Takeoff Studio — User Guide

Takeoff Studio is a single-window quantity-takeoff workspace: open a drawing, set its scale, and measure Count, Linear and Area quantities that log automatically to a running ledger and export to Excel. Everything below matches the buttons you see on screen.

1 · Getting started (Home screen)

When Takeoff Studio opens you sign in, then land on the blueprint Home screen. From here you can:

• Start a new takeoff — type an optional project name, pick Imperial or Metric units, then Choose Drawings & Start ▶ to select one or more PDF sheets.
• Open a saved project — reopen a .tog file with all its colored markup intact.
• Recent projects — click any recent row to jump straight back in.

2 · The workspace

The window has three parts:

• Top toolbar — sheet picker, page ◀ / ▶, ✎ Rename a sheet, zoom − ＋ Fit, the Scale dropdown and ⚙ Calibrate, 🖶 Export ▾, 🗂 Overlays, 🏷 Zones, 🗒 Note, ▤ Legend, ❓ Guide, 🗂 Drawings ▾ (add or remove drawing PDFs) and 🗔 Project ▾ (New / Open / Save project — switch projects without restarting).
• Drawing canvas — where you measure. Your cursor is a thin black crosshair with a large surveyor target (open diamond + red center dot) marking exactly where a point will land.
• Right sidebar — the measurement mode, the current running quantity, the live takeoff ledger, and the pinned 📊 Create Excel Report / Save / Open / Close bar.

3 · Setting the scale

Every sheet keeps its own scale. Set it before (or right after) measuring so quantities compute correctly:

• Pick a scale — choose a standard scale (e.g. 1/4" = 1'-0") from the Scale dropdown if the PDF is a true full-size sheet.
• Calibrate — click ⚙ Calibrate, then click two points a known distance apart and type that distance. Use this when the sheet was plotted to fit or the scale is unknown.

4 · Zoom & pan

• Zoom — roll the mouse wheel toward the cursor, or use −/＋/Fit.
• Pan — hold the right mouse button and drag in any direction.
• Fine horizontal scroll — Shift + mouse wheel.

5 · Starting a takeoff

Click ➕ Start New Takeoff in the sidebar. The Name & Categorize Takeoff dialog appears — you enter everything up front:

• Description — e.g. "Carpet — Suite 200".
• CSI Code — optional, e.g. 09 68 00.
• Color — the markup color for this takeoff. The palette is a bold, high-contrast set so shades stay easy to tell apart on a busy drawing.
• Count symbol — the marker used if this is a Count takeoff (see §6).
• Area fill pattern — solid or a hatch (horizontal, vertical, diagonal ╱ / ╲, crosshatch, brick) used if this is an Area takeoff, so adjacent areas read as clearly different scopes even in similar colors (see §8).
• Line weight & style — for Linear takeoffs, pick the line thickness (1–6 px) and a solid, dashed or dotted style, so different runs (e.g. new vs. existing, demo vs. proposed) read distinctly (see §7).
• Categories — unlimited free-form tags (e.g. Phase 1, East Wing, a funding source…). A takeoff can carry any number; each tag becomes its own Excel tab whose total is the sum of every line item sharing that tag.

Then pick a mode and click on the drawing. Click ⏹ Stop Takeoff when the item is finished — it logs to the ledger automatically.

6 · Count takeoffs & symbols

In Count (EA) mode each click drops a marker and increments the count. Pick a count symbol in the Start-Takeoff dialog so different fixture types stay visually distinct on one sheet:

7 · Linear takeoffs, line weight & arcs

In Linear (LF) mode, click point to point and the segments chain together into a continuous run — 1 → 2 → 3 → 4… To start a disconnected run, double-click to "lift the pen," then click again; every run still adds into the same takeoff. For a curved wall, press A (or ⌒ Arc (A)) and click begin · middle · end — Takeoff Studio computes the true arc length and folds it into the run.

8 · Area takeoffs, perimeter & cut-outs

In Area (SF) mode, click the corners of a room; the region fills in live and the square footage updates on every click. Double-click to close a room, then keep clicking to add more rooms — ⏹ Stop Takeoff sums them all into one ledger item. Press A mid-boundary for a curved edge.

