Creating/Managing Room Outlines & Background Images

We realize that not every space or room is a square or rectangle with perfect 90-degree corners. So we have provided the ability to draw a room outline or upload a background image and scale it to the accurate dimensions. 

Drawing a Room Outline from scratch

This feature allows you to create a custom, to-scale room outline to design your space over with all of the borders in place. This is a great option if you do not want to upload a blueprint/image that may have extra information that is not necessary to your floorplan design. Your drawing will serve as the background for the Floorplan and you will be able to place elements on top of it.

Before beginning your outline be sure you have your room/space dimension on hand for an accurate outline.

To Draw a Room Outline

1. In the Floorplan Dashboard, click on the "Room" tab on the left side of the canvas. 
2. Click the "Enter Room Edit Mode". Note that any elements that are currently on the canvas will dim and cannot be moved when in room edit mode.
3. Drag a wall Segment to the Floorplan to begin your outline.
   1. You can enter the length of a wall segment as you add it or you can add it at the default length and then lengthen/shorten segments once they are placed on the canvas. 
   2. The length of each segment will be displayed next to the line segment
   3. TIP: Use Copy/Paste keyboard shortcuts to quickly duplicate wall segments
4. To connect wall segments:
   1. Grab the end point and drag it to meet another end point
   2. The end points will "snap" together when they get close
   3. TIP: Click the "Shift" key while clicking an end point to snap to an exact 90 degree angle. 
5. To curve a wall:
   1.  Click to select the wall segment you would like to curve, turning it red.
   2. The "Curve Wall" slider will appear at the top of the canvas. Use the slider to adjust the curve to the correct shape/length. NOTE: the length displayed on a curved wall will be the actual segment length, not the space between the two points it connects.
6. When you are finished with the room outline click "DONE - Return to Floorplan" to save your outline and add other elements. 

Uploading/Scaling a Background Image

This feature allows you to upload an image file of the outline/diagram of the space/room that you are laying out. This image will serve as the background for the Floorplan, and you can scale it to the dimensions of the Floorplan design area/palette and place elements on top of it.

The first step in this process is to adjust the dimensions of the Floorplan so that the width is where your space is at its widest and the length is where your space is at its longest. You can set these dimensions either when adding a new Floorplan or by editing an existing Floorplan (by clicking on the "Edit Name & Dimensions" button on the Floorplan Dashboard).

Once you have set the dimensions properly, you are ready to upload the background image/diagram.

IMPORTANT NOTE: We highly recommend that you crop out all the white space around the outside of the outline/diagram in the image you will upload; you can do this with most standard image editors like Apple iPhoto or Photoshop. This makes it easier to scale the image within the Floorplan tool.

NOTE: Only .png and .jpg files are accepted. PDF files ARE NOT accepted, as they are document files and not image files.

To Upload the Background Image/Blueprint:

1. In the Floorplan Dashboard, click on the "Room" tab on the left side of the canvas. 
2. Click the "Upload Room Outline" button in the modal box and choose the appropriate image file on your computer. NOTE: file must be a .png, .jpg or .pdf to upload as a room outline.
3. The image will be uploaded momentarily.

To Scale the Background Image/Blueprint to the Floorplan:

1. Once the image has uploaded, you will see it centered in the Floorplan's design palette.
2. Use the "Position Background" arrows to center the design exactly where you would like it on the canvas.
3. Using the "Ruler" tool, create a reference measurement (ie: how long a doorframe, wall, etc should be).
4. Use the up/down arrows to the right of the "Scale Up/Down (%)" field to adjust your floorplan to the correct size to match your reference measurement.
5. Once you have done this, the image is to scale and everything you subsequently place in the Floorplan will also be to scale.