Missing images when sent to layout

[dshall]

....................

You can open the dbx for that image and set "save image in plan"

then it can never be separated until deleted

I think "save image in plan" should be the default setting
and for layouts it should be "save image in layout"

I've been requesting these changes since ver 9.5 but I guess CA hasn't decided they are needed

Lew

I forgot about that Lew, thanks for the reminder. Again, very important to remember, nice job Lew. This should probably be an auto warning............

[ebdesign]

You can always select "Save in Plan" & then who gives a rip where the original image file is?
(Lew's quicker than me. I did attach a "visual aid" though)

[perryh]

I also save them in the plan

[Curtis Johnson]

Does anyone know if, when using the "Save In Plan" shown in Jim's post, the saved images are accessible via the project browser?

[lbuttery]

Curtis:

I just checked a layout
the only thing showing in the project browser for layout is the page #'s
click a page # and that entire page shows

Lew

[Curtis Johnson]

I just looked at the project browser and I don't know where any images brought in from outside cheif would get put and listed specifically for the plan. Maybe that should be a feature request ... maybe not ... could balloon the file size I suppose???

Where is a "save in plan" image found (is it accessible) once it is saved? I have an "outside image" I copied and pasted in a CAD detail (to be sent to LO later) and when I select the image in the CAD detail and then open it, the dialog which opens doesn't allow me to give the image a name or a location ... it is just an image in a CAD detail and therefore incorporated into the plan that way I guess. It should stay there until I delete the image or the detail.

Is that a bad way to handle outside images to be sent to LO? Should I save them into the project folder first, then bring them into the plan and/or LO? Curious if there's a better way.

By the way, the image I copied/pasted into the CAD detail, when I opened the image, the Picture File Box Specification dbx shows a check mark in the save in plan IO option. Since I put the image in a CAD detail, it is on the CAD layer for the layer set I had open at the time it was created.

I just tried importing directly via LO, navigated to the same image I copied into the CAD detail, opened it checked save in plan. I then went looking to see where it might be hiding. I couldn't find it in my project's folder nor in the X5 data folder > images or in other folders. Don't have a clue where to look ... maybe its just levitating somewhere.

[lbuttery]

Curtis:

Only the Shadow (CA) knows

Lew

[ebdesign]

Curtis,
My understanding of how it works:
If you drop an image in a plan (any view), it comes in on the "Default CAD Layer". (make sure that layer is set to "Display" in your current layer set. I've imported several copies of an image, because I thought it didn't work, but it was because I didn't have that layer displayed. The image can be moved to any other layer after importing.) If you don't "Save in Plan", then the plan is always referencing the image's location when it was imported. If you move the image file from its original location, then every time you open Chief, you will get a "Missing Image" dbx & Chief will want you to browse/point at the new location of the image. If you don't point Chief at the new location, the image BOUNDARY will still be where you inserted the image, but there will be no image. Not only that, you won't see the boundary line. So, unless you remember where the image was inserted in the plan, you may have difficulty finding it. When I can't find the image in Chief & don't have the original image any longer for whatever reason, I point Chief at any other image on my PC, just so I can see something/anything & locate where it was inserted.
When you "Save in Plan", the image is part of the Chief plan & the original image file & location on your PC is no longer relevent as far as Chief is concerned. The "saved in plan" image does add to the file size of the plan, which sometimes can be an issue.
All of this works the same way when you import an image into layout. I probably import images to layout more often than the plan.
I don't believe the image is ever listed in the Project Browser as an image. If it's part of a CAD Detail, the CAD Detail is listed in the PB, but not the image itself.
I think this is how it works.

[dshall]

..................... The "saved in plan" image does add to the file size of the plan, which sometimes can be an issue..................

Oops, maybe I am missing something here. Jim, you are saying that SAVE IN PLAN will add to file size, I get that. But now the question is, if we do it Perry's way, (putting image in a x5 data folder), it will not increase file size?

[lbuttery]

Putting the image in an X5 data folder is not necessary

it can be in ANY folder - and has little effect on the size of the plan or layout


the key is that the plan or layout has a link to that folder

if you delete that folder or delete the image in the folder then the plan or layout can't find the image

this is why "save in plan" is important and should be the default setting

yes, "save in plan" will increase the size of the plan or the layout

Lew

[Curtis Johnson]

Jim:

Thanks for the explanation. Your analysis mimics my experiences with bringing images into a Chief project. How the program handles the "mechanics" of storing/saving the image is beyond my comprehension. Knowing that it is in a CAD detail or wherever is good enough for me. I have run into problems in the past when I found an image I wanted to use in a plan (e.g., a 3D view of something from Simpson StrongTie), put it on my desktop, then copied/pasted/imported(?) the image into a CAD detail, and then later deleted the image off my desktop and upon reopening a layout, the image is gone. As you noted, if you click in the LO where it was, you can see the "empty box". I am not sure how/why Perry's putting such images in an X5 image file in the X5 data folder works, but if it works, that is the important thing.

[dshall]

................. I am not sure how/why Perry's putting such images in an X5 image file in the X5 data folder works, but if it works, that is the important thing.

I think you are missing the point. Perry's step in not neccessary if you open image dbx and click SAVE IN PLAN. And as Lew has mentioned many times, a warning should pop up to remind us of this.

[ebdesign]

Yes, Save in Plan increases the file size by the file size of the image. So, if your image is 1MB large, & your plan is 7MB or whatever, you've increased the plan file size significantly. This will slow Chief down at some point.
If the image is saved in the plan, you do not need to keep the original image file anywhere on your PC. Also, you can copy the image in the Chief plan, & paste into PhotoShop as a new image & get a copy of the image that way too; if you no longer have the original.

[Dermot Dempsey]

Save in plan keeps all of the image data in the plan or layout file, so yes it will increase the file size. If you have a lot of large images, you can increase the file size by a lot which can cause slow downs when working with the plan (especially with undo turned on). This is why we are unlikely to make this the default anytime soon (at least until we can solve these performance issues).

If you are using any external images in your plans, I highly recommend that you keep the images in a safe place where you won't accidently delete or rename them. One good place is to keep them in the same sub-folder as the plan files. This way if you need to move or backup the plan, you can keep all of the images together with it.

[perryh]

I don't keep the image files in the data folder for any reason other than, to keep track of them, and its easier to migrate to new versions, because I know where all those images are. I don't have any file size problems. I just think it good to keep all your images in the same place and not in the plan files because you might want to use one again, and forget where it was, thats all. I always use save in plan.