Before You Start
- Open your layout in the Dusty app. You can measure before or after stationing; the tool reads the file, not the robot.
- Zoom so both points you want to measure are on screen. While one finger is held down to draw a measurement, you cannot pan or zoom. Two fingers pan and zoom as usual.
Measure a Distance
- Tap Tools Menu in the right-hand toolbar, then tap Measure (the ruler icon) at the top of the menu that opens. A Measure Mode pill appears at the top center of the canvas.
- Press and hold your finger where you want the measurement to start. When you are near a line, point, or control point, a circle appears and the start point snaps to the object nearest your finger. Anywhere else, the point lands exactly where you touched.
- Without lifting, drag to the second point. A line follows your finger and the distance label updates as you move.
- Lift your finger to finish. The line and distance stay on the canvas.
If you lift your finger before dragging, nothing is placed. Just press and drag again.
What the Tool Snaps To
Snapping is what makes the number trustworthy. The endpoints snap to the nearest of these inside the snap circle:
| Snaps to | What you get |
|---|---|
| Lines and arcs | The closest point on that line or arc |
| Control points | The control point itself |
| Layout points (MEP, hanger, and other point objects) | The point itself |
| Open floor with nothing nearby | Exactly where you touched, no snap |
If several objects are inside the circle, the tool picks the one nearest your finger. Zoom in if it keeps grabbing the wrong one.
Move or Fix a Measurement
Tap and drag either endpoint bubble to move it. The endpoint re-snaps as you drag, and the distance updates.
You can have as many measurements on screen as you need; each new press-and-drag adds one. There is no way to remove a single measurement. To clear them, tap the X on the Measure Mode pill.
When to Use the Measure Tool
Use it any time you need a number from the file while you are standing on the slab:
- A printed line looks off and you want to know whether the file or the robot is wrong. Measure the same two points in the app and with a tape measure. If they match, the file is what the robot printed.
- You need the distance between two control points, for example to mark a control point by hand or to sanity-check a Station Information error against a tape.
- You want to confirm a wall length, opening width, or offset before the crew builds to it.
Field reports show the most common use is the first one: proving a dimension problem was in the model, not the layout.