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Text File | 1993-05-18 | 22KB | 562 lines

Topographer Demo ================ *** Note *** Certain features present on the production version of Topographer are missing from this demonstration, such as Create Map, Save, and Print. Overview ======== Topographer is supplied as two independent applications which may be run separately, or concurrently. Facilities exist to ease the transfer of maps between the two applications. Most operations with Topogapher are intuitive to anyone familiar with the RISC OS range of computers. However, there are some notable exceptions and so for those people who generally do not read manuals, these exceptions have been tagged with an exclamation mark (!). The first of the applications is the 2D Editor. This program is used to create new maps and edit existing ones. Using the 2D Editor =================== Menu overview ------------- Icon bar menu ------------- Info - info about program Create map... - create a new map *NOT IMPLEMENTED New view... - open a new view on a map Close all views Remove map... - remove a map from memory Remove all maps Preferences - alter the application preferences Document menu ------------- Info - info about program Map - the Map submenu Info - info about map Save - save a map *NOT IMPLEMENTED Save Drawfile - save a map in Draw format *NOT IMPLEMENTED Print... - print a map Size... - adjust the size of a map Scale... - adjust the scale of a map Grid... - adjust a map's grid Preferences... - adjust a map's preferences Edit - the edit submenu, but choose this option to leave Select Mode Select - the select submenu, choose this option to enter Select Mode Select all - select all features in focus Clear - deselect all features Show focus... - show the focus window Adjust - alter a feature's parameters Copy - copy selected features to clipboard Cut - move selected features to clipboard Delete - delete selected features Paste - copy features to map from clipboard Replicate - replicate contours Front - move lines and areas to front Back - move lines and areas to back Zoom - the zoom control dialogue box Show coords... Show features... Export to 3D Types of feature (!) -------------------- For the purposes of the editor, there are four different types of feature:- * Symbols. (telephone, public house, text, etc) * Lines. (road, river, track, etc) * Areas. (sand, woodland, water, etc) * Contours. (contour and open-contour) Creating a new map *NOT IMPLEMENTED ------------------ To create a new map, simply click on the 2D editor icon. The scale dialogue box will appear. You may select a different scale if required and then click on 'OK'. The map document will appear. You may load an existing map from disk in the normal way:- * by dragging the file icon to the icon bar * by double-clicking on the file icon Changing the size of a map -------------------------- The size of a map may be adjusted by choosing the 'size' option in the 'map' submenu. You may enter the new dimensions directly, or click on the arrow icons to increase or decrease the size by small steps. You should click on 'OK' when you have chosen the new size. Changing the scale of a map --------------------------- The scale of a map is adjustable by choosing the 'scale' option in the 'map' submenu. There are a number of preset scales already present on the dialogue box, clicking on any of these will set the scale accordingly. You may enter the new scale directly, or adjust it using the arrow icons. As with all dialogue boxes, click on 'OK' to confirm your changes. Changing the size and origination of the grid --------------------------------------------- The grid for a map is adjustable by choosing the 'grid' option in the 'map' submenu. The size of each square is adjusted by entering the new value directly, or by using the arrows. The origin of the grid is also adjustable. This feature is used to originate the bottom left hand corner of a map document to a particular position on the National Grid. Placing new features -------------------- Placing features on a map document is very simple, but first you must select the feature that you wish to place. This can be done by choosing from the 'features' window, or from the 'features' submenu. The features window is summoned by choosing the 'Show Features' option on the document menu. The features may be scrolled using the vertical scroll bar in the normal RISC OS way. To select a feature, simply click upon the appropriate icon. A description will be displayed at the bottom of the window, along with any 'Parameters' pertaining to that particular feature. To adjust these parameters, position the caret in the white icon and enter the new data. Don't forget to press <Return> or click on 'OK' to confirm the changes. Any new feature placed after such an adjustment will be affected accordingly. The features submenu is attached to the 'Edit' option of the document menu. Simply summon the menu, and choose the feature that you require. Note that most features are grouped up into categories. Once you have selected your feature, you can place it on the map. The exact method of placement depends on the type of feature that you are entering. * Features which are represented by a single picture, such as the telephone symbol, are placed simply by clicking SELECT in the desired position on the map. * Other features like roads, rivers, areas of water and contours (to name but a few) require that you enter a line into the map. Begin by clicking SELECT at the starting position. Move the pointer to the next place and click SELECT again. Each point is entered in this way until the whole feature is completed. To finish entry of a line, DOUBLE CLICK on SELECT. You may hold SELECT down while moving the pointer to draw lines 'freehand'. If you click ADJUST, you will remove sections of the line. Likewise, you may hold down ADJUST to rapidly backtrack. Press <ESCAPE> or click MENU to abandon a line entry. Once entered, the grey 'control' line is replaced by the chosen feature. Editing existing features (!) ----------------------------- Line based features may be edited by clicking ADJUST near the desired feature. For contours, roads