Photo documentation

Photos, videos and audio recordings can be stored at every level of the building — from the whole building down to the individual building part. This chapter shows where the gallery sits, how you describe recordings, draw on them and measure in them, and how they find their way into a report.

Seven levels, one gallery

A recording hangs on exactly one level: on the building, a stairwell, a floor, a unit, a room, an item or a building part. The façade photos belong to the building, the picture of the water damage to the room, the photo of the fitted door to the building part.

Where the way in sits

The symbol is a camera everywhere. In the header it is a button with the number of recordings (from a hundred 99+) and opens the photo documentation of the level you are on — in the item list of a room it is called “Photo documentation”, while measuring it belongs to the item. On the rows of a list the camera is only an indicator, shown once something hangs there; you open it via ⋯ on the row (or a long press) and “Photo documentation …”. Building parts can only be reached this way; a tap on their row opens editing.

Not to be confused: the “With the camera” tile in the item list measures; it does not document.

In the gallery

At the top are the capture buttons, below them — once something is attached — the tally of the level (photos, videos, audio, space taken up) and the tiles. Below that is the usage of the whole building: how much of it is on this device, how much there is in total and how many recordings have not been uploaded yet. If there are recordings over 250 MB, a second line gives their number; they stay on this device only.

Attaching

• Capture — on smartphone and tablet the system camera with flash, focus, exposure and video; on a computer a viewfinder of its own for photos and videos (see below).
• From the library — existing photos and videos, several at once too; in the browser the file picker. Anything that is neither picture nor video nor audio recording is refused.
• Record audio — “Record” starts, “Done” stores the recording; a second quick tap on “Done” does not store a second one. In the app on iPhone, iPad and Android and in the browser (see below).
• 3D photo — from the Pro plan: a photo together with a depth map, the precondition for measuring in the photo. On iPhone and iPad it only works with a LiDAR scanner; otherwise the app reports that one is needed. On Android the button only appears if the device reports depth data for AR measuring; otherwise the reason stands below the buttons. Without Pro the button is missing.

Audio and video in the browser. Recording is only in the MP4 format. If a browser cannot do that — Firefox, for example —, “Record audio” opens a sheet with the reason and without a start button; in the viewfinder the reason appears instead of “Record video”. On a computer the viewfinder records with “Record video” and shows the running time; “Stop recording” stores the video, and it stops by itself after 3 min at the latest. If the microphone is not allowed, the video is made without sound, and the viewfinder says so. Closing or cancelling during the recording discards it. On a phone, “Capture” in the browser hands over to the device’s camera app, if the browser offers it.

Limits: photos up to 25 MB, videos up to 3 min and 250 MB, audio recordings up to 60 min. Anything above is refused, not shortened; the app gives the reason. Above the buttons stands the limit for videos. The camera stops a video after 3 min where the system allows it; otherwise the app refuses a longer video after recording. If the device or browser cannot read the length of a video, only the size applies. A recording of your own over the limit is lost in the process. If you pick several files from the library and some of them are over, the others are attached anyway. If only one is over, the message gives the reason; if several are over, it gives the number per reason. An audio recording stops by itself after 60 min and is stored as with “Done”; the app then says “Limit reached”.

If the browser gives up no storage for files — very old versions, some private windows — a note and the way onward stand there instead of the buttons. Recordings from other devices still appear via the cloud.

Tiles

3D at the top left marks a 3D photo. A dot at the top right means: not in the cloud yet (without the cloud, on every tile). Videos and audio show the duration at the bottom right, and the title stands below the tile.

Viewing, describing, deleting

A tap on a tile opens the “Media item” view: the photo at a large size with its drawings, below it Title and Note. Both appear in the report below the picture and are saved when you leave the field and when you close the view (“Saved”). Below are “Draw …” (photos), “Measure in the photo …” (3D photos) and “Delete”. Video and audio show file name, file type, duration and size instead of a picture; title and note work there too. The view plays an audio recording, and a video as well — below it, “Open video” additionally hands it to another app, in the browser as a download or for sharing. Both only work when the file is on this device.

If the file is not on this device, the preview image appears with a note. If it has been uploaded, “Load original (…)” appears below it with the file size and the sentence that on mobile data this counts towards your data allowance; only the tap fetches the file from the cloud. If it has not been uploaded yet, the view says that it is on another device. Without a network or without the team’s cloud connection, the app reports that the original could not be loaded.

A long press on a tile offers Open, Measure in the photo … (3D photos only) and Delete. After a confirmation the recording goes into the recycle bin, with the cloud on every device; for 30 days it can be restored from there (chapter “Projects and structure”). The app removes the file from the cloud only once it has been deleted permanently.

