of the world. You can carry Revit’s default treatment
of lineweight into Photoshop or force all lines to be as thin as possible prior to transfer.
I’ll show you both methods because each has its strengths and weaknesses.
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