Handbook

What the app does
and where to find it.

Every feature with the way to it and a short how-to. Search with whatever word comes to mind — “section”, “IFC”, “ceiling height” or “export”. In the app, the link to this page is in Controls & help (the ? top right in a project, or at the bottom of the projects), where the guides start too.

As of version 1.6 · 83 features

Getting started

The guide

Where Controls & help › Quick tour / Full guide

On the first start the app offers a quick tour or a full guide through every tool, on the sample project. Start it again any time from Controls & help.

Controls & help

Where The ? top right in a project, the ? at the bottom of the projects, or the menu under the project name

The controls for your device, the supported formats, the guides, a link to this handbook and the open-source licences.

The sample project

Where The projects gallery; again from Account › Add the sample project again

A small scanned room with an IFC model and two saved cuts, to try everything on. It does not count towards the free project.

Offline, no account

Where Always

The app makes no network connections, has no account or sign-in and collects no data. Projects stay on your device.

Projects and files

A new project from scans, models or both

Where Projects gallery › +

Choose one or more files, a folder or a zip. Scans are converted once into an offline project and models are added beside them. Each file stays a scan or model of its own in the project.

Scan formats

Where Gallery › + or Add scans or models…

E57 (with registered setups, colour, intensity and spherical photos), LAS and LAZ 1.0–1.4, COPC, PLY (ASCII and binary), PTS, PTX, XYZ and TXT. For PLY, XYZ and TXT pick the units and the up axis; E57 and LAS carry their own.

Model and plan formats

Where Gallery › + or Add scans or models…

IFC (also zipped or gzipped), USDZ, USD, OBJ, STL, glTF and GLB. A DXF floor plan lies under the scan with its layers. Several model files show together as a federated model, each in its own coordinates.

Add scans or models to a project

Where Menu under the project name › Add scans or models…; in the gallery, … on the project card

More scans are imported into the open project, models are added beside them. Adding to a project does not count as a new project.

Search, sort and select projects

Where Projects gallery, top bar

Search by name; sort newest or oldest first, by name or by size. The selection icon deletes several projects at once.

Rename, delete, show in Finder

Where Gallery › … on a project card (or press and hold / right-click)

Rename a project, delete it (to the Trash on a Mac), or show it in the Finder on a Mac.

Projects elsewhere on the device

Where Gallery, below the projects: Elsewhere on this device and in clouds

.vpc projects opened from elsewhere (iCloud Drive, an external disk) are remembered and open from here. A location can be forgotten.

A project reopens as it was left

Where Automatic

The camera, the cut, the open panels and what was shown are kept with the project and come back when it is opened again.

Moving around

Orbit, pan and zoom on iPad and iPhone

Where In the view

One finger orbits, two fingers pan, a pinch zooms. A tap selects a model element; pressing and holding opens its menu.

Orbit, pan and zoom on a Mac

Where In the view

Mouse: drag to orbit, right-drag or Shift-drag to pan, scroll to zoom. Trackpad: drag to orbit, two fingers to pan, pinch to zoom (⌘ with two fingers zooms too).

Views from the six sides and axonometries

Where Top bar › Views

Top, bottom, front, back, left, right, and axonometries from above and below from each corner. The view is framed on the current cut.

Axonometry or perspective

Where Top bar, first switch

Parallel projection for reading dimensions, or perspective for depth.

Fit to view

Where Top bar › the frame icon; F on a Mac

Frames the whole project, or just what is in the cut.

Walking with the keyboard

Where A Mac, or an iPad with a keyboard

W A S D moves the view, E and Q raise and lower it, the arrow keys look around — as in a first-person game.

Keyboard shortcuts on a Mac

Where Mac

Shift + T, D, F, B, L, R: the sides (top, bottom, front, back, left, right). F: fit. 1, 2, 3: front, side and top views. ⌘[ and ⌘]: smaller and larger points. ⌘⇧D: maximum detail. ⌘⇧G: grid. ⌥⌘D: Display. ⌘N: new project. ⌘⇧W: back to the projects.

Reset view

Where Menu under the project name › Reset view

Brings the camera back to the default view of the whole project.

Scene and the side panel

The side panel

Where The panel icon, top right

Three tabs: Scene (what the project holds), Views (saved cuts) and On this view (measurements and notes).

Hide or show a scan or model

Where Side panel › Scene; top bar › cloud / model

The eye on a row hides the cloud, a single scan, a model or a plan. The row’s menu has Show only this scan or model.

Each scan setup on its own

Where Side panel › Scene › the scans under the cloud

Each scan in the project can be hidden, shown alone, or given a colour of its own (Colour each scan differently). Hidden scans are not drawn and cannot be measured on.

Properties of a scan, the cloud or a model

Where Side panel › Scene › press a row

Extent, the file’s own data, colour and opacity, and for a model removing it from the project. The original files are never changed.

