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Creating Custom Measurements for Onscreen Quantity Takeoffs
Bluebeam’s built-in measurement tools allow GCs and subs to count quantities, calculate length, area, perimeter, diameter, angle, and volume - making onscreen quantity takeoffs easier than ever. Most of you know how simple it is to create and add new tools and symbols to your Tool Chest for re-use and improving your workflow, but what you may not know is that this can also be done with Bluebeam’s measurement tools. By utilizing the Tool Chest, you are able to create and store custom measurements that reflect the subject, appearance and values for the different types of takeoffs that you constantly perform.
Create Custom Measurements
Open or start a new PDF file in Revu. The content of the PDF and the placement of the measurements are not important because the goal of this exercise is to create and add tools to your Tool Chest. In this example, we’ll create three Length markups for three different heights of drywall. These same basic steps can also be used with other measurement types.
- Click the Measure Tool button, then click the Length button in the Measure toolbar
- Create a short Length. This is just an example, so you can place the Length randomly on the PDF
- To copy the Length measurement, right-click on the measurement, select copy, right-click again, and select paste. Paste the measurement onto the PDF twice so that you have three Lengths
- Select the first Length
- Open the Properties tab (indicated by a symbol at the top of the measurements tab)
- In the Subject field of the Properties tab enter “6’h Drywall”
- Leave the Color as red
- Select the second Length
- Change the Subject to 8’h Drywall
- Change the Color to green
- Select the third Length
- Change the Subject to 12’ Drywall
- Change the Color to blue
Changing the Subject from “Length Measure” to “Drywall” does not change the fact that these are all Length measurements.
Add Custom Measurements to the Tool Chest
Now, add the three customized Measurements to the Tool Chest so they can be re-used across sessions.
- Right click on the blue Length, then click Add to Tool Chest, then My Tools
- Repeat for the green and red Length measurements
You can also create custom tool sets within the Tool Chest to further organize your custom measurements.
- Under View, select Tool Sets, Manage Tools Sets
- Select Add from the Manage Tool Sets dialog box
- Make sure that the tool set is indicated as new, then type in the name of the new tool set you are creating, such as “Drywall”
- Click OK
- To add your custom measurements to your new tool set, simply click on the measurement in My Tools and drag it into your new tool set
Storing custom measurements in your Tool Chest with different predefined subjects, colors, and values also allows you to use the sorting capabilities within Revu’s Markups List. You can sort the Markups List to identify specific measurements based on their subject, and defining a color for each measurement gives you visual feedback that each measurement has the correct subject and values. This simple process allows you to easily check your work, generate more accurate takeoffs and win more bids.
To learn more about organizing your takeoffs using Bluebeam’s custom measurement tools, watch "Custom Measure Tools" from Bluebeam University.
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