Vr Mapping

ON-LINE REFERENCE DOCUMENTATION

CARDINAL SYSTEMS, LLC

386-439-2525   

www.cardinalsystems.net   
Copyright © 2000-2006 by Cardinal Systems, LLC   

RELEASE NOTES

Changes, additions, bug fixes to VrOne and supporting programs

 

Release notes file begins with VrOne version 2.59
The latest changes are listed first.

 

Copyrights

VrOne Help

Release notes versions 1.14 – 2.14

Release notes versions 2.16 – 2.58

 

Version 3.01 March 3rd 2006

 

VrOne

·        VrTouchscreen – Increased maximum button size to menu fits into the touch screen when the resolution is set to 1024x768 with no gaps between the buttons.  The newer touchscreens no longer support 800x600 and 1024x768 can be used.

·        VrTouchscreen – When running multiple graphics windows it was possible for the mouse pointer to return to the wrong windows after pressing a button on the VrTouchscreen.  This has been fixed.

·        Manage DTM (ManDtm) - Added header file and project name options to volumes reporting options.  Added option to save delta TIN when computing volumes.

·        DxfOut (DxfOut) - Fixed problem where creating a DXF with mixed dimensions (using per layer settings), could cause 2D lines to inherent Z from previous 3D line. This was a workaround for a bug in the AutoCAD DXF file import process.

·        DxfOut (DxfOut) - Added option to specify entity linetype and entity color modes per layer (either ByLayer or ByEntity).

·        Coordinate Dialog Box (CooDia) - Added new Coordinate Dialog command. Displays a floating dialog that displays the current x,y or z location of the cursor. Right-click for options. Options include Font Size, Font Type, Font Color and decimal accuracy.

·        AutoStart Macro - At startup, if VrOne finds a Macro named "AUTOSTART" it will run it automatically. This provides a way to have VrOne issue a set of commands each time it starts.

·        Range Checking for DTM - (SetDtm) - Added options for minimum and maximum Z input range.  If any input data to the DTM engine is outside this range it will not be used.

·        Shape Out Translator – (ShpOut) - Was not reading angle conversion options from parameter files.  This has been fixed.

·        Batch Areas (BatAre) - Changes the layer and graphic pointer of lines that meet a user defined search criteria.  Lines will be chosen for change based on each line’s area and layer.  Lines that are open can still be considered.

·        Batch Direction (BatDir) – Changes the direction of lines based on their layer and graphic pointer.

·        Batch Grid (BatGri) - Interpolates points on a grid from existing VrOne data, and writes the grid points as symbols to the current file or to a user specified output file.  This is useful for creating a grid of points from existing LIDAR data.

·         

VrTwo

·        VrTouchscreen – Increased maximum button size to menu fits into the touch screen when the resolution is set to 1024x768 with no gaps between the buttons.  The newer touchscreens no longer support 800x600 and 1024x768 can be used.

·        VrTouchscreen – When running multiple graphics windows it was possible for the mouse pointer to return to the wrong windows after pressing a button on the VrTouchscreen.  This has been fixed.

·        Memory Usage When Roaming – The method of memory handling for roaming has been redesigned. 
- VrTwo roaming now has the ability to use more available memory when storing image strips which results in smother roaming between image strips.
- The amount of memory to use may be set in the Vr Configuration program (VrCfig.exe) under Image Graphics -> Maximum Roam Image Memory.
- A “Memory Low” warning is now displayed if available memory drops below 2%.  This is possible when the Maximum Roam Image Memory is set to a high percentage and multiple image levels are used or other programs are started in Windows.
- The image load thresholds have been moved prevent multiple image loads when moving between two previously loaded strips.
- The method for loading and displaying the first image strips has been improved.
- Some pausing may be experienced when starting roaming as VrTwo loads surrounding image strips.

·        Serial Device Interface – When using 3D input devices such as the Stealth-Z Mouse or Handwheels or the Leica TopoMouse it was possible for the input device to outrun the graphics.  This would result in a lag between graphics and the movement of the 3D input device.  This was true when dragging complex symbols or long text labels with complex fonts.  The input and graphics are now synchronized so there is no longer a lag in these situations.  When dragging these types of entities updating will be slower but will remain real-time.

·        Line Fonting – Fixed problem that could occur then displaying fonted lines in which the first point on the line was displayed at the wrong elevation.

VrAir Trig

·        Layout – Fixed a problem that could occur when searching for, or adding points where there were photos in the project that were not shown in the Layout.

