Line Extraction (PDF & CAD) Coming

ComingThis feature is designed but not in DimSum yet. This page describes how it will work.

Turn the lines already in a PDF or CAD drawing into takeoff shapes with a click, instead of re-tracing them by hand.

Overview

Most plans arrive as vector PDFs, and some as DXF files. Their walls, beams and room outlines are already real lines. Line extraction lets DimSum read that linework so you can:

• snap exactly to plan lines while drawing,
• pick a line and turn it into a takeoff shape,
• trace a connected run (a whole wall line through its corners) in one click,
• pick a region: click inside a room and get its area automatically,
• import a whole CAD layer as a tool (every line on A-WALL, every DOOR block).

It is faster than clicking every corner, and more accurate because the geometry comes from the drawing itself.

Where to find it

Place	What it does
Extract ribbon tab	Pick Line, Trace Path, Pick Region (auto-area), Import CAD Layer as Tool, Vector Snap On/Off
Takeoff tab → Area variants → Pick Region	Pick Region as an Area tool variant
Smart tools	Beam (Pick Line), Joist (Auto placement uses Pick Region; Pick Line for the bearing line), Wall (Pick Line / Trace Path), Pitched Area (Pick Region for the outline)
Status bar	Snap on/off (S)
Page tab → PDF / CAD Layers	Turn plan layers on/off

How to use it

1. Snap to plan linework

1. On the Extract tab, make sure Vector Snap is On (general snapping is toggled with S).
2. Arm any tool and move the cursor near a plan line. A snap marker shows the snap type (□ endpoint, △ midpoint, ✕ intersection) on the PDF/CAD geometry.
3. Click to place the point exactly on the plan's line.

2. Pick Line: one line → one shape

1. Arm the takeoff tool you want the result in (e.g. Ext Wall 2x6), or select an existing instance to add shapes to it.
2. Click Extract → Pick Line.
3. Hover a line on the plan. It highlights.
4. Click it. It becomes a Linear shape in that tool. (Pick Line can also create a Draw line or a Dimension line.)
5. Shift+click more lines to add them.
6. Press Esc when done. The new shapes are ordinary shapes: edit their vertices, delete them, or undo (Ctrl+Z) like anything else.

3. Trace Path: follow connected linework

1. Arm the target tool as above.
2. Click Extract → Trace Path.
3. Click the start line. DimSum follows the connected linework through corners until it reaches a junction or closes a loop.
4. At a branch, DimSum stops and asks which way to go. Click the branch you want.
5. Finish with Enter. The traced path becomes one run (shape) in the tool.

4. Pick Region: click inside, get the area

1. Arm an Area tool (e.g. Floor Sheathing), or use Takeoff → Area → Pick Region.
2. Click Extract → Pick Region.
3. Click inside a closed area on the plan (a room, a roof section, a slab outline).
4. DimSum finds the enclosing boundary from the vectors and shows it highlighted.
5. If the boundary leaks through a gap (e.g. a door opening or a line that doesn't quite meet), raise the gap tolerance slider until it closes.
6. Accept.

5. Import a CAD layer as a tool

1. Import a DXF (it converts to a DimSum Vector Page with layers, blocks and units kept; the scale comes from the drawing units).
2. Click Extract → Import CAD Layer as Tool.
3. Choose the layer, e.g. A-WALL.
4. Choose the target:

• Lines → a Linear tool: every line on the layer becomes a shape in that tool.
• Blocks → a Point tool: every block (e.g. DOOR) becomes a point.

5. Check the result in the Project Tree and the Estimating tab. For example, DOOR blocks give an instant door count.

6. Use extraction inside smart tools

Tool	How extraction helps
Beam	Pick Line: click an existing plan line or a CAD beam line to create the beam member
Joist	Auto: click inside an area bounded by walls/beams/PDF lines; DimSum detects the region and spans the shortest direction. Pick Line: click the bearing line the joists run perpendicular to. Coming
Wall	Pick Line / Trace Path along the stud line
Pitched Area	Pick Region for the roof section outline
Area	Pick Region variant

Options & settings

Setting	What it does	Default
Vector Snap On/Off	Snap to PDF/CAD geometry	Not set in plan
Snap types & tolerance	Endpoints, midpoints, intersections, perpendicular, nearest, tool vertices, PDF/CAD geometry	Settings → Canvas & Drawing
Pick Region gap tolerance	How big a gap in the linework can be and still count as closed	Not set in plan
Cleanup tolerances	Join distance for endpoints, collinear merge, line weight/color filters	Not set in plan
PDF / CAD Layers	Show/hide layers (Page tab)	All on
Text On/Off	Hide plan text for cleaner tracing (Page tab)	On (text shown)

Examples

Scenario	Steps	Result
Framing: exterior walls from a vector PDF	Arm Ext Wall 2x6 → Trace Path → click the outside stud line → pick the branch at the garage → Enter	One wall run around the house, wall assembly quantities generated
Flooring: room areas	Arm LVP Flooring → Pick Region → click inside each room, raising gap tolerance at door openings	One Area shape per room, total area on the instance
Concrete: slab outline	Arm Floor Slab 4" → Pick Region inside the foundation outline	Slab area and volume (Thickness 4")
Doors from DXF	Import CAD Layer as Tool → layer A-DOOR, blocks → Point tool Doors	Door count equals the number of door blocks
Low-voltage: cable runs	Arm Cat6 Run → Pick Line on each CAD cable line (Shift+click)	Linear total of cable, with J-hook and labor parts
Beams	Arm Beam → Pick Line on each beam line	One member per line, labeled and sized

Tips & shortcuts

• Turn off unrelated PDF/CAD layers (furniture, electrical) before tracing to reduce noise.
• Use Text Off (Ctrl+Shift+T) so dimension text and notes don't get in the way of picking.
• If Pick Region fills the wrong area, the boundary has a gap: raise the gap tolerance a little at a time.
• If Trace Path keeps stopping, the plan has many junctions (e.g. wall lines broken by door swings). Use Shift+click with Pick Line instead.
• Backspace picks up the last point and Esc stops the tool, as with any tool. Right-drag or middle-drag pans without leaving the tool.
• For CAD files, check that the layer names match what you expect (A-WALL, S-BEAM) before importing a whole layer.

Rules, limits & edge cases

• Vector pages only in v1. Scanned PDFs and images are Raster Pages: snapping to plan linework, Pick Line, Trace Path and Pick Region need vectors. Line detection on scans is later.
• Extraction quality depends on the drawing. Noisy PDFs (broken lines, overlapping duplicates, hatching) are cleaned up, but the manual fallback is always drawing by hand.
• v1 instances live on one page, so extracted shapes go to an instance on the current page.
• DWG isn't supported in v1 (DXF is). DWG is a nice-to-have, later.
• Auto-detection of detail callouts (for Page Links) and Auto-Count (symbol matching) are separate, later features. For now, Detail Callout buttons are placed by hand.

Related features

• Plan import & auto-conversion
• Page tools: Scale, Rotate, Straighten, Color/Text, Fade, Layers
• Shared tool behavior (snapping, ortho, typed input…)
• Takeoff tools: Linear, Area, Point
• Beam tool · Joist & Rafter tools · Wall tools · Area & Pitched Area tools
• Engineered Layout Overlays (picks truss/joist lines from layouts)