Area Takeoff: Overlap Subtraction & Circle/Ellipse Tools
I have two feature requests that would make Area takeoffs easier:
- Optional Subtract From Existing Area
- When drawing a new Area over an existing Area, it would be useful to have an optional setting to subtract the overlapping portion from the area underneath.
For example, if I already have a concrete area and then draw a planting bed inside it, I could choose to subtract that planting bed area from the concrete automatically.
The new area should remain its own normal takeoff item. I’m not looking to use Cutout first and then duplicate it as another item — just an option while drawing the new Area to subtract its overlap from an existing Area.
This should be optional, since some overlapping takeoffs still need to remain included in both areas.
- Circle / Ellipse Area Tool
- Please add Circle and Ellipse drawing modes for Area takeoffs. Currently, Area only has Point-to-Point and Box modes, so circular or elliptical areas need to be approximated with multiple points or arcs.
Hey Ariane! Thanks for the feature requests.
Regarding the optional subtraction for areas, do you expect that to be
triggered by a hotkey, or a toggle?
For the circle/ellipse area, do you imagine that it would work similar to the box mode, just with arc points?
I’ll send these requests over to the dev team 🙂
For the subtract feature, just my thoughts, but I was imagining it could have its own Subtract tool icon and maybe also appear in the right-click menu. Not sure if that’s the most conventional approach from a UI standpoint though.
For example, I could select or right-click the new area, choose “Subtract From Area,” then click the existing area I want to deduct it from.
For the circle/ellipse, I think it could work similar to Box Mode. Just click and drag from one edge to the opposite edge to define the circle or ellipse, so there’s no need to locate a center point.
👍1Also, could we have some kind of layer/order control for takeoff items?
For example, if one measured item is covering another, it would be useful to right-click and choose:
- Bring to Front
- Bring Forward
- Send Backward
- Send to Back
That way we can control which takeoff items sit on top visually without having to redraw anything.
👀1👍1