Model elements by storey, class or file

Where Side panel › Scene › Model elements

The IFC elements as a tree grouped by storey, class or file. Search by name, class, GlobalId or property. Show, hide, isolate or look at elements.

Plan of a storey

Where Model elements › a storey › Plan of this storey

Cuts the storey out as a plan and looks at it from above.

A DXF plan under the scan

Where Side panel › Scene › Underlays

The plan’s height and rotation, and which of its layers are drawn.

Saved cuts (Views)

Where Side panel › Views

The saved limit boxes and sections. A press switches to one, camera included; a cut can be renamed, updated to the view on screen, or deleted.

Measuring

Distance

Where Tools on the left › Measure › Distance

Two points on the scan or the model. Shows the length with its horizontal and vertical components. Every point is verified against the cloud at full resolution.

Ceiling height

Where Measure › Height

A point on the floor and one on the ceiling; measured straight up, wherever the two are.

Polyline

Where Measure › Polyline

Pick successive points, then Finish. Adds up every segment.

Angle

Where Measure › Angle

Three points; the second is the vertex.

Area

Where Measure › Area

The corners round the edge, then the first corner again to close it. The area is fitted to the points.

Wall thickness, clear width (face to face)

Where Measure › Face to face

A face of the model, then the face across from it. Parallel faces are measured square to them.

Shortest distance between elements

Where Measure › Between elements; or the selection bar › Measure

Two model elements, or an element and the nearest point of the scan.

Snap to corners

Where Measure › Snap to corners

With a model open, points snap to its corners. Measurements always snap to the outline of a cut.

The list of measurements, and a floating one

Where Measure › the list; Floating list of measurements; side panel › On this view

Measurements are kept in the project. They can be renamed, hidden, adjusted by dragging their ends, and deleted — all at once too.

Units

Where Account › Lengths in

Metric (mm, cm, m) and imperial units.

Cutting

Limit box

Where Tools on the left › Cut › New limit box

A box round what you are looking at. Drag its walls to fit a room, the middle to move it, the round grip to turn it. Done, top right, ends editing.

Horizontal slice

Where Cut › Slice

A thin horizontal cut through the whole scan, read from above like a plan. Set its position and thickness.

Room from two corners

Where Cut › Room from two corners

Pick two opposite floor corners; the box is 3 m high.

Exact numbers

Where Cut › Exact numbers

The box’s centre, size and rotation, or the slice’s position and thickness, as numbers.

Save a cut under a name

Where Cut › Save; side panel › Views

The cut is saved with the camera view (Living room, Ground floor, Section A…) to come back to any time.

Filled and hatched cut through the model

Where Cut › Fill the cut; Show outline

Where a cut passes through a solid element, its face is filled and hatched. The outline of the cut is drawn as a line and measurements snap to it.

The active cut

Where The chip under the top bar

Shows which cut is on; edit or remove it from there.

Model elements and selection

Select an element

Where Tap an element; tools on the left › Select (rectangle)

A tap selects one element; the Select tool drags a rectangle over several. On a Mac ⌘-click adds to the selection and Option-drag selects by rectangle.

An element’s menu

Where Press and hold an element; right-click on a Mac

Select, add to the selection, hide the element or every element of its kind, properties, a note here.

IFC element properties

Where Element menu › Properties…; selection bar › Properties

Every property set of the element, including what it inherits from its type.

Isolate, hide, look at the selection

Where The selection bar at the bottom

Isolate shows only the selection, with the rest faded if you like. Hide hides it. Look at turns the camera to it.

Colour and opacity of the selection

Where Selection bar › Colour

A colour and opacity of your own for the selected elements; back to the file’s colours any time.

Groups of elements

Where Selection bar › Groups; side panel › Model elements › Groups

A named group from the selection, with its own colour and opacity, to hide, isolate or select.

Area and volume in the cut

Where Selection bar › Measure › Cut face and volume in the cut

Works out the area and volume of the selected elements inside the current cut.

Colours by IFC class

Where Display › Models › Colour by IFC class

Each IFC class (walls, slabs, windows…) gets a colour of its own.

Model as edges (wireframe)

Where Display › Models › Edges

The outlines of the elements or every edge, including those behind surfaces, in a chosen colour and width.

Opacity of the model and the cloud

Where Display › Models / Cloud points

Opacity for the model and for the cloud, to see one through the other.

Notes and BCF

A note on a point

Where Tools on the left › Note; element menu › Add a note here

A note on a point of the scan with text, type (issue, request, clash, remark), status, priority, assignee, due date, labels, a discussion and a picture of the view.

Export notes as BCF

Where Menu under the project name › Export › Notes as BCF…

Each note becomes a BCF topic with the camera view, the picture, the model element and what the view hides.

