Convert Plex-Earth Imagery to a raster image file, save it locally on your computer and take advantage of our up-to-date, high-quality available datasets, for imports into other software.
Introduction
When imagery is imported into AutoCAD or BricsCAD with Plex-Earth, these images are stored in our servers and automatically re-fetched and displayed by the software each time the drawing is opened. This is very convenient, as it basically means that AutoCAD users do not have to worry about external references or large files. Adding to that, the completely free Plex-Earth Lite version makes Plex-Earth imagery available to people who do not own a Plex-Earth subscription, making imagery sharing easier than ever.
However, there are cases where creating a local copy of the imagery is required. For example, the user might want to work offline or import the drawing file into other software, like InfraWorks, SketchUp, 3ds Max, etc.
As such, this tutorial constitutes a breakdown of all the necessary steps for converting mosaics imported with Plex-Earth to raster images and saving them locally to a hard drive.
Click here to see a full list of the Basemap and Premium providers that offer this feature.
For those providers that do not allow by their Terms of Use to legally download their content, a Plex-Earth subscription (paid version or Lite) is still necessary for users who want to re-load Plex-Earth imagery when a drawing file is shared with them.
The ability to convert imagery to raster images and save them locally is available only in the Plex-Earth Professional and Business plans, as part of the Imagery Mosaic feature.
Step 2: Convert Mosaic Imagery to Raster
A. Download Imagery from Basemap Providers
B. Download Imagery from Premium Providers
Step 1: Import a Mosaic
Before importing a mosaic, the drawing must be georeferenced.
Then, the mosaic can be imported, as described in this tutorial.
Step 2: Convert Mosaic Imagery to Raster
A. Download Imagery from Basemap Providers
1) Click Insert on the Mosaic Editor, and then select the Create raster image(s) from mosaic imagery command.
2) On the command line, choose the format of the image for the specific file type you would like the raster image to be saved as.
The raster image can be saved in PNG, JPG, or TIFF format.
PNG files support transparency but JPG files do not. This may affect the newly created raster file, especially when working with images with applied clipping borders or cutouts which affect image shape. However, the png format will result in larger file size for your raster image compared to the jpeg option.
3) Create the raster image with the following options:
To create a raster image for a specific part of the mosaic, you can use the mouse pointer to draw a rectangle by defining its first and second corner points.
To create a raster image for the entire mosaic, either create a rectangle as described above by completely enclosing the mosaic to fully select it or select the Entire Mosaic option on the command line.
Plex-Earth will then save the newly created raster file in the folder containing your drawing file along with an accompanying World File, and import it into your drawing. In case there's no drawing folder, Plex-Earth will create a new folder titled ''Plex-Earth'' on your desktop and use it to store the newly created raster file.
In any case, you will receive a notification regarding the destination folder that was used by the software.
B. Download Imagery from Premium Providers
In order to download and save as raster files all the tiles that make up your Premium Mosaic, click "Insert" on the Mosaic Editor, and then select the "Download mosaic images" command.
Plex-Earth will then download all tiles separately and save the newly created raster files in the folder containing your drawing file along with their accompanying World Files. In case there's no drawing folder, Plex-Earth will create a new folder titled Plex-Earth on your desktop and use it to store the newly created raster files.
In any case, you will receive a notification regarding the destination folder that was used by the software.
In order to download either the entire Premium Mosaic or a specific part of it as a single raster file, click Insert on the Mosaic Editor, and then select the Create raster image(s) from mosaic imagery command.
You will then be prompted to define the desired Transparency value, as well as the specific part of the Mosaic you would like to download as a raster file as described previously, and once done, Plex-Earth will save the newly created raster file in the folder containing your drawing file along with an accompanying World File, and import it into your drawing. In case there's no drawing folder, Plex-Earth will create a new folder titled ''Plex-Earth'' on your desktop and use it to store the newly created raster file.
In any case, you will receive a notification regarding the destination folder that was used by the software.
Pro tip:
If the single raster image is needed in the drawing, such as for draping to terrain, etc., do either of the following:
Use the Create raster image(s) from mosaic imagery command, which produces a single raster image and automatically imports it into your drawing.
Import the downloaded separate tiles by utilizing the ''Import World File'' command found on the Raster Tools panel of Plex-Earth, and merge them into one single raster file using the Merge Images command from the same panel. To do so, after selecting the Import World File command, visit the folder where the mosaic tiles are saved, select them all, and then click Open. Once done, the mosaic tiles will be imported into your drawing and placed in the correct coordinates as separate raster images. To merge them into a single raster image, select them all, pick the Merge Images command, define the destination folder for the new image and click Save.
NOTE: If the mosaic contains too many tiles, instead of
one, two or more merged
images will be created. This is a result of how AutoCAD handles very large
images. Use the PXV_VAR_MAXIMGSIZE command and increase its limit to overcome
this issue.
Conclusion
Having the imported imagery stored locally on your hard drive is very convenient, especially when an AutoCAD drawing must be used in other software. Plex-Earth offers a great variety of tools, providing users with the ability to handle imagery in any way they want.
We hope that you have found this introduction on how to convert Plex-Earth Imagery to raster imagery, helpful. Feel free to contact us at support@plexscape.com for any questions you may still have.
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Compatibility includes:
AutoCAD Version: 2024 , 2023 , 2022 , 2021 , 2020 , 2019 , 2018 , 2017 , 2016
Civil 3D® Version: 2024 , 2023 , 2022 , 2021 , 2020 , 2019 , 2018 , 2017 , 2016
AutoCAD Architecture Version: 2024 , 2023 , 2022 , 2021 , 2020 , 2019 , 2018 , 2017 , 2016
BricsCAD Pro: V23 , V22 , V21