What is it: Measure Takeoff

Measure takeoff is a feature that allows Brava users to make multiple measurements on a document and save them to a markup file (along with annotations). Takeoffs can be grouped together into categories. This feature is useful if you are working with drawings and want to estimate totals needed of specified categories. Examples: measure window area to total elevation area, egress distances, firetruck turning radius and the number of doors that are needed for a specific plan. Measurement data (categories and total of measurements) can be exported to a file or saved to the clipboard. This is very handy for a plans examiner while reviewing drawings.

Measure Takeoffs are a special type of markup and are not to be confused with standard Brava markups. In Avolve’s implementation of Measure Takeoff, these tools are to be used by Plans Examiners when reviewing Applicant drawings and are not a type of markup to be shared back to an Applicant.

What you need to know: The Problem with Measure Takeoff

• Avolve only supports Measure Takeoff in Brava ActiveX running on IE11 – including Brava 16.4 and 16.6.
• Takeoffs applied directly to a drawing act like markups but they really aren’t. You need the Brava ActiveX viewer to create and properly see these special “Takeoff” markups.
• If a Jurisdiction wishes to share their Measure Takeoffs, as marked up on a drawing, with an Applicant, that Applicant must have Brava ActiveX.
• Measure Takeoff is not a feature in any version of the Brava HTML5 viewer that Avolve supports. Measure Takeoff is in the latest release of Brava 16.6, BUT only in the “Smart View” version of Brava HTML5 and Avolve does not implement the Smart View version of Brava HTML5.

What you need to know: More Bad News!

• Our customers must understand that Measure Takeoff is a special type of markup and as such can only properly be viewed using the Brava ActiveX viewer. This means that even saving these Measure Takeoffs to a Publish to PDF doesn’t work properly.

So what is our message to our ProjectDox customers? Simple – Measure Takeoff is a great feature that a Plans Examiner can utilize for checking and verifing drawings during their review process, but it is not a tool to create markups to send back to an Applicant to respond to.