2024-10-20 09:42 AM - last edited 3 weeks ago
Hi all, I was wanting to know what apps others are using when doing an as built survey of a basic existing building using a laser distance meter.
It would be very nice if Graphisoft developed an app the we could all use on site with a laser distance meter ? Or if BIMx could be extended to be able to do this ?
I am not impressed with the Leica disto plan app or the Bosch measure on app, they seem too basic and you can’t set the width of the wall or draw a full floor plan easily. You can only do room by room and it appears that we cannot snap to the corner with the next room either ?
There must be a better workflow out there for IOS and Android devices that we can use rather than have to pay big subscription fees for very basic apps ?
Edit: I have tested a few apps with an Android 13 tablet. A good solution so far is to use “Floor Plan Creator” even though it doesn’t do pitched roofs automatically. It actually worked well with a decade old Leica Disto D8, even on the free version. FPC is good for its simplicity of being able to drag and drop a room and be able to easily snap it to other rooms on the plan. They only need to add a simple automatic roof function then it would be complete for this purpose.
Edit: A better option would be to use Live Home 3D on IOS because laser distance meters are supported on the IOS version workflow. Live Home 3D works on all platforms and I decided to pay the onetime license fee for the pro version on Android. Although the direct input for laser distance meters is not yet available on the other platforms, it is a very robust app and I am happy to input my distance measurements by hand. For those who do not have enough in the budget to pay for a 3D point cloud survey on a small residential project this is a very good option.
The best option would be for Graphisoft to create an app for all of us to use and export that 3D model right into Archicad for further design development.