·        Layout – Added Show Search List to the points menu that displays the photo names in which the last search point falls within.

VrTwo Orientation

·        JFK Import – Fixed problem that was causing the interior orientation to fail.

VrOrtho (version 1.70)

·        Progress Bar - Added progress display during long operations.

·        Image Pyramids - The program does not generate pyramids for project image until orthos are created.

·        Image Pyramids - Added prompt before creating pyramids when displaying orthos in the ortho project view window.

·        Generation Speed - The speed problem when parts of ortho are outside DTM limits has been fixed.

·        Generation Speed - Improved processing speed on large DTM data sets.

·        Z Range Checking - Added option to specify minimum and maximum input Z values.

·        VrOne Files - The program no longer opens VrOne files when using an existing surface file.

·        ASOP Input - The ASOP (JFK) import has been changed to use drop-down boxes for rotation angle, and removed option to apply rotation based on strip location.

VrMosaic

·        New Commands - Added edit symbol and explode symbol.

Version 3.00 February 1st 2006


There are over 170 additions, improvements, changes or bug fixes in Version 3.00 of the Vr Mapping Software.

Vr Configuration

·        Help - Added overall help and help from each data entry dialog box.

·        Highlight Pen Number - Added Entity Highlight pen number option that allows the setting of the tentative entity color when an entity is “locked onto”.

·        Transparent Pixels - Added option to set black or white pixels as transparent.  This is useful when viewing rotated and overlapped images.

·        Levels Adjustment - Added new option to apply levels adjustment to images. This feature will apply a single levels file to multiple images, or will auto-apply multiple levels files to multiple images.

VrOne

·        3D Viewer (3D,3DS) – Added these new commands displays a 3D viewing window. This is a display only window that allows vector data to be viewed from any perspective and is intended for small to medium datasets.  Features include the ability to display 3D lines and points from VrOne layers from the currently open files.  Options include the removal of hidden lines, the ability to show an axis icon, definition of search layers, point sizes and background, face and cursor colors.  It is also possible to display the cursor from a VrOne graphics window into the 3D window.
3D offers three-dimensional viewing in a two-dimensional window, while 3DS allows the view of vectors in 3D if the system is equipped with a stereo graphics card and stereo viewing hardware. The ‘Remove Hidden Lines’ feature only works when viewing triangles (any closed lines with three points).
The following mouse controls can be used to change the view.

Left button

Up/Down movement=X rotation, Left/Right movement=Y rotation

Right button

Up/Down=Z rotation

Shift-Left button

Pan

Scroll

Zoom In/Out

Shift-Scroll

Faster Zoom In/Out

Ctrl-Scroll

Exaggerate Z scale

 

·        TIFF Files

·        Added support for rotated TIFF World files.  If a rotation parameter is found in a TIFF world file, it is now used to align vector graphics to the image. 

·        Added ability to view color index format TIFF files, such as DOT DRG files. This support is initially limited to viewing images only. Routines that write out new images may not work with color index TIFF files.

·        TIFF Files - Added support for embedded pyramid images inside TIFF files. This includes reading existing images with embedded pyramid files, and writing embedded pyramid images to existing files. The current version does not have the ability to add embedded pyramid images to compressed files. Embedded pyramids will only be created if the pyramid creation method is set to internal, and there are no existing external pyramid files available. The following options have been added under the Image Graphics section of Vr Configuration:

·        “Pyramid Creation Method” - External - Pyramid files are created externally in the pyramid directory, Internal - Pyramid files are created internally inside the main image.

·        “Add missing pyramid levels” - VrOne normally uses 6 pyramid levels. If an existing file is using internal pyramids, and it has less than 6 levels, the missing levels will be created if this is set to Yes and creation method is set to internal.  If set to No, then VrOne will only use the levels available. This may slow down image operations if there are too few levels.

·        “Use internal pyramids?” - If Yes, then internal pyramids are used when found inside an image. If no, then internal pyramids are ignored when reading images.

·        JPEG Files - Support for standard JPEG (.jpg) files has been added.  The user should expect slower display times with JPEG files compared to TIFF files.

·        Last Windows Open - VrOne now remembers number of graphics windows open during the last session.

·        Image Levels (ImaLev) – This is a new command that allows image levels adjustments to be made to opened images.  Levels adjustment allows input, output, and gamma settings to be applied to images. An option is given to save the levels adjustment setting with each image so that it is automatically loaded when the image is opened. A new option in Image Utility may be used to apply the levels adjustment permanently. Any image operations that write out new images will also apply the current levels adjustment.

