Zones

Zones help you filter counts by area or measure floor/wall space on your PDF plans. Draw polygons to include or exclude symbols from your takeoff, or to calculate area measurements.

Zone Types

Plan Count supports three types of zones:

Type	Purpose	Use Case
Inclusion	Only count symbols inside	Separate counts per apartment, room, or section
Exclusion	Ignore symbols inside	Skip plant rooms, storage areas, or non-relevant spaces
Area	Measure floor/wall space	Calculate m² or ft² for flooring, paint, ceiling tiles

Drawing Zones

Inclusion & Exclusion Zones

1. Press Z or select the Zone tool
2. Click to place vertex points around the area
3. Double-click or click the first point to close the polygon

TIP

For rectangular zones, just click the four corners. For complex shapes, add more points.

Area Zones

1. Press M or select the Area Zone tool
2. Click to place vertex points around the area to measure
3. Double-click or click the first point to close the polygon

INFO

Area zones require at least 3 points to form a valid polygon.

Inclusion Zones

Inclusion zones filter your counts to only include symbols inside the zone.

Use Cases

• Apartment takeoffs: Draw a zone around each apartment to get per-unit counts
• Room breakdown: Create zones for each room to see room-by-room quantities
• Section pricing: Divide a floor into sections for phased billing

How It Works

1. Draw an inclusion zone around an area
2. The takeoff panel shows counts filtered to that zone
3. Switch between zones to see different filtered views

Exclusion Zones

Exclusion zones remove symbols from your counts.

Use Cases

• Plant rooms: Exclude mechanical rooms with complex symbology
• Existing work: Skip areas that are already installed
• Out of scope: Ignore sections not in your contract

How It Works

1. Draw an exclusion zone around the area to skip
2. Any symbols inside are excluded from counts
3. Exclusion zones take priority over inclusion zones

Area Zones

Area zones calculate the real-world area of a polygon based on your PDF's scale setting.

Setting Up

1. Set the scale first (bottom of control panel)
2. Choose units: Metric (m²) or Imperial (ft²)
3. Draw the zone around the area to measure

Where Areas Appear

• On-screen legend: Shows zone name and formatted area
• PDF export: Displays zone name and area at the zone center
• CSV export: Outputs numeric area value for pricing formulas

Use Cases

• Flooring quotes: Measure floor area for carpet/tile pricing
• Paint estimates: Calculate wall area for paint coverage
• Ceiling tiles: Determine suspended ceiling area

Area Calculation

Plan Count uses the Shoelace formula to calculate polygon area:

Real Area = PDF Area × (Scale Ratio)² × 0.0254²

Example at 1:100 scale:
- 50,000 square pixels on PDF
- = 50,000 ÷ 72² square inches on paper = 9.6 sq inches
- = 9.6 × 100² real square inches = 96,000 sq inches
- = 96,000 × 0.0254² = 15.8 m²

Editing Zones

Select a Zone

• Use the Select tool (S) and click inside a zone
• Or click the zone name in the takeoff panel

Rename a Zone

1. Select the zone
2. Edit the name in the takeoff panel
3. Changes save automatically

Change Zone Type

For inclusion/exclusion zones:

1. Select the zone
2. Toggle the type in the zone properties panel

Delete a Zone

1. Select the zone
2. Press Delete or click the trash icon

Move Vertices

1. Select the zone
2. Drag any vertex point to reposition it
3. Area recalculates automatically for AREA zones

Zone Visibility

• Toggle visibility: Click the eye icon next to a zone in the takeoff panel
• Hidden zones: Still affect counts but don't render on the PDF
• Export behavior: Hidden zones are excluded from PDF export

Keyboard Shortcuts

Key	Action
Z	Select ZONE tool (inclusion/exclusion)
M	Select AREA ZONE tool
V	Select tool (for editing zones)
Delete	Delete selected zone
Escape	Cancel zone drawing

Tips

Best Practices

• Set your PDF scale before drawing AREA zones
• Name zones descriptively (e.g., "Unit 101", "Ground Floor", "East Wing")
• Use inclusion zones for detailed breakdowns
• Use exclusion zones sparingly - only for areas truly out of scope

Common Issues

Zone not closing?

• Double-click or click near the first point to close
• Zones need at least 3 points

Area showing wrong units?

• Check your unit setting (Metric/Imperial) in the scale panel
• Verify the scale ratio matches your PDF

Counts not updating?

• Make sure the zone is visible (eye icon)
• Check zone type (inclusion vs exclusion)

Zone overlapping issues?

• Exclusion zones take priority over inclusion zones
• If a symbol is in both, it's excluded