Introducing RealDash

[grom_e30]

what about splitting the metric setting, speed and temp units, I would prefer to use mph for speed and Celsius for temp units.

[janimm]

what about splitting the metric setting, speed and temp units, I would prefer to use mph for speed and Celsius for temp units.

For sure. Added to feature request list.

Right now I'm developing the option to import the ini file to gain access to more input values, and some UI animations to make it look prettier

[Mrstoks]

Just downloaded the App and had a play.... Nice work! Very easy to use and looks fantastic!
Are you looking at including status lamps for I/O at some stage?
Personally, a feature I would really like is to be able to toggle outputs via 'virtual switch inputs' - the idea being you could turn on/off lights/fans/etc etc via a touch button on the tablet instead of having to have physical switches mounted in the dash.
Again, nice work

Elmo

[16vboost]

I was able to take it for a drive today. I have to say it looks and moves like an OEM digital dash (I have an IS 350 F-sport to compare to). But here's my feedback.

1. GPS speedometer didn't work for me. It does work on EFI Analytics's Shadow Dash.
2. Coolant temp displayed 125 when it should have been at 185 F
3. As was mentioned, would like to set units for gauges independently.
4. Setting up the dash is difficult. Any slight touch and things are moving. If you have a gauge next to the new context menu oh boy!
5. Generally speaking it's hard to really customize gauges. What if I want my speedo to be in MPH and go from 0 to 140 while sweeping 100 degrees? This is pretty easy in Shadow Dash / Tuner studio.

It looks so good that I'm thinking of replacing my instrument cluster with a tablet. However, this would require a list of additional features such as:

1. GPS odometer and trip meters (already mentioned).
2. Screen / tablet power management features (wake up on charge, sleep when charge interrupted)
3. Screen brightness controls (maybe based on time or digital input for those tablets without ambient light sensor)
4. Digital I/O display (high beams, turn signals, etc).

Keep it up and let us know when the next update is available.

-Alex

[16vboost]

Ooh one more thing for now. It would be great if the 12 hour clock didn't display the AM nor PM. It takes up too much room and is not needed information in this application.

-Alex

[janimm]

Thank you for your feedback.

> 1. GPS speedometer didn't work for me. It does work on EFI Analytics's Shadow Dash.
* Will investigate. Are you using internal or external GPS? What is your Android device.

> 2. Coolant temp displayed 125 when it should have been at 185 F
* Yes, current version has some problems with temperature units. Should be fixed on next release.

> 3. As was mentioned, would like to set units for gauges independently.
* Scheduled for next release.

> 4. Setting up the dash is difficult. Any slight touch and things are moving. If you have a gauge next to the new context menu oh boy!
* I hear you. This is a difficult one, and I would very much like to hear suggestions how to make this better. Originally we had an idea that Android version would not offer edit mode at all, and building/customization of dashboards would be done on PC app (which will be released soon after Beta period).

> 5. Generally speaking it's hard to really customize gauges. What if I want my speedo to be in MPH and go from 0 to 140 while sweeping 100 degrees? This is pretty easy in Shadow Dash / Tuner studio.
* True. Other software generates gauges with vector graphics, which is excellent for creating scalable gauge faces with adjustable range indicators on a gauge face etc. But in other hand, vectorized graphics are more difficult to fully customize "per-pixel". For RealDash, our idea was that every gauge face/needle is its own image, which in turn allows to build absolutely "any" kind of gauge. Downside is that generating "generic" looking gauges is more difficult and would require new image for gauge face. I have been thinking of an option to add new round gauge type, which has automatic range scaling and numbering.


> It looks so good that I'm thinking of replacing my instrument cluster with a tablet. However, this would require a list of additional features such as:

> 1. GPS odometer and trip meters (already mentioned).
* On our todo list

> 2. Screen / tablet power management features (wake up on charge, sleep when charge interrupted)
* Added to feature request list. Scheduled for Beta 2

> 3. Screen brightness controls (maybe based on time or digital input for those tablets without ambient light sensor)
* Need to investigate how this would be implemented.

> 4. Digital I/O display (high beams, turn signals, etc).
* Next release has support for on-off gauges and inputs. Any input data from ECU can be used for these.

> Ooh one more thing for now. It would be great if the 12 hour clock didn't display the AM nor PM. It takes up too much room and is not needed information in this application.
* Should this be an option to hide AM/PM, or sufficient just to remove?

Jani;

[janimm]

I do have a problem with temperature units, maybe somebody here could help me?

My test mule is a MS2 3.57 with extra 3.4.0 code. My project has Celsius set as temperature units.

- When I read data from ECU with compatibility command "a 00 06", the reply data coolant and mat are in Celsius.
- When I read data from ECU with newserial command "A", the reply data coolant and mat are in Fahrenheit.

Is this how it is supposed to be? So as I understand, the "a 00 06" command does temperature unit conversion in ECU, based on project settings, and "A" command always return temperatures in Fahrenheit?

[janimm]

Just downloaded the App and had a play.... Nice work! Very easy to use and looks fantastic!
Are you looking at including status lamps for I/O at some stage?
Personally, a feature I would really like is to be able to toggle outputs via 'virtual switch inputs' - the idea being you could turn on/off lights/fans/etc etc via a touch button on the tablet instead of having to have physical switches mounted in the dash.
Again, nice work

Elmo

Hi Elmo, thanks for trying our app.

- Status lamps are coming to next release, and will support any input from ECU.
- Buttons to control programmable outputs could be done, and would open a lot new use cases for the app. I will add this to feature request list, but this isn't something that can be thrown together in couple of days, so I'm afraid we are unable to implement this for the first public release.

