Autodesk Takeoff: The Era of Connected and Accurate QTO Is Here Now!

DEEPAK MAINI: Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, wherever you guys are. Thanks for joining me in this Autodesk University 2022 class on Autodesk Takeoff, The Era of Connected and Accurate Quantity Take Off is Here Now! Just a quick introduction about myself. My name is Deepak Maini, I'm a qualified mechanical engineer. Been in the industry for over 23 years. I'm also a certified consultant and trainer.

Really privileged that I get to travel around the world and do talks at various conferences. Won several top speaker awards. Written a few books on programs such as navisworks, advanced teal, and so on. Outside my full time job I also do a bit of teaching at various universities locally within Australia, and overseas as well.

Now I want to start this class with some stats. And these are staggering numbers. The first one is, according to the consulting giant KPMG, only 31%, so only 31% of all construction projects come within 10% of their initial budgets. Only 31%. And based on a survey by QuickBooks, one in four construction companies. So let me repeat this. One in four construction companies would go out of business if they made just two or three inaccurate estimates.

Now these are staggering numbers. And as per 2019 construction technology report, contractors see estimating accuracy as one of the top five biggest impacts to the industry. Now this is good news for estimators because this means that estimators would always be in demand, however this also puts a lot of pressure on estimators. And the reason is because no matter what we say, no matter what technology we use, the estimators face several challenges today.

The top one is, no matter what technology we use as I mentioned earlier, most of the technology is only 2D take off process. And whether we like it or not 2D take off is really tedious. It's really time consuming. Now navisworks, which I must say, I love navisworks, allows us to create 2D as well as 3D takeoffs, however as much as I love navisworks, the fact is that the 2D and 3D takeoffs are disconnected, and navisworks would only allow 2D and 3D takeoffs if you are working with DWF X Files.

Now I can't ask for my big package to be in DWF X format. It's not going to work that way. And the most important thing is, estimators have to work on tight schedules. Lack of standardization is another big problem in most estimation organizations. And whether we like it or not, performing estimation or take off using apps, disconnected models using file sitting all over the place, are a big problem. And that lead to miscommunication, because you're not too sure which files do we need to work with. Is the big package, the latest big package, have they provided us another set of files? If they have, how do we move the existing takeoffs onto the new set of bid packages? It causes a lot of miscommunication in the industry, and within the organization as well.

So what's the solution? The solution is a comprehensive takeoff tool that allows estimators to perform accurate 2D as well as 3D takeoffs from a single source of truth, hosted on a common data environment, CD, as we call it. So the key phrases here are accurate and unify 2D and 3D takeoffs using a single source of truth. And that's where it comes into picture Autodesk Takeoff.

Hosted on Autodesk Construction Cloud, which is our common data environment, Autodesk Takeoff allows us to take off quantities from a single source of truth that's hosted on our Autodesk Construction Cloud project. So we are following two important factors here. Common data environment, and single source of truth for our quantity take off.

And the really cool thing is, Takeoff allows us to perform connected 2D as well as 3D takeoffs. And because it is a unified system, it improves takeoff accuracy. And not to mention at the end, we can export aggregated quantities, whether we have taken off quantities from the 2D PDF files, or 3D BIM data.

It also allows us to move takeoffs to a revised sheet. Now this is again really cool. And because it's a technical demonstration class, I'll show you demonstration of all these things. We do not live in an ideal world. So let's say I started performing takeoffs using a set of PDF files, but then I am provided a revised set of files. And this is where takeoff allows us to move existing takeoffs to the revised sheets automatically.

If we want we can restart takeoffs on the new set of sheets from scratch, but why would we want to do that? Why would we want to waste all the work we have done in the past on previous sheets? Now another really cool thing about Autodesk takeoff, and this is one of my favorites is, Autodesk takeoff allows us to Create Template projects that allow us to improve efficiency of takeoffs, but also promote standardization within our organization. And as I said, because it's a technical demonstration class, I'm going to demonstrate all these things on the software to you guys.

Now the other important thing about Autodesk Takeoff is, it allows us to perform takeoffs from 2D or 3D BIM data using five simple steps. Really simple five steps. The first one is, please, please, please make sure that you set up a template project and you start a new quantification using the template project. And the reason for that is because it allows us-- the template projects allow us to have our project units and classification systems already set up.

