Control

Description

Activation

Click the Select Dwg to Compare option to active the Comparison feature.  The currently active drawing is the base drawing and this option provides the means to select the comparison drawing such as a revised version of the base drawing.

Having compared drawings, click the Close option to close the Comparison feature and return to the normal BIMMeasure screen display

Method

Click the By Object option to compare the differences between the drawings based on the drawing ‘objects’ (E.g. lines, arcs, points etc.).  Typically, this would be for .dwg, .dwf(x), .ifc and .rvt drawing / model file types.  Whilst some .pdf files can be compared using the By Option method, the By Bitmap method may be more suitable for scanned pdf files.

Click the By Bitmap option to compare the differences between the drawings based on the images of the lines, arcs, points in the drawings, pixel-by-pixel.  This method applies to all drawing types.  All Options, some Display colours and the Dwg visibility options are disabled when using the By Bitmap method.

Options

Colour. To analyse the differences between drawings based on objects that feature in both drawings but where the colour of those objects differs between drawings.  Click the Colour option to toggle on / off the display of colour differences in the Merged View. 

Layer. To analyse the differences between drawings based on objects that feature in both drawings but where the Layer of those objects differs between drawings.  Click the Layer option to toggle On / Off the display of layer differences in the Merged View.

Image. To analyse the differences between drawings based on images that feature in both drawings but may differ in content Click the Image option to toggle On / Off the display of Image differences in the Merged View.

Graphics. To analyse the differences between drawings based on the graphical attributes of objects such as line weight, line type etc. that may be different between drawings.  Click the Graphics options to toggle On / Off the display of graphic attribute differences in the Merged View.

Properties. To analyse the differences between drawings based on objects that feature in both drawings but where one or more of the object property values differs between drawings.  Click the Properties option to toggle On / Off the display of property differences in the Merged View.

White Backgrounds.  For pdf files only, to toggle On / Off the display and consideration of the background ‘drawing sheets’ during comparison.  The Option is disabled by default for new sessions.

Display

Added Items

The display colour, in the Merged View, of objects that exist in one drawing but not the other.  Typically, this will be for objects in the comparison / revised drawing.

Click the Added down arrow to change the colour of added objects using the Colour Picker displayed. The user may also choose not to display this type of difference.

Does not apply to the ‘By Bitmap’ comparison Method

Erased Items

The display colour, in the Merged View, of objects that no longer exist or are not in the same position in one drawing relative to the other drawing. Typically, this will be for objects in the base drawing.

Click the Erased down arrow to change the colour of erased objects using the Colour Picker displayed. The user may also choose not to display this type of difference.

Does not apply to the ‘By Bitmap’ comparison Method

Same Items

The display colour, in the Merged View, of objects that have not changed when comparing one drawing with the other.

Click the Same down arrow to change the colour of objects that are the same in both drawings using the Colour Picker displayed.

The user may also choose not to display identical items.

Does not apply to the ‘By Bitmap’ comparison Method

Diff1

When using the ‘By Object’ comparison method the Diff1 colour is the display colour, in the Merged View, of objects that exist in both drawings but are in different locations or exhibit some other difference based on the selected Options. The Merged View shows the objects in their original position in the base drawing using the Diff1 colour.

When using the ‘By Bitmap’ comparison method, the Diff1 colour is the display colour, in the Merged View, to show all the items that are not in the same location in the two drawings.

Click the Diff1 down arrow to change the colour, using the Colour Picker displayed, of just the moved objects but in their original location or all the items that are not in the same location depending on the comparison Method used.

Diff2

The display colour, in the Merged View, of objects that are in the base drawing but are in a different location in the other drawing or exhibit some other difference based on the selected Options.  The Merged View shows the objects in their new position in the Diff2 colour.

Click the Diff2 down arrow to change the colour, using the Colour Picker displayed, of the moved objects in their new location.

Does not apply to the ‘By Bitmap’ comparison Method

Drawings

To toggle on/off the display, in the Merged View, of the ‘base’ drawing, click option Dwg1 Visibility.  

To toggle on/off the display, in the Merged View, of the ‘comparison’ drawing, click option Dwg2 Visibility.  

The Toggle Tree option switches the treeview content in the Model Contents panel between the two drawings.

 Layout

To toggle on/off the Multi-Pane display, click to check/uncheck option Multi-Panes. Intended mainly for use on low specification systems that cannot support the level of graphics required by multiple simultaneous views.

Alignment

ReAlign. To realign drawings where one of the origins has moved and so the content of one drawing is no longer overlaying the content of the other even through there have been no drawing edits.  It will appear as if the whole drawing content has moved and so everything is showing as a change. This realign only alters the drawings when in the comparison mode.

Reset.  Having realigned drawings the Reset option will restore the origins of the drawings back to their initial, drawing opened state.

Fine Tolerance. When using the realign option it may be that users will need to use this fine tolerance option to fine tune the alignment. This may be noticeable where part of the drawing realigns correctly but the opposite side of the drawing still shows an misalignment