What is stored is the time of recording from the file, not the time it was attached — except in the browser, where the time of attaching applies.

Drawing on a photo

“Draw …” opens the photo full screen, also after the fact.

• Tool: Freehand, Line, Arrow, Rectangle, Ellipse, Text (label of up to 200 characters)
• Colour: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, white, black
• Line width: Thin, Medium, Thick
• “Undo” takes back the last shape; “Delete shape” removes a shape you have tapped, “Delete everything” asks first.

Nothing is kept until “Save”; “Close” with unsaved changes asks first. The photo itself stays unchanged: the drawing lies on top, can still be changed and appears in the report over the photo, in the contact sheet as well. The archive holds the originals without drawings. The space per picture is limited; when it runs short the app says so, and when it is full it accepts nothing more. What you draw on a preview image sits in the same place on the original.

Measuring in the photo

With a 3D photo, “Measure in the photo …” opens the “Measure in the photo” window: “Distance” measures between two tapped points, “Area” over 3 to 24 corners. Switching the kind and “Start again” begin from scratch.

Every result carries a tolerance and a reliability as a percentage. It is an estimate from depth data and is no substitute for a measurement with the laser distance meter. “Add to the picture” places value and tolerance as a label in the photo — that way the measurement appears in the report and in the index of the archive. Several measurements per photo are possible.

Below the picture is the quality of the capture (good, usable, weak or unusable) with coverage, typical distance and noise, and where needed tips under “How to make it better”.

Frequent messages:

• “The depth value is missing at one of the points.” — tap a little further from the edge.
• “The points do not lie on one plane.” — the method is no good for sloping or curved surfaces.
• “The image file is not on this device.” — the recording could not be fetched from the cloud (no network, no cloud or not uploaded yet); open it again later.

Where the files are kept

• On the device, ordered by project. In the browser they are kept in the browser’s storage; in a private window nothing is kept there (chapter “Troubleshooting”).
• In the cloud, if it is switched on. Downloading does not happen in advance: photos from other devices appear as a preview image, video and audio with file name and duration. The app fetches the original only on a tap on “Load original” in the “Media item” view and for measuring in a 3D photo.
• Not in the ordinary backup. The backup in Settings contains the entries with title, note, drawings and preview image, but no files. On phone and tablet, “Create & share backup with photos” takes the files along (chapter “Settings”). The originals also come out through the photo documentation (ZIP); “Export project as a file” (from Pro) takes along the files on this device.

If you restore an older backup in the app without the cloud, you lose the recordings made after it — but not straight away: the app keeps them for at least 14 days after restoring and then removes them at one of the next starts. If, within that time, you restore a backup made after they were taken, they are kept. Only a backup with photos contains the files themselves. The confirmation before restoring says so as well.

Getting recordings out

The report, the index in the archive and the accompanying text are written in German, whatever language the app is set to.

The “Media” tab

It appears only with these three formats.

• How do media appear? — not at all · contact sheet · one page per picture · collected at the end. The last two currently give the same result: every picture large, each level starting on a new page.
• Which kinds — Photos, Videos, Audio. If you do not want large attachments, select only Photos.
• Pictures per row in the contact sheet — 1, 2, 3, 4 or 6
• Caption — Title, Note, Date, Path, Origin; the quality of a 3D photo comes with “Origin”. Measurements added to the picture and durations always appear.
• At most per … — the limit for each level: all, 1, 2, 4 or 8
• Put the files into the archive — only with the photo documentation (ZIP)

The default is “not at all”; the two photo documentation formats switch pictures on of their own accord.

Nothing goes missing from the PDF without a word: a photo in a format that cannot be embedded, or without a file on this device, appears as a preview image with “Nur Vorschau in geringer Auflösung” (low-resolution preview only) — the export fetches nothing from the cloud. Video and audio appear as an entry with the file name. The export also lists these cases as a warning.

What sits in which plan

In a team with the role “Read-only”, the photo documentation only shows the team’s recordings as long as the owner has turned on “Photos and media” for this person; nothing can be attached there (chapter “Working together”).

Limits worth knowing

• The browser records audio and video only as MP4; where it cannot do that, recording is locked there. 3D photos exist only in the app — on iPhone and iPad with a LiDAR scanner, on Android if the device reports depth data.
• A 3D photo is stored in landscape, as the sensor delivers it; taken in portrait, it lies on its side in the gallery. Only this way do picture and depth map stay in register.
• Playback and “Open video” only work when the file is on this device — otherwise “Load original” first.
• Recordings over 250 MB do not go into the cloud. They stay on this device; gallery and settings give their number.
• A list of all recordings exists only in the archive. In the formats CSV, Excel and JSON, media do not appear as a row type of their own.