Area Calculation Diagram - Video Tutorial

[Richard_Morrison]

My first attempt. Thought this might be helpful to someone. Not as fancy as Joe's, but easy.

 

https://youtu.be/ndltFz2RAsY

 

You will need to import the attached macros into your drawing to get the same results. BTW, I misspoke on the video. The area which is evaluated for cross-boxes needs to be divided by 144, not 44. Macro is correct, I just wasn't listening to myself as I was talking. ;-)

 

Also, the area polyline macro (not the cross-box one) will work for polyline solids, as well. One nice feature of this is that you can have holes in the polyline solid, and the text macro will display the correct area with the holes included.

Area Macros.zip

[HumbleChief]

Nice video Richard. It seems like you know quite a bit about macros and have invested enough time in understanding Ruby and its different parameters. Do you think it would be a nice feature to have Chief include a label for p-line boxes that would allow a macro to be defined within that label, or do you think it's pretty much OK the way it is now?

 

BTW what video software did you use? It look really good.

[Richard_Morrison]

I have just spent a few hours playing around with macros, and am nowhere near the level of Joe and Gerry. But still, I thought it would help someone who hasn't even spent a little time get some benefit. I would, of course, like a label for closed polylines, but having a text with arrow do the same job isn't too horrible a workaround.

 

Just used SnagIt, and posted directly to YouTube from the SnagIt toolbar, which avoids the bandwidth limitations in the free version of ScreenCast.

[Greg_NY61]

Richard, Thank you for taking the time and explaining this. It really helps understanding how this works.

 

Thank you again!

[glennw]

Just used SnagIt, and posted directly to YouTube from the SnagIt toolbar, which avoids the bandwidth limitations in the free version of ScreenCast.

 

Richard,

 

Thanks for that tip.

I was loosing interest in videos because I was always getting messages that I had reached my limit through Screencast.

I will definitely try that option next time.

[CJSpud]

Thanks Richard. 

 

What hoops do you have to jump through to post videos on YouTube?  By the way, the video played very well for me.  I don't know what is going on with some of the Screencast videos Larry and others are posting, but I have to click the start arrow multiple times before the video will start playing.  No problems with yours.  Do you suppose that has something to do with YouTube?

[DRAWZILLA]

I use the paid version of Screencast (100 bucks a year) and never even come close to reaching the limit on the bandwidth.

[Richard_Morrison]

Thanks Richard. 

 

What hoops do you have to jump through to post videos on YouTube?  By the way, the video played very well for me.  I don't know what is going on with some of the Screencast videos Larry and others are posting, but I have to click the start arrow multiple times before the video will start playing.  No problems with yours.  Do you suppose that has something to do with YouTube?

 

Glad to hear hear it, Curt! The only hoops you need to go through are a little hassle getting the YouTube settings right in Snagit. But then it's pretty automatic.  I think one issue in Screencast is that there is no file compression as I understand it, so the videos may take significantly longer to load. YouTube compresses the file to be much smaller.

[yusuf-333]

Thanks rechard, I think your video will be opening the entry door to the macro world for me. Thanks again it is helpfull

[HumbleChief]

Glad to hear hear it, Curt! The only hoops you need to go through are a little hassle getting the YouTube settings right in Snagit. But then it's pretty automatic.  I think one issue in Screencast is that there is no file compression as I understand it, so the videos may take significantly longer to load. YouTube compresses the file to be much smaller.

For those following any Snagit tips, I can't upload to YouTube within Snagit because of a bug in Snagit 12. Can upload manually but not through Snagit - at least on my computer. Tech guys are working on it. PIA.

 

I just got off the phone with tech support at Snagit and I had to install Microsoft's Frame.net version 4.5.2. latest version and it now works.

 

Hope that might help someone

[BryceEngstrom]

Thanks Richard.  Very handy tools for Macro simpletons like myself.

[HumbleChief]

This might be even easier - please don't tell Joe I'm using this one    

 

[Joe_Carrick]

This might be even easier - please don't tell Joe I'm using this one    

 

Larry,

 

I'm proud of you...........

See, even HumbleChief can learn new tricks.

[HumbleChief]

Yeah, but old dogs don't like new tricks      It took me a while to find that .round(x) thing and make it work but it's pretty sweet. Did I say thanks?

