Background picture or background color?

Introduction

In previous versions of IGSS, the static background of a diagram was made in an external drawing program in either Bitmap (*.bmp) or Windows Metafile (*.wmf) format.

This is all changed with IGSS. You now have the option of drawing the background from scratch in IGSS Definition by using a background color and the new drawing tools.

Background pictures

A background picture for a diagram is a graphical representation of the static part of the process. One of the background pictures in a configuration will typically be a ground plan of the plant, showing the plant’s pipe system, conveyer belt, containers and tanks. During the configuration process, symbols for the process components are added on top of the static background picture.

The picture is created in an external drawing program, such as Corel Draw or Micrografx Draw, and then saved in any of the formats supported by IGSS:

Bitmap file (*.bmp)
Windows Metafile (*.wmf)
Enhanced Metafile (*.emf)

When you create a new diagram or change an existing one, the Picture option is chosen under Background and the appropriate picture is selected. A preview helps you quickly find the right picture.

The redrawing of diagrams in IGSS Definition may appear a bit slow due to the graphical format used (vector graphics). The redrawing speed in IGSS Supervise is much faster because IGSS automatically compresses the background pictures into the internal *.gbm format.

Background colors

Instead of choosing a background picture, you may want to simply choose a background color and build the background from within IGSS.

When you create a new diagram or change an existing one, the Color option is chosen under Background and the desired color is selected in the Color dialog box. You can use up to 16 million colors for your background pictures dependent on your PC’s capability.

When the diagram is created, you can start building the background as follows:

Include static components, such as tanks, containers, etc. that you have created as graphics files (*.bmp, *.wmf, *.emf, *.gif)
Draw lines (connectors) between the static components
Add the symbols of the process components

Click here for an example.

Tip

You can change the background color of a diagram by using the Format ® Set Background Color command. The command allows you to set the background color of the active diagram by simply selecting the new color in the color palette.