5-LAB · URBS 250/4

5-LAB Plan View Renders: Figure Grounds & Land Use

In this activity, we will use the block and building footprints from 3-LAB as a basis for some basic site analysis.

• Figure ground of the block to show grid type

• Figure ground of buildings to show built environment & your subarea
• Land use map using your sketchbook data

In the free Sketchup Web app we do not have the option to export a vector file, which would give us more control and
precision. But the png download option provides an acceptable raster file as a base. And this gives us a chance to
practice working with raster files, which is also a common workflow that is good to become familiar with.

STEP 1: Setup your Sketchup file for export & download PNGs
1. Save the 5-LAB Sketchup file
• In the home menu of app.sketchup.com/app, where you see a preview of your recent files, find the 3-LAB file, click
the three small dots on the corner ⁞ and select “Duplicate.” Name the new file 5-LAB
• Alternately, you can open 3-LAB and in the top menu choose “Save as…” naming the file 5-LAB
2. Create a scale on your 3-LAB Sketchup file
• In the Left Side Menu > Rectangle tool [or type “R”]
• Off to the right side of the blocks
you have drawn, click once to
start drawing a rectangle for a
graphic scale
• Move the cursor in the direction
you want the scale bar to go
• Without clicking, type the
number “200” then press
“Enter/return”. This should
make the rectangle 200m wide.
(When you type, you can see the
value in the bottom menu
“Dimensions”)
• With the Erase tool [type “E”], delete the top edge
• With the Dimension tool [Left menu, third from the bottom] measure the graphic scale bar

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• Place the measure somewhere logical. (Formatting options are available in the Entity Info menu . Use the Select
tool [“Space”] to select the measure and choose the formatting options you prefer.)

3. Prepare the view to download the PNGs

• In Scenes menu , choose “Top” to square the view to the ground plane
• If the red, blue and green axes are still visible, hide them in the Right Side Menu > Display menu (third from
bottom);
• In the Right Side Menu > Tags Menu , hide all tags except “Blocks”
• Zoom Extent [type “Shift Ctrl E” (windows) / “Shift Option E” (mac) ] to show the entire model
4. Download PNG of Blocks
• In the Top menu choose Download > PNG
• Check the box “Transparent background” (the grey background should turn white)
• In the fields [ ] px, type the sizes 5000 (height) and 6500 (width)
• Click “Export as PNG”

5. Download PNG of Building footprints

• In the Tags menu , hide everything except the Building tag building
• Zoom Extent [type “Shift Ctrl E” (windows) / “Shift Option E” (mac) ] to show the entire model
• Again, go to Top menu > Download > PNG
• Repeat the steps from the Blocks PNG: check “Transparent background”, enter 5000px and 6500px
6. Organize your files (**Important!! Organize your files before proceeding with the next steps!**)
• Find the place the two files were saved. For example, in Chrome, they were saved to the Downloads folder (it
appears at the bottom of the browser).
• If you are using the lab computers, move the files to the P: Drive. You may want to make a folder for URBS 250 and a
subfolder for 5-LAB. If using your own computer, put it somewhere logical for your URBS 250 files.
• Rename the files to 5-LAB_Blocks.png and 5-LAB_Buildings.png

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STEP 2: Figure Ground: Blocks & Buildings

Using Photoshop, we will make a figure ground of the blocks and one of the footprints. For official keyboard shortcuts in
Windows & Mac, see https://helpx.adobe.com/ca/photoshop/using/default-keyboard-shortcuts.html

1. Open the Blocks PNG file in Photoshop

• Right click the file > “Open with…” > Adobe Photoshop
• When the file opens, you should see the blocks on a checkered background which indicates transparency. If not, go
back to Sketchup and remember to check “Transparent background” when downloading the PNG.
• The menus on the right side should have “Color” at the top and “Layers” at the bottom. If not, go to the Top Menu >
Windows > Workspace > Essentials (Default).

2. Remove the Sketchup Logo & move the scale bar to its own layer.
• From the Left Menu > Marquee Tool [type “M”]. Click and drag to select the Sketchup logo. Type “delete” to
erase it.

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• Still using the Marquee tool [“M”], select the scale bar.
• Right click and select “Layer via Cut.” This will create a new layer with the contents of the selection while removing
it from Layer 1.

