[Vince]

I have a monthly reminder to do a complete backup of Bluebeam – not had to use it yet but don’t want to risk somehow losing all of thse profiles.

[Vince]

I use custom tools in order so the markup reflects the items being counted.
As for the method of counting that depends on how many items there are as well as item being counted – things like road gullies on a large housing site will be done via visual search whereas piles to a house or block of flats will be done manually.

[Vince]

Learn the basics then experiment. You may have a specific output that you are initially trying to generate but, if you do those two things first, then you might discover that you can produce a whole load of extra data that will help you, all with very little or no extra input.

[Vince]

Hi David,

Yes, it does appear to be rather good.

I’m using it to offset oversite areas for pile mats – mark up the oversites but if they are closer than say 3m use a ‘thin’ area to join them together. Then simple ask Bluebeam to offset by whatever distance you want and create a new markup. The can then be changed to the piling mat tool with the magic wand.

Very quick and also very accurate!

[Vince]

I’ve heard early June but that may just be here in the UK.

I know that the integration with Claude has been talked about a lot and appears to be very useful – I’ve tested it on creating things like manhole schedules, etc., I think some of the other tools are going to be the most important for anyone doing take-offs.

Offset, duplicate, etc. all saved me so much time when I was using the Beta version.

[Vince]

I use Microsoft To Do – with working for lots of different people there are so many tasks to remember but To Do works really well.

[Vince]

Hi @DavidCutler – yes – at the 2:00 mark I’m using the magic wand to change the new perimeter markup into the kerbs from my Tool Chest.

[Vince]

It will change all of the information to that of the new tool @DavidCutler .

Therefore, you have to be careful of one thing – if you have already entered any information into custom columns then this will be lost.

This is a small price to pay for everything else being changed in one go though.

I’ll try to do some demos of how I’m using this feature soon.

[Vince]

@DavidCutler I have tried out a couple of other things as well using Claude – some work but some don’t.

One interesting one, I asked Claude to look at a set of duplicated markets in a 60 page (well that is what I think it was) document. Then, after pointing to the open file, I used a line of code as follows: –

“With the “Area Measurement” markups, any that are within a Space ending with ” – PILED” need to be changed to “Ground Beams – Type 1” markup and the remainder want to be changed to the “Foundation Footprint” markup.”

It worked!

[Vince]

I’m on 21.9 but haven’t had an issues like this so far.

[Vince]

I’ve not come across any issues with 21.9 @DavidCutler but, as Doug has also said, I’m using the Max beta.

[Vince]

I think that the move away from ‘standard’ types to virtually everything being bespoke is a universal thing now.

Here in the UK we have housing developers building large schemes – 100 to 1,000 or more homes on a scheme. 20 years ago, each developer would have a set of standard housetypes (less than 10 I would say) with maybe the odd change to elevation treatments but nothing major.

Today, if I get a package for the brickwork on 100 houses, I could well have to measure them as 70+ different housetypes due to changes like windows in different positions, bays being added to the sides of houses, feature courses being added to the brickwork, etc..

It really is becoming a bit of a pain and to make matters worse, no one really acknowledges that this adds so much time to the tendering process.

[Vince]

I do get a lot of people contacting me and asking if they can have my tools, profiles and spreadsheets – and I mean a lot!

[Vince]

I wouldn’t hold you breath on this one @DavidCutler !

[Vince]

I quite often swap between the two @DavidCutler when I look at room sizes in houses. I use feet and inches when I look at the actual size of the room, the door sizes, etc. but when it comes to measuring things like skirting boards (base boards?), architraves, etc. then I do that in metres.
I guess that’s what comes from doing a Carpentry & Joinery apprenticeship in the late 80’s!