It also allows us to set up quantification or take off types. The whole idea is most of the system is already set up, and as soon as we start a new take off project using our template project we can straightaway start uploading big package to this takeoff project. Meaning uploading whether we've got the 3D BIM data in Revit or IFC format, or PDF files as 2D sheets. We can start uploading our package to the new project.

Now if required we can also add any additional take off type. So let's say our template project already has the standard take off types that we require. But if there are some specialized take off types, we can add them to the existing project. Again, what are take off types and so on? I will explain all these things in detail soon.

Then we can start taking off quantities using 3D as well as 2D sheets, and finally we can export the aggregated inventory, meaning combination of 2D as well as 3D takeoffs. And again, I'm going to show you a demonstration of all these things to you guys.

Now before I start getting into demonstration, I want to talk about handout and data set. For this class I actually wrote a 62 page handout that talks about setting up and using Takeoff from scratch. It talks about setting up Takeoff projects, configuring units and classification systems, uploading BIM data as well as 2D sheets, taking off quantities whether it's architectural or structural takeoffs, using BIM data or 2D sheets. I have discussed that in detail in this 62 page handout.

I've also talked about in detail about structural steel Takeoff to take off quantities of beams and columns and other stuff. And also one of my favorite is the 2D takeoff from PDF files, including calibrating sheets. And not to forget the plumbing takeoffs by searching the symbols of plumbing fixtures. Again, for things like electrical or plumbing, a lot of times we are provided PDF files. So how do we search for items such as toilets or sinks and so on? This is where Takeoff is really cool. It talks about symbol detection, that I'm going to demonstrate in detail, and I've covered that also in detail in this handout.

So please do not forget to download the 62 page handout that you can use as an absolute document to start your project, and to deliver your quantity take off project using Autodesk Takeoff. All right. So with this let's get straight into demonstrations.

The first demonstration I want to show you is to create a new Takeoff project. Now again, in this case, I'm going to show you how to create a new Takeoff project, but ideally you should be setting up a template project. To set up a template project all you do is you go into your Autodesk Construction Cloud account. Make sure that you are logged in as account admin, that I'll show you in a sec, and then from the left navigation you click on Project templates.

So the demonstration that I'm going to show you is to set up a standard project, but if you are setting up a template project the process is exactly the same. So in this case, notice that I am logged in as an account admin. And in this case from the projects panel I'm going to click on Create Project. I define the project name here. I'm going to define project number, and the other information about the project. So in this case, I'm going to use a hospital project as a template project or as a sample project here.

I don't have an existing template project. So I'm going to go past that. I'll add the project address. It's where my office is located. The start date of this project and the end date of the project. I can also enter a project value if I want. I can skip if I do not want to do that.

As soon as I do that a new project is added, as you could see, and I am added to that project already. Now in this case, I'm going to turn on the Takeoff product for myself which also turns on docs. And now I can go and add additional members of my team who need to help me or who also need to take off quantities with me on this particular project. So maybe my organization has myself taking off structural quantities, and from the same bid package you also have architectural documents, and I have got my colleague who needs to take off all the architectural quantities. So I can add my colleague here as a member to this project. How cool is this?

The next thing that I want to talk about is configuring project units and classification systems. Again, if we have a template project created, this will be included in the template project, meaning you will not have to perform this step every time you start a new project. All right, so what is a classification system? Let's try to understand this first.

A classification system is a catalog of categories and items that you want to take off on a project. It organizes items based on their codes, description, what level it is. For example, level A is substructure under which I've got level 2, which is Foundations. And into which I've got the actual quantities that I need to take off, which could be my standard foundations or special foundations or slab on grade, and so on.

You can use default classification system that the program provides you. Alternatively one of the really cool things about classification system is, Autodesk Takeoff allows you to download a template. So you can download a classification system template. You can then edit that template and you can import that template as the classification system for your project. So the whole idea is it allows you to make sure you enter the values in the format that Autodesk Takeoff wants you to. And let's take a look at the demonstration of this now.

