Do a Job · Everyday · 6 min
Count every one of a symbol, across all the sheets
Point at one symbol and have every other one found, on this sheet or the whole set, with each doubtful match shown for you to check.
Counting forty rooflights by hand is forty clicks and a recount. Each one on a CAD drawing is the same set of lines repeated, so the program can find them all from one example. You see what it found before anything is counted.
On a normal (vector) drawing
- Press G for Count every one.
- Move over one of the symbols. Every other one that’s drawn the same way lights up on the sheet, and the label says how many.
- Click. If the file has more than one sheet, a window opens so you can choose where to look; with one sheet it counts straight away.
- Choose This sheet or All sheets. Each sheet is listed with how many were found; untick a sheet to leave it out.
- Press Create counts. You get ordinary counts that you can move, delete, add to and put into a take-off group.
How alike
By default only symbols drawn exactly the same, at the same size, are counted. A copy at a different size is usually a different product, so it isn’t counted. Turning is allowed (the same rooflight is drawn turned all over a roof), and you can switch that off in the window when a left-hand and a right-hand unit must stay apart.
If some copies were redrawn by hand and are a little different, choose Very close or Roughly under How alike. Now every match that is not exact appears as a small picture with your example in grey and the match over it in colour, with how far out it is. Untick any that aren’t the same thing.
Areas: legends and title blocks
A legend shows one of each symbol, and a title block can hold a logo that looks like the symbol. Choose Leave out an area… and drag a box round it, or Only inside an area… to count in one place only. The window steps aside while you draw, and the total says how many an area took out.
On a scan
What it records
Every count made this way records how it was found (a vector match), how alike you allowed, how many weren’t exact and were checked by eye, any areas you used, and how many you ticked off. That sits on the count, so months later you can see where the number came from.
In DatoMark Count every one