Measurement Scanning

[BRDBRemodeling]

I heard something at KBIS that Chief Architect was in the process of creating a system to scan a home for measurements. (Similar to Twindo)  Had there been any updates of release timeframe for that product?

[DerekPedersen]

Hello @BRDBRemodeling.  Thank you for the question.  Yes, we are currently working on an app that runs on LiDAR-enabled Apple devices (iPad Pro or iPhone Pro models) for capturing as-built floor plans.  This is currently in beta form.  If you are interested in looking at the beta version, you can send an email to beta@chiefarchitect.com.  This is the proper channel for beta access requests.  The current plan is for the As-Built app to officially release with X18.  Of course, this isn't guaranteed, but this is the current plan.

 

I hope this helps!

 

Kind regards,

 

Derek

Chief Architect Software

[BryceEngstrom]

Any plans to accept LIDAR other than iPhones?  It's kind of ironic that that it seemed like it took a long time for Chief to even offer a Mac OS version, and now this is the only Lidar file you will support?

[Paul454]

23 hours ago, BryceEngstrom said:

Any plans to accept LIDAR other than iPhones?  It's kind of ironic that that it seemed like it took a long time for Chief to even offer a Mac OS version, and now this is the only Lidar file you will support?

Hi Bryce, I did a google search for LIDAR software for android phones and it recommended an app called KIRI Engine for android devices that uses the 3D capabilities of the phone.  They claim it's free.  I just downloaded it, so I'm not sure yet how well it works. 

[Renerabbitt]

On 6/17/2026 at 2:24 PM, BryceEngstrom said:

Any plans to accept LIDAR other than iPhones?  It's kind of ironic that that it seemed like it took a long time for Chief to even offer a Mac OS version, and now this is the only Lidar file you will support?

Not really a Chief-specific issue on either of those fronts, at least not from a software development standpoint.

On the rendering side, Chief’s path tracer and other GPU-dependent features rely heavily on the graphics API and driver support available from the operating system and hardware vendor. On Windows, that generally means working through DirectX / GPU driver support from NVIDIA, AMD, and Intel. On macOS, that means working through Apple’s Metal API. If Apple’s Metal implementation or developer support is lacking(WHICH IT WAS), delayed, or not responsive to support tickets, there is only so much Chief can do from their end. They can optimize within the tools Apple provides, but they cannot rewrite Apple’s graphics stack or force Apple to prioritize bugs that affect a relatively small professional CAD/rendering market.

Same general idea with LiDAR. Apple has a very mature and well-documented development ecosystem around their LiDAR hardware, including ARKit, RoomPlan, depth APIs, and device-level support. Developers building scan-based workflows have a relatively clear path on iPhones and iPads because Apple controls the hardware, operating system, camera stack, sensor calibration, and API access.

Competing platforms are much more fragmented. Even if another phone technically has depth sensing, LiDAR, time-of-flight, or some other spatial scanning capability, the development tools may not be as standardized, consistent, or commercially viable. Android devices vary widely by manufacturer, sensor package, camera pipeline, OS version, and API support. That makes it much harder for a company like Chief to build and maintain a reliable scan-to-plan workflow across a broad range of non-Apple devices.

I wouldnt point the finger at Chief is all

[BryceEngstrom]

Thanks for that information.  Way beyond my technical knowledge, but interesting nonetheless.  Looks like by the time this is feasible for a one man firm not in the Apple ecosphere, I'll be retired. 

[ValleyGuy]

22 hours ago, BryceEngstrom said:

Thanks for that information.  Way beyond my technical knowledge, but interesting nonetheless.  Looks like by the time this is feasible for a one man firm not in the Apple ecosphere, I'll be retired. 

 

For what it's worth...
I am a one man show and I have pretty much switched over from pen and paper to my iPad using Lidar with a really inexpensive ($30 CDN / yr) program called Morpholio Trace. This has saved me hours on every as-built measure. The lidar creates a full 3D of an entire floor of a house in under 5 minutes. One thing the Morpholio Trace program will do is a top down view. I just start drawing in lines and add measurements on the exact "floor plan" view. I don't use it (or expect it) to make the measurements from the scan, I still physically pull a tape.  The program does a lot of great stuff for a really cheap cost. It's well worth a look.

