Iron-Callipers

by Karel Thönissen

Iron-Callipers (stable beta) for Windows XP

Iron-Callipers is a simple tool to measure positions, distances, areas, colors and angles on screen. It has two pairs of cross hairs, one of which is accompanied by a rectangular display. Here you can read out the positions and distances. Both the cross hairs and the display can be dragged across the screen. The blinker movement keys of the keyboard can also be used for moving a pixel at the time. Press shift or shift-ctrl will accelerate the movements from the keyboard. Press the space bar to make the other pair of cross hairs active.

Positions and distances can be measured in pixels, millimeters or inches. We assume 3.88 pixel per millimeter as standard for PCs, but not all monitors meet the specifications exactly. It is possible to toggle between the Windows-convention with the origin of measurement in the upper left corner with positive y-coordinates running down, and the mathematical standard with the origin in the lower right and positive y-coordinates running up. When the mathematical standard is chosen, the display will become palish red.

At this time, there is no check against placing the callipers outside the visible area of the screen. Press home, to put the calliperse back to the origin when this happens. Near the edges of the monitor the display may change position in order to avoid becoming invisible. This has no consequences for the measurements. The system works on multi-monitor configurations, but the change of position of the display window is only inside the primary monitor, which is assumed to measure 1024 x 768 pixels. This is an in convenience we plan to remove shortly. At this time the angle is not measured.

The software is a simple soft-contained executable that does not require installation or configuration. When no longer needed, the file can simply be deleted. The software does not phone home, does not access files, contains no spyware, does not require registration nor payment, etc. It does what it advertises, and nothing more. Although the software is beta, there are no known bugs. Copyrights remain with us, of course.