Uploading Overlays
For imagery, external designs, and plansets, HelioScope allows the user to upload images as overlay files in the Designer.
First, click the Advanced tab and select Overlay controls.
Once there, you can either upload the imagery by clicking the Upload Overlay button and selecting the appropriate file or dragging the file into the box below so it turns green.
Supported file types include jpg, jpeg, png, kmz, and kml. Other file types will not be able to be uploaded.
NOTE: KMZs size cannot be scaled or changed. Please use jpg or png if you need the ability to edit.
Editing an Overlay
Once your overlay has been uploaded, it will become available for all projects' designs.
- Select the eye icon to hide the overlay in the designer
- Recenter your design to an overlay by selecting the navigate icon
- Delete an overlay by selecting the trash icon
- Edit the overlay name by selecting the pencil icon. This will also open a sliding bar to control the overlay opacity
- Rearrange overlays by clicking and dragging an overlay up or down the list
Now that we have our overlay, we need to know how to manipulate it:
To edit the overlay's size, shape, and position, click the edit button with the pencil icon. Once selected, we can control the overlay in several ways.
- Click and drag the dots on the edge of any side to resize the overlay in that direction
- Click and drag the corners to resize the entire overlay and maintain the same aspect ratio
- Click and drag the center dot to move the overlay around the designer
- Click and drag the floating point (seen to the right in the image below) to rotate the overlay
What if I have a site plan in PDF?
For site plans, either export your site plan to a JPG or PNG or take a screenshot of it. Then, upload the image as detailed above. You can read more about how to scale site plans in our Site Plan Upload Documentation
Why isn't my image appearing in the designer?
If your image isn't appearing in the designer, you're likely using an unsupported file format. If you're using a KMZ or KML which was created using a TIFF image, that will not appear in the designer either.
File Size vs. Image Resolution
Site plans often have a lot of white space, which compresses nicely, so file size might not be the best way to measure your image processing requirements. Instead, we suggest using the image resolution as your guide. On a modern computer, a resolution of 3600 x 2400 pixels should provide you with high quality without causing any slowdowns during your image editing. To downsample image resolution, imageoptimizer.net, picresize.com, or imageresize.org can be used.
Basic plan users should keep file sizes under 10 MB to ensure smooth uploads to HelioScope. For Pro or Custom plan users, 20MB files can be uploaded.