 

If Chief can eliminate the need for this additional app, and can eliminate the physical measuring too....wow! That would be a huge game changer!

You are probably closer to the Apple ecosphere using an iPad than you are to the ecosphere used in programming the radio in your car. The Apple products really shouldn't scare anyone as they work in a similar fashion like anything tech does. Maybe just a little different wording to save files than a PC, but more the same than different. If you can tap your finger to an icon on a touch screen, you can pretty much use an iPad. If you can manage a self check-out station, use an insta teller, operate your smart TV remote, use the Microwave, maybe even use the coffee machine.... you have the skill set. It's a tool, if it can benefit you, don't let your fear of drinking the Kool-Aid hold you back. I personally find it baffling how many people shy away from Apple tech when it can be a good tool for their job, and yet spend hours learning so many 'different' types of tech - some just being purely time wasters. Apple (or whatever computer) is usually only the vehicle transporting the program that you want to use. I mean you probably wouldn't decline a new rental car that you have never driven before in hopes that they had your familiar 10 year old discontinued model on the lot. 

Apple also has an app that comes on the new iPads called Freeform. I use it as well to capture pictures and make notes right on the picture, at the time. Doodle, sketch, whatever,.... it all stays in one nice neat little place. It works really well and comes free on the iPad.

 

Here is a pic of the Morpholio Trace app (using the Lidar pic). Notice the little 3D thumbnails at the bottom. They are also lidar 3D pics that I put specific measurements and info on. If Chief can actually be accurate with measurements and integration from a camera scan into their program, that would be amazing. I believe there are a few road bumps yet, which might not be a bad thing as it may provide a little more job security for us.

 

 

Here is a picture from a job using the Freeform app on the iPad.

 

 

 

[Gawdzira]

@ValleyGuy are you able to adjust those dimensions (shown in orange on the plan view) while you are on site doing the measuring when they differ from reality?

[ValleyGuy]

1 minute ago, Gawdzira said:

@ValleyGuy are you able to adjust those dimensions (shown in orange on the plan view) while you are on site doing the measuring when they differ from reality?

 

The measurements in orange are my manual input from the tape measure. There are no auto measuring tools like in CA as it is a picture with no solid snap-to items. I put them in manually like we would over top of a picture in CA. I believe the idea of using the scanned picture to provide the dimension is going to be the tricky part. 

I'm not sure if its clear enough to see, but the 3D top-down view uses a reference point (unlike a 2D plan view) and the walls are actually angled a little - just like a 3D doll house pic in CA.

 

As for if the measurements can be edited in the program, yes they can be.

[ValleyGuy]

19 hours ago, Gawdzira said:

@ValleyGuy are you able to adjust those dimensions (shown in orange on the plan view) while you are on site doing the measuring when they differ from reality?

 

Ok this CA As-Built LiDar app is fabulous so far! 

I just loaded the app and shot the same house. This is very RAW as I am not at all familiar with Chief's new app tools. This is just scan then turn on the interior dimensions. 

PRO's:
- It gives a very accurate actual 2D floor plan. Accurate looking wall and openings. Doors and windows are clean and distinct.

- Clean and very accurate dimension lines, some are right to the inch - some are out a few inches.

- Clutter and furniture are removed from plan

-3D model actually looks like a house and not gray walls and blocks like other LiDar scans

- it appears that manually inputting labels, room height, notes, dimensions, etc will be easier than the other program I am currently using

- Walls are moveable and dimensions are dynamic

- adding in rooms looks like a piece of cake

- TOTAL TIME TO PRODUCE THIS:   UNDER 10 MINUTES !!!

 

CON's::

- I need to figure out if the plan can rotate,... well, I need to learn a lot of what this is capable of...

- There definitely needs to be some edits: additional dimensions, railings, stairs / steps, half walls, bump out walls missed, door swings, soffits, beams - regular stuff LiDar doesn't pick up and CA wouldn't know that I wanted measured.

- some of the edit tools aren't intuitive and I do not see a ? Help icon. Maybe there is a user guide in the making....???
- the unknown future cost to upload to the cloud may be a concern, but the app is free, and this may not need to be uploaded.

