Bluebeam Revu features a variety of shape markup tools, including polygons and rectangles. With these tools, you can place shapes anywhere on your PDF document. Once placed, you can customize and resize the markups using their control points. However, there may be times where you need to place a shape with a specific length, width, or height measurement. To better control your markup’s dimensions, Revu also offers a variety of Sketch to Scale markup tools.
Like the other shape tools, Sketch to Scale allows you to place customized shapes on the PDF. However, these tools allow you to specify a length, width, and height measurement during creation. Using these tools, you can customize your shapes to their needed measurements. Because these tools incorporate measurements, you will need to calibrate the PDF before using them. For more information on how to set a scale or calibrate the PDF, please refer to this article here.
In this article, we will cover how to use the Sketch to Scale markup tools in Bluebeam Revu. We’ll look at the Polygon, Rectangle, Ellipse, and Polyline Sketch to Scale tools. You can find all the following markup tools under Tools > Sketch to Scale.
Polygon Sketch to Scale
The Polygon Sketch to Scale tool allows you to create a polygon markup with specific length and rotation measurements for each side.
To place a Polygon Sketch markup, click on the PDF to place the first point. After placing the first point, a toolbar will appear. Within the Length text box, enter in the desired measurement for the side and press TAB on the keyboard. In the Rotation text box, enter in the desired rotation angle and press ENTER on the keyboard. A line will appear on the PDF, based on the entered length and rotation.
You can add the remaining sides to the polygon using the toolbar in the same manner. However, you can also draw lines by dragging the cursor – just like the standard Polygon tool. Continue drawing sides in either manner until you’re satisfied with the shape.
Rectangle Sketch to ScaleÂ
The Rectangle Sketch to Scale tool allows you to place a rectangle markup with custom width, height, and rotation measurements.
To place a Rectangle Sketch markup, click on the PDF to place the first point. A toolbar will appear with the Width text box selected. Enter a width measurement, and then press TAB. A line with the set width will appear on the PDF. Within the Height text box, enter a height measurement and then press TAB again. The rectangle will appear on the screen according to the input dimensions. Lastly, you can use the Rotation text box to enter in a rotation measurement and press ENTER. The rectangle markup will adjust to match the input height, width, and rotation.
Ellipse Sketch to Scale
The Ellipse Sketch to Scale tool allows you to place an elliptical markup with custom width, height, and rotation measurements. The Ellipse Sketch tool has two modes: Radius Mode and Width x Height. By default, the tool will open in Radius Mode.Â
Radius Mode
To create an Ellipse in Radius Mode, click on the PDF to place the first point. A toolbar will appear with the Radius text box selected. Enter in the desired radius measurement and press ENTER on your keyboard. A circle with the set radius will appear 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, you can 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. A will appear with the Width text box selected. Enter in the width measurement and select TAB. This will select the Height text box – enter in the height measurement and select TAB again. In turn, this will select the Rotation text box where you can enter in the rotation measurement. Lastly, select ENTER to complete the markup.
Polyline Sketch to Scale
The Polyline Sketch to Scale Tool lets you place a segmented line markup with custom measurements for each line segment.
To place a Polyline Sketch markup, click on the PDF to place the first point. A toolbar will open with the Length text box selected. Enter in the desired length measurement and press TAB on the keyboard. This will select the Rotation text box, where you can enter in the rotation measurement. Then, press ENTER. This will draw the first segment of the segmented line. You can continue to add connected line segments in this same manner. Once you’ve placed the last segment needed, double click on it to complete the markup.
Summary
Bluebeam Revu’s Sketch to Scale tools allow you to place precisely measured shape markups. These tools offer an advantage over typical markup tools. With typical markups, you can only set a customized scale after placing the markup. The Sketch to Scale tools, on the other hand, allow you to input measurements during creation. This allows you to be more precise throughout the drafting process – from start to completion. With the Sketch to Scale tools, you can ensure that your markups are set to the exact measurements you need.
If you have any comments, questions or suggestions, please use the comment section on the bottom of this page. 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 and virtual Bluebeam Revu training courses. 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.
Same here!
Hi Farnaz,
What version of Revu you’re using? I’ll take a look into this further!
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!
How do you end the polyline? If I press escape it just deletes it and if I press entre it draws another segment
Hi Jacob,
To end the Polyline, double click on the last point.
Is there a way to easily sketch-to-scale a linear dimension/length? Instead of Tools > Measure > Length and trying to pull your mouse until you get the exact measurement you need.
Thanks
Hi Mason,
When you take a Length measurement, you can double-click on the caption where it says the length value and type in a new length. The length measurement will automatically adjust to match the value you enter in manually.
Is there a way to set a lock or snap option on the rotation when using poyline sketch to scale, to snap to 90, 45,30,60 angles?
Hi Adam,
If you hold down the SHIFT key on your keyboard, the program will lock the tool to only move within 45 degree angles. This will most likely give you the result you’re looking for.
This works for all Bluebeam Revu markup tools, bot just Sketch to Scale, as well.
It would be great if the area calculated for a polygon was able to be relocated anywhere within the polygon, rather than a fixed position (as it often clashes with background and becomes difficult to read).
Hi Terry,
You can move the caption for any measurements by holding down the SHIFT key and clicking, holding and dragging it.
You can also use the Properties Panel or the Properties toolbar to turn the caption off if needed.