[Therion] Therion tutorial

Sun Sep 6 11:50:12 CEST 2015

There's no doubting the powerful and useful nature of Therion. 
It is almost indispensable when surveying large and complex systems. 
My only point is the poor interface that requires most users to re-learn the system. 
There must be a programmer or programmers out there who are up to the task 
of producing a more user-friendly interface? 
It seems daft to me that enthusiastic surveyors are not using the software 
because of its complicated front end. 

Regards
Juan

-----Original Message-----
From: Martin Sluka <martinsluka at mac.com>
To: List for Therion users <therion at speleo.sk>
Sent: Sun, Sep 6, 2015 9:25 am
Subject: Re: [Therion] Therion tutorial

There is possibility to use right click in map editor which helps much there
yet.

The data editor is as is, there are several tools you may use to prepare
data for therion. But to tune up the data structure you need line text format
anyway. The same for archiving your data. Plain text format is human readable
and one may interprets it with piece of graph paper, protractor and ruler in
extreme situation. The same for maps.

The output compilation editor is the same
case, there are so many possibilities, tricks, modifications of codes etc. it is
not possible to use any an usable windows-like menus. There is possibility to
define default layouts and then use these layouts as blocks or inputs without
modifications there.

Imagine you may to use full potential of very very
powerful software tools MetaPost for definition of symbols and for workaround
with scraps and TeX for definition of exported maps and atlases. These programs
are behind the Therion. 

For error analysis you may use Survex log and for
visual identification of problem "debug on“ command in layout in
compilation.

etc.

But there is not any other tool to archive data from surveys
and produce maps of complicated in many levels existed cave systems. To make a
simple map of a simple cave you may in many ways. But to create an usable map of
real maze cave system there is only one solution.  And because any simple cave
may be changed to a big maze after an exploration, … :)

The Therion package is
free and multi platform!

Maybe you’ll find a programer which will be able to
proof I’m not right. 

Martin

> 7. 9. 2015 v 8:46, Juan Corrin
<uzueka at aol.com>:
> 
> In my opinion - and I'm repeating myself here - people
give up because of the unfriendly command line environment. A windows-type
interface with radio buttons and drop down menus would be much easier to use and
remember. Please can the programmers work at this aspect instead of tweaking the
underlying code? I don't think that yet another tutorial will help the majority
of potential users.
> 
> On 6 Sep 2015 07:18, Graham Mullan
<graham.mullan at coly.org.uk> wrote:
>> 
>> Nick Bairstow wrote: 
>> 
>> "I have
been giving some thought to producing a tutorial to follow on from 
>> Footlegs
wiki item. Unfortunately it's not a simple as I first thought. Over 
>> the next
few months I will attempt to come up with something that will 
>> enable a
novice therioneer understand the next steps following the Footleg 
>> wiki
article. It would be nice to continue using Bull Pot as the sample cave 
>> but
I have not got time to re-survey that so I propose we use an existing 
>> data
set which could become the default novice reference. 
>> It seems many people
give up with Therion as it is difficult to learn but 
>> with a good tutorial
and a little help many more could be using it. 
>> What do people think, am I
wasting my time, comments please. 
>> Oh and if someone else is already doing
something similar please shout up. 
>> No point doing it twice." 
>> 
>> I use
Footleg's tutorial a lot. If you are not using a program every day, 
>> then
having a handy known reference point for the details is always a good 
>> thing.
It doesn't cover every single aspect, so if Nick wants to add further 
>>
material, I for one would be delighted. Please do it, Nick. 
>> 
>> The other
main trick for learning in this way is "How did we do this last 
>> time?" or
looking back at a previous data set, your own or someone else's, 
>> and seeing
how it works. If there was a reference data set available (if not 
>> on the
Therion wiki but on the cave-registry page, perhaps) then the 
>> tutorial could
certainly link to that. Of course 'live' data can change over 
>> time, so
having a fixed example set might be better. Bear in mind that data 
>> for a
single cave is insufficient to cover all problems. We routinely 
>> combine data
from different caves, because they are close together or, as 
>> has been done
several times, to produce a context overview to show a cave in 
>> relation to
its neighbours and the land surface. See, for example, the thing 
>> below the
caption in the latest version of the Gough's Cave survey 
>>
http://www.ubss.org.uk/resources/surveys/survex/Goughs_all.pdf  . Does 
>>
anyone have a good multi-cave dataset that is now stable and so can be used 
>>
for this purpose? 
>> 
>> It is also worth remembering, of course, that
different people do some 
>> things differently, an example data set might
enshrine work habits that are 
>> not the same as mine or yours. 
>> 
>>
Graham
>> 
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mailing list 
>> Therion at speleo.sk 
>>
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