Splitting and Joining Runs

When you need to edit a run's shape

Auto Takeoff traces a pipe as a single measurement through its bends and T-junctions, splitting it only where the drawing calls out a size change. That is usually right, but not always: a callout can be missed so a run that steps from 35 mm down to 22 mm comes back as one measurement, a branch can be detected as its own run when it should tee into the main, or a run can be found in two pieces that should be one. The tools on this page fix all three without redrawing anything.

Every edit here happens in mask view with the linear group masked. See Mask view for how to get there.

Splitting a run at a reducer

The Split chip is the last item on the mask bar. Its tooltip reads Drag onto a measurement to split it at a reducer, or onto a split to rejoin it.

1. 1

   Mask the linear group that holds the run.

2. 2

   Press on the Split chip and drag it over the run to the point where the size changes.

3. 3

   Watch the live readout beside the pointer. A green tick and dot with a label such as 4.20 m | 7.85 m shows where the cut will land and the two lengths it will leave. Move along the run until the split is where you want it.

4. 4

   Release. The measurement becomes two, both still at the original size, and a Reducer fitting is placed at the cut.

5. 5

   Drop a Ø badge on one half to set its new size. See Pipe size badges.

The Reducer goes into a Reducers Count group for that service, so it is counted and can be priced like any other fitting. Its size tag stays blank while both halves match and fills in, for example 35×22, as soon as they differ.

A cut is refused very close to either end of a run, where the readout turns red and shows the reason. There is no useful stub to leave that close to an end; if the size changes right at the end, use the next run instead.

Rejoining a split

Dragging the Split chip back onto an existing cut welds the two halves into one measurement.

1. 1

   Drag the Split chip onto the point where the two halves meet.

2. 2

   Check the blue readout: Rejoin · 12.05 m, or Rejoin as Ø35mm · 12.05 m if the two halves are at different sizes and the join will change one of them.

3. 3

   Release. The halves become one run and the Reducer at the seam is removed.

When the halves were at different sizes, the longer half's size wins and a toast confirms it: Measurements rejoined — The joined run is now Ø35mm — the longer half's size. If three or more measurements end at the point you are pointing at, the drop is refused with Can't rejoin here and the explanation Three or more measurements meet here — rejoin only works where exactly two ends touch. That junction is a tee, and ZeroCount will not guess which two to weld.

Joining two runs by dragging them together

You do not need the Split chip to join two runs that should be one. With the group masked, select a run and drag it, or drag one of its end grips, so that its end meets the end of another run in the same service. On release the two become a single measurement.

• Any stretch where the two overlapped is counted once, so the total length stays honest.
• If one run has a size and the other does not, the unsized one takes it. If they disagree, the run you moved wins.
• If the moved run merely crosses the other rather than ending on it, nothing happens. Crossings are ignored.
• If the moved run lies entirely within the other, it is absorbed into it.

"Same service" means the same Service assignment, or the same colour for groups that have no Service. Runs from different Services never join, even when they touch.

Creating a T-junction

Drag a run's end onto the middle of another run in the same service, rather than onto its end. On release ZeroCount adds a T-junction fitting at that point, splits the main there so the tee sits between its two halves, and tags the fitting with all three sizes, for example 22×22×15: the two legs along the main first, then the branch. The fitting is filed into the service's T-Junctions group, so a tee you make by hand is counted and tagged the same way as one Auto Takeoff detected.

How size tags keep up

The Reducer, bend and T-junction tags along a run are re-read whenever a size changes, whether from a badge drop, a join or a rejoin. Reducers update reliably. Bends on the run update too. T-junctions update where the branch meets the main exactly; where the branch stops fractionally short of the main, which is common on detected drawings, the tee keeps the tag it was detected with rather than showing a wrong one. A stale tag is still visible on the fitting's row in the sidebar, where you can read it and decide.

Common issues

The chip will not drop where I want

The readout is red. Either you are within a short distance of the run's end, where a split is refused, or you are over a cut with three or more ends meeting. Move along the run, or accept that the junction is a tee.

Two runs touched but did not join

They are in different Services, or in different colours with no Service assigned. Move one into the other's Service first, or check the group is actually in the mask: joining only happens between masked runs.

The join produced the wrong size

The moved run's size takes priority. Rejoin or split as needed, then drop the correct Ø badge on the result.

Next steps

• Pipe size badges — set the size on each half after a split.
• Sizes, bends, T-junctions and reducers — what the fitting groups and their size tags mean at pricing time.
• Tidying takeoff results — deleting junk detections and other clean-up after Auto Takeoff.
• Selecting and moving markers — dragging runs and their end grips on the canvas.