v8.5.0 - a full vector takeoff for CAD drawings, and a drawing-tool PDF viewer.

8.5.0 is the release where takeoff stops being a viewer with a ruler and becomes a measuring instrument. A CAD drawing is exact vector geometry, so the quantities are already in the file; this version reads them out directly. The PDF side gains the navigation and precision of a proper drawing tool, scale detection removes a calibration step, and steel sold by weight is estimated the way it is actually bought. The new and reworded interface text in this release is translated into all 26 other languages.

What is new in version 8.5.0

• A full vector takeoff for DWG and DXF. Because a drawing is exact vector geometry rather than pixels, every wall, slab and pipe already carries its true length and area, so one click produces a per-layer quantity table with the right unit for each layer - area, length or a simple count - and it measures arcs, ellipses and hatched fills as well. A count tool adds a count-by-block rollup for repeated symbols, and the whole table exports to Excel in one click. You can also search the drawing text: TEXT and MTEXT labels are found, highlighted and framed with zoom-to-match.
• A PDF viewer that works like a drawing tool. A page-thumbnail sidebar lets you move between sheets at a glance, find-on-sheet searches the text layer and jumps to each hit, and the viewer gained fit-to-page and fit-to-width, zoom-to-selection, panning, an orthogonal lock for straight measurements, a live measurement readout and a hover tooltip. Large sheets now fit correctly the first time they open.
• PDF takeoff can detect the drawing scale. It reads the scale printed in the drawing's text layer, for example 1:100, and offers it for one-click confirmation, so measurements are calibrated without first tracing a known dimension. The detected value is always shown for you to confirm and is never applied on its own.
• Structural steel priced by mass. A cost item can carry a mass per unit and a structural category, and a member priced by length is converted to mass on its way into a bill of quantities, so steel that is sold by weight is estimated correctly. Custom cost items also group under a "My categories" heading in the costs sidebar, so a category you created, such as "Structural Steel", is browsable directly instead of being reachable only through search.
• Smaller touches and two fixes. The point cloud reader is now an installable extra, and scans can be deleted from the workspace. A short video introducing the platform is linked from the left sidebar. Local AI providers that do not need an API key no longer ask for one (#244), and the 3D viewer now degrades gracefully instead of failing when the browser cannot create a full-quality context.

The quantities are already in the drawing

A scanned plan is pixels, so measuring it means tracing. A CAD drawing is not pixels: every wall, slab and pipe is exact geometry that already knows its own length and area. 8.5.0 reads that geometry directly, so a DWG or DXF takeoff is now a full vector takeoff. One click produces a per-layer quantity table, and each layer gets the right unit on its own - area for a slab layer, length for a pipe run, a count for a layer of repeated symbols. It measures the awkward shapes too: arcs, ellipses and hatched fills are handled, not skipped.

For repeated symbols a count tool adds a count-by-block rollup, so a drawing full of identical fittings becomes a single number per block type. The whole table exports to Excel in one click, and the drawing text is searchable: TEXT and MTEXT labels are found, highlighted and framed with zoom-to-match, so a room name or a tag is a search away rather than a hunt.

A PDF viewer that behaves like a drawing tool

Not every drawing arrives as CAD, so the PDF takeoff viewer got the treatment too. A page-thumbnail sidebar turns a long set into something you can move through at a glance, and find-on-sheet searches the text layer and jumps to each hit. For measuring, the viewer gained fit-to-page and fit-to-width, zoom-to-selection, panning, an orthogonal lock for straight runs, a live measurement readout and a hover tooltip. Large sheets now fit correctly the first time they open, instead of needing a manual zoom to find the drawing.

Calibration is easier as well. PDF takeoff can detect the drawing scale by reading the value printed in the sheet's text layer, for example 1:100, and offer it for one-click confirmation - so you no longer have to trace a known dimension before you can measure. The detected value is always shown for you to confirm and is never applied on its own, so a mislabelled sheet can never quietly skew every measurement on it.

Steel, priced the way it is bought

Structural steel is sold by weight, but a beam on a drawing is a length. A cost item can now carry a mass per unit and a structural category, and a member priced by length is converted to mass on its way into a bill of quantities, so the estimate matches the way the steel is actually purchased. Alongside it, custom cost items group under a "My categories" heading in the costs sidebar, so a category you created - "Structural Steel", say - is browsable directly instead of being reachable only through search.

By the numbers

Install or upgrade

pip install --upgrade openconstructionerp

The desktop installers for Windows, macOS and Linux carry the same one-installer setup, and the Linux build includes the CAD and BIM converters for AutoCAD, Revit and IFC. You can grab the latest installers from openconstructionerp.com/download. If you run an external PostgreSQL through DATABASE_URL, nothing about that connection changes. Questions or trouble upgrading, write to info@datadrivenconstruction.io.