From the product picker on the top left I'm going to go into Takeoff now. Once I'm in Takeoff on this homepage there are three things that I need to do. The first one is to set up a classification system, then upload files, and create Takeoff packages. Let's start with the first one. On this page here I can define my measurement unit. In this case these are Imperial units, and for classification system as I said I can use the sample one, or I can upload a customized one.

Now in this case, what I did was I downloaded a template by clicking here, and if I quickly show you the template, that's the template here. But I would define my codes. I would define the description. So top level are substructure shell interiors, services and so on. And then the substructure are things like foundation, standard, and especially foundation basement construction, and under shell I've got superstructure. I've got exterior enclosure. I've got structural steel, et cetera, et cetera.

The levels and the measurement units. So that's really important measurement units. All the details are available in the template. I'm not going to go into import customized system. I'm going to go into the folder and upload this customized Takeoff classification system. Once I do that, it's not listed here. I can also upload a system to as well, if I need.

Now this green tick mark here tells me that this has been completed. So this step has been completed. Meaning I define my classification system as well as the project units. Again, if you set this up in your template projects, you do not have to repeat doing this, or you do not have to repeatedly do this on every single take off project you start. All right.

Now the next one is to upload PDF files for 2D Takeoff. As I said, no matter how much we talk about BIM and digital engineering, we are always provided some set of PDF files for takeoffs. Most of the times these could be electrical or plumbing files, because maybe electrical and plumbing consultant did not create BIM data or 3D model in any form. So they provide us these PDFs files where we need to take off quantities which could be our plumbing fixtures, electrical fixtures, or plumbing pipelines, et cetera, et cetera.

Now a really cool thing about Autodesk Takeoff is, when we upload a PDF file into our system, the program automatically runs OCR, or optical character recognition, and it extracts sheet numbers and sheet titles for us. Again, as I mentioned in the past earlier, whenever we get a revised set of sheets, the program straightaway indicates that there are revised sheets or models available. And if you want, you can then migrate existing takeoffs to the revised sheets.

Alternatively, if for some reason you want to start the takeoff process from scratch on the revised sheets, you can do that. But why would you? As I mentioned in the past, why would you want to do that? You would want to just move the takeoffs to the revised sheets.

And as I mentioned earlier, takeoff tool then combines your 2D takeoffs from the PDF files, as well as 3D takeoffs from files, such as Revit or IFC, and the inventory shows a combination of these aggregated takeoffs. Let's take a demonstration of this. I've got some plumbing files, and I've got some architectural files provided to me. I'm going to go into the step 2 here and I'll say Upload PDF files. I can simply now drag and drop these files into this box here.

Now when I go to version number, the program will ask me to define the version set name, and the issuance date. So I'll say this package was issued to me on this date here. And now when I go into sheet numbers, the program runs optical character recognition and automatically extracts sheet numbers for me. Now on title syntax, because the sheets had A as a prefix in their sheet number, it knows these are architectural sheets. And now I can define the area from where I want to extract sheet title.

I'll simply drag a box into this title bulk region here, and I'll say this is where the sheet titles are sitting, and the program extracts the sheet titles from there. And now I can click on Publish sheets. As soon as I do that the program now publishes the two sheets. It extracts the sheet number and sheet title and also assigns architectural tags to these sheets. And similarly if I want to upload plumbing sheets, I'm going to grab these plumbing sheets here, drag and drop them into the box. Same thing, I'm going to add these to the same existing big package because my colleague needs to work on this. And it's now extracted all the sheet numbers.

And because the sheets had P in the prefix, it knows that they are plumbing sheets. I cannot define the area to extract the sheet title. Now the reason I had to do it separately for plumbing and architecture is because in the title block, the titles of the architecture sheets were sitting at a different location than plumbing sheets. Otherwise I could have just done them together.

So now I've got the architectural as well as plumbing sheets available. The green text for the version numbers show that these sheets were uploaded in last 72 hours. So this, again, is a visual indication to you as soon as you come to this page, if there are some revised sheets uploaded in last 72 hours. Again, the whole idea is to make things easier for you guys. Notice that I've got the right ties, I've got the right version sets, and also sheet numbers and sheet titles for these PDFs sheets.

