Wall Component material takeoff

[VincentCuclair]

I would like to be able to have a worksheet function that returns a wall component based on its name (as opposed to it's order in the wall).

This would make it possible to create a universal worksheet that works for all walls in any file that quotes quantities of a specific wall component by name.

Quantity takeoffs can then be created for each material regardless of what wall(s) it is in.

Edited December 28, 2013 by Vincent C

[Patrick Fritsch]

We need this mainly due to the fact that we need to create multiple duplicates of the same wall styles to accommodate the current modeling constraints in VW. Have a look at the attached Wall take-off worksheet, if I gave this to a contractor they would be scratching their heads.

The only method I can think of to get a proper wall component take-off like Vincent is describing would be to model each wall component as it own wall style (eg; Drywall, 2x6 stud framing, Ext. sheathing, masonry cladding, etc) That would be long and painful.

Note the same type of take-off of BIM models are also required for Slab and Roof constructions.

Let's make this a big wish!

[M5d]

I've been promising this to a couple contractors for years, so I had another crack at manufacturing a worksheet out of the existing functions yesterday.

It's a crazy worksheet that emphasises the problem, but it can search walls of up to 10 components and extract their component areas (NET) by name, ignoring all other factors, and compile that data into a single area for each named material. I created it in 2013 and it works (in theory), but it totally chokes Vectorworks up and takes ages to calculate in a real file. I thought maybe 2015 would handle it better, but alas, it just crashes 2015, even in an empty file. If you want to try it out in a clean or simple file (not 2015), open columns K & L and enter a component name in one of the search fields of column K inside quotes (one of the ='N/A' fields) and then name the layers to search in column L.

Vectorworks has a few problems, WALLAREA_GROSS & WALLAREA_NET are not accurate for component takeoffs if wall components have level offsets. We need COMPONENTAREA to divide into COMPONENTAREANET and COMPONENTAREAGROSS, and we need the criteria field to accept either a component number or a name as Vincent suggests.

i.e. COMPONENTAREANET(criteria,index) or COMPONENTAREANET(criteria,'string') & COMPONENTAREAGROSS(criteria,index) or COMPONENTAREAGROSS(criteria,'string')

Edited November 20, 2014 by M5d

[michaelk]

M5d

First of all. GREAT worksheet!

Second: I haven't seen a crash yet with 2015. How many walls do you need to make it crash? It's really stable before windows and doors are added. After openings are added to the walls the worksheet calculation time goes up. A lot. But I didn't see a crash.

Third: Have you tried referencing to another worksheet instead of hiding rows and columns? See Column A Rows 3-12 and column K of the first set of databases in Wall Material Quantities Schedule-2.

Nice work! I like the approach to the problem. But even without crashes, the calculation time makes it unreasonable.

mk

[M5d]

I haven't seen a crash yet with 2015.

That’s interesting; I can’t even drag open the input columns K & L in 2015 (SP1 – Australia) without it crashing. When I opened your edit though, it didn’t crash.

Have you tried referencing to another worksheet instead of hiding rows and columns?

I haven’t tried separating the database, but I don’t think it would resolve the problem with calculation time. I don't see why this task bogs the CPU down so much, you'd think it would spit data like this out in a blink.

[michaelk]

I couldn't drag them open either. I selected an entire row and set the cell width to something >0. Same idea with the column height. But attempting to drag didn't cause a crash. It just didn't do anything.

Having a separate worksheet for data input won't speed up the calculations, just remove the need for "hidden" cells.

I think the issue with dragging open 0 width column and 0 height rows is a bug.

I'd love to know what actually happens when a worksheet recalculates. It takes much longer than seems necessary.

In general, I think that wall components, slab components (and please- roof components!!!) need to be addressable in more ways - including by name. It's crazy to not be able to copy components from one wall to another.

mk

Edited November 20, 2014 by michaelk

[bcd]

undo (cmd z) in a VW 2015 worksheet causes a crash every time. Perhaps it has something to do with this.

[michaelk]

undo (cmd z) in a VW 2015 worksheet causes a crash every time.

I'm really hoping for the next SP!

mk

[M5d]

undo (cmd z) in a VW 2015 worksheet causes a crash every time. Perhaps it has something to do with this.

Yeah, I would have used undo each time the wrong column pulled out. I wasn't aware of the bug.

[M5d]

Having a separate worksheet for data input won't speed up the calculations, just remove the need for "hidden" cells.

mk

Had a go at reducing the calculation time by offloading the calculator for a by component approach. Only the layer controls are hidden now. It seems faster, but you'd only want to introduce the calculators at the very end for take-offs.

Component names go in A3 through A12 of the Wall Material Quantities Schedule and the layer references go in L3 through L12.

The calculators reference the component name fields via K1.

For a second material, duplicate Wall Calcs-Component 1 allowing its name to increment naturally, (i.e. Wall Calcs-Component 2 and so on) then edit cell K1 to reference the next component cell or you could just set up 10 calculators in advance to drop in as required. Beware, I haven't tested it thoroughly, though I have found both parts need to be recalculated separately, calculator first, before they sync.

[PVA - Admin]

undo (cmd z) in a VW 2015 worksheet causes a crash every time. Perhaps it has something to do with this.

Yeah, I would have used undo each time the wrong column pulled out. I wasn't aware of the bug.

This should now be corrected in 2015 SP2:

http://kbase.vectorworks.net/questions/1287/Tech+Bulletin%3A+Second+Service+Pack+for+the+Vectorworks+2015+product+line+now+available

[M5d]

This should now be corrected in 2015 SP2:

http://kbase.vectorworks.net/questions/1287/Tech+Bulletin%3A+Second+Service+Pack+for+the+Vectorworks+2015+product+line+now+available

Jim, any clue what causes the very long calculate times on the wall material worksheets above?

Even a small residential project sends Vectorworks into a catatonic attack of spinning beach balls, but watching a CPU monitor while it's working only shows moderate activity (25% or less on any one core).

[PVA - Admin]

Thats one of the tasks within Vectorworks that is still single threaded, it hasn't yet been upgraded/replaced to improve performance as other parts of Vectorworks have already.

[M5d]

Thats one of the tasks within Vectorworks that is still single threaded, it hasn't yet been upgraded/replaced to improve performance as other parts of Vectorworks have already.

The CPU monitor made it look as though 4 cores were active, just all throttled down.