• Now if you look in the Layers menu, there are two layers: Layer 1 and
Layer 2. Clicking the eye icon on Layer 2 will make the scale disappear.
Double click the layer name to rename to “Scale”; Double click “Layer 1”
and rename to “Blocks”.
• Ensure the Blocks layer is selected. Click the “fx” icon at the bottom of
the Layers menu and select “Color Overlay…”
• A menu will appear, and in the background you should see the blocks filled
with a colour. If the colour is not black, click the colour swatch to the right
of the “Blend mode: Normal” and use the Colour Picker to select black.
Click OK and OK to return to the file.

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3. Reposition the graphic scale bar to a more convenient location.
• Click the Scale layer, if it is hidden make it visible again.
• From the Left Side menu > Move Tool [type “V”] (the top icon). The scale should get a transformation box around
it. If we click on the scale we can reposition it – however, because the graphic is so fine, it may be hard to click
perfectly. We can change the Move tool settings to make this easier. In the menu that appears at the top, un-check
“Auto-Select.”
• Click the scale and drag it under the blocks. (Do not click the corner handles or it may transform the size). Some
guides might appear to show alignment with the blocks. Somewhere on the inside looks good.

• In the Left Side Menu > Crop tool [type “C”], drag the right side handle in to make the blocks more centered. Click
“enter” when you are satisfied.

4. Save the file with layers: Top menu > File > Save as…
• Save the .psd file to your URBS250/5-LAB folder (on your P: drive or on your personal computer)
• Give the filename “5-LAB figure ground.psd”

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• Accept the prompt for preserving compatibility if applicable.
5. Export a PNG and JPG file of the Blocks figure ground
• In the top menu File > Export > Quick Export as PNG…. In your URBS250/5-LAB folder, create a new folder named
“Exports” and save the file “5-LAB Blocks figure ground.png”
• In the top menu File > Export > Export As…
• On the Right menu, change the “Format” to “JPG”
• Drag the “Quality” bar to the very end “High 7”
• Choose “Export” and save to your URBS250/5-LAB/Exports folder and save the file as “5-LAB Blocks figure
ground.jpg”

Next, we will add the building footprints to this file. This allows us to reuse the scale. It will also help us build the basis
for the next part of the assignment.

6. Place the 5-LAB_Buildings.png file as a new layer

• Top menu > File > Place Linked… (about halfway down
the menu) and select the 5-LAB_buildings.png (which you
exported from Sketchup earlier).
• The footprints appear to fill the canvas. A new layer is
created. Note that the “linked” file means PS is not
importing the data directly, but populating it from the
other file. This helps prevent loss of the raster data but it
behaves a little differently from a regular layer.
• Resize the building footprints to properly fit in the blocks.
Hold the “Shift” key while resizing to preserve the
proportions (or in the top tool menu click the “link” icon
between the W: and H: fields). Use the arrow keys [ ←↓↑→] on your keyboard to nudge the position and find the
best alignment.

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7. Hiding the Sketchup logo using Layer Mask
• We want to remove the Sketchup logo. But because this
layer is a Linked Placed File, Photoshop calls this a Smart
Object and so we can’t simply use the Marquee tool to
select and delete. Instead, we can create a mask to hide
that part of the layer.
• Using the Marquee tool [type “M”], click and drag to
draw a selection around the Sketchup logo.
• Right-click and choose “Select Inverse…” ; Now everything
except the logo would be inverted.
• In the Layers menu (Right side, lowest menu), make sure
the “5-LAB Buildings” layer is selected. Select the Mask
icon on the bottom of the Layers menu.
• A mask will be created on the 5-LAB Buildings layer and the Sketchup logo should disappear. It is a greyscale
channel, where white allows the layer to appear, and black blocks it from appearing. The mask is created by the
selection, so anything not selected at time of creation will be hidden. The Sketchup logo was not select (we inverted
the selection to exclude it) and so is hidden behind a black section of the mask.
8. Add the Colour Overlay layer style to the 5-LAB buildings layer
• You can repeat the steps we used above for the Blocks (with the fx) OR you can copy the layer style from the Blocks
Layer and paste it. Right click on the Blocks layer > “Copy
Layer Style” (middle of the menu), then right click on 5-
LAB Buildings layer and “Paste Layer Style.”
• It will seem like the buildings disappeared, but they are
just the same colour as the blocks. Hide the visibility on
the Blocks Layer to reveal the Building footprint figure
ground.
• Without the blocks, and without the rest of the subareas,
the layout seems a bit awkward. Let’s use this layer to
highlight your subarea. Instead of black, pick another
colour in the Colour Overlay Layer Style. Probably the
blue I use in the example is not ideal because it is similar
to the LBCS colour for institutions, but it is fine for now.
9. To give context to our subarea, let’s add the rest of the building footprints.
• On Moodle, go to the 5-LAB activity and download the file “5-LAB Buildings All Subareas.png” (save it to your
URBS250/5-LAB folder on the P: drive or the corresponding location on your personal computer)
• In the top Menu go File > Place Linked… > “5-LAB Buildings All Subareas.png”; Make the Blocks layer visible again,
then resize the new layer until it aligns with the blocks.
• Click your Subarea layer and drag it above the All Subareas layer. Since this is a two dimensional file, layers are how
we organize the foreground and background. Moving the layer to the top puts in front of the other layers.
• If you can’t get the All Subareas layer to fit perfectly behind your 5-LAB Buildings layer, you can use the mask step
we used to remove the Sketchup logo to hide the overlapping section. You might use the Polygon Lasso tool (left
menu, third from top or type “L”) to make the selection depending on the shape.

