You can display an image in the background of the Sketcher to help you draw and align objects in your sketch. This image can be positioned in any location in the Sketcher background and can be stretched or compressed horizontally or vertically. When you resize the viewport, ABAQUS/CAE resizes the background image proportionally.
The Sketcher background image appears in the Sketch module only. You can also display a different image that appears in the viewport background in every ABAQUS/CAE module, including the Sketch module; see “Working with background images and movies in viewports,” Section 4.6 for more information. When both the Sketcher and the module-wide background images are toggled on, ABAQUS/CAE displays the Sketcher background image on top when you enter the Sketch module.
Before you can display an image in the background of the Sketch module or any other module, you must add the image to your ABAQUS/CAE session. To add an image from the Sketcher Options dialog box, click Create; then enter a name for the image and provide its location. Images in your session are available in all modules and persist for your session only; they are not saved to the model database or output database.
ABAQUS/CAE supports background images in the following formats: Bitmap (.bmp), PNG (.png), TIFF (.tif), XPM (.xpm), PCX (.pcx), ICO (.ico), TGA (.tga), and RGB (.rgb).
To display and customize images in the background of the Sketcher:
From the bottom of the Sketcher toolbox, select the Sketcher options tool 
.
The Sketcher Options dialog box appears.
Click the Image tab.
Toggle Show image to display or hide the Sketcher background image.
Select an image file to display:
To display an image that has been defined in your session, expand the Image name list and select the image name.
To add a new image, click Create; then enter a name and specify a file location in the dialog box that appears. You can either enter the file location directly in the File Name field or click Select to navigate to it in the Select Image File dialog box.
Stretch or compress the background image using one of the following techniques:
Scaling the image along either axis
You can stretch or compress the Sketcher background image by specifying X scale and Y scale values. When these scale values are equal to 1 (the default value), the image retains its original scale. You can increase the scale value to stretch the Sketcher background image along the selected axis, or you can decrease the value to compress the image along the selected axis.
Calibrate image size
You can scale the size of the Sketcher background image by calibrating the distance between two points on the image. Click Calibrate, click two points in the viewport; then enter in the Prompt area the desired distance between the two points.
After you calibrate an image, ABAQUS/CAE reflects the changes in the X scale and Y scale fields.
Reposition the Sketcher background image using one of the following techniques:
Enter the Sketch coordinates to which you want to move the lower left corner of the Sketcher background image into the Origin X and Origin Y fields.
Click Pick, then click a point on the Sketcher background image.
ABAQUS/CAE moves this point of the image to the grid origin and populates the Origin fields with the new origin location.
Drag the Translucency slider to the level of translucency with which you want to display the Sketcher background image. Background images are opaque by default, and you can select a value from 0.00 (transparent) to 1.00 (opaque).
Click OK to apply your changes and to close the Sketcher Options dialog box.
