The Comparison tool ("Overlay Control Panel") icon allows users to compare the current document page version to another selected document page or page version. These pages can be from any two documents or document versions within the same project.
Overlay Mode Instructions
To compare two document pages as overlays, from the EPR Review page:
- Select the Overlay Control Panel icon from the toolbar.
- In the Comparison View panel, select the desired Document, Version (Submittal/Phase), and Page based on Sheet Number or Page Ref value. Note that the tag "previous" will be displayed when the previous version of the current document is selected.
- Click on ADD OVERLAY to launch overlay mode, where the selected document page version renders on top of the current document page version in two different colors.
- In Overlay Mode, a new controls panel will display on screen (see below). Nudging can be done using the keyboard arrow keys or by typing a number directly into the X and Y coordinate fields.
- To nudge along the X axis, tap the left or right arrow keyboard keys to move one (1) unit at a time, or keep pressing the key to move quickly.
- Alternatively, type directly into the X field (use negative numbers for nudging left).
- To nudge along the Y axis, use the up or down arrow keyboard keys to move one (1) unit at a time, or keep pressing the key to move quickly.
- Alternatively, type directly into the Y field (use negative number for nudging down).
- To nudge along the X axis, tap the left or right arrow keyboard keys to move one (1) unit at a time, or keep pressing the key to move quickly.
- Scale is shown as a percentage, with default being 100 percent.
- To make an overlay smaller, type in a number less than 100.
- To make an overlay larger, type in a number greater than 100.
- Alternatively, users can use the arrow controls inside the field or click inside the field and use the up/down keyboard keys.
- The current Overlay and Original layer colors are shown at the bottom of the panel.
- To reset all values, click Reset.
- To exit overlay mode, click on the 'X' on the upper right of the control.
While in Overlay Mode, the Layers panel will display two additional layers: Document (colored) and Overlay Document, and will 'turn off' the original Document layer. Each layer can be toggled back 'on' or 'off' as desired while in this mode. Exiting this mode will remove these two layers from the panel.
While in the mode, each layer's color is displayed next to a label (Overlay or Original) in the overlay controls window.
Overlay Configurations
While usage of the default overlay colors is recommended for the best blending experience, users can change these color settings for themselves by accessing the Preferences option in the Review page menu, as shown below.
Clicking on Preferences will bring up the "Workspace Preferences" window, which includes several user-specific configuration options to alter how plans are presented in the review window.
From here, user can change the color used for the base layer ("Original Document") page as well as the color used for the page overlay layer ("Overlay") by clicking in the color icon for each. This will bring up a color picker tool that allows the user to select a different color. Alternatively, if the user knows a hex color code, they can instead type it into the field below the color swatch instead. After making changes, the user should click 'SAVE' to confirm these changes.
From this point on, any new overlays will user the updated colors for comparison. Note that not all color combinations will blend ideally, however.
Any changes made in this window will only affect the current user and not have any effect on any other users' view.
Restore Defaults
If the user wants to return to the default colors, they can either type in the hex values show above or click on 'RESET TO DEFAULT' from the window.
Paired Window Instructions
To compare two document pages in separate windows, from the EPR Review page:
- Select the Overlay Control Panel icon from the toolbar.
- In the Comparison View panel, select the desired Document, Version (Submittal/Phase), and Page based on Sheet Number or Page Ref value. Note that the tag "previous" will be displayed when the previous version of the current document is selected.
- Click on OPEN PAIRED WINDOW, where the selected document page version loads in a separate, secondary window. This secondary window displays the document file name, version, and sheet/reference information along the top.
- Paired window actually has two modes of comparison:
- PAIRED MODE, the default view allows users to resize or move along one page and the system will automatically resize and move the other page to match.
- UNPAIRED MODE, which can be triggered by clicking the UNPAIR button on the upper right of the secondary window. This mode allows each page to be resized and moved separately, so it's ideal for when users want to compare two different regions or view each page at different zoom levels.
- Click on REFRESH to reset the secondary window size and zoom.
To exit Paired Window mode, simply close the secondary window by clicking on the 'X' in the upper right.
Related articles