GraphPad is an entirely new way for contractors to complete their estimates and proposals. With the best dimensional drawing engine on the iPad, GraphPad allows users to create accurate scale drawings quickly and with little or no training. Your salesmen no longer need to login to their PC’s to create their drawings. They can do it right on the iPad, during their initial visit to the site.
Developed by Robert Shawhan.
GraphPad was designed from the ground up to be part of an integrated system to help contractors in the field. While it has probably the best 2D dimensional drawing engine available on the iPad, its so much more!
GraphPad provides a seamless integration between your business forms and its 2D dimensional drawing engine. With GraphPad, you don't create a drawing than copy it to the appropriate form, you draw directly inside the form itself. You can then email it directly to your customer, coping it to your office.
Integrate GraphPad with your existing system via a Map View displaying your users appointments. Opening one of your standard forms pre-populates all your customer data!
GraphPad can be configured with all your standard symbols which are displayed for easy access while creating your drawing. Adding a symbol also automatically updates any tables you have configured, so you can generate a bill of materials while creating your drawing!
Developing a mobile solution can be incredibly expensive, and there's no guarantee the results will meet your user's expectations. GraphPad Pro is currently available in the App Store, so you can see exactly how your solution will work even before you start your project!
GraphPad can be configured with fixed form fields, drop down lists, check boxes and images to exactly replicate your existing forms. GraphPad supports multipage forms and is designed from the ground up to work with the iPad, so lists are always displayed on the right side for easy selection, and signature fields are sized to make it easy for customers to sign.
Custom libraries may consist of images, symbols, geometry and text and can be distributed to all your users via an email attachment or weblink. Libraries can be organized as desired, and remain open while the user is completing his drawing so he can easily place the symbols as needed.
GraphPad can be integrated with your backend systems via a MapView or Custom Development. The MapView allows users to see not only their appointments, but all the appointments for the day allowing them to quickly adjust if another estimator is running behind or a new customer calls in while they are still in the field.
CASE STUDIES
There are numerous examples of how GraphPad can be integrated into your business process. Take, for example, the Home Depot Kitchen Design Process. Just adding the Kitchen Design Packet into GraphPad means that their estimators can complete the forms on the iPad during their inspection and send them immediately back to the office for review; but there’s also the potential to completely transform the process. By adding a product library with actual pricing, estimators would be able to up sell features and do price comparisons while at the customer’s home. For some businesses this might mean they could close sales before their competition even has a chance to make a customer visit - not only decreasing costs, but increasing sales as well!
Examples from the Home Depot - Kitchen Design Packet created for Metropolitan Renovations.
The City of New York started using Galaxy tablets running Visio in order to complete their inspection drawings, but found the process was too cumbersome. Switching to GraphPad reduced the time to create their inspection forms by 40% and there was a 100% acceptance rate among the inspectors for using GraphPad over completing the inspection forms by hand. Having the ability to immediately send completed forms to both the business owner and their backend system dramatically reduced the time from when the problem was reported to when a citation was produced, reducing the City of New York's liability.
Tutorials
Points mode is used to create a "Selection Area" and to manipulate it's contents. The selection area is one of the most powerful features in GraphPad and is used to move, delete and modify parts of your drawing. GraphPad defines entities by a set of discrete points and the selection area is used to select the points to be acted on, and therefore the entities defined by those points. A line, for example, is defined by two points so to delete a line using a selection area, both points must be selected.
The lines mode allows you to add new lines by either touching two points or by touching the screen and dragging. When using the touch drag method, GraphPad will automatically snap to a multiple of 10, 30 or 45 degree angle and the incremental length of the grid. The Snap angle is set in the Points control, but is used throughout the App. Guidelines also help align your drawing for you, and GraphPad will automatically snap to alignment to make it easy to create accurate closed shapes. When using the two point method, the first point will highlight when selected. Touching another point, or another part of the screen will cause a line to be created. Lastly, deleting lines is done by simply double tapping on an existing line, or by using the "Selection Area" as described under "Points Mode".
The Arcs Mode allows you to create circles and an arcs between two connected lines. Arcs and circles can have their properties modified by selecting them and modifying the settings in the Arcs control, directly below the main menu when in Arcs mode. To reposition circles it is best to use the Points mode / Selection area (see the video above) and the Points Translation feature.
