vault backup: 2026-04-16 17:07:54

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+---
+id: 2026-04-16T12:55:49-04:00
+aliases: []
+title: 2026-04-16 12:55:49
+tags:
+  - authorship/original
+  - destiny/permanent
+  - status/draft
+  - type/periodic/timestamped
+dg-publish: true
+date-created: 2026-04-16T12:55:49-04:00
+daily: "[[2026-04-16]]"
+weekly: "[[2026-W16]]"
+monthly: "[[2026-04]]"
+quarterly: "[[2026-Q2]]"
+yearly: "[[2026]]"
+---
+# 2026-04-16 12:55:49
+
+## Batch Creating Bluebeam Revu Length Measure Annotations
+
+I've been trying for years now
+to figure out how to batch create PDF markups
+understood by the Bluebeam Revu as length measurements.
+
+The most practical route I've found so far
+is to batch create polyline annotations through a PDF editing library,
+export these markups to Revu's XML based .bax format,
+edit the XML, then reimport the modified .bax file.
+
+### Converting a Polyline to a Bluebeam Polylength
+
+#### Export Markups
+
+Below is a .bax file for a single-page letter-sized PDF document
+with only two markups,
+one standard polyline,
+and one polylength measurement.
+
+```
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
+<Document Version="1">
+  <Page Index="0">
+    <Label>1</Label>
+    <Width>612</Width>
+    <Height>792</Height>
+    <Annotation>
+      <Page>1</Page>
+      <Contents />
+      <ModDate>2026-04-16T10:34:28.0000000Z</ModDate>
+      <Color>#FF0000</Color>
+      <Type>PolyLine</Type>
+      <ID>QYMFSTEOUXIEHCPW</ID>
+      <TypeInternal>Bluebeam.PDF.Annotations.AnnotationPolyline</TypeInternal>
+      <Raw>789c<!--HEX TRUNCATED--></Raw>
+      <Index>0</Index>
+      <Subject>PolyLine</Subject>
+      <CreationDate>2026-04-16T10:34:28.0000000Z</CreationDate>
+      <Author>zmeyers</Author>
+    </Annotation>
+    <Annotation>
+      <Page>1</Page>
+      <Contents>15'-7"</Contents>
+      <ModDate>2026-04-16T10:35:00.0000000Z</ModDate>
+      <Color>#FF0000</Color>
+      <Type>PolyLine</Type>
+      <ID>BMHFFZSZURMLPTRN</ID>
+      <TypeInternal>Bluebeam.PDF.Annotations.AnnotationMeasurePolylength</TypeInternal>
+      <Raw>789cad92d<!--HEX TRUNCATED--></Raw>
+      <Index>1</Index>
+      <Subject>Polylength Measurement</Subject>
+      <CreationDate>2026-04-16T10:34:50.0000000Z</CreationDate>
+      <Author>zmeyers</Author>
+    </Annotation>
+    <Scale>
+      <Page>1</Page>
+      <ID>RKEGIABVKDXPBWJP</ID>
+      <Raw>789c<!--HEX TRUNCATED--></Raw>
+      <Ratio>0.25 in = 1 ft' in"</Ratio>
+      <Index>-1</Index>
+      <X1>0</X1>
+      <Y1>0</Y1>
+      <X2>612</X2>
+      <Y2>792</Y2>
+    </Scale>
+  </Page>
+  <GlobalResources>
+    <Resource>
+      <ID>789cf37<!--HEX TRUNCATED--></Raw>
+    </Resource>
+    <Resource>
+      <ID>789c<!--HEX TRUNCATED--></ID>
+      <Raw>789c<!--HEX TRUNCATED--></Raw>
+    </Resource>
+  </GlobalResources>
+</Document>
+```
+
+#### Change `<TypeInternal>`
+
+Change the `<TypeInternal>` property of the polyline
+from `Bluebeam.PDF.Annotations.AnnotationPolyline`
+to `Bluebeam.PDF.Annotations.AnnotationMeasurePolylength`
+
+#### Change `<Raw>`
+
+##### Decode and Decompress
+
+Decode and decompress the value of the `<Raw>` property.
+
+> [!info]
+> The standard header `789c`
+> indicates the data is zlib-compressed binary,
+> encoded as hexadecimal.
+
+```python
+# decompress_hex.py
+import zlib
+import binascii
+import sys
+
+raw_hex = sys.argv[1]
+
+data = binascii.unhexlify(raw_hex)
+decompressed = zlib.decompress(data)
+
+print(decompressed)
+```
+
+The resultant text is a PDF object
+resembling the following:
+
+```pdf
+<</Vertices[161.8211 574.2108 279.8409 669.1133 407.5944 594.2863]/IC[1 0 0]/T(zmey...>>
+```
+
+##### Modify the Object
+
+Insert the following key-value pair:
+
+```
+/Measure/BBObjPtr_XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
+```
+
+where `XXX...` is the name of the Scale object.
+It may be most straightforward to copy this key-value pair
+from a manually created length measurement on the same page.
+
+##### Recompress and Reencode
+
+```python
+# compress_to_hex.py
+import zlib
+import binascii
+import sys
+
+text = sys.argv[1]
+compressed = zlib.compress(text.encode('utf-8'))
+hex_encoded = binascii.hexlify(compressed).decode('ascii')
+
+print(hex_encoded)
+```
+
+Replace the old value of `<Raw>` with the modified hex.
+
+#### Reimport Markups
+
+In the target PDF,
+open the markup summary,
+delete all markups,
+then reimport.