crux

Takeoff by hand

Scale and calibrate

Set each sheet's scale, check it against a printed dimension, calibrate from a known length, and confirm a scale crux set.

Every square foot is measured length × scale², so a wrong scale makes every number on the sheet wrong at once. Scale is set per sheet: a plan set is never one scale.

The scale chip's menu: the scale the plan states, the standard scales, Calibrate two points and Check a dimension.The scale chip's menu: the scale the plan states, the standard scales, Calibrate two points and Check a dimension.
The scale chip's menu: the scale the plan states, the standard scales, Calibrate two points and Check a dimension.

The scale chip

The chip in the top bar (2 in the layout) shows the sheet's scale and its state:

ChipMeans
1/8" = 1'-0" · confirmed (green dot)Set and confirmed by a person. Ready to measure.
· confirm or · check (amber)crux set it from the drawing, or it disagrees with the scale printed on the sheet. Check it, then confirm.
Set scale (amber or red)No scale yet. Every measuring tool except Count refuses.

Click the chip for its menu:

  • Confirm agent-set scale: when crux set the scale. Check a dimension first, then confirm.
  • Revert scale (was …): right after a rescale, one step back.
  • From the plan: Plan says 1/8" = 1'-0" — use it: the scale read from the title block. Hover it to see a ruler drawn at that scale on the sheet before you pick it. ± means the sheet shows several scales: check it.
  • Standard: architectural (1/16" to 3" = 1'-0"), engineering (1" = 10' to 60') and metric (1:20 to 1:500).
  • Calibrate two points… and Check a dimension… (K).

After you pick a scale, a ruler appears on the sheet for a few seconds with the caption "a door opening is about 3′". If it looks wildly off, the scale is wrong.

Check a dimension

key K. Read-only: it checks the scale before you trace. Make it a habit on every new sheet.

  1. Press K, then click both ends of a printed dimension, the longer the better.
  2. The prompt shows what that span measures at the current scale.
  3. Type what the drawing says: 12.5, 12'6, 12' 6" and 6" all work.
  4. Read the verdict: green matches (within 1%), amber off (within 5%: re-check), red wrong scale (past 5%).
  5. Recalibrate to this turns the check into the sheet's scale.

Calibrate

Calibrate (the last tile on the rail, or the scale menu). For a sheet with no usable printed scale.

  1. Click both ends of something the drawing dimensions: use the longest dimension you can find.
  2. Type its real length (feet; meters in metric) and click Apply (or Enter).
  3. Backspace removes a misplaced click; Reset starts over. Both clicks must be on the same sheet.

Your own scale pick, calibration or recalibration counts as confirming the sheet.

Rescaling a measured sheet

Change the scale after tracing and every shape on that sheet is re-measured at once (counts keep their EA). Revert scale in the menu takes it back one step. A rescale clears the undo list.

ft or m

ft / m in the tool row switches every number on screen, the report and the exports between feet and meters. Display only: the takeoff itself never changes.

Common mistakes

  • Measuring before the scale is confirmed. An amber chip means crux set it and no person has checked it; the report marks that sheet's quantities as unconfirmed.
  • Calibrating on a short dimension. A small click error on a 3' span is a big error on the sheet; use the longest dimension.
  • A detail at another scale on the same sheet. The sheet's scale fits the plan, not the enlarged detail beside it: check the detail's dimension before you trust a trace there.
  • Two clicks on different side-by-side sheets. Check and calibrate on one sheet.