and rivers, etc., it is best to click immediately over the feature itself. For areas such as water, sand, woods, etc., click ADJUST at the edge of the feature. The feature will disappear and be replaced by the control line. At this point you have two choices:- * Click SELECT at either end of the control line to extend it in either direction. If you do this, the editor will behave as though you were entering a new line. * Click SELECT on a control point (denoted by small squares) to re-enter a portion of the line. Now you can re-enter a portion of the control line, so long as you 'return' to a control point. When you click SELECT over a control point the feature will re-appear having taken into account the new shape. XXNote that you are not adjusting the existing portion of the line but replacing it with a new section. Selecting features ------------------ Once entered, features may be 'Selected'. To do this, you will first need to switch to Select Mode. The easiest way to do this is to choose 'Select' from the document menu a tick appears next to the menu item to indicate that it is selected. Features may now be selected:- * By clicking SELECT on or near a feature. This will de-select any other selected features. * By clicking ADJUST on or near a feature. This will not de-select affect any other features. * By dragging a Selection Box. If you click and hold down SELECT well away from any features while moving the pointer, you will create a Selection Box. Any features within this box will become selected, and all other features will be de-selected. * By dragging a Selection Box with ADJUST. This works in exactly the same way as above, except that features not contained within the selection box are unaffected. * By choosing 'Select All' or 'Clear' from the Selection submenu. When these options are chosen, all features on a map are either selected or de-selected. Operations on selected features ------------------------------- Once selected, features may then be processed in a variety of ways. They can be:- * Moved. By dragging a selected feature with SELECT, all selected features are moved to a new position. * Copied. By choosing 'Copy' from the Selection submenu, or ^C selected features are copied into the 'Clipboard'. * Cut. By choosing 'Cut' from the Selection submenu, or ^X selected features are copied into the clipboard, and are removed from the map. * Deleted. By choosing 'Delete' from the Selection submenu or ^K all selected features are removed from the map, but are not copied to the clipboard. * Moved to front or back. Features like rivers, sand, etc., ^F or ^B can be moved to the 'back' or 'front' of the pile of features by choosing 'Front' or 'Back' from the selection submenu. * Adjusted. Selected features may have their additional information (such as width, etc.,) adjusted by choosing 'ADJUST' from the selection submenu or ^D Features in the clipboard can be copied back onto the map by choosing 'Paste' from the selection submenu or ^V. The features are represented by blue boxes, and these can be position prior to being placed with 'SELECT'. The focus window (!) -------------------- You can limit the types of feature that can be selected by using the 'Selection focus window'. To summon this window, choose 'Show focus' from the selection submenu. You will notice that the four categories of feature are on the window, each accompanied by a switch. If this switch is on, then features of that type may be selected. Special points about certain features (!) ----------------------------------------- There are a number of special features which require specific attention. * Contours. A contour may not intersect itself, or any other contour. If you attempt to enter a contour which does intersect, then the editor will warn you and request that you put it right. * Open contours. Open contours are the same as contours, except that they must start and end at the edge of a map. They are provided to allow incomplete contours to be entered, where a smaller map is being build from a larger one. Open contours cannot be moved, copied or pasted after entry. * Bridges, Viaducts and Aqueducts. These features are special because they are only allowed to have two control points, ie. they must be a straight line. In addition, when drawing roads, tracks, etc., which run over bridges, viaducts and aqueducts, it is necessary to position the control points exactly. This is achieved by pressing SHIFT when using SELECT to enter control points. This is known as 'Snapping'. The roads, tracks, etc., must be snapped at both ends of the bridge. For example, imagine you have a bridge spanning a valley, and you want a new road to run over it. You begin drawing the road in the normal way until you come to the bridge. Position the pointer close to one end of the bridge and click SELECT whilst holding down <Shift>. Then move the pointer to the other end of the bridge and click SELECT again. You can now finish off the road in the normal way. * Roads. Roads are special because they can be joined in a specific way to create junctions. For example, imagine you have a motorway that you wish an A road to join with. You enter the A road until you come to the motorway. Then you hold down CTRL and click SELECT once (Do not double click with SELECT). A neat junction will be formed. The Zoom window --------------- The view of a map can be zoomed in or out by choosing the Zoom option on the Document menu. There are a number of preset values, or you may enter your own. The zoom factor is displayed on the map title bar. The coordinate window ---------------------- This window, when opened, displays the grid coordinate of the mouse pointer. The preferences window ---------------------- Most of the preferences refer to the 3D generator, but the 'Freehand resolution' setting may be used to adjust the 'fineness' of freehand lines. When maps are created, the preferences are set up according to the defaults specified by the preferences window attached to the icon bar. These are called the Application preferences. However, once created a map document may deviate from the application preferences freely. Exporting map documents *NOT