[Therion] Making projected elevations, and using map connectors

[Tarquin Wilton-Jones]

Hi,

Still learning (never stop)...

I have looked through the various tutorials, and several examples, but I
have not found any information on how to create a projected elevation -
all tutorials stop at that point with "TODO: show how to do elevations".
The software I am using to survey the caves (DistoX2 + SexyTopo) gives
me a plan view and an extended elevation, exported as centreline+xvi.
The area I am surveying is mostly linear with passages stacked at
various levels above each other. As a result, projected elevation is
more useful than extended elevation.

I know I have to use "-projection [elevation 265]" on my scraps and maps
to make them all work when I try to use:
export map -projection [elevation 265]

However, I have not been able to find how to get from an extended
elevation to a projected elevation. I had hoped for some magic where I
just create an extended elevation then ask Therion to warp that extended
elevation into a projected elevation, but I have come to the conclusion
that I probably have to do this:

export map -projection [elevation 265] -output elevation265.xvi

Then create a dedicated surveyname_elevation265.th2 file and go over all
the survey data and create the required scraps for it, without being
able to see the sketches in the XTherion scrap editor.

Have I made the right assumption, or is there some clever magic that can
happen? Does this mean that in order to create two elevations, one
facing 265° and one facing 180°, I actually have to do this all twice,
creating each scrap from scratch each time?

Imagine I want to have half of the cave on a bearing of 265 and the
other half on a bearing of 180 in the same file (because the cave turns
a corner half way along) - essentially extending a projected elevation.
I could export the data once on a bearing of 265, and once on a bearing
of 180, then create appropriate scraps for each half, pretend that the
ones on a bearing of 100 are actually on a bearing of 265 by using the
-projection options of maps and scraps. But then it would warp them to
oblivion when trying to make it fit the centreline. So would I actually
have to export two PDFs, one with a map that only covers half of the
cave on a bearing of 265, and another that covers the other half of the
cave on a bearing of 180, and position the outputs very close together
by importing them as images into a third map?

(Not as insane as it sounds. It is a mine, with major passages all very
linear at different levels, and just one significant passage running at
right angles to the other passages.)


While I have your attention, I have been using "map [10 0 m] above" to
displace certain parts of the cave. I worked out how to use map
connector points (just place a connector on whichever scrap will end up
moving) to show their displacement. Some parts of the cave get displaced
once away from their parent map, then again when their parent map gets
displaced by a grandparent map. It seemed to be impossible to show a
line from their original location to their new one, so I split them up
into pieces, one has the connector to show the line from the parent map,
and the other gets its own map which is displaced directly into the
final position, with a connector showing the original position. This
seems like the best solution to me, but please shout if you know better.

I am struggling a bit with this though, since it is not mentioned
anywhere in much detail:
	map intermediateMP
		movedtwiceMP [-60 0 m] none
		movedonceMP
	endmap
	map finalMP
		intermediateMP [10 0 m] above
		notmovedMP
	endmap
...
select finalMP...

In this case, it leaves the "above" outline at the original position,
not the intermediate position, while the passage is correctly shown at
the final position. Meanwhile the map-connector arrow shows the 60 metre
move. Have I misunderstood how that is supposed to work? I would have
expected an outline at the intermediate position. But it seems that
generation of outlines happens on a different step from generation of
the connector arrows. Could someone please confirm the order it does
these moves and arrow creation in, so I can wrap my head around what the
expected outcome will be? Is it this:
select finalMP
position notmovedMP and intermediateMP in their natural positions.
shift intermediateMP 10 metres right, and leave an outline behind.
shift movedtwiceMP 60 metres left.
if movedonceMP has moved and has any map-connectors, draw the
map-connector to show its most recent move (10 metres right).
if movedtwiceMP has moved and has any map-connectors, draw the
map-connector to show its most recent move (60 metres left).
That is to say; it processes the moves starting at the shallow end of
the nesting (with the selected map being the shallowest), but it draws
the arrows at the final step showing only the deepest move.

Thanks for helping me wade through the confusion.

Tarquin