·        Toggle Image Rotation (TogImeRot) – Added this new command to set toggle the display of rotated image edges. If this is on, then VrOne will attempt to find the true image edge of rotated images, and will display a border around this edge.

·        Image Merge (ImaMer) – This application now deletes pyramid files correctly.  Writes JPEG format files if user specifies .jpg extension.

·        Image Pyramids - Opening an image from the command-line or from passing the image name to the Open Image (OpeIma) command will now create the image pyramids in the correct location.

·        Image Levels (ImaLev) – Fixed to work with grayscale images.

·        VrOne/Two Main Window - Moved DTM category from the Batch pull-down menu to a new pull-down menu titled Dtm.

·        Snap Midpoint (SnaMid) – The new command has been added for setting snap mode to line midpoint.

·        Snap Commands – (SnaLayOn) (SnaLayOff) (SnaLayOn+) (SnaLayOff+) (SnaLayRes) – Added these new commands for controlling entity snapping and identification by layer. These commands take the same input as the LAYON and LAYOFF commands, but instead of changing the visibility of entities on the layers, they control whether entities are available for snapping and identifying. This makes it possible to have “view only” layers where the entities can be seen but are ignored for all interactive operations (this does not change the behavior of batch routines). As with the layer commands, the settings are not retained between VrOne sessions.

·        Grid Display and Grid/Cursor Snapping - There are now three conditions dealing with the display and snapping of grid points in a graphics window

1.      Grid Display in which grid points are displayed as points or lines on the graphics window

2.      Grid Snapping in which the grid is turned on.  The behavior of the cursor depends on the Cursor Snap setting.

3.      Cursor Snapping which determines whether to force the cursor to move only between grid points or to snap to a grid when a point is digitized.

The commands “Grid Snap if Displayed (GriSnaDis)”, “Grid Snap On (GriSnaOn)”, “Grid Snap Toggle (GriTog)”, “Cursor Snap On (CurSnaOn)”, “Cursor Snap Off (CurSnaOff)” and “Cursor Snap Toggle (CurSnaTog)” have been added to set the parameters for the conditions of described above.  These commands are used with the existing Grid commands; “Grid Set (GriSet)”, “Grid Display On (GriOn)”, “Grid Display Off (GriOff)”, “Grid Display Toggle” (GriTog)”, “Grid Resolution Set (GriRes)”, and “Grid Type (GriTyp)”.
Please see the help page on Grid Display and Grid/Cursor Snapping for more information.

·        Brightness / Contrast – The image display speed when image and brightness is active has been improved.

·        Cut Sheet (CutShe) - Added option to specify output image type. Added option to overwrite existing files.

·        Batch Join (BatJoi) - Fixed problem that could cause ‘Vrs::DeLine – Line –1 is not valid’ message.  Added comparison by feature code option.

·        Set Active Dtm (Adt) – This new command has been added for the support multiple DTM surfaces. VrOne can now have up to 8 active DTM surfaces. The current surface is made active by using the SetAdt keyin. If the key-in is followed by a number from 1 to 8, the number will be used as the active DTM. If no argument is keyed in, then a dialog will be displayed allowing the DTM surface number to be entered.

·        Manage Dtm Surfaces (ManDtm) – Added this new command to manage new support for DTM surfaces. This dialog displays a list of all 8 DTM surfaces, and the status of each one. A radio button allows any surface to be made active. Buttons are provided to quickly set the parameters or run the DTM on any surface.

·        Manage Dtm Surfaces (ManDtm)

·        Added volumes support for computing volumes between two surfaces or between a single surface and a set elevation.

·        Saves all volumes parameter settings.

·        Added to pull-down menus under the DTM category.

·        Added an info dialog box that displays information when volumes are computed.

·        Added reporting options for volume calculations. These include writing a report to a file, and reporting information in custom units.

·        Fixed problem that could cause VrOne to crash in certain situations after computing volumes.

·        Set Dtm (SetDtm) – Redesigned this dialog box with the following changes and additions:

·        Removed initial prompt to load parameters

·        Added ‘Load Params’, ‘Save Params’, and ‘Reset Params’ ‘Help’ buttons to the dialog box.

·        Help can now be shown by pressing the Help button or by clicking the [?] button in the upper right corner then clicking a parameter field.

·        Fixed window area option.

