Import and calibrate a floor plan

An imported plan is a reference layer in PlanElec. You continue to draw walls, rooms and electrical symbols over it as editable PlanElec data. That keeps an export legible even if you later hide or replace the original plan.

Import a plan reference

In Floor plan, open the Gallery and select import. You can select PNG, JPEG and WebP images, individual PDF pages and DXF drawings, then assign them to a floor.

1. Select the file and its target floor.
2. For a PDF, select the required pages; for a DXF, deselect drawing layers you do not need.
3. Complete the import. You can retry an individual file that failed.
4. Select Set up for a layer. After a single import, the layer workbench opens directly; after a batch import, open it yourself with Set up.

DXF is processed in the browser as a reference image. Model Space and the selected layers are considered; DWG files are not imported. Check that the resulting crop contains the floor plan you actually need.

Set scale, rotation and position

The layer workbench has the steps Crop, Rotate, Scale and Position. Pan and zoom remain available while it is open, but drawing tools are locked. Your changes remain a draft until you select Done; Cancel discards them.

Calibrate an image or PDF layer with a known measurement:

1. Open Scale, or select Calibrate in the toolbar.
2. Place two points on a distance whose real length you know.
3. Enter the length in metres and inspect the preview.
4. If necessary, align the reference edge horizontally or vertically.
5. Select Done only after checking the result.

For a DXF, PlanElec initially uses the drawing unit or displays an estimate for you to select. The scale source remains visible. Recalibrate manually whenever a known dimension does not match.

Continue drawing on the reference

Adjust opacity and crop if required. Then draw closed exterior and interior walls as a polygon or rectangle. PlanElec derives rooms from those walls; devices and cable routes use this editable wall graph, not pixels in the reference.

Check the following before planning the electrical installation:

• Do one or more known dimensions match the configured scale?
• Is the plan rotated and positioned correctly?
• Are only relevant layers visible?
• Have exterior and interior walls been traced as PlanElec walls?

For multiple floors, set up each floor separately. Aligning floors to each other is a separate task and does not replace calibration of an imported layer.

What importing does not do

Importing does not automatically recognise rooms or an electrical installation, and it does not produce an official survey. It is an accurate drawing aid. Check dimensions, wall layout and the real installation before placing symbols or exporting documents.

Next: place and connect electrical symbols.