Avenler

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6. Layers, underlay, dimensions and wall elevation

Underlay

You can also draw over an existing architectural plan. The Underlay panel (right side, with nothing selected) handles loading and aligning the underlay:

  • Can be loaded: an image (PNG, JPEG: scan, photo), a PDF (with page selection and scale) or a DXF (with unit selection; the layers can be switched). Wall drawing also snaps to the points of the DXF.
  • Scale: with the Scale from two points button, by clicking two points a known distance apart, or as a numeric value (1 pixel = ? mm).
  • Panel: Visible, Locked, Opacity (10–100%), Offset x/y, Rotation, Move (by dragging), Replace, Delete. Deleting does not affect the walls you have drawn.

DXF import therefore happens through the underlay; there is no separate “walls from DXF” function.

Layers

The Layers menu in the top bar switches parts of the drawing:

  • Presets: All, Power, Low-current, Architecture only.
  • For each layer, an eye (visible/hidden) and a padlock (locked: visible but cannot be selected).
  • The layers: Architecture (Underlay; Walls, openings, stairs; Rooms and their labels; Furnishings), Devices (the 8 symbol groups individually), Cable routes (power, low-current, Symalen), Markings (Conductor marking, Bathroom zones, Dimensions, Device dimensions) and the Adjacent floor.
  • The button's badge shows the number of hidden layers. The setting is remembered per browser and per project, but it is not part of the drawing.
  • If a new element would be placed on a hidden layer, the layer becomes visible again automatically, and the program tells you so.
  • When printing, the Content selector can do the same: Everything, Power plan, Low-current plan, Architectural base, or as the editor's layers.

Dimension lines

Dimensions are automatic; you do not draw them with a separate tool: the length of the wall, the width of openings, the distances between openings and the position of devices measured from the wall.

  • With a double-click a dimension can be edited (cm; Enter = apply, Esc = discard), and changing the value moves things: for a wall length the end point moves, for an opening its centre stays, for a device the device is moved.
  • A selected dimension can be hidden; the Show all button in the floor panel brings them back.
  • They can be switched separately with the Dimensions and Device dimensions layers.

Wall elevation

Select a room, then choose the Wall elevations button: you see the wall planes of the room from the side.

  • Switching between walls: PageUp / PageDown, clicking the mini floor plan, or the buttons in the header.
  • A device can be dragged along the wall and up and down (Alt = freely); an opening can be dragged and resized with its handle; the arrow keys nudge.
  • A cable route can also be drawn on the wall (Shift = vertical/horizontal); the heights of the vertices can be set here too.
  • In a wall elevation only wall-mounted symbols can be placed; the others are greyed out (“floor plan only”).
  • Esc = back to the floor plan. The changes also appear on the floor plan, and the wall elevation can be printed in the drawing set and on the drawing sheets of the quotation.