[Joe_Carrick]

Larry,

 

I'm a bit older than you - but I learned to program about 35 years ago when I was only about half as old.  Still, I am learning new tricks every day - keeps me feeling young.

[Greg_NY61]

Larry, look in the picture what happens when I add the following text to the macro code you showed in the video. The text shows up where it should, but something stops the calculation from being executed. There has to be some type of a command to execute the calculation script, if someone knows and is willing to share, at least this puzzle will be resolved and we don't have to type in Area= ,,,,,SQF

[Joe_Carrick]

Greg, try this:

 

"Area="+referenced.area.round(2).to_str+" Sq.Ft."

 

This is called String Concatenation.  There are 3 Strings in the above line and they get added together

 

"Area="

referenced.area.round(2).to_str

" Sq.Ft."

 

to form a single output String.  The .to_str in the second line  converts the numerical value to a String so they can be added together.

[jscussel]

Joe,

 

Your latest macro isn't working. Grayed out.

 

"Area="+referenced.area.round(2).to_str+" Sq.Ft."

 

Jon

[Joe_Carrick]

Joe,

 

Your latest macro isn't working. Grayed out.

 

"Area="+referenced.area.round(2).to_s+" Sq.Ft."

 

Evidently CA only implemented the short form .to_s

[jscussel]

That worked, thanks.

 

Jon

[Greg_NY61]

Thank you Joe!!! I knew I was missing something there. Thank you very much!

[mthd97]

Yes the macro is cool but I like the CA method shown in the training videos of how to define areas.

This method of producing the room shape automatically from one click of the mouse with the moding polyline tool is by far the best method and fastest way of defining areas. You can even click on the outside of your floor plan and wham it follows the shape of the outside walls. Do it again then peel back the polyline to exclude the garage area if you wish. Also click inside a room and wham it follows the shape of the inside of a room automatically.

Next, create a layer called areas and place all these areas on this layer and hatch the polylines as you wish turn layer on and off as you wish.

All you need to do then is add in the area text macro simillar to what Richard has done with the cross box cad tool method and you are done.

[Joe_Carrick]

That's fine if all you want is to display the areas with text boxes and arrows.  OTOH, if you want to perform automatic calculations that show percentages of site coverage, total areas of: garages, porches, courts, balconies, decks, etc.  These simple macros are insufficient.

 

That's where advance macro programming comes in - it opens a whole lot of additional capability.  Calculating the total area of Windows, Window Openings, etc and making automatic calculations of those compared to Total Living Area - without having to manually enter anything is all possible. 

 

What isn't possible yet is being able to automatically get and display the finishes (annotation of Sections, Elevations, etc).  We can't do that because CA doesn't provide attributes for those things that can be used in macros.

 

I have a dream - a macro that I can just add to a "Wall Elevation Label" and get the information directly from the model displayed - just as if I had manually typed it - but 100% accurate, no chance of a mistake.

[HumbleChief]

Larry, look in the picture what happens when I add the following text to the macro code you showed in the video. The text shows up where it should, but something stops the calculation from being executed. There has to be some type of a command to execute the calculation script, if someone knows and is willing to share, at least this puzzle will be resolved and we don't have to type in Area= ,,,,,SQF

Hey Greg,

 

Check the video again. I added the text 'Area =' and 'SF' in the TEXT BOX not the macro. The macro reads 'referenced.area.round(2)' no quotes . When you open the Rich text box with the leader line you select the macro and enter that text before and after the %macro%  text box reads 'Area = %macro% SF'

 

Hope that helps

 

AND remember I've presented the absolute simplest macro, and as you can see by the rest of the thread there's much more to it and I am still failing to keep my interest up but the simple stuff seems quite useful as is.

[Greg_NY61]

Of Course it would have been better if Total area :1st floor, 2nd floor , garage was available with the software. I am surprised it is not and yet this being portrayed as a professional design software, and that is one of the important features to have which is part of every drawing. I can understand they skip Lot area % calculations, etc which most users don't use and I personally never seen that data on any project I was involved in.

But if I was doing this for a living like some of you guys do here, I would raise hell for not having that macro available.  Joe is a knowledgeable Architect and obviously he knows this programing language better than most... they should give Joe a job and pay him to teach some of the programmers who suck payroll there if they cannot come up with a macro that will do that, because I don't see a reason why this macros are not there to begin with or any other important feature for that matter which guys here been asking for years to be added or improved. 

 

Great job Joe!