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• Hide the Blocks layer. Give the All Subareas layer a Colour Overlay layer effect of black.

10. Export the PNG and JPG files

• In the File > Export > Quick Export as PNG…. Save the file in your URBS250/5-LAB/Exports folder and name it “5-LAB
Buildings figure ground.png”
• File > Export > Export As… For JPG, make sure Quality is set to High 7.
• Export to URBS250/5-LAB/Exports with the filename “5-LAB Buildings figure ground.jpg”

STEP 3: Land Use Map

In this section, we will use the figure ground file as a base, but add the land use data that you collected in your
sketchbook.

1. First, let’s “Save as…” to keep the figure ground base file intact if we want to work on it later.
• Go main menu File > Save as…
• Name the file “5-LAB Land use.psd” and save to the URBS250/5-LAB folder
2. Remove the Colour Overlay effect from the “5-LAB Buildings” layer so that we can see the outline of the buildings.
• You can just hide it with the eye icon . Or you can click-drag it to the garbage can icon at the bottom. Or right
click > Clear Layer Styles
3. Prepare the layers for the LBCS colours
• On the Layers menu, click the Folder icon at the bottom to create a new folder. Double click on the folder name
and rename it “LBCS Activity.”
• With the folder selected, click the New Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers menu to create a new layer and
name it “Base Layer”.
4. Create a mask of the subarea building footprints for the folder.
• Find your “5-LAB Buildings” layer – Hover the cursor over the small image (thumbnail) on the left side of the layer;
Hold CTRL (Windows) or Command (Mac) so the cursor changes to show the marquee icon and click once on the
thumbnail. The outline of the solid areas of the layer becomes selected.
• Select the “LBCS Activity” folder. Click the Mask icon at the bottom of the Layer menu. A Mask should be applied
to the folder. This means the contents of the layers inside the folder will only be visible where the mask allows it (for
us, only inside the block footprints).
• Clear the selection from Top menu > Selection > Deselect [type “CTRL D” (windows) or “Command D” (mac)]
• Create a layer for the colours by clicking the New Layer icon on the bottom [or type “SHIFT CTRL N” (windows) /
“SHIFT Command N” (mac)]. Double click the name to rename it “Base colour.”
• One last setting for the “LBCS Activity” Folder. Select the folder. Then click the blending mode “Pass Through” and
change it to “Multiply”. This will allow the outlines of our buildings to show through the colours we paint.

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5. Set up the LBCS colours.

