Bluebeam Revu features markup tools that allow you to place polygons, rectangles, and various other shapes on the PDF. Once placed, markups can be customized and resized manually using the markup’s control points. There may be times, however, where you need to place a shape with specific length, width and height measurements. To do this, Bluebeam Revu also features a variety of Sketch to Scale markup tools.
Polygon Sketch to Scale
The Polygon Sketch to Scale tool allows you to place a polygon shape markup with input length and rotation measurements for each side.
To place a Polygon Sketch markup, click on the PDF to place the first point. Once the first point has been placed, the Polygon Sketch toolbar will appear. The Length text box will automatically be selected. Type in the desired length measurement for the side and press TAB on the keyboard. The Rotation text box will now be selected. Type in the desired rotation measurement and press ENTER on the keyboard. The side will be drawn based on the entered length and rotation.
The remaining sides can continue to be entered using the toolbar in the same manner. However, sides can also be drawn by dragging the cursor manually, just as you would with the regular Polygon markup tool. Continue drawing sides in either manner until the shape is closed.
Rectangle Sketch to Scale
The Rectangle Sketch to Scale tool allows you to place a rectangle markup with input width, height, and rotation measurements.
To place a Rectangle Sketch markup, click on the PDF to place the first point. The Rectangle Sketch toolbar will appear with the Width text box selected. Enter a width measurement, then press TAB. The width line of the rectangle will appear automatically on the PDF, and the Height text box will now be selected. Enter a height measurement and then press TAB again. The rectangle will appear according to the input dimensions and the Rotation text box will now be selected. If needed, type in a Rotation measurement and press ENTER. The rectangle markup will adjust to match the input height, width, and rotation measurements.
Ellipse Sketch to Scale
The Ellipse Sketch to Scale tool places an elliptical markup with input width, height, and rotation measurements.
The Ellipse Sketch tool can be used in two modes: Radius Mode and Width x Height. By default, the Ellipse Sketch tool will open in Radius Mode.
Radius Mode
To create an Ellipse in Radius Mode, first click on the PDF to place the first point. The Ellipse Sketch toolbar will appear with the Radius text box selected, allowing you to enter in a radius measurement. A circle with the input radius will be drawn on the document.
To switch from Radius Mode to Width x Height, select Revu > Preferences > Tools > Sketch. Select the Ellipse Mode dropdown to switch the tool’s default mode.
Width x Height Mode
While in Width x Height mode, Ellipse Sketch to Scale allows you to place an ellipse markup with input width, height, and rotation measurements. This mode is especially useful when drawing non-circular ellipse markups.
To create an ellipse in Width x Height mode, click on the PDF to place the first point. The Ellipse Sketch tool bar will appear with the Width text box selected. Enter in the width measurement and select TAB. The Height text box will be selected. Enter in the height measurement and select TAB again. The Rotation text box will be selected. Lastly, enter in the rotation measurement, then select ENTER to finalize the ellipse markup.
Polyline Sketch to Scale
The Polyline Sketch to Scale Tool draws a segmented line markup with input length and rotation measurements for each line segment.
To place a Polyline Sketch markup, click on the PDF to place the first point. The Polyline Sketch toolbar will open with the Length text box selected. Enter in the desired length measurement and press TAB on the keyboard. The Rotation text box will be selected. Next, enter in the rotation measurement and press ENTER. The first segment will be drawn. Continue adding line segments in the same manner, then double click on the last placed point to complete the polyline markup.
If you have any comments, questions or suggestions, please use the comment section on the bottom of this page, and don’t forget to subscribe to our blog to get more Bluebeam tips & tricks directly in your inbox!
Lauren Hecker is a Bluebeam Certified Instructor and teaches Onsite Bluebeam Certified Courses, virtual Bluebeam Basics and Advanced courses, and custom onsite or virtual courses. To see her next open enrollment course, please visit our calendar. To schedule an onsite or custom course, please contact us!
Is there a way to change the dimension or do I have to delete and redraw if I make a mistake?
Hi Elena, you can quickly adjust the dimensions of a markup by selecting the markup and using the Properties panel (the gear icon). In the Properties Panel, scroll down to the Layout section. The Document Width and Document Height fields will allow you to automatically adjust the markup’s width and height.
@lauren, the Layout section doesn’t show to scale dimensions (it shows the markup dimensions on paper). Is there a way to show the real dimension?
Hi Jiani,
The scale dimensions should display in the Markups List under the Measurement column. You can also turn on the Width, Height, and Length columns in the Markups List to display more information as needed.
Let me know if you have any further questions!
Hi Lauren,
What if the width and height fields are grey’d out so I can’t use them to adjust the size?
Cheers,
Catherine
Hi Catherine,
I haven’t seen that occur before! I would try the following options:
1) Ensure that an acccurate scale has been set for the page
2) Restart Revu
3) If the problem still occurs, reset Revu by selecting Revu > Preferences > Admin > Reset
Hopefully that helps!
Yeah, I am having the same problem… Tried the Admin reset and still didn’t work. My “Width” and “Height” are the only ones greyed out in the “Rectangle Sketch to Scale Properties”.
Hi Frank,
I’m unsure why this is happening…make sure that the scale for the page has been calibrated and the program is in Markup Mode.
If this issue persists, I would recommend sending a support ticket to Bluebeam here for more assistance.
Lauren, I too am having the same issue, the height and width are grayed out. I followed your instrauction above but I am still having this issue!
Hi Jeff,
I’m unsure why this is happening.
If this issue persists, I would recommend sending a support ticket to Bluebeam here for more assistance.
Is there a way to change the units on a polygon sketch to scale to match the default measurement units? I can set the measurements to be in mm, but the sketch to scale only gives option in ft/in for rectangle/square/ellipse sketches.
Hi James,
It is possible to do this – but it takes a little bit of work. Essentially, you can adjust a Sketch to Scale tools measurement properties once it’s been placed. If you save this tool to the Tool Chest, the measurement properties will save with it – allowing you to use the desired units with the tool. This is how you can do this:
1) Place a Polygon Sketch to Scale markup on the page. Don’t worry about the dimensions of it at this point, just place a markup.
2) Select the markup and open the Measure panel (ruler icon on the left side of the screen).
3) Under Polygon Sketch to Scale Properties, adjust the measurement units to the ones you would like to use.
4) Right click on the markup and select Add to Tool Chest and select a tool set to add it to.
5)Open the Tool Chest panel and double click on the tool that was added to the tool set. Once you do this, the tool should display the default Polygon Sketch to Scale icon.
6) You can now use the tool from the Tool Chest and it will have the set measurement units that you need.
Hopefully this helps!