- limited list of lazer measure tools that are confirmed to work with this program.
*** my Bosch GLM165-27CG works via bluetooth with the Bosch Measure On app, but I can not figure how to get it recognized by the CA As-Built app

 

So far, this appears to be well worth the price of my iPad Pro and Apple Pencil, for the amount of As-Builts that I am now doing. This may or may not be a stand alone tool, but it is definitely a huge foundational piece that can certainly be complimented very nicely with other inexpensive apps.

 

    

 

 

 

[SHCanada2]

On 6/25/2026 at 12:05 PM, ValleyGuy said:

The measurements in orange are my manual input from the tape measure.

curious, it looks like you measured every room manually. Why did you do this, vs relying on the program's measurments?

[SHCanada2]

On 6/18/2026 at 2:57 PM, Paul454 said:

it recommended an app called KIRI Engine for android devices that uses the 3D capabilities of the phone.  They claim it's free.  I just downloaded it, so I'm not sure yet how well it works. 

I tried this last year, it did not do anything useful related to floorplans. Polycam was the closest I found to a working product, but it also uses the roomplan API from Apple, so only works on Apple(although it has photogrammery(uses a constant taking of photos to determine depth and distance as opposed to using lidar) mode, but in that mode it will not produce floorplans) but it also had issues with finding walls in the proper location for the lidar method. So i think to Rene's point, anything that uses the roomplan API is  only as good as the Apple programmers make it.

Edited Saturday at 04:28 AM by SHCanada2

[ValleyGuy]

5 hours ago, SHCanada2 said:

curious, it looks like you measured every room manually. Why did you do this, vs relying on the program's measurments?

The first post (with the orange dimensions) is using Morpholio Trace, which does not provide any automatic dimensions, walls, openings, etc. I used their ability of a downward view of their LiDAR scan as a base picture of the floor plan. Every layer of tracing paper that I put on top of the base picture makes up the information. I drew in the lines for walls, windows, doors, cabinets, etc, ... plus the dimensions. It is more of a start from scratch and draw a picture type of program rather than a drafting type of program. 

 

[SHCanada2]

7 hours ago, ValleyGuy said:

The first post (with the orange dimensions) is using Morpholio Trace, which does not provide any automatic dimensions, walls, openings, etc. I used their ability of a downward view of their LiDAR scan as a base picture of the floor plan. Every layer of tracing paper that I put on top of the base picture makes up the information. I drew in the lines for walls, windows, doors, cabinets, etc, ... plus the dimensions. It is more of a start from scratch and draw a picture type of program rather than a drafting type of program. 

 

Is their picture to scale(I assume so as it came from lidar)? if so, you could take one dimension across the building, scale the picture to that, and then measure everything off the picture in CA?

 

i.e. did you consider, drawing in the widows and doors, measuring the offset of the windows to the walls, all in the app. Then import into CA, and forget about measuring every room?

 

or did you try this and the walls were not correct enough to the actual dimensions?

[ValleyGuy]

2 hours ago, SHCanada2 said:

Is their picture to scale(I assume so as it came from lidar)? if so, you could take one dimension across the building, scale the picture to that, and then measure everything off the picture in CA?

 

i.e. did you consider, drawing in the widows and doors, measuring the offset of the windows to the walls, all in the app. Then import into CA, and forget about measuring every room?

 

or did you try this and the walls were not correct enough to the actual dimensions?

 

The Morpholio Trace app LiDAR (orange dimensioned) picture is like I said earlier, just a 3D picture with a reference point up above, somewhere more left than centre in this case. The LiDAR is to scale, but it isn't a 2D picture like CA's As-Built app, so picking reference points on multiple sloped walls isn't feasible to obtain accurate measurements with any consistency. The thing that I liked most about this was the LiDAR gave me a great starting place - not just a blank page but an actual house shape to use as a guide. Trying LiDAR was the leap from paper, a ruler and a pencil, to using something digital for me. Morpholio Trace LiDAR is the first baby step out of the gate and as I am not experienced with anyone making an actual 2D floor plan from LiDAR, using the trace paper on the iPad instead of real paper on a clip board was the starting goal. And now Chief has taken that starting point one step further and is producing a 2D floor plan that is dimensioned and dynamic. 

 

I played around with Chief’s As-Built app a little today. There are some bugs to work out of this Beta release, but I think that they are on the right track to producing a very good (and accurate) app using LiDAR. And who knows, maybe they (and Apple) might get to the place where it is spot on.