Pages

Pages can be found both in the Page panel or at the top of the Layer panel.

What is a page?

A page is how you export what is on your canvas as a PDF or images. Thanks to pages, you can turn drawings into proper document sets.

Pages behave like layers; as with layers:

• Pages can get Locked/Unlocked.

• Pages can be Shown/Hidden.

• Pages can be set as active

• Pages can host elements; if it is the case, the hosted elements will move as the page gets moved. Note that hosted elements will only be exported to the page they are hosted on.

Additionally, pages have specific properties:

• They have an orientation

• They have a format

• They have a paper size

• They have a scale

• Pages have a background color, when working in a paper canvas.

Creating a page

You can create a new page by choosing the Page command (PP) in the Layout menu of the toolbar. The page can either be used in...

• Insertion mode: the page is set to a given format and scale and can be inserted as is on the canvas.

• Drawing mode: the page can be freely drawn on the canvas.

In the video below, we demonstrate both modes....

Alternatively, pages can be created by clicking on the + button either in the Page or Layer panel; this will make a page appear on your canvas.

Once created, a page can be edited further by...

• Changing its size by choosing a page scale in the property panel.

• Changing its format by choosing a page format in the property panel.

• Changing its orientation by choosing a page orientation in the property panel.

Tip — Pages created in Model canvas or a paper canvas will be slightly different:

• In a model canvas, a page will be a simple frame, fitted to the size of your screen. This allows for quick PDF exports.

• In a paper canvas, a page will always have the size of a real sheet of paper (A4, A3, Letter, etc) and will have a background color. This allows you to build more realistic page layouts.

Exporting a page

To create a PDF export, click on the Export button in the Page panel. Once clicked, the export modal will open. There, a few settings can be used, to export your page set: the document name, the format of the export (PDF/PNG), the range of pages to export, and the file size.

You can click on Export whenever you are ready to collect your document set.

Tip — a magnifier also allows inspecting the exported pages before completing the export.

Stroke weights and printing

Stroke weights are defined by the stroke value in styles. They usually appear in the export as they appear on screen. However, when exporting a PDF, a few other factors, come into play, that are important to have in mind:

• the page scale : the stroke scale can have an effect on how stroke weights appear on the final, exported PDFs.

• the stroke scale : the stroke scale can impact how line appear on screen, but do not affect the export.

To make things simple, by default, Rayon model will print things as they appear on screen, and disregard any scale, might it be page or stroke. However, do note that, at any point, the user can choose to toggle on the application of the page scale to the stroke weights.

Additionally, it is worth noting also that stroke weights will always appear as they will be printed in paper canvases. There, all scales are set to 1:1 (page scales, stroke sclae, etc). On model canvases however, any can be set on on pages, while teh stroke scale can be used to magnifiy stroke weights. This is why printing from the model canvas requires a bit more set up and care.

More on this topic in our page about canvases.

For more step-by-step information, watch our tutorial about how to use pages in Rayon:

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