SlashGear: If you've ever been in a situation where you needed to draw up a floor plan or recreate a room's dimensions, then you'll appreciate what RoomScan can do for you. This deceptively simple iOS app can do all that for you and all you need to do is tap on the walls.
5 comments:
This app is mind blowing. It's surprising how accurate this app can get based on simply the iPhone's hardware. I'm curious as to whether this uses the GPS or some other hardware in the iPhone. Applying this to theatre, I could see this app as useful in a designer's application. If a designer were told to design for a new space, be it a theatre they haven't worked in or just a warehouse or other found space, this app would be perfect for getting a ground plan of the space for drafting purposes.
This is a pretty cool app. I wonder how well the app would work with curved surfaces. I imagine you would just need to include more points on the wall, but I'm not sure. This app sounds useful for someone who needs an initial sketch of a space very quickly, and they do not have a tape measure handy. However, if I were a scenic designer, I would certainly not completely rely on this app to get dimensions of the space I am working in. For example, in the warehouse, the columns are a big factor for sightlines. In this situation, the dimensions of the space need to be exact in order to draft the proper sightlines for the audience. This app is a good initial tool for a designer or even stage manager who needs rough numbers. However, I am not convinced that this tool can replace the accuracy of tape measures in a permanent way when it comes to measuring a space.
Ah! So cool! And free! I agree with Jess that I would not (yet) be comfortable abandoning my tape measure, but this does not have to be an either-or situation. I envision using RoomScan to do the rough layout, and then adjusting the measurements if necessary. This is simply done by tapping on the wall in the floor plan and then entering the new measurement. I want to play with the free version a bit more, but from what I can tell so far, this is an app I would seriously consider purchasing to upgrade for the Pro features. If RoomScan floor plans were then able to be imported into SketchUp, I would be a ridiculously happy kitty.
I did a report on smart phone apps that measure distances earlier this semester. I wish that I had known about the RoomScan at the time, because it sounds like a great tool to have at the ready. In my report I found that most of the apps on the market are very unreliable and don't do a very good job of letting you know when they are coming up with incorrect values. A handful of the apps that I looked at used the accelerometer in side the phone to figure out distances and angles. Unlike the RoomScane, these other apps did not have the user place the phone on the wall. Although needing to go up to each of the walls and put the phone on it is a little more work, I think that the end result will probably be much more accurate and thus useful. I would defiantly like to try out this app ans see how well it really preforms. I am also interested in learning more about how the tool actually works.
This app looks awesome. It's amazing the creative different ways people can use existing technology to do new and innovative things. I would agree that this can't replace a tape or laser measure in lots of situations but to rough in measurements of a room this is fantastic. My only question would obviously be about accuracy but this seems to be pretty reliable. I would like to see this app continue to develop to the point where you could measure a space like the warehouse or a more complex space with pillars or other objects in the middle of the space.
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