Caliper Project

Finding a good Caliper or measuring tool that is both cross-platform and FREE seems to be quite difficult. PixelPerfect is a good starting point but not really as useful as a real caliper. So i have decided to create myself a CALIPER application for Adobe® AIR™ ( source coming soon ).

The Calilper floats above other applications on screen and can be used to measure anything on your monitor.

Possible Usages

  • Web Designers : Layout Measurements.
  • Graphic Designers : Photo and Illustration Measurements.
  • CAD Engineers : Measuring Architectural Drawings.

Features

  • Draggable
  • Rotates through 360°
  • Pixel Perfect Measurements.
  • Floats above all other applications.
  • Remember position on close.
  • Use keyboard direction keys to move the Caliper one pixel in any direction
  • Hold Shift and the direction keys to move the Caliper 10px in any direction
  • Hold Shift and click the rotation button to rotate the Caliper 45°

Wish list

  • Custom Skins.
  • Alpha transparency.
  • Customizable Blade Colors.
  • Multi-monitor support.
  • Start at login options
  • Custom Units.
  • Display X / Y Positions.
  • Screen Color Picker.
  • Keyboard Movement
  • 90° Shortcuts

Bug list

  • Doesn't shutdown completely
  • Install button still displayed on Badge when already downloaded

UPDATE
Unfortunately I don't have time to support this tool anymore. So as a quick fix to some of the issues people seem to be having.
On windows goto :
C:\Documents and Settings\{YOUR_USER_NAME}\Application Data\co.uk.betadesigns.calilpers.{RANDOM_NUMBER}\Local Store\Preferences\Preferences.xml
On Mac goto:
{USER_NAME}/Library/Preferences/co.uk.betadesigns.calilpers.{RANDOM_NUMBER}/Local Store/Preferences/Preferences.xml
Open the file and manipulate the prefernces to get the app back on screen. Like below

 
<configuration>
    <application version="1.04">
<style location="assets/styles/defaultStyles.swf"/>
      <splashScreen>false</splashScreen>
<position x="10" y="10" rotation="0" width="100"/>
  </application>
</configuration>
 
 

71 Comments »

  1. Great work dude ;)

    Requests:

    - move caliper through the keyboard;
    - keyboard shortcut to rotate it 90o

    This is just for faster usage really… otherwise keep it up ;)

    Thanks,
    Fil

    Comment by FilipeLima — August 20, 2008 @ 3:42 pm

  2. Thanks for your project.
    How can I turn the tool 90º with a one click or button?
    can I move the tool in all directions with the keyboard?

    Thanks for your answers.

    Comment by Popo — August 21, 2008 @ 10:10 pm

  3. Hi filipe, Popo,
    Currently you can’t rotate 90º with one click or mouse press however i will endevour to add this feature this weekend.

    Comment by Anthony — August 22, 2008 @ 3:17 am

  4. new version now has shift click / 45º rotation 90º rotation looked too clunky to me. I have also added keyboard support for moving the Caliper around the screen.

    Comment by Anthony — August 26, 2008 @ 4:57 pm

  5. Cheers our full class of web developers are using your callipers!! hope you carry on to make it more kick ass!!

    Comment by Enda — October 6, 2008 @ 3:08 pm

  6. @@Edna,
    Thanks Edna it’s really good to hear that someone apart from myself is using the tool. I have been really busy lately on a papervision project and haven’t been able to give the caliper a thought for some time. If you have any ideas of what you would like to see or have improved with the caliper that would probably get me interested in coding it again . Although I was thinking about adding a color picker to the tool so that I don’t have to keep opening photoshop every time I get a new design. From the designers.

    Comment by Anthony — October 13, 2008 @ 11:26 pm

  7. [...] Caliper 是由BetaDeisgns 开发的一款基于AIR 的测量工具。相较同类工具pixDIF 和Pixus，其最大特点是支持360度旋转，以及仿真的界面设计。 [...]

    Pingback by Caliper: 支持360度旋转的测量工具 - 微兰空气 — October 22, 2008 @ 3:27 pm

  8. Great tool. I just have one bug to report. I use a dual screen system on Windows XP and the caliper won’t move to the secondary screen when I drag it. Works nicely on the main screen though.

    Cheers!