·        Removed warnings about spline mode options when dialog box is closed. These options are explained in the help.

·        Run Dtm (RunDtm) – A problem that was causing depression contours to not always be flagged correctly.  This occurred on DTM jobs where the maximum triangle edge length parameters are used.

·        Sheet Grid (SheGri) – Fixed problem where grid lines could be missed in certain situations.

·        Delete Close Points (DelClo) – Added option to compare between workspaces. User may choose mode for points and lines.

·        New Folder – There are various dialog boxes that allow the current folder to be changed.  The ability to create new folders has been added at these locations.

·        Undo All Workspace – (UndoAllWs) – Added this new key-in that will undo the last command in all workspaces.

·        Undo – (Undo, UndoAllWs) – Added optional key-in argument to allow a set number of commands to be undone or to have All commands undone. If a number is supplied as the argument, then it will be used as an Undo count.  If the word All is supplied as an argument, then all commands will be undone.

·        Cut Polygon - (CutPol) – This application now recognizes the Minimum Line Length parameter.

·        Insert Line (InsLin) – Fixed attach line when using Original Z mode option.

·        Edit Configuration (EdiCon) –

·        Added Entity Highlight pen number option that sets the color of the entity when it is locked-onto.

·        Added window background color option. 

·        Added option to set “Black Pixels Transparent” and (or) “White Pixels Transparent”.  This is useful when viewing rotated and overlapped images.

·        Edit Function Keys (EdiFun)

·        Fixed problem where “QGArray: out of bounds” error message was displayed. 

·        Added following options that affect display of function keys in the function key starter dialog: Label color; Visibility; Separator. These settings may be applied to multiple function keys at once by selecting more than one function key in the selection window.

·        Macro Recorder – Added the ability to record keystrokes and store them as a Vr Macro.  The commands Begin Macro (BegMac) and End Macro (EndMac) have been added to automate recording of macros. The Begin Macro command will start the macro recorder. While the macro recorder is running, all commands will be recorded. The End Macro command is used to stop macro recording. When End Macro is executed, you will be prompted for a new Macro name. The commands typed in between the Begin Macro and End Macro commands will be recorded to the named macro. Normally, only the basic key-in used to start a command is recorded to the Macro, any further interaction with the actual applications is not recorded. A few interactive applications have been modified to store additional information to the Macro in order to make macro recording more useful. The commands that support this extra functionality currently are: Zoom Windows (ZooW) and Zoom Center (ZooC).

·        Menu Keys – Menu keys dialogs are now repositioned on the screen if they are found to be off the active screen area.

·        Graphics Windows - VrOne now remembers number of graphics windows open during the last session.

·        Zoom (ZOO)

·        Fixed problem of random zooming if command was entered without any arguments.

·        Added optional window number argument to the ‘ZOO’ key-in command. The window number should follow the zoom scale factor. This is useful when using multiple windows. Normally the ZOO commands works on the active graphics window. By adding a window number, the specified window number will zoom instead of the active window.

·        Number Lock - Added ‘Use asterisk on keypad’ to the Num-Lock control settings in Vr Configuration. Normally, the period on the number keypad is used for the * Vr Button. If this setting is on, the asterisk on the number keypad will be used instead.

·        Window Align (WinAli) – Added this new command to align the Z rotation of the current graphics window with window 1. Also added in Configuration general settings the ability to automatically align new graphics windows with window 1. This is useful when using multiple windows with VrTwo, allowing the 2D windows to be aligned with the orientation of the stereo model.

·        Line Point Inside (LinPoi) – The results of this batch application are now displayed in the Main Window on successful completion.

·        Sub-pixel Positioning - Image zooming will now display partial pixels on the left and top window sides when zoomed at sub-pixel levels. This results in the graphics window remaining centered around the same point no matter how far the display is zoomed.

·        Plot (Plo) – Plots image edges and image names based on the current settings for the first graphics window settings. Previous versions would look at the first unopened graphics window, which could lead to image names and edges being plotted by mistake.

·        List Workspace (LisWs) – Added this new command that lists all open workspace numbers, filenames, sizes and entity counts in a table format.

·        Drive Files – Show Drive Points (ShoDri) – Show Drive Points Fit (ShoDriFit) - New Drive File commands have been added to view all drive points in the currently open drive file.  Show Drive Points displays the drive points in the current view and Show Drive Points Fit performs a Zoom All before displaying the drive points.