Geometry (Lines, Arcs & Curves) can be Group together so they can be translated and rotated as a unit. Grouped items also maintain scale so if, for example, you wanted to decrease the scale so you could draw more, but didn't want to change the scale of what you had already drawn - you could "Group" that part of the drawing. Then, if you changed the scale, the size of what you had drawn would remain the same and would shink or grow depending on how you change the scale. This video demonstrates how to group items, and change their properties.
You can fill your geometry with color by going into "Lines" mode and selecting all the lines around the parameter, selecting the fill side menu, selecting a color or pattern, and hitting fill. The same algorithm used to fill geometry is also used to calculate the area. By counting all the colored pixels and multiplying by the area of a single pixel, GraphPad estimates the area of the geometry. It should be noted, this is an estimate and the accuracy is dependent on how large the geometry is: smaller drawings with fewer pixels will have a less accurate estimated area then a larger drawing.
Users can create their own libraries of geometry and images, which they can reuse within their drawings. Library entries can be re-organized and have their properties changed, and will appear in a scrollable form that remains open on the right hand side until they close it. Adding an item from the library to their drawing will automatically update any tables they have added.
Images can be added to a drawing directly from the photo library, and the size of the image is determined in the "Settings" form as small(300x300), medium (600x600) or large (1000x1000). Once an image has been added to a drawing, it can be modified by going to the "Points" mode, selecting the image (or images) using a selection area, and going to the "Images" form. Images can be clipped, resized and rotated. In addition, a page can be made transparent, so the page behind it can be seen but will not affect the drawing engine. In this way, a satellite image can be added to the second page of a drawing while the first page is transparent so a user could sketch the roof of a building, for example.
Curved lines can be added to a drawing by going into "Curves" mode, touching the screen and dragging along the desired path. Once a curve has been created, it can be modified by moving the points that define the curve in "Points" mode. Points can be moved by touching them directly, or by using the "Selection Area". The response of the corresponding control points and curve segment end points will differ depending on whether or not the selection area is used.
GraphPad has two types of text, free text - which is good for making drawing notes, and Form text - which is text associated with an inspection or other business form. Form text can't be moved or modified and is completed by hitting the "Return" button which will tab you to the next field in the form if its been setup. Free text can except returns so to complete this type of text the user must hit the close keyboard key. Changing to a different "Mode" in GraphPad will also close the keyboard and complete the entry for free text. Not properly exiting either types of text entry will cause the text to not complete and it will seem like its been erased.
This video shows how to pair with any blue tooth enabled Leica laser tape measure and how to use it with GraphPad.
GraphPad Configurable Tutorials
Tables
Patterns
Images with Textfields
Symbols
Components
Forms 1
Forms II
Forms III
Privacy Statement
Protecting your private information is extremely important. This Statement of Privacy applies to all my GraphPad products and is required by the App Store for all apps that have either a trial version or offer auto renewable subscriptions. GraphPad offers both a trial license and auto-renewable subscriptions which are purchased through the App Store. GraphPad only handles App Store receipts locally on the device as part of a verification process and does not collect, store or distribute any information. The only information I receive from customers is through the website: www.GraphPadPro.com/contact which is used by customers to report bugs and ask questions. This data is not stored or distributed, and is only used to respond to customer inquiries.
If, at some point in the future, I should start collecting data, either through my Apps or my website, a new Privacy Policy will be created to cover how that data might be used.
Terms of Use
GraphPad contains no third party content and has only the following restrictions on it's use. Users of GraphPad are solely responsible for any output or data, and I have no obligation as to the accuracy of any drawings or calculations. GraphPad is available "As is" and although I am continually improving my product, there is no guarantee that any particular enhancement of bug fix will be addressed. Use of GraphPad is restricted to the iPad / iPads associated with the Apple ID of the purchaser and is non-transferrable. Any lease of GraphPad will automatically renew unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24-hours before the end of the current period. Your account will be charged for the lease renewal within 24-hours prior to the end of the current period for the current monthly cost. The lease cost is subject to change without notice, however, auto-renewals will be disabled for accounts affected by any price change. Any unused portion of the 7 day free trial period will be forfeited when the user purchases a lease. This lease may be cancelled at any time by the account holder and auto-renewal may be turned off by going to the iPad's Account Settings after purchase.