    Comment by Roy Smith — October 24, 2008 @ 10:26 pm

  9. Thank you very much for this fantastic tool. Recently, i find many useful information about calipers at http://www.tresnainstrument.com/ too.

    Comment by Lancy — November 2, 2008 @ 3:55 am

  10. I’ve been needing exactly this for ages – thanks!

    It took me a while to find the hide icon – but once I found it, this is exactly what I needed.

    Comment by Dylan — November 20, 2008 @ 11:13 pm

  11. This is a great tool, thanks a lot for producing this. I think the below features will be very helpful:
    1. Alpha transparency
    2. Support for other Units like Cm, Mm, Pt
    3. Check box for “Stay On Top”

    Comment by Velan — December 18, 2008 @ 6:09 pm

  12. Hi,
    I got a problem with the caliper. The start-up screen ( the one which list out wishlist etc ) is displaying off the monitor on the lower right, so I am unable see and click on the ok button and proceed to the main application. Even I re-installed the application. Please let me know what I can do about this. Thank you.

    Comment by Velan — December 19, 2008 @ 11:44 pm

  13. [...] BetaDesigns Caliper – This tool floats above your other applications so that you can measure any item on your screen. [...]

    Pingback by 30+ Great Adobe AIR Apps for Designers and Developers — December 26, 2008 @ 6:10 pm

  14. [...] BetaDesigns Caliper Esta herramienta flota sobre tus otras aplicaciones para que puedas medir cualquier ítem en tu pantalla. [...]

    Pingback by 30 grandes aplicaciones Adobe AIR para diseñadores y desarrolladores | Mashable — December 26, 2008 @ 8:39 pm

  15. [...] Link to download site [...]

    Pingback by [ UIBuzz ] » Blog Archive » Some nice Adobe AIR screen measuring applications — December 26, 2008 @ 9:37 pm

  16. [...] Link to download site [...]

    Pingback by jin_u as blog » Blog Archive » AIR : screen measuring applications — December 27, 2008 @ 2:07 am

  17. [...] BetaDesigns Caliper – This tool floats above your other applications so that you can measure any item on your screen. [...]

    Pingback by Myspace Proxies 360 » 30+ Great Adobe AIR Apps for Designers and Developers — December 27, 2008 @ 7:56 am

  18. [...] BetaDesigns Caliper – 这个工具浮动在所有窗口的上面，这样你就可以用它屏幕上的任何元素。 [...]

    Pingback by 30多个优秀的Adobe AIR应用 | 前端观察 — December 27, 2008 @ 10:44 am

  19. [...] – ActionScript 2 ve ActionScript 3 kullanıcıları için hata ayıklama aracı.BetaDesigns Caliper – Bu araç diğer uygulamaların daima üzerinde yer alarak ekranınızdaki herhangi bir nesnenin [...]

    Pingback by Tasarımcılar ve Geliştiriciler İçin 30+ Adobe AIR Uygulaması | cizzy.net — December 27, 2008 @ 9:21 pm

  20. [...] BetaDesigns Caliper – This tool floats above your other applications so that you can measure any item on your screen. [...]

    Pingback by 30多款优秀的用于设计&开发的Adobe Air程序 | 达达的Blog — December 29, 2008 @ 1:28 am

  21. [...] Pixus, pixDIF, Caliper [...]

    Pingback by 42 Aplicaciones Adobe AIR | Diseño, vídeo, fotografía y blogging | ..: Cristian Eslava | Diseño Gráfico / Web | Maquetación | Formación :.. — December 29, 2008 @ 2:29 am

  22. [...] BetaDesigns Caliper – This tool floats above your other applications so that you can measure any item on your screen. [...]

    Pingback by 30+ Great Adobe AIR Apps for Designers and Developers | Enetlive.net- Rich Internet Applications Blog — January 4, 2009 @ 3:02 am

  23. [...] Caliper 是由BetaDeisgns 开发的一款基于AIR 的测量工具。相较同类工具pixDIF 和Pixus，其最大特点是支持360度旋转，以及仿真的界面设计。 [...]

    Pingback by 混合主题 » Caliper: 支持360度旋转的测量工具 — January 8, 2009 @ 8:43 pm

  24. Hi, thanks for the great tool. However, can you add a keyboard shortcut such that we can resize the caliper by 1 pixel? My wacom mouse only tracks two pixels at a time, so I can never get an accurate measurement. Thanks!

