Web Sketch: How to use the Ruler Tool & Draw Attached Shapes
A practical Web Sketch guide for appraisers based on the How to use the Ruler Tool & Draw Attached Shapes tutorial.
Use this article when you are working in Web Sketch and need a practical reference while building or reviewing a sketch for a report. The video walkthrough is linked below, and the article restates the workflow in appraiser-friendly terms.
Watch the tutorial
Before you begin
Open the correct report and confirm you are sketching the intended subject, dwelling, unit, or related structure. If the sketch will support GLA, exhibits, or report commentary, keep your field notes, measurements, photos, and assignment requirements available while you work.
What this tutorial covers
- How to measure and draw attached shapes from existing geometry.
- Snap behavior and grid alignment help keep shapes clean and measurements easier to review.
When to use this
Use this article when you need to measure, check distance, or draw an attached shape that depends on existing geometry.
Video walkthrough in article form
Start in the correct sketch context
You might have noticed from watching the other videos that there is other tools surrounding the AIVRE Sketch platform. For instance, while we are currently in here, this other canvas, you will see that if we just zoom in a little bit more and we hover over an existing line, here, this is a little measurement tool that just shows somewhat in real time where your cursor is across the, the line there.
Also works both ways and even works on diagonal lines. That's a pretty cool feature that we added. This is really helpful.
Check each shape before moving on
For instance, if I go into the draw tool, I hover over a line and just start pressing my keyboard to the left without setting that dot, you can just go here and you can know that maybe I want this to go like eleven point two there in the ruler. It just helps you really see that, okay, you can start from this origin point. If I wanted to start from this point and continue to draw a shape outside of it, you can select Enter, and For example, you can go up, call it like four up.
You can then select Enter to set that line. The workspace includes a couple pop points there. For example, you can do like, um, seven to the left.
You can press Enter there. If you want to close this shape, of course, we can always just snap to the pop point which is existing on a current shape by just pressing Shift + Down, and now we could close that shape at any time.
You can select Enter, and there we go. That's a somewhat a cool feature that you can use there for drawing outlines just by being aware of somewhat the ruler tool and just watching that from time to time. You will find that that's very helpful as well
Practical workflow
Use the ruler tool to check measurements before committing geometry changes. This is useful when reconciling field dimensions to the canvas.
When drawing attached shapes, start from the existing structure so the connection point is clear and aligned.
Review the attached shape, its label, and its area definition before relying on the result in the report.
Field review tips
Attached shapes should be visually connected and logically classified so reviewers can understand the relationship to the main structure.
Appraiser review checklist
- Confirm the sketch is attached to the correct report and property structure.
- Confirm labels, areas, and totals match your field notes and intended report use.
- Confirm any generated exhibit is readable before relying on it in the report.
- Recheck the report section where the exhibit or calculated area appears.
Related Web Sketch tutorials
This article is part 12 of 14 in the Web Sketch tutorial series. Use the Help Center search for web sketch to find the other drawing, labeling, calculation, and exhibit guides.