·        Search Elevations (SeaEle) – Added option to apply the new layer settings as an offset from the existing entity layers.

·        Delete Duplicates (DelDup) – Added option to disable display of results dialog upon completion.

·        Tick Lines (TicLin), Insert Multiple Parallel Lines (InsMul), Shift Workspace (ShiWs) – Made consistent with other commands by adding WSTC key-in for Workspaces to Consider.

·        Image Merge (ImaMer) – Fixed problem with an extra row or column of pixels being added to the output image.

·        Delete Points In Polygons (DelPoi) – New batch routine that allows symbols and text entities to be deleted from inside polygons.

·        Delete Outside Boundary (DelOut) – New batch routine that allows entities to be deleted outside a boundary line. Line that cross boundary are trimmed.

·        Edit Function Keys (EdiFun) – Does not allow duplicate key numbers to be entered.

·        Join Lines (JoiLin) – Fixed bad Z value when using Match Only mode with Line 1 held.

·        ASCII In (AscIn)

·        Added progress bar. 

·        Added support for PARFIL and RUN keyins, allowing AscIn to be used in batch mode.

·        Fixed problem with saving units for new files and default symbol graphic pointer.

·        Shape Out (ShpOut)

·        Added Pen, Area, Length, Elev, Radius, and Width VrOne attributes.

·        Added new page too allow user specified attribute fields.

·        A rotation attribute has been added to this translator.

·        DXF Out (DxfOut) –

·        Allows a symbol file to be specified for use during translation.

·        Bulge radius is now converted to ground units during translation.

·        Added option to translate to separate files based on Feature Code. 

·        Added option to write each workspace to a separate DXF file. If this option is chosen, the DXF filenames are automatically determined based on the VR filename. 

·        Fixed problem with Layer table not being written to DXF file.

·        DXF In (DxfIn)

·        User may now close the information dialog box if it is left open after closing Dxf In.

·        Fixed display of output filename in information dialog when translating to current file.

·        Added option to translate multiple DXF files into multiple VrOne files.

·        Added ability to display information dialog box with details of translation.

·        Added new HTML based help file.

Microstation Out (MstOut)

·        Report - Added option to write out report of entities that were translated without a cross reference.

·        Omit Layers - Added option to specify layers to omit.

·        Global Scale Factor - Added global scale factor.

·        Scanner - Added option to scan MST files.

·        Unnamed Cells - Will translate linear entities that make up unnamed cells as separate entities. Prior version would translate the unnamed cell as a VrOne symbol that was not visible in VrOne.

·        Arc Fix - Fixed problem where lines without arcs were not getting translated and lines with arcs were getting translating without any points after the last arc.

·        Arc Fix - Fixed translation of arcs when arc point flags do not contain start or end codes.

·        Cell Scale - Global cell scale is now saved to the parameter file.

Microstation In Translator (MstIn)

·        Multiple VrOne Files - Added ability to translate into multiple VrOne files.

·        Run from a Macro - Added PARFIL and RUN key-ins, allowing MstIn to run in batch mode and from a macro.

·        By Level - Added option to force ByLevel setting on all entities regardless of settings in imported .mst file.

·        By Level - Added support for ByLevel color, weight and style attributes.

·        Level Code - Added support for level code in Microstation V8.

·        Unnamed Cells - The translator will now translate linear entities that make up unnamed cells as separate entities. Prior version would translate the unnamed cell as a VrOne symbol that was not visible in VrOne.

·        Batch Processing - Added support for batch processing. This version adds the ability to pass command-line options to the MstIn MDL for translating multiple .MST files into multiple .DGN files. When using this feature, the resulting .DGN files will always have the same filename as the imported .MST files. If a .DGN file with the same filename as the .MST file already exists, it will be appended to. If there is no existing .DGN file, then it will be created from a user specified seed file. The seed file must be including in the command line if .DGN files do not already exist. The command line can be typed in from within Microstation using the command prompt, or the Keyin tool. The MstIn MDL can always be used as a Startup application when launching Microstation from the command line. This allows translations to be started from a DOS batch file, and run unattended.

NOTE: Substitute mstin8 for mstin in all examples when using Microstation V8.

Command line syntax from within Microstation (Optional arguments are in brackets, any filename may contain wildcards):

MDL LOAD MSTIN [-s{SeedFileName}] [-l] MstFileName1 {MstFileName…}

Command line syntax from DOS prompt (Optional arguments are in brackets, any filename may contain wildcards):

NOTE: -wamst