transparent background in PDF

[SteveMouzon]

I want to create a PDF with everything except the lifework transparent; any idea how? There's mention in the print dialog box of transparent layers, but that's all I'm immediately seeing.

[gwjohnson]

Can you clarify a bit what you mean Steve?

I save pdf's all the time from PowerCADD (Print > Save as PDF) and they all have transparent backgrounds. They work great to drop into a Keynote presentation...

Greg

[SteveMouzon]

Greg, I'm opening the PDF in Concepts on my iPad, where it has a white background. Every layer beneath it is invisible. I've sorta solved it by lowering the transparency so I can see through, but it would be great to know how to make it entirely transparent. FWIW, Concepts is vector-based, so it's not like it's rasterizing it.

[huc]

...opening the PDF in Concepts on my iPad, where it has a white backgroun...FWIW, Concepts is vector-based, so it's not like it's rasterizing it.

Steve
I'll wager it's an issue in the import settings you're using within Concepts.

When choosing import make sure to check the transparency Icon in the import tool bar top left. You can toggle between transparent or opaque background.

Click transparent and the PCadd PDF file should come in with a transparent background. See attached screenshot

Hope that helps
Huc

[SteveMouzon]

Thanks so much, Huc! I'm sure that's it; total newbie to Concepts and had no idea what that button was for. One really frustrating thing so far about Concepts is the inability to easily draw guidelines that are precisely vertical or horizontal. I was hoping to be able to bring in a client's drawing, quickly lay over a few guidelines, then just sketch the corrections over it. Looks like I'm going to have to recreate the entire elevation in PowerCADD, then correct it, then import to Concepts to sketch over. I'm sure there are many things like this I'm missing as this is only my second day to work on it, but I really must finish this drawing.

[SteveMouzon]

Yep, that's it... thanks so much, Huc!!

[huc]

you're welcome - glad it worked

it's worth exploring the SNAP and GUIDE functions in Concepts. Might speed you up

In general I prefer Morpholio Trace over Concepts. While Morpholio isn't objected based - it mimics our traditional sketch trace model - it works to whatever scale needed. BOTH have a place in the workflow but I general really on Morpholio first.

Have fun

[SteveMouzon]

I tried Trace for a couple days and will likely go back and learn it for other things. But what I'm doing now is a pen-and-ink rendering style that demands crispness, which Concepts does well. Also really liking GoodNotes as a simple PDF markup device, like correcting drawings. I've hard good things about Procreate, but haven't yet worked with it at all. And thanks for the tip on SNAP & GUIDE. I'll learn more about them when I have time. As strange as it sounds, this is my first time ever to actually draw on an iPad.

[Alfred Scott]

I'm getting closer to getting WildTools updated. I have an Import DXF capability that's optimized to work with Concepts and filters out all the extra points so that you get a line or rectangle rather than a polygon with many points that looks like a single line, rectangle or another basic shape.

Alfred

[SteveMouzon]

Looking forward to seeing it, Alfred!