Images & PDF

FILE ▸ Export File writes the finished sheet as a PNG, JPEG or PDF at the drawing's real paper size. A 24×36 layout exports as a 24×36 sheet, so the output drops straight into a plot set or a presentation board.

Exporting

1. Set Export Resolution on the FILE tab: 72, 150, 300 or 600 DPI.
2. For a PDF, leave PDF layers checked to keep the drawing's layers, or clear it for a flat PDF.
3. Click Export File.
4. Choose the format by the extension you save with: .png, .jpg or .pdf.

While the file is written, the status bar shows the export, the step it is on and the seconds so far. The window keeps responding but ignores clicks and keys until the file is done, and the canvas holds its last picture. Closing Studio during an export waits for the file, then closes.

Choosing a Format

Format	Use it for	Notes
PNG	Presentation boards, reports, anything with fine linework	Lossless. The default choice for a rendered plan.
JPEG	Email and web copies where file size matters	Lossy. Compression artifacts show up around crisp linework, so prefer PNG for anything being printed.
PDF	Plotting, submittals, sharing a full-size sheet	A true vector PDF at the sheet's paper size: linework and text stay sharp at any zoom. With PDF layers checked (the default), each layer is a PDF layer, listed as the scene tree lists it, so a viewer such as Acrobat or Bluebeam can turn layers off and on. Clear it for a flat PDF, for a print shop or a program that does not handle layers; the sheet looks the same either way. Textures, paper grain and raster images are embedded as images within it. Soft shadows are drawn as one image per viewport at the DPI setting (capped, since a blurred shadow gains nothing from a finer raster), on a PDF layer of their own named Shadows: turning a layer off in the viewer leaves its shadows, turning Shadows off removes them all. Other blurred effects are drawn at the DPI setting.

Choosing a Resolution

DPI	Good for
72	Quick screen checks and thumbnails.
150	Review copies, email, slide decks.
300	Printing. The default, and the right answer most of the time.
600	Large-format plotting where the sheet will be examined closely.

Resolution multiplies with sheet size, so the numbers grow quickly: a 30×42 sheet at 600 DPI is 18,000×25,200 pixels. Very large combinations are refused with the pixel count in the message rather than failing partway through. Drop the DPI, or export PDF, which has no such limit for linework.

What Is and Is Not in the Export

• In: everything visible on the canvas, meaning geometry, fills, textures, symbols, text, shadows, the look's line treatment, paper tone and grain, and the captured background if it is switched on.
• Out: the grid, selection frames and handles, marquee boxes, and any layer or object whose visibility is off.

Exports render at full quality. Effects that are approximated for speed while you work are drawn exactly in the output, so the export is at least as good as what you saw on screen.

Style Gallery

FILE ▸ Style Gallery is a different kind of output: every look on one labeled PNG, for choosing a direction rather than delivering a drawing. See Style Gallery.

Plotting from AutoCAD Instead

If all you need is a check print of the CAD sheet, plot it from AutoCAD with the standard PLOT command. The Studio export is for the rendered presentation drawing.