Two ways to measure
ZeroCount measures lengths and areas in two ways, and most projects use both.
- By hand — New Takeoff › Linear Measurement traces a run point by point and reports its length; Area Measurement outlines a polygon and reports its area. You control every corner, so these are the tools for skirting, cladding, floor plates and anything the drawing does not draw as a continuous line.
- Automatically — under the Auto Takeoff heading of the same menu, Auto Linear (sample one line) takes a short drag across one pipe or cable run and finds every run drawn in the same style across the sheet. Auto Detect (pick line patterns) goes one further: it lists every coloured line pattern on the drawing and runs a sample for each one you tick.
What Auto Takeoff produces
A single sample can produce several groups in the sidebar:
- Linear groups named by pipe size — the app reads the size callouts on the drawing and files each run under a group such as
Ø22mmorØ28mm. Runs with no readable size land inUnsized. - Bends and T-Junctions — two Count groups per sample (for example
Sample 1 · Bends), one small marker per fitting, so elbows and tees are counted and can be priced alongside the pipe. T-junction markers carry the sizes of the runs they join, such as22×22×15. - A run stays one measurement through its bends and tees. It is only split where the drawing genuinely calls out a size change, or where a rise or drop is marked.
Everything Auto Takeoff creates is an ordinary marker group. You edit, merge, delete and export it exactly as you would a hand-drawn measurement.
Set the scale first
Lengths and areas are only as good as the scale behind them. Set the drawing scale from the header before you draw or sample anything; Linear and Area groups also carry their own scale, so a 1:50 detail can sit beside a 1:100 plan on the same sheet. If the scale changes later, ZeroCount asks whether to update the groups you already have.
Vector and image drawings
Auto Takeoff works on both kinds of drawing. On a vector PDF the linework is read directly and results are immediate. On an image or scanned drawing the first detection takes a few seconds while the sheet is analysed, and if the drawing has AoIs the search is limited to them. The drawing type is picked up automatically, so there is nothing to choose.
Next steps
Start with Drawing linear measurements and Drawing area measurements for the hand tools, then try Auto Takeoff from one sample. Pipe sizes and fittings explains the groups a sample leaves behind, and Tidying takeoff results covers clearing the overlay and removing junk runs. If the scale is not set yet, read Setting the scale before anything else.