Inserting and Scaling Plans in Cubit Estimating

Quantities in Cubit Estimating are easily generated by measuring the shapes/result off the Plans. Cubit Estimating allows you to load different types of plans, from PDF to AutoCAD and even image and BIM files. To begin measuring off the plan the plans needs to be first inserted into Cubit Estimating and then scaled.

To insert a plan:

1. From the Plans tab, click Insert.

Fig 1. Insert a plan / Plans tab 

2. In the Open window, navigate to the plan you would like to use.

3. Select the plan.

4. Click Open.

5. In the Select PDF pages window, select the pages of the plan that you would like to insert into Cubit Estimating.

6. Click Import to insert the selected pages into the estimate.

Fig 2. Select PDF pages screen

Breakdown of Fig 2:

• Import - Clicking this will import the select pages into your job

• Select All - Clicking this will select all pages to import

• Unselect All - Clicking this will cancel selection

• Cancel - Clicking this will cancel the import

• Import Plan as - There are two types of PDFs, a Vector or Raster, this drop-down menu will let you define which type you’re importing 

7. After importing, your plan will be visible and a new window will also appear on the screen. This window allows you to set the scale of the plan which in turn allows your estimate take off to be accurate.

To Scale a plan:

There are multiple ways to scale a plan;

• Scaling by drawing a reference line on the plan - The first option, Draw scale, will allow you to draw a line on the plan, you will then be able to state the length that the line should be relevant to your plan. You can choose to draw on Horizontal or Vertical or diagonal line to scale.
• Draw a line on your plan and type its Length, click Scale.

Fig 3. Scale plan - Draw scale

• Scaling by referring to already scaled plan:  (one will need to exist that is already scaled) - If a plan already exists and is scaled, you can select that plan and use the scale from that one for the newly imported plan. Select the plan from the drop-down list and click Scale.

Fig 4. Scale plan - From plan

• Scaling by measuring manually - Clicking on Manual will allow you to manually insert your scale. Enter in your Manual scale, click Scale.

Fig 5. Scale plan - Manual

Supported Formats:

Cubit Estimating allows you to extract quantities from Vector or Raster plans and drawings.

Vector files are created in layers, with shapes being created as ‘paths’ which are defined by a start and endpoint and are generally individual to each other. This allows for greater accuracy when doing this like a take-off in the program. Vector images can be enlarged without much loss of quality.

Supported Vector files include PDF, CAD (IFC, DWG, DXF) and BIM (DWFx).

Raster files are considered to be more of a flat file, with what you see is what you get. Shapes are made up of a specific number of pixels and when enlarged will look ‘pixelated’.

Supported Raster files include PDF, JPG, BMP, PNG and TIFF.