Cut-outs — subtracting islands, voids & openings

Real areas have holes in them: landscaped islands in a parking lot, a stair or elevator opening in a floor slab, an equipment pad you aren't paying for. Click ➖ Subtract Area (cut-out) to switch into deduct mode, click the corners of the hole and double-click to close it — its square footage is deducted from the takeoff and the label shows the net area.

There are two ways in, and both work:

• While you're measuring — draw the room, then press ➖ Subtract Area (cut-out) and draw the holes. Press it again to go back to adding regions.
• On a takeoff you already finished — select it in the ledger, then press ➖ Subtract Area (cut-out). Takeoff Studio reopens that takeoff for measuring and drops straight into cut-out mode, so your very next click starts the hole. Click ⏹ Stop Takeoff to re-log it with the deduction merged in.

The button turns gold and reads ➖ Subtracting (cut-out) — ON while the mode is active, and the mode resets after you Stop the takeoff.

9 · The takeoff ledger

Every finished takeoff appears in the TAKEOFFS ledger (description · quantity · unit), colored to match its markup, with running totals per unit. Click a row to highlight that takeoff on the drawing; click the colored markup on the drawing to select and edit it.

9b · Comparing drawings — overlays

Takeoff Studio can lay multiple sheets over one another so you can compare Architectural, Structural and MEP at a glance — coordinate clashes, sleeve locations, slab edges vs. walls, and more. First load the sheets with ➕ Add Drawing, then open 🗂 Overlays.

• Pick a sheet and click ➕ Overlay — it's traced over the sheet you're viewing in its own color. Add four or more overlays at once.
• Each overlay gets a distinct color; change it from the color drop-down on its row (Blue, Red, Green…). The base sheet keeps its original black linework so overlays stand out.
• Toggle any overlay on/off with its checkbox, or remove it with ✕. Overlays stay put while you pan, zoom and switch the base sheet.
• Align it if it doesn't register. Each overlay has its own controls: nudge ◀ ▶ ▲ ▼ (by the shared point step — 1/5/20/50), scale − / +, and ⟲ to reset. A live readout shows the current x/y offset and scale, so mismatched-size or shifted sheets can be dialed in to line up perfectly.

9c · Zones — tag an area to a donor / category

A zone tags every takeoff inside a region of the drawing at once — perfect when a donor funds one wing, a phase covers part of a floor, or a grant pays for a specific area. Zones belong to the sheet you draw them on (they don't appear on other sheets). Open 🏷 Zones to manage them; click ➕ New zone, then:

• Click the corners around the area (any shape) — it highlights as you go — and double-click to finish.
• Name the category / donor (e.g. Donor A) — it autocompletes from tags you've already used.
• Every takeoff whose markup center falls inside gets that tag (on top of any it already has). A translucent outline stays on the drawing, labeled with the tag.

Zones are fully editable from the Zones panel — each one has:

• Rename — type a new name in its box and press Enter (renames the tag on every takeoff it covers, and its Excel tab).
• Color — pick the zone's highlight color from the drop-down (Blue, Red…), like an overlay.
• ✓ Shown / Hidden — turn its highlighted outline on or off.
• ✎ Edit shape — then drag the square handles on the drawing to reshape/resize it; takeoffs that move in or out of the region are re-tagged automatically.
• ⧉ Copy to ▾ — copy the zone (same shape) to another sheet, e.g. a donor area that repeats floor-to-floor; that sheet's takeoffs inside it get tagged too.
• ✕ Delete — removes the zone and its tag from the takeoffs it covered.

Because a tag's value is the sum of its line items, Donor A has its own Excel tab that totals everything in that area — no manual selecting — and it stays in sync as you edit the zone. Zones are saved in the project file.

10 · Adding to an existing takeoff

Missed a room? You don't have to start over. Select the takeoff in the ledger and click ➕ Add More to Selected Takeoff. Its geometry reloads as the active measurement on its own sheet — keep clicking the extra rooms/walls/counts, then ⏹ Stop Takeoff re-logs it with the additions merged in.

11 · Editing colors, line style, patterns & symbols

Select a takeoff and click ✏ Edit (or double-click it, or click its markup on the drawing) to change its description, CSI, categories, color, count symbol, area fill pattern or line weight & style — changing the color recolors its markup. 🗑 Delete removes a takeoff and its markup.