The next thing is to upload 3D BIM data, which could be in Revit format or IFC files. So let's say on this project there's a structural consultant who is working on a program, and they only want to export IFC files. Or it could be the architectural consultant, they are only working on a program from which they want to export IFC files. So Autodesk Takeoff supports 3D take off from IFC files, or the native Revit files.

In this case, let's say I've got my 3D model available to me in the Revit format. So in this case, what I could do is I could simply upload that Revit file, and the advantage of this is that I can extract quantities straight from that intelligent BIM data. Because that way it automates the process of doing that. It saves a lot of time and improves the take off process.

The whole idea is that I'm taking off quantities from the intelligent BIM data, I know that there will be accurate quantities based on the information that I provide. I've been provided. It eliminates error of under or over coding. So you don't want to overcode because you don't want to miss the job, but at the same time, you don't want to undercode because if you undercode your company is going to lose money. I don't want to win a project and lose money on that, because it does no one any benefit.

Again, a really cool thing about Autodesk Takeoff is as soon as I take off quantities of any element, those elements then change their color to take off color. So again, the whole idea is it's a visual feedback to me telling me that the quantities of these elements have been taken off. Let's take a look at the demonstration of this to upload the 3D BIM data, I'll go to 3D models, upload model. In this case, as I said I've got my bid package that came with Revit files. So I can now go into Revit files and I've got architecture as well as structured Revit files.

I'll go open. The program starts the process of uploading Revit files into my project. Now once the files are uploaded I can click on Done. And these are the files available here. Notice that again the green V1 here tells me that these files were uploaded in last 72 hours. As I mentioned earlier, the whole concept is as soon as you come to this sheet and models tool on the left navigation it gives you a clear indication if there were some updated files uploaded for you guys.

This is version one, so it doesn't make any difference. But over the project's duration if there were some revised files uploaded, let's version three or four, having a green color gives me a clear indication that these files were uploaded in the last 72 hours. All right, so let's now talk about this really, really cool feature that we've got available in Autodesk Takeoff. It's called cluster view.

If we've got a 3D model in our big package, when we click on the 3D model it opens the 3D model in a 3D viewer, and at the bottom of that viewer there's a toolbar that has a button called form clusters. What this tool does is, it basically lays all the quantities of the model out for me for visual inspection based on their categories. So it groups all these elements based on the categories and it just lays them out for visual inspection for me. I can automate the model. I can zoom into them. I can click on any of these elements, and I can look at the properties of that as well, if I need to.

Clicking on that button again displays the assembled model. Let's take a look at the demonstration of this. So in this case, I'm going to go and open the architectural model, and it opens in this 3D view, and if I click on Form clusters button it now lays out the whole project for me based on their categories. So I can actually orbit the model, zoom close to any of these elements. If I for example go to this door section here, this is where I can easily see that these are all the types of doors I've got in my project.

Similarly I can go to beams, columns, et cetera, and if I go and click on this button again it assembles the whole model for me to have a look at. If I close out of it and go to the structure model, and if I press the form clusters button again, it lays out the whole structure model for me based on their categories. So I've got all these structural framing, I've got structural columns. If I go to structural framing, I can easily see that these are all the types of framings I've got. Similarly if I go into structure columns, it shows me all the types of structural columns I've got.

Every time I start a new project on Autodesk Takeoff, I always go to the 3D model, and go to this form clusters view to get an idea of the types of elements I need to take off. Makes it really easy for me to review them as well. How cool is this? I have never seen a program that does this with the 3D models.

All right, so let's now get to the third section on the Home page that we need to do, which is create take off packages. Again, if we had already included these in our template projects, we did not have to do this in this project, or you don't have to do it in any of the projects. So let's first understand what are Takeoff packages.

Takeoff packages are basically containers that store all the take off values related to a particular scope of work. For example, architecture. Architecture is a take off package where I'm going to have all my takeoff types and all my quantities in that package, because that's a scope of work.

On the same project I can have multiple scope of works. As I mentioned, let's say I've got a team of five people. I work on the structural takeoff, but I've got my colleague who works on the architecture take off on the same project. I've got my colleague who works on mechanical, electrical, plumbing, or whatever it is. And because it's the same project and my organization provides quantity takeoff and estimation for the whole project, I can have all the big packages included in the same project. And that's what these packages are, these are containers for each scope of work.

