Vector tracing in BidScreen Cloud no longer makes you backtrack
Hold V, keep clicking, finish the shape. Vector tracing in BidScreen Cloud now follows curves forward for areas and lines, with no forced backtracking and no locked direction on round shapes.
Mark Schwab·
Curved linework is where takeoff hours go. A landscape island, a radius curb line, a planter wall that bends three directions. You click point after point and hope the line stays on the edge.
Vector tracing in BidScreen Cloud does that clicking for you, but it had two habits that slowed estimators down. Once you dropped a point on a curve, it could force the trace to go backwards. And on round shapes it could lock you into clockwise or counterclockwise, whichever it picked first. The latest update fixes both.
How to trace a curve now
- Open a PDF with vector linework. Vector tracing follows the real lines in the file, so it works on CAD-exported plans, not scanned sheets.
- Pick the Area tool for square feet or the Line tool for linear feet, and choose the class you are measuring. If the class does not exist yet, create it right from the class panel.
- Click on the linework where you want to start.
- Hold V and move your mouse along the line. The trace follows it in whichever direction you move, so you pick clockwise or counterclockwise.
- Keep holding V and click forward to drop points as you go. You never have to back up to keep going.
- Work your way around the shape or along the run and press Enter to finish.
What changed
- No forced backtracking. Points move you forward along the line instead of pulling the trace back over itself.
- You pick the direction on circles. Round shapes no longer lock you into one rotation.
- Fewer broken traces. The old trace broke more often. The new one stays on the linework more accurately, so you spend less time fixing segments.
One thing to know
The trace only goes forward. If you drag back over a section you already traced, the tool tries to autocomplete to wherever your mouse is. If you overshoot, undo the last point instead of reversing.
The update is live for everyone on BidScreen Cloud. Log in, open a takeoff, and hold V. New to it? BidScreen Cloud runs in your browser, and you can start free.
Hold V. Keep clicking. Finish the shape.
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