Overlays

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:

Click the edit button with the pencil icon to edit the overlay's size, shape, and position. Once selected, the overlay can be controlled 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 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, export your site plan to a JPG or PNG or take a screenshot of it. Then, upload the image as detailed above. Learn more about scaling site plans in our Site Plan Upload Documentation.

Why isn't my image appearing in the designer?

If the Overlay image isn't appearing in the designer, there may be two reasons:

1. Unsupported file format: Using a KMZ or KML created using a TIFF image will not appear in the the designer.
2. Blocked by VPN: If you receive the error Cannot read properties of undefined (reading 'size'), check to see if a VPN is blocking the image upload. This can be checked by using a device not on the VPN to upload the Overlay design.

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 device, a resolution of 3600 x 2400 pixels provides high quality without causing slowdowns during image editing. Websiteplanet.com, Imageoptimizer.net, picresize.com, or imageresize.org can be used to downsample image resolution.

Basic plan users should keep file sizes under 10 MB to ensure smooth uploads to HelioScope. For Pro or Enterprise plan users, 20MB files can be uploaded.