You can do this using a closed polygon and a block.
THE CLOSED POLYGON:
The polygon is the 'footprint' of the area you need to measure. It could be a well-defined outline of a Vice President's office or a general area such as Waiting Area at reception. You will have to draw a polygon for each individual area you want to measure.
THE BLOCK:
- This can be an existing block or you can create a new one. This block needs a minimum of 2 attributes with TAGS such as Room No. and Area. Place this block inside the footprint of each outline. You'll use this same block for all polygonal footprints.
- The attribute Room No. will need to be entered for each block instance. For the attribute Area, you will use a FIELD. The field will automatically be taken from the closed polygon's properties, specifically the AREA of the polygon as displayed in the Properties Palette.
- This FIELD will populate the attribute named Area of your block. The end result will be your block with 2 attributes: Room # and square footage. Your block can be an elaborate symbol or it can be as simple as a decimal point.
HOW TO POPULATE THE BLOCK ATTRIBUTE WITH THE PROPER FIELD:
- For the attribute name Area, you'll need to right click at your blinking cursor while you're in the Enhanced Attribute Editor, then select INSERT FIELD> Image-1.
- Make your selections for 1) Field Category, 2) Field Names and 3) Object Type. When clicking on object type button, your cursor will turn into a square. You'll use that square to select your polygonal footprint. Image-2.
- You need to acquire the AREA of the room's footprint so select AREA from the Properties section. (Optional: Add the suffix SF as an abbreviation for square feet by clicking 'Additional Format.... button.) OK twice to exit. Image-3.
- The end result will look like this. Image-4.
Notes:
- If you drag the vertex of a polygonal footprint to make the room larger, the square footage displayed in the block will remain the same. To UPDATE the attribute so it displays the expanded area, enter REA on command line (regen all).
- The gray shaded attribute in the Enhanced Block Editor indicates a FIELD. The shading will not print, it merely indicates a field is being used to populate this attribute.
- You will need to repeat this procedure for each individual room footprint. Each block instance is tied-in to its own footprint, the same footprint you clicked with your square cursor. If you copy-and-paste this block from room-to-room, the field will use the previously clicked footprint and not the footprint where you're pasting the block.
- If you only want square footage and don't want the room number to display, you can make the room number attribute invisible using BATTMAN command.
- Use a layer dedicated to footprints when outlining your polygonal areas. Make this layer non-printable and a high visible color such as magenta. You can freeze/thaw (or on/off) as you wish.
TO TABULATE ALL AREAS INTO A TABLE:
You can use DATAEXTRACTION command to create a table. You will need to extract your room BLOCK, specifically the attributes Room No.and Area. The data extraction operation will give you two options for the output: A table that you place in your dwg or an external file such as a spreadsheet. Your table will have 2 columns: Room number and Area in square feet. If needed, create a new post titled something like 'How to Extract Attributes From a Block and Display Results in a Table.'
Chicagolooper
