Calculate Linear feet or Area of irregular leaf shapes

[Anonymous]

Hi all,

I need help with calculating the total linear feet or area of leaf patterns that are irregular in shape and orientation. Can Revit help me achieve this? I only have the pdf of the drawing.

Please see attached file.

Thank you...

[ToanDN]

What are they made out of? A family? A hatch?

[Sahay_R]

Isn't this in Revit? What is this image for?

How small are these shapes? You will need to convert your PDF into a JPG and Insert it into Revit. Use it as an underlay. Models elements (maybe Floors?) using the Pick Lines sketching option. Finally, create a Floor Schedule with Area and Perimeter as Fields. You can also check the Grand Totals box.

A suggestion which may not go down well in this forum - if this is just an image for something small, you would be better off taking the PDF to AutoCAD. Revit does not import PDFs - yet. AutoCAD does. Once in AutoCAD you should be able to throw closed Polylines around the leaf shapes. When you bring up the Properties, you will get to know the Area and Perimeter of the shapes.

[Anonymous]

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@rsahayUZMK9 wrote:

Isn't this in Revit? What is this image for?

How small are these shapes? You will need to convert your PDF into a JPG and Insert it into Revit. Use it as an underlay. Models elements (maybe Floors?) using the Pick Lines sketching option. Finally, create a Floor Schedule with Area and Perimeter as Fields. You can also check the Grand Totals box.

A suggestion which may not go down well in this forum - if this is just an image for something small, you would be better off taking the PDF to AutoCAD. Revit does not import PDFs - yet. AutoCAD does. Once in AutoCAD you should be able to throw closed Polylines around the leaf shapes. When you bring up the Properties, you will get to know the Area and Perimeter of the shapes.

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This image is a small snapshot taken from building elevation. Those leaf patterns are all over the building metal cladding. Do you still think AutoCAD is the way to go?

Please see new attachment.

Thank you....

[Sahay_R]

The new picture looks like it was done in Revit. Do you have access to the file?

Again it all depends upon how large those leaves are. 

Revit will require a lot more prep but it will spit out the results in a nice neat schedule. If you are not familiar with Revit (or if you are afraid to ask for more advice) then I would go with AutoCAD.

[ToanDN]

@Anonymous

How did you draw them?

[Anonymous]

I did not. It was a pdf drawing from my jobsite.

[Sahay_R]

Oh boy. I hope that the PDF is to scale. Whether you work with Revit or with AutoCAD you will need to re-create the drawing.

[Anonymous]

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@rsahayUZMK9 wrote:

The new picture looks like it was done in Revit. Do you have access to the file? No

Again it all depends upon how large those leaves are. 

Revit will require a lot more prep but it will spit out the results in a nice neat schedule. When you say a lot more prep, you're referring to the line picking correct?

If you are not familiar with Revit (or if you are afraid to ask for more advice) then I would go with AutoCAD. I'm ok with revit but I would go with whatever gives results faster.

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 See my comments in red.

[ToanDN]

You can do it in either AutoCAD or Revit.  Do you want an itemized (every leaf as a line item) or a lump sum schedule (total linear feet and area)?

[Anonymous]

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@ToanDN wrote:

You can do it in either AutoCAD or Revit.  Do you want an itemized (every leaf as a line item) or a lump sum schedule (total linear feet and area)?

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At this point, lump sum would be nice.

[Sahay_R]

All right - let's go with Revit.

Convert your PDF into a JPG

Insert

Create Floors. In the sketch environment use Pick Lines to sketch. If you want a lump sum, do all the leaves in one operation. If you want it split up, do the leaves one by one.

Select the leaves - you will see the area and perimeter in the properties

If you want a schedule for the individual leaves, create a floor schedule for area and perimeter. Itemize each instance. Grand total.

Good luck.

[ToanDN]

- Attach the PDF in AutoCAD and scale it to true size, not paper size

- Draw a closed polyline follow a typical leaf (if it's a vector PDF then you can snap to the geometry, otherwise, just eyeball it)

- Copy it allover the elevation

- Run Data Extraction:

[Anonymous]

Thank you for the detailed step by step. Please see those screencasts. What I ended up doing is, "delete everything but the leafs" then used your method "Data Extraction".

1. On the first screencast, I was not sure about the what you meant by scale it to size? I think AutoCAD detected the scale of 1:1 which is correct, yes?

2. You wanted me to use the polyline for a leaf, problem is I have different leaf sizes, so this is time consuming unless I misunderstood what you suggested!

3. As I said above, what I did was delete everything but kept the leafs then used the data extraction for polylines, arcs and spline. Is this approach accurate?

The second screencast shows problem with unit measurement, please advise how to fix this.

First screencast: http://autode.sk/2n29vBH

Second screencast: http://autode.sk/2nEhGCc

[ToanDN]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Thank you for the detailed step by step. Please see those screencasts. What I ended up doing is, "delete everything but the leafs" then used your method "Data Extraction".

1. On the first screencast, I was not sure about the what you meant by scale it to size? I think AutoCAD detected the scale of 1:1 which is correct, yes?

The PDF is a drawing sheet, the elevations are scaled to fit on it (e.g. 1/8" = 1' or 1:100, etc), so you have to scale it up to the true size of model objects.

2. You wanted me to use the polyline for a leaf, problem is I have different leaf sizes, so this is time consuming unless I misunderstood what you suggested!

If you could use the geometry converted from PDF to AutoCAD too measure length, but if they are not closed polylines then you cannot measure areas.

3. As I said above, what I did was delete everything but kept the leafs then used the data extraction for polylines, arcs and spline. Is this approach accurate?

That is a good first step.  But you need to make sure each leaf is a closed polyline in order to extract the area.\

Another option is use Data Extraction to report Length only.  And, create hatch by pick point inside each leaf, hatch will show its area on the properties.

The second screencast shows problem with unit measurement, please advise how to fix this.

I will watch your screencasts later.  Got to run now.

First screencast: http://autode.sk/2n29vBH

Second screencast: http://autode.sk/2n29vBH

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[Anonymous]

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@ToanDN wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

Thank you for the detailed step by step. Please see those screencasts. What I ended up doing is, "delete everything but the leafs" then used your method "Data Extraction".

1. On the first screencast, I was not sure about the what you meant by scale it to size? I think AutoCAD detected the scale of 1:1 which is correct, yes?

The PDF is a drawing sheet, the elevations are scaled to fit on it (e.g. 1/8" = 1' or 1:100, etc), so you have to scale it up to the true size of model objects.

2. You wanted me to use the polyline for a leaf, problem is I have different leaf sizes, so this is time consuming unless I misunderstood what you suggested!

If you could use the geometry converted from PDF to AutoCAD too measure length, but if they are not closed polylines then you cannot measure areas.

3. As I said above, what I did was delete everything but kept the leafs then used the data extraction for polylines, arcs and spline. Is this approach accurate?

That is a good first step.  But you need to make sure each leaf is a closed polyline in order to extract the area.\

Another option is use Data Extraction to report Length only.  And, create hatch by pick point inside each leaf, hatch will show its area on the properties.

The second screencast shows problem with unit measurement, please advise how to fix this.

I will watch your screencasts later.  Got to run now.

First screencast: http://autode.sk/2n29vBH

Second screencast: http://autode.sk/2n29vBH

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I fixed the scaling issue. I had to insert the PDF as a block then used the Scale command. Next, I will be trying the Data Extraction method you suggested to get the linear feet of the leafs. I will keep you updated.