    Comment by dc — January 28, 2009 @ 4:31 pm

  25. As a web designer, I’ve found some good uses for this already. I’d like to propose an addition to the wish list. Here’s what I’d like to see… on the handle, put a lens that will show (and magnify) what’s under the lens. Put a crosshair on the lens and add a field that gives the hex color number of the pixel under the crosshair. That would take care of both things I most often check when designing a site, or modifying an existing site. How wide is it, and what color is it. Also, if the color could be based on a single pixel, or a composite of a group of pixels, that would be awesome. Great work!

    Comment by Mark — January 30, 2009 @ 9:23 am

  26. Hi nice tool thanks, one thing I noticed was on mac os x it wouldnt quit from either the shortcut option or from the applications menu?

    Comment by Simon Bailey — February 2, 2009 @ 12:27 pm

  27. [...] BetaDesigns Caliper » Description : The Calilper floats above other applications on screen and can be used to measure anything on your monitor. [...]

    Pingback by 28 Adobe AIR Apps for Designers and Developers - Need Some AIR? : Speckyboy Design Magazine — March 5, 2009 @ 11:30 am

  28. [...] BetaDesigns Caliper ? Description : The Calilper floats above other applications on screen and can be used to measure anything on your monitor. [...]

    Pingback by 28 Adobe AIR Apps for Designers and Developers - Code Index — March 7, 2009 @ 8:44 pm

  29. It’s a geat tool!

    Замечательная вещь! Вот еще бы направляющие бы если были пунктирные по всему экрану – было бы замечательно!

    Comment by ultragex — March 12, 2009 @ 1:35 am

  30. Great tool but the 2nd screen bug (the caliper disappears on the second screen) is a huge drawback.

    My wishes:
    a “quick measures mode” in the menu:
    when selected, a left click will set the start of the caliper at this point, and a right click or shift click will set the caliper end at this point.
    This way, it could be very fast to several quick measurements. And maybe to modifyer for the endpoint: shift clic for free direction, control click for setting the endpoint on the same horizontal/vertical lige.

    Hope this is clear (I’m French), but drop me an email if you need it.

    Thank you though.

    Comment by dimitri — March 14, 2009 @ 10:53 am

  31. [...] Caliper Project [...]

    Pingback by 16 Fresh Adobe AIR Applications For Designers & Developers: | KuAPP.com — March 25, 2009 @ 7:52 am

  32. [...] Caliper Project [...]

    Pingback by 16 Fresh Adobe AIR Applications For Designers & Developers « Neuro Software Programming Blog — March 25, 2009 @ 4:16 pm

  33. [...] ein Desktop Lineal wie Pixlin (Freeware). Um auch “schräg” zu messen würde ich Caliper empfehlen (erfordert Adobe [...]

    Pingback by Desktop vermessen « Webdevteam’s Blog — March 26, 2009 @ 8:03 am

  34. [...] 10. Caliper Project [...]

    Pingback by riaeye » Blog Archive » 为设计师和开发者准备的16款Adobe AIR程序 — March 30, 2009 @ 10:54 am

  35. [...] 10. Caliper Project [...]

    Pingback by 我想网 » Blog Archive » 为设计师和开发者准备的16款Adobe AIR程序 — March 30, 2009 @ 3:52 pm

  36. I also can’t seem to quit from either the File menu or from the Dock icon. This needs to be fixed please.

    Also, I agree that it would be very good to let us manually set the angle or the size from the keypad.

    Otherwise, great app.

    Comment by GCoyne — April 13, 2009 @ 11:46 pm

  37. Mac 10.5.4 Can’t quit Calipers and can’t restart computer until I quit Calipers.

    Comment by colorcrazy — April 14, 2009 @ 6:05 pm

  38. this is so good i’ve been wanting someting like this 4 ages

    Comment by Pedro Coimbra — April 28, 2009 @ 1:58 pm

  39. [...] should mention, that there is a free Adobe AIR app that somewhat resembles this feature of xScope. Calliper places a caliper graphic on screen and allows for opening and rotating for measurement. However, [...]

    Pingback by xScope: The Designer’s Utility Belt « AppStorm — April 30, 2009 @ 2:01 pm

  40. [...] should mention, that there is a free Adobe AIR app that somewhat resembles this feature of xScope. Calliper places a caliper graphic on screen and allows for opening and rotating for measurement. However, [...]

