WinEst Takeoff Tool Setup Process

2024

Tekla Structures

2023

Tekla Structures

2025

Tekla Structures

Environment

Not environment-specific

This article details customizing the Categories and the logical order of events to tailor the tool to work with your unique WinEst estimate items.

Step 1 - Prepare Translation Table

Background

The included TeklaStructures.tbl is a file to be used in WinEst. This file should only need to be set up initially and will not need to be configured for every job.

This translation table file works together with Tekla's *wstTreeCat Templates included in the installation and WinEst's COMA database. When using the out-of-the-box examples, use this file as the translation data table when importing to WinEst.

Formatting the column headers can be tedious, so the provided *.tbl includes every possible attribute that can be imported into WinEst using CAD Translation. This is why you will see Specification Variables start at column 100 in the example Templates and the main reason why 159 is the number of columns output in the Tekla Structures report.

To better understand how the file Tekla Structures is outputting matches with this Translation Table, open the translation table in WinEst and view the format to view which fields are associated with a specific column number. Here is an image for reference:

Process

This section describes in steps how to prepare the Translation Table. The Translation Table defines how to interpret the data in each line of CAD Export file, or report exported from Tekla Structures.

In WinEst:

Navigate to Tools > Import Items > Using CAD Translation.
In the CAD Import dialog, press the Browse button to select the provided Translation Table. Press the Edit button on this file to add assemblies and items for translation.

Image
To add a new translation for an Item/Assembly, press the Insert Row button. Add each item/assembly that will be used with Tekla Structures model objects.

After inserting a row, add a unique code in at least one of the columns with header Code1, Code2, or Code3. The recommendation is to add a value for Code1 at least.

Image
Press the Accept button to save changes.
To set the format (or order of attributes) of the file to be imported into WinEst, press the Format button. It is unnecessary to edit this since every possible attribute has been included in the TeklaStructures.tbl file.

Translation Table Reference

Use the table(s) below as a reference for the field and its respective column number to be output.

General Fields

#	Field
1	Code1
2	Code2
3	Code3
4	*Description
5	Quantity

* If the Description has no value, the Assembly or Item description shows in WinEst. The NAME attribute is used in the example templates.

Variables

#	FIELD	#	FIELD	#	FIELD
6	Variable1	33	Variable28	60	Variable55
7	Variable2	34	Variable29	61	Variable56
8	Variable3	35	Variable30	62	Variable57
9	Variable4	36	Variable31	63	Variable58
10	Variable5	37	Variable32	64	Variable59
11	Variable6	38	Variable33	65	Variable60
12	Variable7	39	Variable34	66	Variable61
13	Variable8	40	Variable35	67	Variable62
14	Variable9	41	Variable36	68	Variable63
15	Variable10	42	Variable37	69	Variable64
16	Variable11	43	Variable38	70	Variable65
17	Variable12	44	Variable39	71	Variable66
18	Variable13	45	Variable40	72	Variable67
19	Variable14	46	Variable41	73	Variable68
20	Variable15	47	Variable42	74	Variable69
21	Variable16	48	Variable43	75	Variable70
22	Variable17	49	Variable44	76	Variable71
23	Variable18	50	Variable45	77	Variable72
24	Variable19	51	Variable46	78	Variable73
25	Variable20	52	Variable47	79	Variable74
26	Variable21	53	Variable48	80	Variable75
27	Variable22	54	Variable49	81	Variable76
28	Variable23	55	Variable50	82	Variable77
29	Variable24	56	Variable51	83	Variable78
30	Variable25	57	Variable52	84	Variable79
31	Variable26	58	Variable53	85	Variable80
32	Variable27	59	Variable54

Location and WBS fields

#	FIELD
86	Location
87	Wbs 2
88	Wbs 3
89	Wbs 4
90	Wbs 5
91	Wbs 6
92	Wbs 7
93	Wbs 8
94	Wbs 9
95	Wbs 10
96	Wbs 11
97	Wbs 12
98	Wbs 13
99	Wbs 14

Specification Variables

#	FIELD	#	FIELD	#	FIELD
100	SpecVar1	120	SpecVar21	140	SpecVar41
101	SpecVar2	121	SpecVar22	141	SpecVar42
102	SpecVar3	122	SpecVar23	142	SpecVar43
103	SpecVar4	123	SpecVar24	143	SpecVar44
104	SpecVar5	124	SpecVar25	144	SpecVar45
105	SpecVar6	125	SpecVar26	145	SpecVar46
106	SpecVar7	126	SpecVar27	146	SpecVar47
107	SpecVar8	127	SpecVar28	147	SpecVar48
108	SpecVar9	128	SpecVar29	148	SpecVar49
109	SpecVar10	129	SpecVar30	149	SpecVar50
110	SpecVar11	130	SpecVar31	150	SpecVar51
111	SpecVar12	131	SpecVar32	151	SpecVar52
112	SpecVar13	132	SpecVar33	152	SpecVar53
113	SpecVar14	133	SpecVar34	153	SpecVar54
114	SpecVar15	134	SpecVar35	154	SpecVar55
115	SpecVar16	135	SpecVar36	155	SpecVar56
116	SpecVar17	136	SpecVar37	156	SpecVar57
117	SpecVar18	137	SpecVar38	157	SpecVar58
118	SpecVar19	138	SpecVar39	158	SpecVar59
119	SpecVar20	139	SpecVar40	159	SpecVar60

Step 2 - Setup Categories in Tekla Structures

Process Overview

Create a Category in the Category Tree and set a selection filter.
Edit the Category and include the following.
- Add Code1, Code2, and Code3 based on the Translation Table.
- For WinEst Items and Assemblies
  - Items - Requires one (1) ReportProperty, which should be output to Column 6.
  - Assemblies - add the appropriate Variables and Specification Variables for that assembly.
Save the Category and Template.
Model an object in Tekla Structures to test the export. Create an export *.txt file.

Step 3 - Import Data

In WinEst, import the data.

Go to File > Import > Using CAD Translation. Import the test data to verify there are no errors.
Repeat this for each estimated item/assembly that will be modeled in Tekla Structures.

See documentation for further information on these topics:

WinEst Introduction

About WinEst Assemblies

Using CAD Translation