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Worksheet & room finish & area calculation


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I use a worksheet with database that calls a separate set of Classes dedicated just for areas. Then assign those classes to polygons that represent the materials or edge of walls or the materials themselves if they're polygons with no object name yet.

Setting up the worksheet will take some time depending on how familiar you are with general spreadsheet and cell formulas. But reloading and recalc each subsequent time is quick.

Version 2014 is new to me, so hopefully still applicable.

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Thanks Michael and Ken

Michael, your webinar movie about worksheets, gave me a lot of important information. At last I could understand, how to use it, and the directional information; drawing<->worksheet :-) Thank you!!

The VW manual is almost useless for me.

Like Ken, I am creating a worksheet with all the classes used by NTE (Norma Tecnica Espanha) and it?s prices. It?s not 100% functional as I predicted, because of the different forms VectorWorks reads the information in hybrid or plug-in objects.

The automation of the process of measuring the room-finishes are very important, and am studying it. Measuring the perimeter is ok, but then I need to know wish doors and windows are connected with each space?..IFC?

The worksheet does not read IFC information does it?

Edited by sribas12
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Santiago

Glad you found the webinar helpful. I'm planning on doing another one late this month or next month.

I wish I had it ready to go. I plan to cover some of this.

I don't think IFC connects a door with a space. (I could be very wrong about that!) But there are several ways of making a door or window "know" what room it is in.

1. Location. Create a "location object". Could be a rectangle, polygon, polyline, circle, etc. In the Data tab of the OIP - in the name field, enter a name.

You can also use space object for this, but it gets tricky with doors. The door "belongs" to the space that the swing is on.

2. You can also ask the walls what their net and gross areas are. Subtraction yields the wall opening area

3. You don't need to do this with classes only. You can use the built in User Fields (I think windows and doors each have 10 fields) that can hold any data you want.

OR

You can attach your own record format to the windows and doors and put in the cost / square meter to do the calculations you need.

I'll attach a very scatter shot example. It may or may not be what you need, but I hope you can take the worksheets apart to see how they work and adapt them to your needs.

hth

mk

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It seams a good ideia. I will try it. Yes the doors and windows all have user fields.

This problem occurs with interior walls, when we use one wall to divide different spaces with different wall finishes. I don?t want to divide this wall?.but, perhaps it?s the fastest way to go. :-)

Your information about VW is very useful and well explained, I will wait for your second Worksheet webinar.

(Vectorworks has a lot of under covered potential.)

thank you again

PS:I am still using VW2011:-(

Edited by sribas12
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I don't remember if 2011 will allow you to get the areas of individual wall components. That would allow you to differentiate the net area of one side of a wall from the other.

I agree with you that there is a huge amount of potential in worksheets that most users never discover. Probably because of limitations in the worksheet UI. Unfortunate, since the productivity gains from utilizing worksheets to manage the drawing and keep track of data is significant. I expect that the UI will improve over the next couple versions. (making my clumsy scripts unnecessary :) )

I'll attach the same file in 2011. It would be helpful - but far less amusing - if your signature had the Vectorworks version you are using.

hth

mk

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Thanks Michael for sending me the 2011 version of your example.

I am sorry. You?re right I added my VW version to my signature.

This was my first CAD equipment, between 1985-1986. I could draw faster by hand than using this fantastic Apple IIe CAD setup, but using it was so much fun ;-)

Yes, with VW2011 I have access to wall components, and I am using them in my worksheet. But when the same side of a interior wall cross several different spaces?..we have to change the type of wall style.

I have followed your advice, using the data fields from the Plug-in objects.

How can I have access to a specific record value of a database; for example : I use 'Door Schedule':AA4 to access the field containing the price, but all I got is the sum of this field. If I have 5 different doors(no repetition), how can I have access to each door price using a worksheet formula ?

Thanks again

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Thanks Michael!

At last I could understand the process of material take-off!

Your example gave me all the answers I needed.

I thought it was much more complicated! uau.

The response to While C message from 2008 about worksheet and foundations cost estimate was also a fundamental piece of useful information for me. Thanks to all.

I see light in my worksheet quest :-)

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  • 3 months later...

Hello, Can anyone tell me what I'm doing wrong. I understand the logic of what the formulas are doing in this great example, but when I try and do it on another worksheet, it just displays:

#VALUE!

I don't think its the number format type? I've tried multiple combinations.

Basically, all I need to do is get a column in a data base spreadsheet do a calculation and display in another column. This is working in the example above, but not on mine. Is it something simple? I've searched the other topics but can't find anything.

Thanks for your help

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