Use Smart Area, Smart Linear and Smart Count

Smart Area, Smart Linear and Smart Count read a vector PDF's drawing data and suggest takeoff from one click or one box: matching hatched regions, lines in one pen, or copies of a symbol. You review each suggestion before adding it.

What it's useful for

A site plan hatches every concrete pad in one pattern, so one click on a pad suggests the others.
Pavement striping or a fence line is plotted in its own pen across a long sheet.
A utility sheet shows the same manhole block at every structure, some of them rotated.

Pick up hatched areas with Smart Area

Each Smart tool adds into a condition: a named, colored measurement group with a unit.

On the Takeoff tab, click Smart Area.
If Assign a condition opens, pick an area condition or click New area condition.
Click inside one hatched or shaded region on the sheet.
Wait for Reading vector fills…; the clicked region is added and matching regions show in red.
Click each red suggestion you want; right-click one to dismiss it.

One click inside a hatched ramp adds that ramp and the bar reads 10 suggested, then two of the red suggestions are clicked in.

Collect plotted lines with Smart Linear

A pen is the stroke color and line width the drafter plotted with. Unlike Smart Area, the first click adds nothing.

Click Smart Linear and pick or create a linear condition.
Click directly on one plotted line, such as a curb or fence.
Every run drawn in that pen shows as a dashed red suggestion.
Click each run you want to add; right-click strays to dismiss them.

Count repeated symbols with Smart Count

Smart Count takes the vector paths inside your box as the symbol; lines running through the box and out, such as a pipe, are left out. Copies already counted in the condition start as added, so Add all does not count them twice.

Click Smart Count and pick or create a count condition.
Drag a box tight around one whole symbol, such as a manhole.
Wait for Finding matching symbols…; copies in the same pen show in red, including rotated or mirrored ones.
Click a copy to add it, or click Add all N to [condition name] to add every open copy.
Right-click strays to dismiss them, then drag another box for the next symbol.

Review and clear suggestions

Red means suggested; nothing in red is in your quantities until you click it.

Click Restore N dismissed to bring dismissed suggestions back.
Click the same hatch or line again, or box the same symbol, to restore its dismissals.
Click Clear to remove the remaining red suggestions; added takeoff stays.

Limits and checks

Smart tools read the PDF's own vector data. Scanned, flattened and satellite sheets have none, so nothing will be found on them.
Results depend on how the drafter built and exported the sheet, with one consistent fill or pen per material.
Expect strays and misses: leaders and match lines can share a pen with the line Smart Linear collects, and look-alike symbols join Smart Count. Dismiss strays, look for misses, and check every suggestion before you price it.
The Smart tools need an estimator seat. Smart Area and Smart Linear also need a set sheet scale; Smart Count does not.
Smart Area leaves very small regions out of its suggestions (the region you click is kept unless it is a thin sliver) and suggests at most the 60 largest regions per click. Click a region it skipped to add it.
Smart Linear stitches dashed lines together by guesswork, ignores runs shorter than 1.25 inches of paper, and suggests at most the 400 longest runs per click.
Smart Count needs the whole symbol inside the box and nothing else. A box wider or taller than 6 inches of paper returns That box is bigger than a symbol.
Smart Count only finds copies plotted in the same pen as the boxed symbol: the same stroke color and line width. Copies plotted in a different pen are not found.
Smart Count does not find symbols drawn as text characters, and it can miss copies buried in hatching drawn in the same pen.
Smart Count stops at 500 matches per box, or when a search runs long. The bar then adds search stopped early, and some copies may be missing.

Questions

Does Smart Area work on scanned plans?

No. Smart Area, Smart Linear and Smart Count read the PDF's vector drawing data, and scanned, flattened and satellite sheets have none. Use the manual Area, Linear and Count tools on those sheets.

Will Smart Count find every symbol on the sheet?

Not always. It misses copies in a different pen, symbols drawn as text characters and copies buried in same-pen hatching, and it can stop early on a large search. Look for misses before you price the count.

Does Smart Count need a sheet scale?

No. Counts do not use the scale, so Smart Count runs on an unscaled sheet. Smart Area and Smart Linear need the scale set first.