Making layers transparent

[mborean]

This may be one of those topics that has an obvious answer that I just can't see.  That said, is there a way to make a layer transparent?

I typically import an aerial image from my County's GIS map onto my site plan that already has the property boundarys  drawn.  I can send the aerial image to the back, but it still obscures my property lines, topo lines, etc.  If the image (which is placed on a separate new layer) could be made transparent, it would make life a bit easier.

 

Thanks in advance.

[Chopsaw]

Yes you can import a transparent .png image but it should not be an issue to move your topo and property lines up a layer to be on top especially with X11 ?  I believe image files always default to the base layer.

[robdyck]

42 minutes ago, mborean said:

This may be one of those topics that has an obvious answer that I just can't see.  That said, is there a way to make a layer transparent?

I typically import an aerial image from my County's GIS map onto my site plan that already has the property boundarys  drawn.  I can send the aerial image to the back, but it still obscures my property lines, topo lines, etc.  If the image (which is placed on a separate new layer) could be made transparent, it would make life a bit easier.

 

Thanks in advance.

Place the image in the very back of the drawing order, #38, then cover with a p-line with transparent white fill on #37. Adjust transparency as needed.

Another option is to double click the image, and adjust its brightness. 

[Chopsaw]

Sorry I think Rob had a better understanding of the question.  I often use red or yellow when working over an image and find that works well for most imagery.

[ACADuser]

I'm confused, as I often am, if you put the image at #38 and cover it with a simi transparent filled pline @ 37 you get a faded look but

The OP said it still obscures the property lines. So what are the property lines? And what draw order are they set to?

 

 

[robdyck]

32 minutes ago, ACADuser said:

I'm confused, as I often am, if you put the image at #38 and cover it with a simi transparent filled pline @ 37 you get a faded look but

The OP said it still obscures the property lines. So what are the property lines? And what draw order are they set to?

 

 

It's helpful to read the description of the drawing order #'s. Terrain perimeter is on #37. You could:

put your terrain on #36

move the terrain to the front of 37

move the p-line to the back of 37

move the pline to the front of 38

move the image to the back of 38 

and so on and so on

[robdyck]

35 minutes ago, ACADuser said:

And what draw order are they set to?

If they are the actual terrain, they default to #37, however they will be in whatever order you choose to put them in. Chief doesn't do the drawing, they just supply the tools.

[mborean]

Hey gang,

Thanks for all the replies.  The obvious solution, and its silly that I hadn't thought of it was to place geometry over the aerial image and give it a transparent fill, send it to the back in drawing order.  As a refinement, I placed the aerial image and the transparent geometry on a unique layer and then locked it.

 

Still, it would be cool if we could manipulate the transparency of an object (including lines) and even an entire layer.  

 

Thanks again!!

[rgardner]

32 minutes ago, mborean said:

Hey gang,

Thanks for all the replies.  The obvious solution, and its silly that I hadn't thought of it was to place geometry over the aerial image and give it a transparent fill, send it to the back in drawing order.  As a refinement, I placed the aerial image and the transparent geometry on a unique layer and then locked it.

 

Still, it would be cool if we could manipulate the transparency of an object (including lines) and even an entire layer.  

 

Thanks again!!

The brightness of the image helps give it that same look as well.

 

Check out @TimSchrock ‘s vídeo on importing jpg files:

 

https://youtu.be/PBBqTcJOiJc