They can include a combination of 2D and 3D takeoff data, as I've been mentioning since the start of this session. As I mentioned earlier it allows multiple team members to work on a project together. It also means that, let's say just to take off architectural quantities I've got three of my colleagues working. They can work together on the same. Let's say a couple of them are taking off quantities from 2D PDF files.

A very good example in the architectural bid packages is a lot of times the 3D BIM data doesn't have the information about which area is carpeted area, which area is tiled area. So that process takes quite a bit of time. That's why I've got two of my colleagues working on that. But I've got the third colleague working on the architectural takeoff from 3D BIM data, which could be Revit files or IFC. So all of them can work together and save the time that requires for us to take off quantities.

Let's take a look at this process. So I go to the third section here. And I'll click on Create package, and it starts the process of creating a package. All I'm doing right now is just creating these containers. That's all I'm doing. Let's quickly grab a sip of water.

So as you can see, all I'm doing right now is taking off-- is creating these packages, take off packages, in which I'm going to then add my take off types, and all the take offs. All right, so once we have created our take off packages, the next step we need to do is take off types. Again, it could be included in the template projects, meaning I do not have to do it every time I start a new take off project.

Let's first understand what are take off types. Takeoff types are groups or items that you actually want to take off. So the quantities that you want to take off, those groups or items are called Takeoff types. These takeoff types are stored in the takeoff package. So as I mentioned earlier, in the architectural package I could have several take off types which could include BIM take off types. What are BIM take off types? These are the take off types that are extracted automatically from the BIM data provided to me in PD-- in Revit, or IFC format. So they are BIM take off types.

But I can also create 2D take off types that I'm going to talk about later soon. So BIM take off types are used to take off quantities from the 3D BIM data, which could be in Revit or IFC format. Now how do we know what are take off types do we need to create for a project? Again, this is where Autodesk Takeoff is absolutely amazing. And I get really excited about this.

What you can do is open your project BIM data. Again, as I said, it could be Revit or IFC files. Then go and open the model browser, expand the category that you want to take off, and it shows you all the elements in that category. So all the element types that you need to take off. In this case, if I look at basic walls. These are all the different types of exterior interior walls I need to take off.

And all I need to do is create these take off types. So I can then take off the quantities of these elements in that particular take off type. Let's take a look at the demonstration of this. I can go to packages from the left navigation or from the Home page, and now if I go to the architectural package I'm going to go into architectural model and open it. Open the model browser. And if I expand basic walls, these are all the several basic walls, that I need to take of the quantities from.

And now from the left navigation I'm going to go and say take off type, and I'm going to click on this button here that says Create take off type. The first take of time, I'm going to create is this one here. And it says it's a BIM take off type. I can now go and define my primary output details. That's the output name. And what classification system it needs, it is under shell exterior enclosure. These are exterior walls.

So that way in my inventory, it sits in the right category. I've defined the units. And I'm going to go and say save. It now creates this take off type that automatically will put all these takeoffs under the right classification. Next I want to create this metal on six inch metal stud, take off type, which is a BIM take off type. And again, I can add the details, and what classification, again, it's an exterior wall, under exterior enclosure, units of measure, and so on.

And similarly I could go into any of these take off types and I can go and create new BIM takeoffs types for those elements that I need to take off. In this case, it's a partition wall, and because the partition wall needs to go under let's say interior walls, in this case, I'm going to go and select classification system for interiors, interior construction. It's a partition wall. The units are in square feet and the quantity I want to extract are the areas.

And similarly if I go into the structural takeoff package, I can open the structure model. And again, if I go to the model browser, I can look at all the type of elements I need to take off starting with let's say structural framing. I can go and create W 21 by 50, BIM take off type. I can define the appearance, color, once I take off the quantities. And then the primary output I can go and say these are under shell, structural steel. The unit of measure is linear feet, and I want to calculate the length, or I want to take off the length of these elements.

And this way I can create take off types for all of these framing, columns, floors, concrete floors, concrete columns and all these things. So these are called Takeoff types. Again as I mentioned earlier, Takeoff types are nothing but the groups or elements that we want to actually extract the quantities of. That way when we are exporting our inventory, it will tell us the quantity of W21 by 50 that we require on this project. How cool is this?

