Last reviewed . Revu’s panels move between versions. If a step here no longer matches what is on your screen, tell us and we will fix it.
The short version
Calibrate against a dimensioned gridline bay, not the title block. Apply it to the page, not the document. Give an enlarged plan its own scale. On a scan, calibrate every time. Then measure one known door on every sheet you land on.
This is step one of the whole Revu takeoff. The rest of the workflow, measuring, naming and totalling the markups, is in How to do a takeoff in Bluebeam Revu.
Setting the scale, in order
Calibrate against a dimension you can trust
Open the Measurements panel and choose Calibrate. Click two points on the drawing whose real distance you know, type that distance in, and Revu works the scale out from the two. That is the whole operation, and it is the one to do first on every set.
Pick the two points on something the drafter dimensioned: a gridline bay, an overall wall run, a door opening with its width written beside it. The longer the known distance, the smaller the error a slightly-off click makes. Two points a full bay apart are worth more than two points either side of a door.
| Calibrate against | Trust | Why |
|---|---|---|
| A dimensioned gridline bay | Best | Long, drawn by the drafter, on nearly every plan sheet |
| An overall dimension string | Good | Long, but check it is the outside face you are clicking |
| A dimensioned door or window | Fair | Short, so a small click error is a large ratio |
| The title-block scale | Last resort | True only if the set was never printed, scanned or resized |
| A graphic scale bar | Last resort | Resizes with the sheet, but is often drawn approximately |
Apply it to the page, not the set
When Revu asks whether to apply the scale to all pages, the honest answer on a real set is usually no. A-101 at 1/8" and A-501 at 3/4" sit side by side in the same PDF, and a detail sheet or an enlarged plan almost never carries the scale of the plan it came from.
Apply to all pages is a convenience on a uniform set, a stack of floor plans plotted the same way, and a trap on everything else. If you do use it, treat it as a starting point and still run the check in step 06 when you land on each new sheet.
Give a sheet with two scales two scales
An enlarged plan, a stair section and a wall detail often share one page, each at its own scale. Measuring the enlarged plan at the base plan’s scale is one of the quietest errors in takeoff, because the number that comes back is plausible, it is just wrong by the ratio between the two.
Recent versions of Revu let you draw a viewport around a region of the page and give that region its own scale. Do that for every callout you intend to measure. If your version does not have viewports, measure the callout with a calibration of its own and change it back before you move on, and write the scale into the markup’s subject so the total does not hide the switch.
Treat scanned and resized sets as unscaled
A set that has been printed, scanned or resized no longer matches what its title block says. The scale note reads 1/4" = 1'-0", the file was printed to fit a smaller sheet, and every measurement taken at the stated scale is short by the same fraction.
Calibrate every time on a scan, and never pick the scale from the preset list. If the scan came through a feeder it may be stretched more in one direction than the other; Revu can hold a separate vertical scale, so calibrate on a horizontal dimension and then on a vertical one, and use both if they disagree.
Set the units and precision before the first markup
The unit you calibrate in is the unit that lands in the markup and in the Markups list. Choose feet and inches or metres in the Measurements panel first, and set the precision to what the estimate actually needs. A slab priced to the square foot does not want four decimal places of it, and rounding after the fact is one more place for two people to get two totals.
Check it in two seconds on every sheet
Scale errors are not slips of the mouse. They are structural, they repeat, and they follow the bid to the number you submit. The habit that catches them costs nothing: when you land on a sheet, read the scale the Measurements panel is holding, and measure one dimension you already know. A door that reads 3'-0" says the sheet is calibrated. A door that reads 2'-3" says the last sheet’s scale came along for the ride.
The scale carried over from the last sheet
The most common one. Every quantity on the sheet is wrong by the same ratio, which makes it hard to spot in a total that still looks plausible. Step 06 is the cure.
The enlarged plan measured at the base plan’s scale
An enlarged corridor at 1/4" measured as if it were the 1/8" plan it was cut from comes back at half its true size. Give the callout its own scale, or its own viewport.
The preset picked from the title block on a resized print
The note says 1/4" = 1'-0" and the file says otherwise. If the set has ever been printed to fit, scanned or emailed as a reduced PDF, the note describes the original, not the file in front of you.
The whole document set once, then a sheet added later
Apply to all pages runs at the moment you click it. A sheet inserted from an addendum arrives with no scale, or with the scale it was saved with, and nothing tells you.
Questions people ask
What if the scale in the title block is wrong?
Ignore it and calibrate. The title block describes how the sheet was drawn, not how the file in front of you was saved. A set that has been printed to fit, scanned, or reduced for email no longer matches its own note, and calibrating against a dimension the drafter wrote on the drawing gives you the scale of the file you actually have.
Can one sheet carry two scales?
Yes, and on a real set it often does: an enlarged plan, a section and a detail sharing one page, each at its own scale. Recent versions of Revu let you draw a viewport around a region and give it a scale of its own. Without viewports, calibrate for the callout, measure it, and change the scale back before you move on.
How do I set the scale on a scanned or resized set?
Calibrate, never preset. Click two points on a dimensioned run, type the known distance, and let Revu work the scale out. If the scan is stretched in one direction, Revu can hold a separate vertical scale: calibrate on a horizontal dimension and on a vertical one, and use both if they disagree.
What units should the scale be in?
The unit you price in. Set feet and inches or metres in the Measurements panel before you calibrate, because the unit you calibrate in is the unit that lands in every markup and in the Markups list. Set the precision to what the estimate needs rather than the maximum Revu offers.
How do I check the scale without re-measuring everything?
Measure one dimension you already know. When you land on a sheet, read the scale the Measurements panel is holding and take a single length across a dimensioned door, bay or wall. If the number matches the dimension string, the sheet is calibrated. If it does not, fix the scale before you draw anything, because every markup on that sheet inherits it.
The faster way through it
Or let it check the scale for you
Caliente checks the sheet, the scale and the units before it measures anything, and the quantity comes back in the unit you price in. “Slab area on A-101.” It drives the Revu you already have open and the markups land on your sheet: native, editable, drawn to your scale. It asks before it writes.