After you've installed the Screen Compass you should find using the tool straightforward. You can use the tips below to get the most out of the Compass and measure like a pro.
Using the mouse you can quickly and easily move the Compass around the screen to measure any area. Move the entire Compass by clicking and dragging the left side.
Shown on the left is how you can enlarge the area measured; simply click and drag the right side of the Compass.
You can also click the arrow buttons to move and extend the Compass by a single pixel.The number displayed is the radius of the circle in pixels.
By clicking the button above the measurement readout you can easily change which part of the shape you are measuring. You can change quickly between Radius, Circumference, and Area, and the display will update to show you the result in the units you have selected, in this example pixels.
The options are also listed on the menu which can be activated by clicking the menu icon.
To change the shape that the Compass measures you can select from any of the shapes listed under the 'Shape' menu. As well as the circle the Compass has options from triangle to a thirty-nine sided polygon.
When changing shapes the value of the measurement always stays the same; the Compass will adjust it's size to always measure the same circumference or area, if that's what it's currently measuring.
To Use the Compass drag them over the portion of a window you want to measure with the mouse. To extend the compass drag the right hand side out using the mouse. The number in the text box will show the radius of the shape being measured.
The Compass has several buttons that may appear differently on different skins. The arrow buttons will allow you to easily move and rotate the Compass to measure any distance.
All the controls can be accessed through the keyboard:
While Dragging the Base:
While Dragging the Slider:
By typing a number and pressing 'Enter' the Compass will extend to that distance. Simple calculations may be performed by typing -, +, *, or / and then a number, then 'Enter'; the Compass will extend to the new relative position.
When Closed the Protractor sits in the System Tray
By Right-clicking anywhere on the face of the Protractor, or clicking on the System Tray icon the Protractor menu is displayed.
The menu is divided into four sections:
Additionally there are the options:
The Sticky Angles can be overridden by holding the Ctrl key while dragging the Compass with the mouse. Similarly holding the Shift and Alt keys override the Lock Angle and Lock Measurement options while dragging.
Changing The Measurement from Radius to Circumference and Area enables you to measure any aspect of the shape chosen in your chosen unit of measurement.The Units menu allows you to choose a new unit from the list of predefined units. You may also configure your own Custom Units using the 'Calibrate Units' menu option. Choosing this option will bring up a screen which allows you to choose a Custom Unit, rename and set the scale.
The Skins menu presents several different choices for the user interface of the Compass. By choosing the "Get More Skins" menu item you will be taken to the Screen Compass skin webpage. This allows you to browse and download new skins. Full instructions are given on the webpage.
The Shape menu lets you specify if a Circle is used as the measurement shape, or any of the following polygons, starting at 3 sides, going up to 39 sides. The Inscribe Polygon and Outscribe Polygon options let you choose if the polygons are drawn inside or outside of the circle.
Measurement shapes:
When the shape is changed from the menu the Screen Compass will recalibrate to keep the Radius, Circumference or Area at the same value, depending on which measurement type is selected.
The Options menu contains a sub menu of the following options:
The Compass can be configured to measure in Pixels, Inches, Centimeters, Points, Picas and Twips.
By clicking the 'Calibrate Units' menu item you can easily define any number of additional units of measurement. You can also change the number of decimal places that a unit is measured in.
The Compass's measurements are based on pixels. When the units are changed to inches or centimeters the Compass use a standard conversion factor to determine the measurement. If you measure something with the Compass to be an inch, then a printout on a standard printer of that picture will also be an inch. The Compass do not take into account the size as it is displayed on your monitor, so different resolutions will still measure one inch.
The Compass uses conversion factors to determine the built in units. You can adapt these units and enter your own custom units.
The easiest way to configure the Compass is extend the Compass so that you measure exactly ten of your new measurements. Then open the "Configure Units" screen and enter the current number of pixels measured by the Compass in the 'Number of Pixels' column. In the 'Length in Units' column enter '10' and the Compass will be calibrated.
We have had some reports of this error: Exception EOleSysError in module at 000697AD. Error accessing the OLE registry.
This is usually solved by uninstalling, rebooting and reinstalling the application.
We would also recommend installing the application as an administrator, or trying to run the application as an Administrator (right click the application icon and choose Run As Administrator) and see if that solves your issue.
If that does not then follow these steps to grant full permissions to all users which should resolve issues.
1. Click the Start button in the bottom left of your screen.
2. Choose the 'Run...' option.
3. Type "regedit" and click OK. and click "OK" (Note that on some Windows system you need to use "Regedt32")
4. Navigate to the folder: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Iconico
5. Note that on some 64Bit systems this may be located under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Iconico
6. Right-click and choose 'Permissions...'
7. Click the 'Add' button and in the popup type the name 'Everyone' and then click 'OK'.
8. You could also simply type your user's name.
9. With 'Everyone' selected click the 'Full Control' checkbox.
This is usually due to the application permissions. First please login using an Administrator account and try registering the application.
If that doesn't work, then while still being logged in using the Administrator account, right click the application and select the "Run as Administrator" option and then try registering the application the way you normally do.
1. Click the Start button in the bottom left of your screen.
2. Choose the 'Run...' option.
3. Type "regedit" and click OK. and click "OK" (Note that on some Windows system you need to use "Regedt32")
4. Navigate to the folder: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Iconico
5. Note that on some 64Bit systems this may be located under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Iconico
6. Right-click and choose 'Permissions...'
7. Click the 'Add' button and in the popup type the name 'Everyone' and then click 'OK'.
8. You could also simply type your user's name.
9. With 'Everyone' selected click the 'Full Control' checkbox.
Some applications can cause ours to flicker, this is usually due to the way that the graphics drivers interact. We're pushing your screen to do a lot! We have found that OpenGL graphics can have difficulty, however DirectX is a lot more compatible.
With Google Earth you can change the graphics options to stop the flicker. Go to the 'Tools' menu and select 'Options...' then under 'Graphics Mode' select 'DirectX' instead of 'OpenGL'.
We very occasionally see issues with multiple monitors connected and the application bouncing. This is often resolved by changing the screen resolution to match on multiple monitors. If that does not help them temporarily removing a second or external monitor usually resolves the issue.