Tutorials TakeoffCraft help Walkthroughs
Measure linear runs
Take off walls, piping, trim and other lengths as runs, with straight segments, arcs and the Shift 45-degree snap.
Written for TakeoffCraft 0.3. The same help is inside the app: press F1.
A linear item measures length. Each run is a chain of points: straight segments, and arcs where you turn arc mode on. An item can have any number of runs on any number of sheets.
Before you start: the sheet needs a scale (Set the scale) and you need a linear item (Create takeoff items).
Draw a run
- Click the linear item under Items.
- Choose Linear in the toolbar, or press LL.
- Click the start of the run.
- Click each corner along it. The status bar shows "Length" (the run so far, to the pointer) and "segment" (the segment you are drawing), in feet and inches.
- Finish the run: double-click the last point, press ReturnEnter, or right-click. The run is drawn in the item's color and becomes the selected mark. The item's length in the Items list and the Quantities table goes up.
The tool stays on Linear, so you can start the next run straight away. Press EscEsc to go back to Select.
While drawing:
- DeleteBackspace (or fn DeleteDelete) removes the last point.
- EscEsc throws the unfinished run away.
- Dragging pans the sheet and the wheel zooms, without adding points.
Mac
On a Mac trackpad, right-click is a two-finger click (turn on secondary click in System Settings, under Trackpad). TakeoffCraft reads only the secondary button, so a Control-click may be taken as a plain click and add a point. Double-click or ReturnEnter always finish.
Touch
On a touch screen, tap to place points and drag one finger to pan. To finish, double-tap the last point in browsers that turn a double tap into a double-click, or press ReturnEnter on a keyboard. There is no long-press menu. See Troubleshooting.
Straight lines at 45° steps
Hold ⇧Shift while you place a point. The segment from the last point snaps to the nearest 0°, 45°, 90° or 135° direction, keeping the length you dragged along it. The status bar reminds you: "Shift snaps to 45°".
The snap does not apply to arc points (below).
Arcs and curved walls
- While drawing a run, place the point where the curve starts.
- Turn on arc mode: choose Arc in the toolbar or press RR. The button stays pressed.
- Click any point on the curve, somewhere along the middle of it. The status bar adds "(arc: click where it ends)" and the preview bends through your point.
- Click where the curve ends. The arc is added. Its length is the exact arc length, not a string of short chords.
- Click another point on the next curve and its end to keep drawing arcs, or press RR again to go back to straight segments.
DeleteBackspace or EscEsc first drop the pending point on the curve; press again to remove points as usual.
Look at a run's details
Choose Select (VV) and click the run. Selected mark on the right shows:
- the item it belongs to (pick another linear item in the list to move the run there),
- the sheet,
- Length in feet and inches and in LF,
- the number of Segments, and the Wall area when the item has a height,
- each segment's length, with "(arc)" after arcs.
On the sheet, each segment of the selected run is labeled with its length.
Fix a run
- Move a point: select the run, then drag one of its square corner handles. Hold ⇧Shift to snap the moved segment to 45° steps. An arc keeps its curve.
- Delete a run: select it and press fn DeleteDelete, choose Delete in the toolbar's More menu, or Delete mark in the panel.
- Undo: ⌘ZCtrl+Z; redo with ⌘YCtrl+Y.
You cannot insert a point in the middle of a run or deduct a part of it yet. Delete the run and draw it again.
Wall area
Give the linear item a Height (for example 9'-0"). It then reports Wall area (A) = length × height, in SF (or m² for a metric item), and the wall area goes into the notes column of the spreadsheet export. Use it in assemblies for board, paint or insulation: see Assemblies and formulas.