    Pingback by Techknology’s Blog » xScope: The Designer’s Utility Belt — May 1, 2009 @ 12:29 am

  41. I used the caliper and was very happy with the results. Suddenly, I started having the same problem that item 12 describes. The initial splash screen is opening so low on the screen that the “OK” button is off the screen. I also uninstalled and reinstalled the application. Do you have a solution?

    Comment by Barbara — May 1, 2009 @ 3:56 pm

  42. [...] Caliper – Focusing on one small subset of xScope, Caliper is a free alternative for accurately measuring elements on your screen. [...]

    Pingback by The Ultimate Mac Setup for Web Designers (60 Apps) « AppStorm — May 7, 2009 @ 6:43 am

  43. [...] Caliper 是由BetaDeisgns 开发的一款基于AIR 的测量工具。相较同类工具pixDIF 和Pixus，其最大特点是支持360度旋转，以及仿真的界面设计。 [...]

    Pingback by Caliper: 支持360度旋转的测量工具 » Yaaahaaa 首页 — May 7, 2009 @ 7:32 am

  44. [...] Caliper – Focusing on one small subset of xScope, Caliper is a free alternative for accurately measuring elements on your screen. [...]

    Pingback by Techknology’s Blog » The Ultimate Mac Setup for Web Designers (60 Apps) — May 8, 2009 @ 1:55 am

  45. Do you plan to republish the download anytime soon?
    I couldn’t find any links on your site, so I presume you are doing some code fixes.

    Comment by Tetsuo — May 9, 2009 @ 1:30 pm

  46. [...] Caliper Project Caliper or measuring tool that is both cross-platform and FREE (tags: webdesign software freeware crossplatform) [...]

    Pingback by links for 2009-05-10 « 语虚 — May 11, 2009 @ 7:01 am

  47. Hi Tetsuo,
    The download is the big square caliper button at the top of this page.

    Comment by Anthony — May 11, 2009 @ 10:08 am

  48. [...] BetaDesigns Caliper » Description : The Calilper floats above other applications on screen and can be used to measure anything on your monitor. [...]

    Pingback by 28 Adobe AIR Apps for Designers and Developers - Need Some AIR? | designstar — May 15, 2009 @ 7:40 pm

  49. I was really hoping it would have a conversion to inches. I never need to measure for pixels, just inch measurements.

    Comment by Mike Stenberg — May 20, 2009 @ 2:39 pm

  50. [...] Caliper 是由BetaDeisgns 开发的一款基于AIR 的测量工具。其最大特点是支持360度旋转，以及仿真的界面设计。 [...]

    Pingback by 20+ 设计开发相关Adobe AIR应用程序 | 互联网的那点事... — May 22, 2009 @ 3:23 pm

  51. [...] Caliper：可360度旋轉的測量工具 [...]

    Pingback by 網路資訊雜誌 » 6款設計開發相關Adobe AIR用戶端 立刻增加網頁設計生產力 — May 26, 2009 @ 7:57 am

  52. Very cool! It only works on the primary monitor of my two-monitor set-up, however. Can’t drag it to 2nd monitor.

    Comment by Cheekygeek — June 5, 2009 @ 3:47 pm

  53. Attention 12 and 41.

    There is a slight workaround to that problem (Windows mainly, don’t have a Mac so can’t test it).

    If you click the red border (not the textarea), tab, then hit either space or enter it get rid of the splash box and the Caliper will appear.

    I had to use tab a few times to get it to work, but it seems similar to tabbing through controls and links on most webpages.

    Comment by Adam — June 17, 2009 @ 8:19 am

  54. the caliper is off the screen and I can’t get it back. I didn’t realize there was no multi-monitor support and tried to drag it over, now it’s lost in the ether.

    Comment by Derek — June 19, 2009 @ 8:14 pm

  55. [...] Caliper Project [...]

    Pingback by 10 top Free web dev Apps For Apple Web Designers | Apple Scene - Apps, iPhone, Mac and iPod — July 17, 2009 @ 3:55 pm

  56. [...] Caliper – Focusing on one small subset of xScope, Caliper is a free alternative for accurately measuring elements on your screen. [...]

