Schedule/Quantities vs. Material Takeoff

[Ning Zhou]

if i use multi-categories Material Takeoff + Shared Parameters (mostly for linear info.) + Filter, then i can create almost all needed estimating info.
looks like Material Takeoff already included most (if not all) Schedule/Quantities functions, categories, etc.
any best practice of when i should use Schedule/Quantities instead of Material Takeoff or reverse?

[Ning Zhou]

i noticed that Calculate totals field being greyed out in Material Takeoff, maybe that's the case to use Schedule instead of Material Takeoff when linear calculation is needed, is it?

[Scott Womack]

In a Material Take-off schedule, you would use Material:Area, not the normal area. Also, the more definative your material assignments are, the more accurate you can get the material take-off schedule. It reads the actual names of the materials.

[Ning Zhou]

thanks Scott.
another question which i'm sure you must encounter before, what is the BEST way to distinguish parameter of the nested shared family .
for example, i have a line-based shared GM family for batten linear calculation, and i nested into parent families of various categories, obviously in schedule it needs "separated" for battens used in different category/family/type/etc.
initially i was thinking to create another shared parameter like batten type, see attached image, don't know if it's the BEST approach?