The Save As PDF option is found on the gCADPlus File drop-down menu. Its purpose is to allow users to present (print) designs in which (as shown below) transparency has been applied to entities in the design. In gCADPlus, any entity, such as a circle, polygon, or closed polyline, which initially has a transparency value of 255 (full colour) may have that value set to a lower value. This option is typically used when there is a need to view understory planting through symbols indicating canopy planting. Printing these designs is challenging, but it can be done using the Save As PDF option on the File drop-down menu.
The image below comes from a design for a revegetation project for the school’s surroundings. Symbols for the upper canopy were created using a single circle with the fill option applied in the gCADPlus properties box. In most cases, a transparency value of 100 was set, giving about 30% transparency.
The PDFSave command in gCADPlus generates a PDF file that shows transparency in planting symbols and other entities. Here, we show a design for a revegetation project where transparency is applied to the upper canopy symbols. This enables understory planting to show through in a PDF file.
Tip: Printing a design in which transparency has been used to PDF writers, such as CutePDF, is not recommended and should be avoided. We have not found a PDF writer that produces satisfactory results.
We show how to edit and print a landscape design to PDF at high resolution and at a scale of 1:100 when the drawing contains symbols with transparency.
Here is a link with more information on using transparent symbols in a design from the Imperial (USA) environment.
Here is a link to a palette of symbols with transparency applied to them.