I've been using the AutoCad Mobile App on my Samsung tablets for a few years now and it's got a learning curve where you have to be able to figure out what will work with the tablet and version of Acad Mobile and what won't work.
When I first picked up my AutoCad Mobile, it was better than pockets on a shirt. Then I read where it would communicate with Leica Disto laser measuring devices.. Here in is where the trouble started.
I run my own architectural design service mainly drawing as-builts of a clients property, then adding what they want to add to their house (ADU, Mother-In-Law Room, She Shed, that kind of thing).
So I checked out the Leica and found that it had bluetooth capabilities and so did my tablet and from what I dug up on the web somewhere, AutoCad Mobile should do what I wanted it to do.
I bought my first Disto, went through a few easy setup options, tried to use it, no joy. The blutooth version on my Disto was older than the one on my tablet. SO, I bought another one with a newer blutooth version, Shazam!! It worked, and not just great but AWESOME!!..
I could hold up my tablet and draw a line (indicating this was a wall I needed to draw), then I'd put the bottom of the Disto on say the North wall and point it at the South wall and hit the button.. Brace yourself.. It all worked like it should. The line I drew on my tablet was now a nice and straight line and it had a dimension above the line that the Disto got when I pushed the button.. Mind you, that dimension is accurate to 1/32" in a 300' shot... (Yeah, I don't think I could hold the Disto that steady either but, hey, it's there)..
So then, another update to AutoCad Mobile came out and (drum roll please), it wasn't compatible with my tablet.. Great, now I go out and buy another tablet and the Disto I was using wasn't supported anymore... I kid you not.. You can't make this stuff up.. So, off to my Leica shop again to get an even smaller disto (Small as in maybe 1" wide, 4" long, 1/2" thick), it worked GREAT!!.. Then.. guess what happened.. Come on.. guess.. If you said AutoDesk came out with another annual update, you win a chocolate chip cookie!!
And now, my Disto doesn't work the way it used to.. I don't know if I need to buy another one or if AutoDesk is even supporting it anymore. From what I understand, the development team for AutoCad Mobile is in Israel and that's a long way to fly to talk to someone about tech support.
Can I still use AutoCad Mobile and my Leica Disto?? Well, yes but, not the way I used to do it. Now I take a shot to measure a distance or length of a wall, then DRAW a wall on my Disto screen with my finger and then have to manually tell it how long the wall is.
I think it might still do it the old way but, I've definitely got to do some more experimentation with it.
Basically, the mandatory updates is what's causing all the problems. It's a throw away society and everyone thinks they need to have the newest and shiniest gadget and then the poor software developers have to figure out what that gadget has and how they can make their program continue to work with it so they can get thier annual upgrade cost as well.
What ever happened to "You find something that works, you stick with it."
Give a man AutoCad, and he'll draw you a floor plan.
Give a man Revit and he'll build you a house.
Give Cadmama a couple of drinks and she'll have everyone singing Rockytop!
