Measure with your phone camera

No ruler at hand? When the agent asks how big something is (a router, a phone, a pipe), you can measure it with your phone. Put an object of known size next to it, take a photo, and the values appear in the question on your computer.

What you need

One reference object, lying right next to the thing you measure:

A card works best for small things, a sheet for bigger ones. Don't worry about what's printed on the card: the photo stays in your private files. The cube measures width, depth and height from a single photo.

Step by step

1. When the agent's question has size fields (width, depth, height, diameter…), click Measure with my phone camera.
2. Scan the QR code with your phone's camera. The page opens without signing in; the code works for one phone, once, and expires after 10 minutes.
3. On your phone, choose your reference (or leave Find it for me).
4. From above: hold the phone straight over the object, with the card lying flat next to it. Keep the whole card and the whole object in the picture.
5. From the side (for heights): stand the card up against the object and shoot straight from the front.
6. Tap Measure. Your phone shows the result, drawn on the photo, and says "Done — check your computer".
7. On your computer, click Use these values. The fields fill in, each marked "from photo ±2 mm" (or whatever the range is). Edit anything that looks off, then click Looks right (or Send answer in the editor) to answer as usual.

Already on your phone? The button opens the camera page right there, no QR code needed.

The Solid Vibes measuring cube

A flat card only gives a scale on the table, so heights need a second photo from the side. The measuring cube is a 3D reference: from one photo taken from a corner Solid Vibes works out exactly where the camera was, then measures the object's footprint on the table and its height above it.

Get one. Download it on the phone page (pick Measuring cube), in the desktop measure dialog, or here: STL · 3MF. It's also in the Marketplace's official library as "Solid Vibes measuring cube".

Print it at 100 %, in any single colour (PLA is fine), logo up, no supports. Then check it with calipers: 40.0 mm on every side. If it's off by more than about 0.2 mm, fix your printer's scaling and print it again: every measurement inherits its size.

What's on it. The Solid Vibes logo on top, the SOLID VIBES wordmark on the front, and 3, 4, 5 and 6 round dimples on the other faces. Together they tell the AI which corner of the cube is which from any angle.

Use it:

1. Put the cube next to the object, on the same surface, logo up. The wordmark facing you is ideal, but any rotation works.
2. Take one photo from a corner, about 45° down, so you see the top and two sides of both the cube and the object. Fill most of the picture.
3. Optional: add a photo from straight above to double-check the width and depth.

When to use it: when you need the height too, for boxy or round objects you can't stand a card against, or when you only have time for one photo. For flat things (a plate, a PCB) a card from above is just as good.

If the photo doesn't work, you get a specific tip: too few corners of the cube visible, the cube too small in the picture (move closer), a face-on view (shoot from a corner), or the cube's faces not readable (more light).

Send the photos along, or model the object itself

The sizes are what the agent asked for, so by default only the numbers go back. When the photos would help:

• On your phone, after a successful measurement, switch on Also send the photos to Solid Vibes as a reference. It's off by default because the photos show your surroundings and change the request from numbers into an image request.
• On your computer, tick Attach the photos to my request (already ticked when your phone sent them). The photos go to the agent as images, with the sizes, through the normal image flow.
• Model this object is for when you want the photographed thing itself (a replacement part, a copy): the agent gets the photos plus the measured size as hard numbers, for example "Model the object in the attached photo. Measured: 120 × 80 × 45 mm (width × depth × height)".

The photos are already in your workspace's files, so nothing is uploaded twice.

No question open?

Press ⌘K (Ctrl K on Windows) and choose Measure something with my phone. Pick a box (width × depth × height) or a round thing (diameter × height). The measurement goes into your prompt as text, for example: "Measured with my phone camera (next to a bank or ID card): width 120 mm (±3 mm), depth 80 mm (±4 mm), height 45 mm (±2 mm)."

How it works, and how far to trust it

The AI finds the reference's corners (or the coin's edge, or the cube's corners) and the two ends of each dimension. Solid Vibes then does the math: the known size of the reference gives the scale, the shape of the reference tells how tilted the photo is, and edges that sit higher than the card (the top of a box) are corrected for being closer to the camera. Every value comes with a ± range and is rounded to match it, so you never get false precision like 120.37 mm. With the cube, the camera is solved in 3D from the cube's corners (a direct linear transform, then a fit with the object's own corners), and the ± comes from how well that photo pins the camera down: a small or face-on cube gets a wider range.

Photo measurements are good for fitting things around an object with a few millimetres of clearance. For tight fits (press fits, snap fits, bearings) check with calipers (see "Tolerances and fit" below).

When it asks for a retake

Solid Vibes would rather ask again than guess. You'll see a specific tip, for example:

• No reference found: put the card flat, right next to the object, fully in the picture.
• Too steep an angle: hold the phone straight above (or straight in front for the side photo).
• Reference cut off: keep the whole card or sheet inside the frame.
• Blurry: hold still, tap the object to focus, add light.
• Which coin? pick your coin on the phone, then measure again.

Heights need the side photo. Without it, a height is shown as a "rough estimate" with a wide range, or left for you to type.

Credits and privacy

A successful measurement costs a few credits (camera_measure, shown on Account → AI credits), the same with the cube; a retake request is free. The photos are stored in your workspace's files, checked for viruses like every upload, and only used for this measurement unless you choose to attach them to a request. Nobody who doesn't have the code can open the page, and the page shows nothing but the question.