Bringing in the job

Backgrounds & imports

Nearly every job starts with somebody else's drawing. Design Studio imports it, keeps it on its own layers, and lets you tell the program which lines are walls and which are ceiling grid — which is what makes the snaps and the automatic tools useful later.

What	Where you'll find it
Import DWG	File → Import DWG…, or the DWG button in the FILE toolbar group
Import a PDF as a background	File → Import PDF Background…
Set the PDF's scale	File → Calibrate PDF Background Scale
Import a PDF as real CAD lines	File → Import PDF as CAD (vector)…
Layer control	The Layers pane at the top of the side panel
Classify linework	Right-click any imported line → Classify

Importing a DWG

File → Import DWG… and pick the architect's file.
Choose an import mode in the options dialog, then let it run. Big files import on a background thread with a progress bar and an Abort button — the program stays usable.
If the drawing has external references, an xref picker lists the top-level ones so you can bring in only the sheets you actually want.
Read the import summary when it finishes. It tells you what came in, and it is where a units warning would appear.

The imported drawing arrives on its own layers with the original colours and line weights. Lighting and mechanical linework is drawn on top so it stays readable under your sprinkler work.

Units. A DWG with no units in its header is guessed from its extents. Metric drawings are detected and rescaled, and the summary says so. Where an imperial reading is ambiguous the Studio keeps inches and warns you — Revit exports are often in feet, and the summary tells you how to re-import the other way in one step. Always check one known dimension after importing.

Other things you can import

Import AutoSPRINK DWG… — rebuilds an AutoSPRINK export as native Studio objects instead of dumb linework: real pipe, real heads, real fittings.
Import Converted PDF (.DWG)… — for a PDF you already converted elsewhere.
Import Title Block (DWG)… — drops your title block into paper space. See Sheets & plotting.
Import Project Spec PDF… — attaches the job specification to the project.

PDF backgrounds

Two different things, and it is worth knowing which you want:

Import PDF Background… places the page as an image behind your work. Fast, always works, but it is a picture — you cannot snap to it precisely.
Import PDF as CAD (vector)… reads the PDF's actual paths, text and fills and turns them into real drawing objects, with a colour and layer picker so you choose what becomes what. Only works on a vector PDF (one that was plotted, not scanned), and it is worth trying first — you get snappable geometry.

Either way, calibrate the scale before you draw anything: File → Calibrate PDF Background Scale, then click two points you know the distance between (a dimensioned wall, a column grid bay) and type that distance. Everything you measure afterwards depends on this one step.

White-out masks

File → White-Out Mask Tool draws a box that hides part of the background — the quickest way to kill somebody else's sprinkler layout or a legend you are replacing. Show White-Out toggles a visible border around your masks while you work; that border never plots.

Cleaning up what came in

File → Delete Imported Electrical and Delete Imported Non-Sprinkler Content — bulk removal of the layers you will never need.
Tools → Purge Duplicate Overlapping Objects — for drawings that were exported twice.
Tools → Convert Circle-Like Polylines to Circles — makes centre snaps work on columns and bollards that came in as many-sided polylines.
Tools → Fix Room Number Boxes — refits room-number text inside its box. Import does this automatically by default.

Layers

The Layers pane at the top of the side panel is where you control everything that came in: visibility, lock, colour and weight overrides, and saved layer states you can restore later. There is also a Dim BG control for pushing the background back so your own work reads.

Right-click any imported object for the fast versions:

Isolate layer (hide others) — or I with something selected.
Hide layer — Shift+H.
Unisolate (show all) — Shift+I puts back exactly what was visible before you isolated.
Select all items on layer and Select all like selected on layer — the “wand”: same layer, same type.

Classification — the step that pays off

Right-click imported linework and choose Classify to tell the Studio what it is looking at: walls, ceiling grid, lights, and so on. This is not cosmetic. Classification drives:

which lines the wall and ceiling-tile snaps aim at;
which layer the automatic head tools treat as room boundaries;
the colour and line weight those objects plot at.

Once linework is classified you can also promote it into real geometry: Tools → Detect Walls from Walls Linework, Detect Columns from Walls Linework, Generate 3D Lights from Lights Linework, and Convert Selected Lines to Walls (measured width) from the right-click menu.

Hatch and pattern layers turn their own snapping off on import. A hatched floor finish would otherwise offer thousands of useless endpoints under your cursor.

Performance on big drawings

Site plans with a couple of hundred thousand shapes import and apply in seconds, and pan and zoom stay smooth. If a huge background does start to drag, switch Perf to Draft in the Display & Defaults dropdown, and hide the layers you are not using.