11b · Drawing notes & labels

Click 🗒 Note to drop a text label on the sheet — handy to name a drawing with no title block, flag an assumption, or call out an area. A note box appears at the center of the view; type your text and drag it anywhere. Double-click a note to edit it again.

• Formatting — toggle Bold and a Border box, bump the text size, and pick a color.
• Alignment — set the note's text left, center or right (matters for multi-line notes).
• Background — a 0–100% opacity slider puts a translucent (or solid) box behind the note so it stands out over busy linework; click the swatch to pick the box color. 0% = fully clear.

Notes print and export with the sheet, so they're part of your defensible marked-up record.

11c · On-drawing legend (for prints)

Click ▤ Legend to drop a legend onto the current sheet that automatically lists every takeoff on that sheet — a color swatch, the description, and the quantity/unit for each. It's built for the moment you need to hand a bidder a printed drawing showing the takeoff trail instead of the Excel.

• Per sheet & toggle — each sheet has its own legend; click ▤ Legend to show or hide it.
• Move it — it drops into the top-right corner; drag it anywhere, like a note.
• Resize it — drag the gold corner handle to scale it up or down; the text wraps to the width so nothing is cut off.
• It prints — the legend exports and prints on the sheet (a normal page), and it's saved in the project file.

11d · Adding & removing drawings

Use 🗂 Drawings ▾ to manage the PDFs in the project without restarting:

• ➕ Add Drawing PDF(s)… — append one or more PDFs; their sheets are added to the sheet picker.
• 🗑 Remove a Drawing… — pick a loaded PDF from the list and remove it (and its sheets/markup) — the simple fix when you loaded the wrong set. The view re-anchors to a remaining sheet, or clears if none are left.

12 · Dimension ruler, auto-straighten & undo

• 📏 Dimension — lay a movable teal ruler between two points to check a distance. It locks horizontal or vertical as you draw (hold Shift for a free angle) with a live preview, and draws with architectural end marks (a perpendicular witness tick plus a 45° slash) and a feet-inch label. It is not a takeoff — it never appears in the ledger or Excel — but it does print/export on the sheet and is saved in the project.
• Auto-straighten — always on: near-horizontal / near-vertical moves lock to the axis automatically so walls and edges come out clean and orthogonal. Hold Shift to move freehand at any angle.
• ↶ Undo removes the last point/segment/arc (or zone corner); 🗙 Clear clears the active (unlogged) measurement.

13 · Saving & opening projects

💾 Save writes a .tog project file that stores your drawings reference, every takeoff, and all colored markup — including zones, notes, dimension rulers and legends. 📂 Open (or a Recent project on the Home screen) restores it exactly, so the marked-up drawing is your defensible record.

14 · Export, print & Excel

• 📊 Create Excel Report — one workbook with an Instructions tab, a By CSI sheet, plus a tab per category tag (e.g. Phase 1, East Wing). By CSI is the master: type Material / Labor / Equipment unit costs into the shaded cells there and the Extended Total calculates as Qty × (Material + Labor + Equipment). Category tabs link back to By CSI (grey cells) so pricing is entered once and flows everywhere — each category tab's sheet total is that category's value. Every sheet is grouped by CSI division with a division subtotal under each division and a sheet total at the bottom; the project name (top-right, editable) and date repeat on every printed page.
• 🖶 Export/Print ▾ — export the marked-up sheet as PDF or PNG, or choose 🖨 Print. Print first shows a Print Preview of exactly what will print; click Print there and the standard Windows print dialog opens so you can pick your printer and settings (wide sheets are auto-rotated and fit to the page). Exported and printed sheets show everything you see on screen — colored markup (with its line weight/style), quantity labels (area + perimeter), count symbols, notes, dimension rulers, the on-drawing legend, drawing overlays and zone highlights — so they're ready to drop into a client report or hand to a bidder.

15 · Imperial / metric units

Units are chosen on the Home screen and can be toggled in the toolbar. Imperial measures in feet/inches, SF and EA; metric measures in metres, m² and EA. Geometry is unaffected — only the scale factor and unit labels change.