October 2012 - Therion

background sketch inserted multiple times
by Bruce 03 Jan '13

03 Jan '13

Michael I think you just added a wiki item on Fuchslabyrinth caves where it says Therions bitmap morphing feature is being used. I am intrigued because in 2008 or 2009 we were starting to use this feature, then we were delayed, and by the time we got back to experimenting there was a bug in the next version of Therion whereby the sketches were inserted into the pdf outputs multiple times, taking inordinate time to compile and making the pdf files very large, 100's of megabytes in many cases. Stacho acknowledged the bug and I think some change was made in 5.3.9, but it did not fix the problem for us. Described here http://article.gmane.org/gmane.comp.gis.therion/2680/match=sketches I have tried again with a couple of different files using 5.3.10, in one trivial case a 283kB sketch inserted in a small map produced an 11MB pdf file (the pdf without the sketch is 300kB). So I am wondering how you are making it workable? Either; - something in our custom metapost or layouts is causing the error for us and you are not experiencing this bug, or - you are using an old version of Therion in which this feature was bug free, or - you are putting up with very large output files, even for very small portions of your overall project I'm interested in your comments. Bruce

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colour by map
by Andrew Atkinson 12 Nov '12

12 Nov '12

When you have coloured by map, in the header there Therion automatically added a legend of what colours go with each map. Generally I do not find this useful, but cannot find a way to turn it off, without doing a \def\maplayout in code, which seems over the top. Is it possible to turn off the map colour legend without resorting to code. It would be very useful to be able to stitch this off without having to redefine the header! Andrew

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Color for one scrap in a Project
by Markus Boldt 05 Nov '12

05 Nov '12

Is it possible to define color-map fg only for one scrap in a Project of about 50 scraps in several surveys? I have an "all-thconfig" file for this Project and there I have defined a light yellow for the cave. And in the scrap which I want to have in very light grey I have defined this very light grey, but it will overwritten. Many thanks for Ideas. Markus

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Projected Elevation
by Andrew Atkinson 04 Nov '12

04 Nov '12

I have a couple of caves (probably more) that could really do with a projected elevation, rather than extended. so I set off trying to do it. I started with one looking towards 90 degrees, but did not get any walls and the centreline was always projected looking north. Eventually found this http://mailman.speleo.sk/pipermail/therion/2009-January/002291.html Which indicates that in atlas this is all that is implemented. I assume it is the same for map? So I moved onto the cave that has a projection looking north. At least the centreline now looks right, but I am not getting any walls. Should I be, or is this not implemented either? Is the implementation of Elevation likely to happen, or should I start to look for another way? Andrew

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Doubt about vertical sections
by Marco Menchise 01 Nov '12

01 Nov '12

Hello, I tried to make a .xvi for elevation and extended section starting from this dataset: survey test centerline units compass degrees units clino degrees units tape metres data normal from to length compass clino left right up down 0 1 10 45 -67 [1 2] [3 4] [5 6] [7 8] endcenterline endsurvey everything looks good, the up and down data are plotted in the right way. Then I changed the clino to -68 degrees and noticed that vertical sections were rotated in the elevation and extended xvi. Is that correct? Am I missing something? Here's the thconfig: encoding utf-8 source dati.th export map -proj plan -o pianta.xvi export map -proj extended -o sezione.xvi export map -proj elevation -o elevazione.xvi Thanks, Marco

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Declination and the cs command
by John Stevens 25 Oct '12

25 Oct '12

It seems the cs command over writes any declination that has been set, using the date provided with the survey data. I have a large batch of old data with some accurate local declinations given. Unfortunately these are overridden so I can’t compare my results with the original results. How can I make sure my local declinations are used rather than the cs global declination. Another problem on the same line. I have a set of data where the declination has been taken off the bearings, so the local declination is now 0 degrees but the cs command still adds a declination, moving it way out from its expected line. Can we have therion having a priority for local declinations rather than the gobal cs delinations ? John

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How can I obtain a userid for the Wiki ?
by Michael Wasmund 24 Oct '12

24 Oct '12

BlankHello, We'd like to add our cave to the list of "Therion Caves" in the Wiki. How can I obtain a userid ? Greetings, Michael