All right, let's now talk about 2D takeoff types. Again, let me just quickly grab a sip of water. So 2D area take off types are one of the most commonly used 2D takeoff types on any takeoff project. So what are 2D area takeoff types? As I said, basically no matter how much we talk about BIM and digital engineering, we would always have bid packages which will include PDF files, and area takeoffs are one of the most widely performed 2D takeoffs because they allow us to define regions that could be carpeted or tile or wooden flooring or whatever it is.

Now again, a really cool thing about Autodesk Takeoff is when we are creating these take off types, we can actually create formulas. So whenever I'm taking a 2D takeoff, whether it is for tiles or carpet, there is a waste of, let's say, 15%. So I can say my actual takeoff value is the measured area times 1.15. Which basically caters for 15% of wastage on that project.

All right, so as I mentioned earlier, and I keep saying this because I get really excited about this. My final inventory will show me a combination of 3D takeoff as well as 2D takeoff. Let's start with the architectural package here. I'm going to go and create take off type and this time I'll go and say carpet type A, and this is a 2D area take off. I define the fill color, and I can add details here. It's carpet type A. It's interior construction, interior finishes, floor finish.

I'm after square feet as the value, and I can now go and define the formula which for this tile carpet area, which means it gets me the measured area value times 1.15. So as I mentioned earlier, 15% wastage. I'll go save and it creates this 2D take off type.

Similarly I'll go and create another one called tile type A. Again area take off, fill color, and add details, I'll just copy this name here. Classification system, again, it's interior finish, floor finish. And the formula is the measured area value times 1.15.

Now in this case, I've created the area takeoff for my 2D takeoffs. You could do the same thing for things like skirting. You could do the same thing for when you're got PDF files for let's say plumbing, and you want to calculate the pipes. You could do that for linear measurements as well.

All right, the next one is count takeoff. Again generally used for counting elements in a 2D PDF file. So count take off types are used to count items in 2D PDF files. These are handy for fixtures such as plumbing or electrical fixtures, or even mechanical equipment. Let's say we have not been provided 3D BIM data for mechanical. And I want to find out how many VIVs do I have, or how many let's say vent of a particular types I have, for that I can create these count takeoffs.

Now once you create a count takeoff you can manually click on elements or the items to count. Or alternatively you can perform symbol detection. I'm going to show you a demonstration of this. One of my favorite features when it comes to PDF takeoffs of fixtures.

All right, for this I'm going to go into plumbing, and I'm going to go and create takeoff type. I'll call it a sink wall mounted. Excuse me. It's count, and I can add details just like what I did in the previous one. Classification system it's in the services, plumbing, plumbing fixture.

Similarly I could do it for other features I need to count which could be in this case toilet. Again, output name is this here, classification system under services, plumbing, it's a plumbing fixture, it's a count, and save. And lastly if I want I could do it for other things as well. It could be in the plumbing, or it could be under electrical. Totally up to you guys.

So these are the really important take off types that we need on a project. But let's say we started a brand new project using our project templates that already had all these take off types created. But on this particular project, I also want to create another take off type which was not included in the template project, but I know that I created it on an existing project that I did for the same customer a little while back.

So Autodesk Takeoff allows me to import these take off types that cannot be included in my current project template. But as I mentioned, I did a job for this same customer. And I know that I created that take off type on that project. So I can simply import that take off type from that existing project.

Now till the time the classification systems match, it automatically will place the imported take off type in the right category. Let's take a look at the demonstration of this. I'll go to the architectural take off package. I'll go under take off types and click on this import take off types. It allows me to select the project. I'll go and pick the project, in this case, is this one here. It says what take off project you want, to or package you want to import it from, and the take off type.

In this case, I want to bring in only the partition walls, which is this one here. So I'll select this. Alternatively if I wanted to import all of them, I could do that as well. I'll click Import. It now imports this interior partition, wall and because the classification systems of both the projects match, it puts it in the right category for me. How cool is this? So this is how we can import these take off types.

All right now we've got our project set up. We've got our takeoff packages created. We have got our take off types created. We have uploaded bid packages onto the project. Let's now start talking about performing some takeoffs.

