Taking Screenshots

A number of options are available in Dragonfly to export screenshots of the active view — including its scale bar, legend, annotations, overlays, and other objects that are visible onscreen — to a number of standard image file formats. The additional option to accumulate and then export multiple screenshots is available on the Multiple Screenshots panel.

Screenshots of the current view can also be copied to your clipboard and then pasted into another application, such as Microsoft Word or Paint (see Coping Screenshots to the Clipboard). In addition, you can capture fullscreen screenshots of Dragonfly (see Capturing Fullscreen Screenshots).

The Export Screenshot option, which is available on the Scene's Views Properties panel, allows you to scale an image to a specified width or height to create files that are suitable for presentations, printing, and large displays.

  1. Select the required view and then adjust your image accordingly. You can adjust the zoom, pan, and window levels, as well as add annotations to highlight particular areas of interest.
  2. Click the Export Screenshot button in the Scene Views Properties panel.

    The Screenshot Size dialog appears.

  3. In the Screenshot Size dialog, enter the required width or height in the appropriate dimension box and then click OK.

    The dimensions will be constrained to match the aspect ratio of the view. Changing the width will automatically affect the height of the image and vice-versus.

    Note The maximum dimension may be limited. This limitation is based on the capability of your system and the type of view selected — 2D or 3D. You should note that the maximum dimension possible for 3D views is 4096 pixels.

  4. Select a destination folder and file name for the screenshot in the Export Screenshot to File dialog.
  5. Select a file format — BMP, JPG, PNG, or TIFF — for the screenshot.

    Note See Supported File Formats for more information about the different file formats supported in Dragonfly.

  6. Click the OK button.

The option to accumulate and then export multiple screenshots is available on the Multiple Screenshots panel, shown below. You should note that you can select different resolutions for screenshots captured from 2D and 3D views.

Multiple Screenshots panel

Multiple Screenshots panel

  1. Choose the maximum resolution for the screenshots you plan to capture from the 2D and/or 3D views in the Resolution text boxes.

    The maximum resolution will be calculated from the largest dimension of the selected view and the aspect ratio will be maintained. For example, if the selected view contains 900 x 700 pixels and you choose a resolution of 1024, the exported image will be 1024 x 796 pixels.

    Note The maximum dimension may be limited. This limitation is based on the capability of your system and the type of view selected — 2D or 3D. You should note that the maximum dimension possible for 3D views is 4096 pixels.

  2. Select the required view and then adjust your image accordingly. You can adjust the zoom, pan, and window levels, as well as add annotations to highlight particular areas of interest.
  3. Drag the Camera icon from the current view and drop it onto the Multiple Screenshots panel, as shown below.

    The number of images is updated automatically.

  4. Drag and drop additional images onto the Multiple Screenshots panel, as required.

    Note If you need to capture a new image at a different resolution, you can change the resolution before you add the new image.

  5. Click the Export button.

    Note You can scroll through the thumbnails with the mouse scroll wheel to review your captured images.

  6. Select a destination folder and file name for the screenshot in the Save As dialog.

    You should note that a sequential number will be automatically appended to the name of each exported screenshot.

  7. Select a file format — BMP, EPS, GIF, JPG, PNG, PPM, or TIFF — for the screenshot.

    See Supported File Formats for more information about the different file formats supported in Dragonfly.

  8. Click the Save button.

Screenshots of the current view, which can include its scale bar, legend, annotations, overlays, and other objects that are visible onscreen, can be copied to your clipboard and then pasted into another application, such as Microsoft Word or Paint.

  1. Select the required view and then adjust your image accordingly. You can adjust the zoom, pan, and window levels, as well as add annotations to highlight particular areas of interest.
  2. Click the Camera icon on the top right of the view.

    A screenshot of the selected view is copied to the clipboard.

  3. Paste the contents of the clipboard into another application.

If required, you can capture screenshots of the full application window that includes the menu bar, sidebars, and workspace. This option is available as a configured action only.

  1. Open the Preferences dialog and configure an action for Capture a fullscreen screenshot (see Configurable Actions).
  2. Go to the Miscellaneous preferences and choose an export format and save location for your fullscreen screenshots, as circled below.

    Miscellaneous Preferences

  3. Click the configured action to take a fullscreen screenshot of Dragonfly.

    The image file will be available in configured folder.