Import BCF

Where Menu under the project name › Open issues from BCF…

The topics of a BCF file from another tool appear as notes.

All measurements and notes

Where Menu under the project name › Measurements & notes

Every measurement and note, exported as CSV or JSON (with the saved cuts), a snapshot of the view, and JSON import.

Analysis: scan against model

Deviation of the scan from the model

Where Tools on the left › Analysis › Colour the scan by deviation from the model

Every scan point is coloured by its distance to the model — in front, behind, within tolerance. Set the tolerance; Deviation by element lists the elements built out of tolerance.

What the scan shows: built, missing

Where Analysis › What the scan shows…

Tells for each model element whether it is in the scan: built, in part, missing, not scanned. A note can be added to each missing element.

Align the model to the scan

Where Analysis › Align model…

By estimate, by pairs of corners on the model and in the scan, by the georeference, or by dragging grips in the view; fine-tune in steps or let the scan’s points pull the model on (Refine with the scan). The model always moves, never the scan, and its scale never changes. The placement is saved with the project.

Check the model against IDS

Where Analysis › Check model against IDS…

Choose an IDS file. The report shows which specifications elements fail; failing elements can become notes that go out as BCF.

Walls from the scan

Where Analysis › Find walls in the scan

Estimates the floor, the ceiling and the walls from the points and draws them as a plan. Go through the walls one by one, move them in 10 mm steps or throw them out, and export them as IFC.

Display

Colour of the cloud

Where Display (bottom left) › Cloud points › Colour

RGB, intensity, heatmap, elevation, uniform, classification, deviation from the model.

Elevation and a band (floor sag, wall lean)

Where Display › Colour: Elevation › band

Elevation over the whole cloud, or a band of 1–50 cm of your own: fitted to the cloud or the cut, centred on a point, across X or Y or turned (for a leaning wall). Grey outside the band.

Point size, shape, brightness and contrast

Where Display › Cloud points; top bar − / +

Point size, round or square points, brightness and contrast.

Maximum detail

Where Display › Detail › Maximum detail

Shows as many of the scan’s real points as the device can hold, instead of a thinned view. Slower, and the device gets warmer.

Fill the gaps between points

Where Display › Detail

Points far away are drawn larger, so surfaces look solid.

Horizontal grid

Where Display › Show in the view › Horizontal grid

A grid on the floor of the cut or the scan; every fifth line is stronger. The square follows the zoom or is chosen.

Scan setups and panoramas

Where Display › Scan setups; press a marker in the view

Markers where the scanner stood. Press one to open its panorama, drag to look around, and Back to 3D to return.

Light background

Where Display › Show in the view

A light background instead of the dark one, for pictures in documents.

Performance

Where Display › Advanced

Point budget, target frame rate, adaptive quality, blending detail changes and a performance overlay.

The same display in every project

Where Display › Carry settings between projects

On: every project opens drawn the same way. Off: each keeps its own.

Export

Snapshot of the view (PNG)

Where Menu under the project name › Export › Viewport snapshot (PNG)

A picture of what is on screen, with the cut, measurements and notes.

The cloud or a section as LAS

Where Export › Export the whole cloud / this section as LAS; Cut › Export

The points of the whole cloud, or only of what is in the cut, as a LAS file.

Measurements as CSV and JSON

Where Measurements & notes › Export

CSV for a spreadsheet, JSON with the saved cuts too — JSON can be imported again.

Walls as IFC

Where Analysis › Walls from the scan › Export as IFC

The walls found in the scan as a simple IFC model.

Account and settings

Pro: as many projects as you need

Where Account (bottom left in the projects) › Unlock Pro

One project is free; Pro is a one-time purchase with no subscription. Restore purchase brings it back on another device with the same Apple Account.

Redeem a code

Where Account › Redeem a code

A code for Pro, for example for your feedback.

Feedback

Where The button bottom right in the projects; Account

A questionnaire about working with the app. It goes as an e-mail you send yourself; for a filled-in questionnaire we send a code for Pro. It can be filled in on the web too.

App language

Where Account › Language

Czech or English, whatever the system language.

Status bar on iPad and iPhone

Where Account › Show the status bar

The time and battery are hidden by default, to give the view more room.

What the app does not do

Registering scans

Scans are not registered to each other; an E57 with registered setups opens as it is.

Editing points

Cloud points cannot be deleted, cleaned or classified; a cut only hides them.

Editing models

Models are only read; the IFC file is never changed.

Two coordinate systems into one

Clouds in two different coordinate systems are not brought into one.

Augmented reality (AR)

Neither the model nor the scan is shown over the camera.

Android, Windows, web

The app is for Mac, iPad and iPhone only.

Cloud and sharing in the app

No account or sync; share projects as .vpc files and results as BCF, CSV or LAS.