Feature Request: Overlay/Compare Drawings with Different Scales

Calvin Chan · 2025-05-29T03:38:47+00:00

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Hi Bluebeam Team and Community,

I’d like to suggest a feature enhancement for Bluebeam Revu regarding the Compare and Overlay functionalities. Currently, Bluebeam does not support overlaying or comparing drawings that are at different scales (for example, 1:100 vs 1:99). This limitation can be challenging when working with drawings from different sources or revisions that may not always be at the exact same scale.

It would be extremely helpful if Bluebeam could allow users to overlay or compare drawings with different scales by providing an option to align or rescale the drawings during the process. This would improve accuracy and efficiency, especially for teams dealing with multiple consultants or legacy drawings.

Is this something that could be considered for future releases? I believe this feature would add significant value to many users’ workflows.

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Comments

Jes Stafford

You can already do this with the three-point alignment approach to building the overlay.

When you choose Document/Overlay Pages, choose Manual Alignment in the dialog under the Page Alignment drop down.

Shaya Birnbaum

I agree with @Jes Stafford. I’d also add that the Snapshot tool is a great option for overlays. It’s especially useful when you only need to overlay a small section of the drawing with a larger detail or enlarged area.

vfrench

The three-point method also allows you to overlay drawings which are at different rotations as well as different scales.

Yes… but the result…

Hi Calvin.

Without having familiarity with this work, I do not see what the problem is in your attachments without a little explanation to get me there…

I will add, though, that playing with the many options in the overlay dialog will help you get the end result that you want. It takes some trial and error to get there. The options I usually adjust are:

order of PDFs in the overlay ADD FILES window, the "STACK"
colors - use standards related to engineering disciplines
blend methods - darken usually works for me

Luke Shiras

Looking at your results, it appears that the drawings did not resize to a matching scale. Most likely because the three points you selected were not the EXACT same three points. Two steps to get the best results is make the three points as far apart as possible and turn on "Disable Line Weights" to get thin lines. This will make it easier to ensure you're picking the corner and not a hatch pattern line.

Note that "Disable Line Weights" affects the program, not just the one file and affects the printed document, too. So be sure to turn it off when done.

Overlay-LS-sample.pdf

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