[16vboost]

I just realized what was wrong with my coolant temperature stuck at 125. The text indicator was set to a range from -100 to 125. This is why it would never display more than 125. I now set it to range from 0 to 250 and it's working perfectly. I matched the range of the needle gauge behind the text gauge too.

Still no GPS speed. I'm using the internal GPS. The device is an Acer Model number A1-840FHD with Android 4.4.2 By the way, it's a 7.4" screen or so and has 1920x1200 resolution. Maybe this is why moving the gauges is so sensitive for me?

I really like the ability to customize the gauges on the tablet but a PC editor would be very nice if you could set up your tablet's native resolution and easily transfer the result to the tablet. However, without vector gauges tablet editing is very limited. For example. I'd like a IAT gauge that sweeps on the bottom of half of the dial. I can't do this on the tablet right now. I'd have to fire up my PC (synthesize a gauge face with my limited artistic skills) and then transfer the raster image to the tablet. Then if I find that the gauge sweep is off by a few degrees it's back to the PC etc. I'll suggest an option with limited technical knowledge of how hard it would be to do. Can you edit the screen with vector gauges so you can scale them and manipulate them as you like and then hit a "render" button that converts the whole screen and all the needles to a anti-aliased, full screen image? Just a thought.

-Alex

[janimm]

Yes, the touch sensitivity problem you are experiencing is due the huge pixel density you have on your device. I have made this same bug once before in a game. I will modify the tolerance to be distance- not pixel based. That should help. I have a 9.7″ 2048×1536 windows tablet that I can test the tolerance with.

Just finished coding the odo- and trip meters. Going to test them on my way home from the office.

Have a nice weekend!
Jani;

[16vboost]

I have an update on the GPS speed. I switched back to Shadow Dash and the GPS speed wasn't working in that app either. I turned off location in the tablet's settings and then back on. This fixed the speed in Shadow Dash. I then tried RealDash again and I saw a value on the speedometer. It worked, but the refresh rate varied from very slow (1-2 seconds) to frozen (several minutes?). Switching back to Shadow Dash showed a functioning speedometer. Same tablet, same drive, same position in the car. Logs from Shadow Dash show the speed updating correctly (about every 1 sec).

-Alex

[janimm]

I just uploaded RealDash Beta 1 build 3 to Google Play. It should be available for download within few hours.

The edit mode user interface is now easier to use. The "screenspace hoggin" undo and context menu buttons are moved to hideable bottom menu, and gauge move tolerance is bigger.

Also, as a highlight, this build includes prototype of OpenStreetMaps based map gauge. Give it a try!

The Beta 2 is scheduled next. Main feature for Beta 2 is ini file import to access all input values.


Beta 1 build 3 change log:

New Features:
* HUD mode is now implemented.
* Added animation to dashboard page swiping.
* Input values are now categorized.
* Added support for on-off inputs.
* Added separate settings for metric temperature, distance, and weight values.
* Added option to hide AM/PM on 12h digital clock.
* Added odometer and trip meter input types (calculated category).
* First prototype of OSM based map gauge is included.
* Multitouch "pinch" zoom of gauges is removed. This caused unwanted movement of gauges.
* Edit mode undo, page change, and context menu buttons are relocated to bottom hideable menu.

Bug fixes:
* Fixed a bug that prevented changes to gauge shadow settings to be saved.
* Fixed invalid latitude & longitude values from external bluetooth gps.
* Multiselect of gauges and align/size operations now correctly use last selected gauge as reference.
* Scaling while multiple gauges are selected now correctly scales all selected gauges

[janimm]

I have an update on the GPS speed.

Alex, please try new build (Beta 1-3) from Google Play. If your problem still exists please try the following:

- Go to settings
- Tap on "Select GPS"
- Select "None"
- Exit settings

Then go back to settings and select "Internal" as a GPS.

[16vboost]

OK I tried the new version. I love the new features including the MAP. I was actually thinking of something like this but thought it would be too much to ask.

However, the GPS is still not working. This time I didn't get any gps data on the app. The map gauge didn't move, the trip meter stayed at 0.0 and I never saw any speed indicated. I tried setting the GPS to none then back on internal with no effect. Again, other apps can use the GPS speed data. This tablet is wifi only and has on internet connection btw.

-Alex

[janimm]

That's a shame. For us the GPS part of the app has been the most reliable part so far

Hopefully you can help me a little bit to solve this situation?

- Do you see any info messages about GPS in bottom right corner of the screen? Like "Internal GPS connected", or "Internal GPS is temporarily Unavailable".
- Could you try with Data Source set to "None"? This will disable the bluetooth connection to your ECU. Maybe on your device bluetooth connection is taking too much processor time for GPS to get updates.

I'm glad to hear you like the Map prototype. It is actually a prototype of our "world-shattering" new WAMF gauge.

[16vboost]

I have never seen any of those messages on the bottom right on the screen.

I tried turning off data source but it did not help.

I confirmed GPS is working with google maps.

[16vboost]

Let me correct myself. I have seen the "Internal GPS connecting" message on the lower right. Never "connected" or "unavailable".

-Alex

[janimm]

Let me correct myself. I have seen the "Internal GPS connecting" message on the lower right. Never "connected" or "unavailable".

-Alex

Sent you a pm.

[grom_e30]

Speed(vss) as an input for speed does not appear to work yet.

[janimm]

Speed(vss) as an input for speed does not appear to work yet.

True, Beta 1-3 does not have an option to import ini file, so app does not know where to read vss value.

I had a plan to release beta 2 last friday, but got stuck on other things. We will run some tests and release it someday next week.

Beta 2 will have at least:
- ini file import to access all ecu input values
- option to start/stop app on charging events
- map gauge performance improvements