Introduction

The Add Bitmap function allows you to add standard Windows bitmaps to your designs. These can be scaled from the properties of the bitmap, so they can be used as a traceable image if they're set to be not selectable.  There are, however, some limitations on what you can do with them.

Details

Bitmaps can be added to the design on any layer. You can then print or plot them out on any standard Windows printer by selecting Windows as the output device.

However, bitmaps cannot be output to Gerber plot files. This is because bitmaps are 'raster' (dot) images, and Gerber is a vector ('line') format. There is no way to represent bitmap images in Gerber files.

The implication is that bitmaps cannot be used for company logos on pcb designs.  It's necessary to obtain a copy of the logo in DXF, which IS a vector format which can be imported and scaled, so it provides a method for using logos on pcb designs.