[Vince]

I’ve just combined the engineering layouts for my latest project so I can measures the drainage and external works – it’s made up of 21 A1 1:200 scale drawings!!!😂

[Vince]

Hi @Doug McLean – I’m not sure I follow what you are trying to do?

[Vince]

Hi @Roye

Have you tried going to Document then Page Set-Up?

From there it would appear that you can change the media size but I’m not sure if this will change your default properties for the future?

[Vince]

I use it to calculate the surface area of banks to ponds, etc and works really well.

With regards which axis it uses – I don’t think this matters. If you have a 10x5m plan area and then apply a 30 degree slope you should get the same area regardless of which side of the area you lift. Which I guess means they just increase the area using a formula without even considering the shape involved.

[Vince]

Great to hear that things are working @Doug McLean !

I also like the look of that Find / Replace as I ‘ve never used it before either – just working out what to try it on!

PQ is definitely the way to go with repetitive tasks. Although not related to Bluebeam, I’ve recently used it to reduce a weekly job that took >2 hours and now it can be done in about 30 seconds. Not only that but I get far more data out of it too!

[Vince]

I was just about to suggest that if the main item has a reference then you can add a text box with all of the details in. That can then be merged in PQ.

But sounds like you are already there!

[Vince]

I can see how this is going to get extremely complicated if you have a lot of options!

How do you identify the main item to which the option applies e.g. the door with an optional lock? Do you use a reference number for each door or is there just a total count for each type?

[Vince]

Any chance of sharing a picture of your mark-up list to help give a bit better idea of what you are trying to achieve?

[Vince]

Hi @David Cutler – I am trying to add some formulas with angles in them. The first one which is linked to the length works fine but as if I try to add another one then I get the above message.

However, I’ve now gone down the PQ route which is working rather well for my roofing (carpentry) take-off sheet.

[Vince]

Hi @tshump67

Ctrl + N then choose your word file and press Save.

However, if you already have the word file open then it is probably quicker to just print it as a pdf.

[Vince]

I have found my old book – it is called the Roofing Ready Reckoner and I probably haven’t looked at it for 25 years!

For every pitch it gives you all of the bevel cuts (seat, ridge, edge & side) for all of the roof members.

It then gives you the length of the rafters and hips based on the actual run of the rafter – that certainly brings back a few memories!!! 😆

[Vince]

Thanks @troy-degroot

I have the formulas somewhere for the hips, etc. so will dig those out.

As for manually adding to the labels – I don’t think I have the patience for that!😩

[Vince]

Thanks @troy-degroot .

Unfortunately the hips and valleys will be a a different angle / slope to the main roof area – the rise will be the same though. So I think it is going to be a case of some custom columns to do a few calculations.

The next question is – can you get Bluebeam to display the information from a custom column against a mark-up?

[Vince]

I have been thinking about a template for measuring the different elements of a cut & pitch roof.

I can see how some of the ‘pitch’ feature can be used for calculating the length of standard rafters (from a plan not section) but have you ever looked at whether Bluebeam can provide the lengths of a valley or hip?

[Vince]

@David Cutler I have measured some fairly large balancing ponds which have banks that are varying heights & shapes (a fixed slope angle though) and the measurements come out accurately.

In actual fact, when comparing the areas to those produced by someone else using a CAD based programme, the measures were basically identical.