    Pingback by The Ultimate Mac Setup for Web Designers (60 Apps) – Mac.AppStorm « mensonblog — July 29, 2009 @ 12:08 am

  57. I got a bug. If 2 monitors it wont go to second monitor.

    Comment by Rob — August 13, 2009 @ 3:51 am

  58. [...] Caliper 是由BetaDeisgns 开发的一款基于AIR 的测量工具。其最大特点是支持360度旋转，以及仿真的界面设计。 [...]

    Pingback by 20+ 设计开发相关Adobe AIR应用程序 | 帕兰映像 — August 17, 2009 @ 11:23 pm

  59. [...] BetaDesigns Caliper » Description: The Calilper floats above other applications on screen and can be used to measure anything on your monitor. [...]

    Pingback by 25 Time Saving Adobe Air Apps For Dev’s & Designers | JB's Personal Portfolio — September 1, 2009 @ 10:58 pm

  60. Great work! Please consider adding a provision for positioning, angle setting, and jaw opening by input of numeric values.

    Comment by John Moura — September 3, 2009 @ 1:41 pm

  61. I do all my design on a second monitor, but caliper–an inspired idea!!–won’t go to the second monitor.

    Comment by sidney davenport — September 15, 2009 @ 7:22 pm

  62. Hi
    Love the app.
    I install the other day and it very handy and it worked beautifully.
    However today I only get text box with application info and no application , I remove and reinstall, upgrade the FLASH PLAYER nothing changes and I can definitely use this aplication…
    Any suggestions?

    Thanx in advance

    Comment by Lev — September 25, 2009 @ 3:02 pm

  63. I would like the caliper to use the measurement your program’s ruler is set to. i.e. Picas, inches, mm
    Comment by Manny Vandenport — October 30, 2009 @ 11:22 am

    Comment by Manny — September 30, 2009 @ 4:48 pm

  64. [...] BetaDesigns Caliper » Description: The Calilper floats above other applications on screen and can be used to measure anything on your monitor. [...]

    Pingback by 47 Useful Adobe AIR Apps for Web and Graphic Designers : Speckyboy Design Magazine — October 14, 2009 @ 2:39 pm

  65. [...] BetaDesigns Caliper »Description: The Calilper floats above other applications on screen and can be used to measure anything on your monitor. [...]

    Pingback by 47 Useful Adobe AIR Apps for Web and Graphic Designers | EMDMA — October 17, 2009 @ 6:30 pm

  66. [...] BetaDesigns Caliper » Description: The Calilper floats above other applications on screen and can be used to measure anything on your monitor.   [...]

    Pingback by Adobe AIR Apps for Web or Graphic Designers | Cosmos Blog -- Internet News,Life,Culture,Polices,Resource,Make Money — October 19, 2009 @ 6:49 am

  67. Is there a way to widen or narrow the calipers with the keyboard, preferably a pixel at a time, for precise adjustment when measuring? Also it would be nice if you could type in a specific width, like 200, and the calipers would open to that width.

    Great work. It is a good free alternative to Iconico’s Screen Calipers.

    Comment by LeS — October 23, 2009 @ 5:26 pm

  68. [...] BetaDesigns Caliper – This tool floats above your other applications so that you can measure any item on your screen. [...]

    Pingback by Top 30 Adobe AIR Apps for Designers and Developers - Top 100 Directory — October 26, 2009 @ 1:39 pm

  69. Caliper has always worked for me but now I can’t rotate them at all. Any ideas? Anything to do with me just updating AIR?

    Cheers,

    Ben

    Comment by Ben — November 4, 2009 @ 3:47 pm

  70. Great tool. It has “saved my bacon” several times. However, when I attempt to install it on my laptop I cannot get past the splash screen. The right side of the box is beyond the right side of the screen. I cannot exit the screen or use the tool from there.

    There are no thumb tabs at the bottom of the screen and
    I’ve tried tabbing those the items and focussing on something off screen and pressing “enter”, but to no avail.

    Any thoughts?

    Comment by Jeff D — December 23, 2009 @ 5:59 pm

  71. I have the same problem that 12 and 41 in Windows. It is impossible to recover Caliper. Some solution?

    Thank you very much the usefulness(utility) was fantastic.

    Comment by José Mª — January 11, 2010 @ 11:31 am

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