• In the Color menus, select the Swatches tab. Add a new folder and name it “LBCS Activity”.
• On the Color tab (or at the bottom of the Left Side Tool menu), click the foreground colour to open the colour
picker. Use the Hex colour below to set the colour for each activity. Once you are done, go to the Swatch tab and
click add a new swatch. Give it a logical name.
o 1000 Residential activities: #FFFF00
o 2000 Shopping, business, or trade activities: #FF0000
o 3000 Industrial, manufacturing, and waste-related activities: #A020F0
o 4000 Social, institutional, or infrastructure-related activities: #0000FF
o 5000 Travel or movement activities: #BEBEBE
o 6000 Mass assembly of people: #2F4F4F
o 7000 Leisure activities: #90EE90
o Mixed use: pick a colour to represent multiple uses on one plot

6. Paint in the Activity colours as noted in your sketchbook

• From the Swatch tab, select the colour of the activity you want to depict and paint on the “Base Colour” layer using
one of the tools below. (Note: For this example the activities will be randomly selected, and do not necessarily
reflect the real activities. Your assignment should reflect the activities noted in your sketchbook in activity 4-SB)
• Some tools you can use while painting:
o Paint Bucket tool is located under the Gradient tool on the left side menu, then type “G”.
• Check the “All layers” box in the top tool menu so you can use the lines between buildings as outlines no
matter what layer you are on.
• The tool will paint where the small arrow pointer is pointing. If you click outside the blocks, nothing will
appear
o Brush tool [type “B”] from the left side menu, select.
• In the top tool menu, you can change the brush size [type “[“ or “]”] and hardness [type “Shift [“ or “Shift
]”]. You probably want a relatively small and hard brush for this.
• Hold the “Shift” key while painting to keep a straight line between clicks.
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o Eraser tool [type “E”] left side menu (middle)
o Zoom into the blocks so you can work in proper detail. Type “CTRL +” to zoom in and “CTRL -” to zoom out
(windows) / “Command +” and “Command –“ (mac)

• If you want to use the Street Level use approach used in the Montreal 1949 land use plan, create a new layer to
draw on top of the base colour, then use the Brush tool [type “B”] with the Shift key to draw a straight line along the
building face.
• Reminder: the colours in the example are randomly selected!!! Your assignment should use colours that reflect your
notes from Sketchbook activity 4-SB.
7. Adjust the other elements of the design
• To make this a little different from the figure ground images, let’s change the Colour Overlay on the Blocks and the
5-LAB Buildings All Subareas layers. Double click the “Color Overlay” on each layer to change. To keep these
elements subtle and emphasize the Activity colours, I chose two light grey tones:
o Blocks layer: #f2f2f2
o 5-LAB Buildings All Subareas layer: #e5e5e5
• If you want a better sense of how it will look on a white background, you can create a new Solid Colour layer using
the half mood icon (new Fill or Adjustment layer) at the bottom of the Layers menu. Choose white as the colour
and move it behind all other layers.

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8. Export PNG and JPG
• In the File > Export > Quick Export as PNG…. Save the file in your URBS250/5-LAB/Exports folder and name it “5-LAB
Land Use.png”
o (Note: If you want to keep a transparent background in the PNG, make sure to hide the Colour Fill layer)
• File > Export > Export As… For JPG, make sure Quality is set to High 7.
• Export to URBS250/5-LAB/Exports with the filename “5-LAB Land use.jpg”
• Save your changes to “5-LAB Land Use.psd”
9. Take a screenshot of your workspace
• Make sure to show: (1) your swatches; (2) your layers with mask on the LBCS folder;

STEP 4: Create a presentation file & submit

Present your files and workspace in a slide show, then export as PDF and submit via Moodle.
1. Create a slideshow with:
• Title page with your name, subarea, assignment number, and date.
o The title you call “Figure Grounds and Land Use” or something similar
• Slide for each image:
o Figure ground – blocks
• Heading
• File sizes for the JPG and PNG file
• Blocks colour overlayed with black
• Sketchup Logo removed; Scale bar present
• Image cropped
o Figure ground – buildings
• Heading
• File sizes for the JPG and PNG file
• Subarea buildings colour overlayed with colour of your choice
• All other buildings in study site have colour overlay in black.
• Blocks hidden; Sketchup Logo removed; Scale bar present
o Land use – Activities
• Heading
• File sizes for the JPG and PNG file
• All sub-area buildings coloured inside lines with their activity
• Other elements styled in a non-distracting way
o Screenshot of workspace for Land Use Activities file.
• Heading
• Image showing swatch menu with LBCS colours used in your project
• Image showing layers menu with mask applied to folder
2. Export as a pdf (save to your URBS250/5-LAB folder)
• Submit via Moodle in the 5-LAB assignment.
• This assignment is due 11pm the night before your next lab (6-LAB)

You’re done! Good work!

I hope this introduced you to a few useful techniques in Photoshop.

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