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Re: [Therion] Diving LRUD dxf export - Vertical floor/ceiling alignment at scrap joins
by Stephen Clark 23 Oct '12

23 Oct '12

Stacho, Thanks for the clarification on the 3d modeling. That has helped a lot with my understanding of how the output is generated. Even in its current form, it is an exceptionally simple way of generating an initial model for AutoCAD. I look forward to any improvements to the 3d modelling in the future. The suggestion by Bruce to introduce additional dimension points close to the ends of the scraps has reduced the lack of alignment to a few cm, which is prefectly acceptable for our purposes. Estimating distance underwater, at depth in poor visibility is not very precise! Also, adding the points for the same single station to both scraps has improved things. I will try the single scrap method, but actually really like the ability to use different scale plans of the dry cave sections in the same .th2. Do you have proposals about how the proposed 3d algorithm will work in the future? It seems, to me at least, that the ability to introduce cross-sectional shape on LRUD data would be even more useful than the use of elevation scraps for passage height. I understand this is a subject that may get very complicated, very quickly. I'm a big fan on AutoCAD and am therefore somewhat biased. I have a few suggestions for the dxf export that may be worth considering for future releases : 1. Export of a closed 3d polyline of the assumed (rectangular) cave cross-section at each station on another layer. This x,y,z data is already generated for the vertices of the surfaces and would simplify over-drawing of known cross-sections and 'working inside the cave' in autocad. 2. Export of a 3d ellipse or the current flat floor/arch ceiling 3d polyline at each cross-section on a separate layer. Again, this x,y,z data is already calculated. The latest autocad versions have a very powerful 'LOFT' command that can seamlessly connect together complicated cross-sections along paths. 3. Maybe the export of cross-sections drawn in Xtherion, exported as correctly scaled and aligned 3d polylines in the dxf would be a first step. The complex triangulation of the surface between two cross-sections could be handled by autocad/3dsmax in the first instance. Excellent software and support. Thank you for your efforts, Steve Clark

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Cannot log into Savannah
by Bruce 23 Oct '12

23 Oct '12

Hi Is there a problem with the Savannah therion page? I tried to log in this morning, but it will not let me in. I know what my password is, but anyway I used the 'lost your password' script. It has not sent me any message in 13 hours, so I suspect that the system may not have properly registered my new email address when I changed it last August. Bruce

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Diving LRUD dxf export - Vertical floor/ceiling alignment at scrap joins
by Stephen Clark 22 Oct '12

22 Oct '12

I am new to Therion, so please forgive me if I am making a simple error. I am experiencing a problem when exporting 3d .dxf model data (to AutoCAD) Background : I have a centreline of diving data with LRUD's. Approx 1000m / 0-70m depth / 125stations. Simple linear passage (The St Georges Resurgence, Montvalent, France) I have used the .xvi export of plan and elevation into the map editor. I have drawn 12 plan scraps and 12 elevation scraps. These are joined and have exported correctly as conventional pdf plan and elevation maps. Problem: When I export the data as a dxf model using the '-wall-source maps' option, there appear to be vertical steps in the passage floor and ceiling at the start and end of each (plan) scrap. Within a single scrap there are no steps. Typically the dimensions relative to the centreline in the scrap 'before' the join are correct. The first up/down dimensions in the 'next' scrap are incorrect. The horizontal alignment of the walls is perfect. Typical image illustrating the problem here : http://www.steveclark.demon.co.uk/dxf_error.png It does not appear to be a problem with the centreline data, because if I re-draw two scraps as a single scrap with only 2 wall lines there is no step in the ceiling or floor. There is no step in the pdf elevation export of the same scraps. Joining all the individual wall lines in both plan and elevation does not solve the problem. The export does not appear to use the elevation scraps to generate passage heights. I get identical output if these are deleted or adjusted. If I use the export '-wall-source centreline' option, there are no steps. This, however, does not allow me to export/render any features not recorded in the simple LRUD data. I am relucant to draw the whole survey as a single scrap with just 2 walls, but it appears this may solve the problem. Any thoughts, or is this just a quirk of the dxf export? Regards, Steve Clark

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