Disto And Chief


DesignByChad
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Hi All, 

I just got a Disto  and can not in any way get it to work with the full version -x6 of Chief on my windows 8.1 PC. I know the device works - can use it on my phone - I know the disto is paired but chief will not see it. And most of the times I tried - like 20 - the transfer software disconnects. 

My thinking this technology is not up to speed. Any body got it working on a windows 8 PC ? 

Chad Williams

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  • 6 months later...

Did not know this was possible .....surprised they aren't pushing it more along with the Room Planner App  ( which is Android now too)

 

Hopefully someone can report back how well it works etc , might be worth it for us Windows Tablet / laptop users....

 

M.

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I did get it all to work together with Chief Architect and the Disto with software installed.  Works pretty good with the exception of the fractions.

When I measure by hand or with a laser not connected to the computer, I would round up or down by 1/2" before writing down the dimensions

Disto and CA communicate the dimensions down to 1/16" fractions and I can see that will end up making a very accurate but difficult as-built to

work with.

Also there are dimensions like floor to ceiling which I don't want to communicate to CA, or can't (I think) so you have to be careful when you are just

checking dimensions with the Laser, as it wants to send the data to CA.

 

Time will tell.  I can see that the software has some macro's you can tweak that might adjust the fraction limits.  Will have to test it out more.

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Great Scott, I think I'll call support.  I've never tried creating a plan with my fat fingers and I'm struggling with how to grab walls, type in text and dimensions using a touch screen.  Anybody have experience with that?  So far though I've gotten X7 installed on this little 10.1" Asus T101TA, then the Disto software installed, then the Bluetooth enable and got it all to communicate! Yeah.  For only $130 on a Woot Sale this handy tablet with a detachable keyboard, running windows 8.1 works great!  Perfect for field measuring.  Can't wait to try it once I get the basic finger drawing method down.

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Any idea how to fill in numbers on a tablet? If there is no keyboard attached?

 

That is one PITA I am finding on my S3 too as you have to use the on screen keyboard and it doesn't auto popup (at least for me) when you have a text input box which means having to open the taskbar and click on the keyboard icon 1st ....everytime :(

 

Does Chief only work with Disto Lasers ?

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Well I prematurely tried my first "as-built" with the Asus Tablet running X7 and the Disto installed.  I spent some time pre-drawing the outline of the house before I went to the site, which can save time.  But all in all it was a real mess.  It did not help that the Real Estate agent had a 1 hour time deadline either.  Everything started out well, but here is what my inexperience discovered that was difficult.

 

1.) The ability to actually draw walls by picking the icon then pressing the stylus down and dragging, did not work as I'd hoped.  The touch pad is sensitive and my technique is flawed, as I kept either falling short of the target, or short of the wall I was trying to connect too.  Plus my fingers flying way from the stylus and nicking the screen caused all kinds of oddball walls to appear.

 

2.) My ability to pick an errant wall and grabbing an end point to create a new wall or drag it one direction left or right, up or down, was dismal

 

3.) Once the walls were roughly in place, I attempted to measure the inside wall to wall lengths by picking the wall (then hit select) then tapping the dimension I wanted to highlight and change, go to the Disto and take the measurement, which would put in the surface to surface length (I forgot to set up defaults to dimension to the surface). And this worked for about 15 mins. 

 

I then got some kind of error message that told me to call Chief Architect and the Disto stopped working to transmit the dimensions to CA.

 

So from then on out I had to take the laser dimension and use the popup keyboard to type in the dimensions, and I discovered that keyboard does not easily have the "feet" and "inches" characters available, so I had to mentally convert the feet and inches from the Disto to all inches and type those in.  That was not easy.

 

I finally ran out of time and had to resort to paper and pen to quickly finish taking all the dimensions.

 

This is going to have a steep learning curve.

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I have been practicing on my own house until I get better and faster, I'm certainly not ready for prime time yet..my big hands are always touching around the edge of the screen. I also have a mini iPad and think I will have to get the big one.

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Can you use Room Planner with CA files already made?....meaning can you use as a combination presenter and modifier...?

 

Honestly, as a professional I would never use something like Room Planner with my clients to develop concepts right in front of them.  I feel that app devalues and makes light of what it really takes to put a "real" project together, unless it really is about just remaking a certain area of a home. 

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I tried not to let my clients see my fumblings, and later when I came back to my office and used the Big Boy computer with a mouse, I manage to complete the as-built and send it along to them. Honestly though, the connection issue between CA and Disto may be an issue.  Memory or Bluetooth connectivity?  I don't know, but would like to hear from anyone else that is using CA X7 and a Bluetooth input device to see if they are having any connectivity issues.

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