eightolives' Pix Quick Hints
Pix is tested using Firefox, Safari and Chrome browsers.
All actions only use left mouse clicks or touches.
Basic Floor Distance Measurement
Pix measures distance from the point on the floor where you are standing to a point on the floor as determined by the crosshairs on the camera video display. Where you are standing is called REF.
Accuracy depends on where you hold the camera lens and those measurements as recorded as the Camera Lens Offset. Face the place on the floor (target) you wish to measure. Hold the phone/camera in front of you at eye level about 10 inches in front of your face. Tilt the camera until the taget is in the display's crosshairs. The display at the top shows the estimated distance.
When you press any buttons while making measurements, hold the phone still with one hand as you use your other hand to carefully press the buttons.
Click the Set Camera Lens Offset button to get the REF-Lens Offset menu and enter where the lens is from your vertical center. Set the horizontal distance from your eye to lens using the select box. Set the height of the lens from the floor (your eye level) by the feet and inches select boxes. Clicking the Save button will save those readings for further use.
Clicking the Capture button freezes the current measurent and display. To make another measurement, click the Free Run button.
You can further characterize a captured point as a floor corner, ceiling corner, point on a wall or next REF point by clicking the corresponding button.
Accuracy and Estimating Errors
Measurement errors depend on any errors between the Camera Lens Offset settings and where you actually have the lens positioned, the angle measurement of the target in the crosshairs and the distance of the target from you. When you press Capture, the error sensitivities are displayed below the distance measurement.
The error in the specified horizontal eye to lens distance (10 inches default) is 1 inch/inch since this is directly added to the result. The error due to errors in lens height from the floor varies from 0 when aiming straight down, to 1 inch/inch when the tilt is 45 degrees downward, to higher amounts as you target further away.
Ceiling Height Measurement
To estimate ceiling height face a floor to ceiling wall corner from your REF point. First, measure distance to the floor corner clicking both the Capture and then the Floor Corner buttons. Then tilt the camera upwards and put the ceiling corner in your crosshairs. Press the Capture and then Ceiling Corner button. A popup menu will display the estimated ceiling height which you can adjust.
If you already know the ceiling height, you can enter it directly using the Ops > Define Ceiling Height menu.
Capturing a Room
You can capture data for a room and create a 3D model. First, from your REF find the distance to a floor corner. Then capture the corresponding ceiling corner updating the ceiling height. Then from your REF, rotate towards the next ceiling corner and press the Capture and Ceiling Corner buttons. Then press the Add Wall button. This adds a wall to Pix's 3D display.
You can add additional walls by rotating youself towards the next ceiling corner and then pressing the Capture, Ceiling Corner and Add Wall buttons.
Although walls can also be specified with floor corners, ceiling corners are usually not obstructed by furniture and are usually all visible from a single REF point.
The 3D display initially shows a floor, 2 walls and xyz axes. The view is from your REF. Use the ESC button or Look 0 button to reorient yourself should you get confused as to where you are looking. You can change your view by moving your finger or mouse over the display. You can also use the sliders to modify your viewpoint.
If you select Track mode, the view will change as you rotate the camera so that the model shows the walls you are facing.
The 2 default walls, Wall 0 and Wall 1, can be deleted or modified using the Ops > Edit Item menu.
Defining Features
Features include doors and windows that can be added to walls and objects like furniture, partitions or stairways that can be added on the floor. TBD
Moving to Another REF
You may need to move to another REF point if the room you are mapping is L shaped or if you are going to map an adjacent room. The new REF point must be linked to the first REF point in order to merge new REF measurments with previous REF measurements.
If the floor point of the new REF is visible from your original REF point, measure the distance to that point clicking the Capture button followed by the New REF button. This will establish the new REF for further measurements.
Battery Use Considerations
Unfortunately, Pix uses the power hungry features of the mobile phone. The video camera, the compass sensors, and 3D interactive display can quickly drain your battery. To reduce current consumption, certain features can be disabled when not actively making measurements. Clicking the Capture button pauses the video reducing power consumption. Clicking Free Run activates it again. The device orientation sensors can be disabled by clicking the compass. A green arrow indicates circuits operating. A red arrow has the circuits off. The 3D animation feature can be disabled by unchecking the Animate checkbox near the 3D display or by unchecking the 3D display from the View menu.
If you plan on using Pix for an extended period, consider connecting the phone to an external rechargable USB battery pack.
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