Extend your QTO experience with me....

I have been tasked to study Autodesk Quantity Takeoff 2012(QTO). Being a Civil 3D person, I know for a fact that the Civil 3D has its own QTO tools.

Civil 3D can do various types of quantity takeoffs. If you are into Transportation or Site Development projects, you can use the Volume and Materials analysis tools. These set of tools will allow you to compute for Earthworks and material takeoffs of your Corridor models.

Another is by using the QTO Manager which will help you assign as pay item to both your Civil 3D and AutoCAD objects. After assigning pay items to your objects, you can compute for the quantity takeoff and show it as XML, HTML, or CSV report, whichever you prefer.

Now, what if you don't have Civil 3D? How do you do your quantity takeoff? Do you do it manually by literally measuring the paper layouts or do you use special softwares to come up with all your estimations? With Autodesk QTO 2012, you can go either way, automatic or manual method. The main concern is where will your data come from?

For now, I am tasked to study how can Autodesk QTO help those who are doing manual quantity takeoffs, especifically most Singapore civil contractors who happen to lack Civil 3D licenses.

I am still a bit clueless...I hope I can relate this software to the infrasctructure industry. Most data I have so far are for Architecture. If you happen to know how this thing go about I would appreciate the help, PM me or comment with your email. Thanks!