Field Release: Dusty App & FieldPrinter

This release reworks how the Dusty App shows the FieldPrinter 2 connection status, replacing a generic step counter with three clear stages so Operators can see exactly what's happening and why when a connection fails. The FieldPrinter gets a new obstacle-detection sensitivity control and a handful of other upgrades, while the Dusty App gains multi-line text entry and QR code rotation.

• Transparent Connectivity: Clear visibility into what's happening when you connect to the FieldPrinter.
• FieldPrinter Improvements: New obstacle-detection sensitivity control, sharper prints, more accurate stops, and safer motion.
• Other Improvements: Type multiple lines in one text object and rotate QR codes on the canvas.

VDC Release: Dusty Portal

Teams often need to flag an issue on a layout or check what changed since the last publish — until now, that meant leaving Portal to message a teammate or manually comparing files. Portal now supports commenting directly on a layout and automatically saves every publish, so reviewing history and resolving feedback both happen in one place.

• Layout Comments: Leave and reply to comments directly on a layout, with threaded discussion.
• Publish History & Restore: Every publish is saved automatically; preview or restore any past version.
• Quick Cleanup: Resolve overlapping point labels and text on a layout in a single click.
• Elevation reports also load about 9x faster.

Field Updates

Transparent Connectivity: See What's Happening When You Connect to FieldPrinter

The connection screen now shows three clear stages instead of one generic progress bar, giving Operators visibility into what's happening and why when connecting to the FieldPrinter.

Network, software, and data-sync each get their own segment: the active stage shows real-time detail (for example, sync progress or a firmware upload percentage), a completed stage shows a checkmark, and a failed stage shows the specific reason instead of a generic error.

FieldPrinter Improvements: Better Camera Sensitivity, More Accurate Printing, and Safer Motion

This release brings several upgrades to the FieldPrinter, covering camera sensitivity, printing accuracy, and safer motion.

Obstacle-detection sensitivity is now one consolidated control instead of settings split between the sidebar and a hidden advanced-settings toggle. The Sensitivity setting in the Dusty App's left sidebar offers three levels:

• Off - turns off all camera-based obstacle detection
• Low - reduces false positives due to shiny materials or repetitive lines
• Normal - detects most physical obstacles, including blank walls, and is the default setting

Choosing a level shows a confirmation of what the FieldPrinter will do — selecting Normal, for example, confirms that "FieldPrinter will detect obstacles."

The FieldPrinter also picks up a set of smaller upgrades this cycle: printed lines stop more accurately, printed images render with sharper mid-tone detail, long prints with many merged lines start faster, the FieldPrinter stops safely if its laser tracker locks onto the wrong reflector, and the printhead centers itself before taking elevation measurements.

Multiline Text: Type Multiple Lines in One Text Object

Create Text on the iPad now supports multiple lines as a single text object, so it is no longer necessary to manually create multiple text objects and move each one into position.

Pressing Return ↩️ on the keyboard when the Create Text modal is open adds a new line instead of closing the entry box. The box displays as a paragraph, showing every line at once, and the finished text behaves as one object that can be aligned and spaced as a unit.

To create multiline text:

1. Open the context menu on the canvas and select Create Text.
2. Type the first line, then press Return ↩️ to start a new line within the same text object.
3. Continue typing and pressing Return ↩️ for each additional line, for up to 20 total lines in one text object.
4. Tap Save, and the multi-line text saves as a single object.

Rotate Placed QR Codes: No More Deleting and Re-Placing

QR codes printed in the field can end up misaligned or clashing with an obstacle, so Operators can now rotate a placed code directly on the canvas.

The new rotation control is in the tools menu and uses the same interaction style as rotation for text objects.

To rotate a placed QR code:

1. Open the tools menu and select Rotate QR.
2. On the Dusty App canvas, tap the QR code you want to rotate.
3. Drag your finger to rotate the QR code around the anchor point, indicated with an orange dot.

Additional UI Improvements

• Cleaned up the long-press context menu on the Dusty App canvas to remove duplicate labeling — a control point's name and type no longer both appear in the action text.

Bug Fixes

Dusty App

• The Dusty App no longer freezes or hangs in several scenarios involving connecting to the FieldPrinter or working with large layouts.
• The control point's canvas icon now updates correctly after being recorded or stationed.
• Control point selection no longer gets lost after reconnecting to the FieldPrinter.
• Added a visible indicator when the app drops into local-only mode, so Operators can tell when they've lost connection.
• The elevation heatmap no longer displays stale data.
• Recording large elevation heatmaps no longer slows down the Dusty App or causes it to become unresponsive.
• The elevation heatmap legend now updates to match the colors shown on the canvas.
• The FieldPrinter detecting many cliffs while being driven manually now shows a message about the cliffs instead of a Printing Paused message.
• The SMS verification checkmark now blocks continuing before verification is complete.
• A control point can no longer be added to the print queue without being explicitly selected.

FieldPrinter

• Small arc prints near obstacles now print correctly.
• Path planning no longer prevents the FieldPrinter from reaching areas far from its current position.
• Large cliff obstacles no longer cause path-planning inefficiency.
• Obstacles with small negative elevations, exported from AutoCAD, are no longer incorrectly treated as cliffs.
• A color-channel issue no longer causes some PNG images to print with incorrect grayscale conversion from color.

VDC Updates

Layout Comments: Give Feedback Without Leaving Portal

Reviewers and teammates now leave comments directly on a layout in Portal, instead of messaging feedback separately or marking up an exported PDF. Comments attach to a specific point on the layout and support threaded replies, so a full review conversation stays attached to the drawing it's about.

Publish History & Restore: Review or Recover Any Past Publish

Every publish in Portal is now automatically saved, so teams can look back at what changed between versions or bring back an earlier one. Portal keeps a snapshot of each publish, including a preview of the layout at that point, so a VDC Manager can confirm what was live at any point and restore an earlier version if needed.

Quick Cleanup: Resolve Point and Text Collisions in One Click

Overlapping point labels and overlapping text used to mean manually dragging each one into place before a layout could ship. Quick Cleanup scans the current view and re-anchors colliding point labels or text with a single click — Point Collisions and Text Collisions each run independently, and Reset sets everything back to the original settings.

Additional UI Improvements

• Elevation reports load about 9x faster.

Bug Fixes

• CSV exports now show timestamps in UTC instead of local time.
• Adding a new user to an organization no longer triggers a redirect error.
• Estimated Print Days no longer shows an off-by-one error or NaN.
• File prep no longer crashes due to file name casing.
• .DUSTY files with an uppercase extension now upload correctly.
• The progress bar on the Printing by Trade view no longer appears empty.
• Improved calendar contrast for readability.
• Dropdown menus are no longer oversized.
• Published layouts can be deleted.
• The Files panel no longer cuts off content at the bottom when scrolling.
• File versioning no longer carries over edits incorrectly.
• Pressing Escape now closes the layout viewer.