Balloonist makes it quick and easy to balloon inspection
drawaings. It adds balloons while capturing features using OCR
and ML technologies.
Upload a file
Once you've signed up and logged into Balloonist, you'll be
prompted to upload a PDF file. You may click to browse for
your file or simply drag the file into the upload section of
the app.
Settings and Inputs
Settings can be shown or hidden by clicking the 'cog' or
'tune' icons. Settings are shown by default.
The 'cog' shows 'Main Settings' which are used to customize
and help with the ballooning workflow, PDF zoom, and output
formats.
The 'tune' shows 'Unit and Tolernace Input' settings which are
used to specify the page, table and tolerance units, and to
specify default tolerances based on decimal points.
Main Settings:
Next Number: Shows the number to be used on the next
balloon added.
Show Line (Next): Option to show or hide the leader line
on the next balloon.
Font Size (All): Changes the font size for all
numbers/balloons
Set Color (All): Changes the color for all
numbers/balloons
Zoom: Set page zoom.
Page: Set current page (if multiple pages in PDF)
Unit & Tolerance Inputs:
Page Units: Set the units (inches/millimeters) of the page
(i.e., the units that are shown on the drawing)
Table Units: Set the units (inches/millimeters) of the
table (i.e., the units that are shown on the results
table). If this differs from the 'Page Units', the values
will be converted upon capture. Changing this will not
affect results currently in the table, but will convert
values captured after changing, as needed. To convert
units in the table, use the dropdown selection in the
'units' column.
Tolerance Units: Set the units (inches/millimeters) of the
default tolerances applied when none are specified in the
feature. This option is only active when the page units
and the table units differ.
Note: Tolerances are specified based on the number of
decimal places in the dimension. The tolerance applied
is based on the original value’s decimal precision,
regardless of the specified tolerance units. For
example, if a feature is 100.5 mm, the 1 decimal
default tolerance will be used even if the table uses
inches.
Default Tolerances: Set default tolerance on items that
don't have a tolerance specified (+/-)
Whole Number +/-
1 Decimal +/-
2 Decimal +/-
3 Decimal +/-
Fraction +/-
Page Rotation
After uploading, click on the page before adding any balloons.
Hold control ('Ctrl') and press an arrow key (right to rotate
90° clockwise, left to rotate 90° counterclockwise, down to
rotate 180°, and up to return to the original position).
Note: When saving/uploading a JSON file, the page rotation
will not be kept, but the page can be rotated again after
uploading. Saving the modified PDF will preserve the page
rotation.
Page Panning and Zoom
To pan the page, hold 'Shift' and drag the page.
To zoom, use the zoom presets in the settings menu or hold
'Shift' and use the mouse scroll. Note: Mouse scroll zooming
may lead to large jumps. Use the settings menu to reorient the
page if needed.
Add balloons & capture features
After uploading a drawing, select the "add" tool (plus sign).
Balloon and Capture: With the "add" tool selected,
click and drag a rectangle around a feature’s description.
Click and hold (left mouse button) above and to the left of
the feature, then drag down and to the right. Release once the
gray rectangle surrounds the feature.
Balloon without Capture: With the "add" tool selected,
simply click (left mouse button) on the desired location to
add a balloon.
Moving balloons
To move a balloon, click on it and drag as needed. To prevent
adding a new balloon, disable the "add" tool by selecting the
"select" tool (the touch icon located just below the "add"
tool).
Downloads and Exports
Download PDF: To download a copy of the PDF with all
balloons, select the "Download Modified PDF" button.
Export feature table: To download the feature table,
select the "Download Table" button. The download type (e.g.,
'FAI' for AS9102C Excel report or 'Raw (CSV)' for raw data) is
set in the settings under "Table Download".
Saving data: To download a JSON file containing all
features and balloons, click "Save All (Download As JSON)".
Clear page
To clear all features and balloons from the drawing, select
the "clear page / data" button.
Unit Conversion
To convert units during dimension capture, set the page units
(units of the drawing) and table units (units shown in the
results table) as needed. If they differ, values will convert
on capture. These settings should be configured before
ballooning. Changing the "table units" setting will not affect
values already captured.
To convert units of values already in the table, use the
dropdown in the "units" column. Manually entered or changed
values will convert; otherwise, the original captured value
will be converted.
For "balloon only" features (ones not captured), the table
will display values in the "page units" so they can be
manually matched to the drawing. You can then convert these
using the dropdown in the table.