So most of the stuff that I've shown you as of now could have been included in a take off project template, except for uploading PDF files and 3D BIM data. So this is where I mentioned earlier, Autodesk Takeoff saves you so much time and standardizes the project for you, if you have got template created with all these settings. So now we've done all that, let's start talking about performing some takeoffs.

I'm going to start with some architectural takeoffs, and I'll show you taking off quantities of walls and doors from the intelligent BIM data. For that I'm going to go into take off package. I'll click on the architectural takeoff package. And I'll open the architecture Revit model that I have been provided as part of my bid package. Now I'll go take off types. And because I'm in the architectural take off package, it only shows me the architectural take off types. I'll expand model browser, expand basic walls.

And as soon as I click on a particular wall type, the program isolates those wall types. And this is the really cool thing. I'm going to click on one of the walls. And I'll go and select all these walls. The program automatically selects all these walls for me. I'm now going to this take off type I've created, and I'll say take off BIM objects. It gives me the element count as well as the total quantities, and changes these elements to the takeoff color. How cool is this?

Same thing with these exterior walls. I'll pick one of these walls here, right click, and just select all exterior walls. The program goes and selects all these walls, so I cannot make a mistake. I'll go to that take off type from my list here. I'll click on it. It gives me the count of elements and the total take off value right there in front of me. The program also change color to-- or the element change color to the take off color.

Similarly I could go to other elements here. Let's say this one here, I'll pick one of these walls, right click, Select All of them. And then go to that take off type from the list, and I'll go and say take off BIM quantities. How cool is this?

Now if I look at the inventory after taking off all these quantities, it shows me that I've taken off all these exterior walls. These are all the wall types I've taken off. The instances and the total quantities. I can click on any of these items here. It shows me that these are the 49 walls I had taken off. I could select one or all of them. I could delete these quantities if I need to. I can also reassign these to another take off type. I can assign location, if I have my location defined on the project. I can also go into effect to view that I'll explain shortly what fit to view does.

So this is how we can take off quantities of walls, whether they are interior or exterior walls, from the intelligent BIM data. The idea is we are not going to make a mistake on taking off quantities. Similarly I want to take off quantities of things like doors and windows. So if I expand windows in model browser, I'll go to this particular type of window. I'm going to pick one of these windows, right click, Select All of them. The program goes and picks all these window types. And because I only need to count these windows, I'm going to go into this take off type, and I'll go and say take off BIM objects. It gives me the count.

Similarly if I go to the next window type here, which is this one here, pick one of these windows, right click, Select All. Go to that window type in the take off types list, and take off quantities. Again, I just need the count.

Same thing with doors. So if I go to this door type here. Pick one of the doors, and then go and select all of these because these need to go under interior doors of this type here. So pick this door, right click, Select All. Go to that particular door type under interiors, and take off quantities. How cool is this process?

Again, the whole idea is, as I mentioned earlier, we will not make a mistake in quantities because we are extracting the information from the intelligent BIM data that we have been provided as our bid package. So this is how we can take off quantities of doors, windows walls, whether exterior or interior walls. All right.

The next really cool thing I want to show you is creating take off types on the fly. Again, let's say our take off template project did not have a particular take off type that we want you to create. And we have never created that in the past. So I can also create those take off types on the fly as I am taking off the quantities. Let's in this case, I have some partition interior walls that I have not created as take off types.

So in this case, what I could do is go to that particular interior wall. In this case, this one here, pick one of them, right click Select All interior walls of that type. And now from take off type panel on the top left I could go and say Create take off type. It automatically knows the name of the elements I want to take off. I can modify the name, I can put it in the right classification system. I want the square feet as the value. A formula I want is the area. And I can now simply click on Start take off, and I can take off the quantities.

So not only I've created a take off type on the fly, I've also started taking of the quantity straight away as well. And it knows that it is a BIM take off type in this case. How cool is this? So this is how we can very easily take off quantities from our BIM data that we have been provided as part of our bid package.

All right, so this is fine. The only thing that was missing in this architectural takeoff was, I was not specified what flow types do we have. For flow types we have been provided sheets of different levels. So in that case, I want to take off quantities from PDF sheets. But the first thing we got to do with those PDF sheets is to actually calibrate them. Every time you open a PDF sheet the first thing you will notice is it says that scale of this sheet is not defined.