IMPLEMENTED* ----------------------- Choose 'Export to 3D' to transfer an existing map document into the 3D generator. If you do not have room to run both applications simultaneously, you will need to first save and quit the editor, and then load the map into the 3D generator. Using the 3D generator *NOT SUPPLIED* - See image sequence !3D by double clicking on it. ====================== The 3D generator cannot create map documents, instead it relies upon those produced by the 2D editor. Maps can be loaded into the 3D generator by dragging them to the icon bar, or by exporting them from the 2D editor. Menu overview ------------- Icon bar menu ------------- Info - info about program New view - open a new view on a map Close all views Remove map - remove an existing map from memory Remove all maps Document menu ------------- Save map - save the map and all stored views *NOT IMPLEMENTED Preferences... - open the map preferences window Zoom - adjust the zoom Make view - begin generation of the current view Show view - open the 3D view window View library - the view library submenu Save - store the current view Recall - recall the specified view Delete - delete the specified view from the view store Export to 2D - export the map to the 2D editor The view cone and view arrow ---------------------------- When a map is loaded it is displayed in a similar window to that used by the 2D editor, except that a 'view cone' and 'view arrow' are present. The view cone repesents a 'cone of vision', the area covered by the cone is the same as the area which will be visible in the final 3D image. The view cone can be moved around on the map to choose different view points and directions. The view arrow is allied to the view cone in that it represents the direction of the 'line of sight'. When you produce a 3D image, the picture shown will be the same as that which you would see if you were standing at the base of the arrow, and looking in that direction, towards the head of the arrow. In addition to providing an indication of the line of sight, the view arrow performs another important function. The base of the arrow is assumed to be the point at which the viewer is standing. The height of the viewer above ground level (how tall you are) at this point is adjustable by double-clicking ADJUST at the base of the arrow. The head of the arrow is taken to be the point at which the viewer is looking. The height of the ground over which the arrowhead lies is used to calculate the angle of elevation of the line of sight. For example, imagine you are standing at the foot of a hill, with the arrow head pointing at the top, while the view cone covers the whole of the hill. With this set up, the 3D image produced will be as though you are looking up the hill, ie., at a point at the summit. If you now move the view arrow to the foot of the hill, without affecting the view cone, the image would be different - as though you are looking straight ahead. The height of the line of sight, over and above the height of the view arrow head, can be adjusted by double-clicking ADJUST at the arrow head. The view arrow can be dragged around on the map. Use SELECT at either end of the arrow to perform this operation. If you drag the view arrow while holding down the SHIFT key, then the view cone is automatically adjusted as well. NOTE: If the view cone is large then the 3D image will take longer to generate and depending upon the terrain the actual image may be no different to that with a smaller cone. Storing views ------------- Once you are satisfied with a particular view position, you may store it along with the map. Choose the 'View Library' submenu from the document menu, and then choose the 'Save' option. You will be required to name the view. Note that the view is stored with the map - and has not been saved to disk. To save the map along with all stored views, save the map in the normal way. Existing views can be recalled and deleted using the respective options on the View Library submenu. Making a 3D view ---------------- Once you have positioned the view cone and arrow, you are now ready to make the view itself. Choose the 'Make view' option from the document menu. The view window will appear (initially it will be blue), and after a period of time the view will begin to draw. A further window will appear keeping you informed of the progress of the generation of the image. You may temporarily pause the processing, or abandon it altogether. The view window has a menu attached which can be used to save the resulting view, in the form of a sprite. XX Not implemented The preferences window ---------------------- With the exception of 'Freehand resolution', all of the preferences on this window refer to the 3D generator. Screen Mode ----------- This field is used to adjust the mode in which subsequent images are created. Resolution ---------- These 2 fields adjust the detail of the resulting 3D image. The 'Primary' field affects the number of height samples taken for the whole view. The area described by the view cone is split up into a grid prior to generation of the 3D image. Each point on this grid is assigned a XX height. The number of points on the grid is controlled by the 'Primary' resolution field. The higher this value, the better the relief of the final image. ! NOTE: Where sharp changes in height occur on a map, such as XX an embankment, cliff face, severe valley, etc., it is possible that images generated on relatively low Primary resolution will be unsatisfactory. If this occurs, just increase the Primary resolution until a satisfactory image is produced. The 'Detail' resolution field determines how many sub-squares each primary square on the map is divided up into. A higher 'Detail' resolution is useful for resolving shapes such as complex lakes, woods, etc. View Angle ---------- This control allows adjustment of the width of the resulting 3D view. A wide angle gives a 'tele-photo' type picture. Multi-tasking ------------- This control allows the user to decide how much time is 'given back' to the desktop (and therefore the other applications) during the generation of a 3D view. Landscape --------- This group consists of two switches. Shading from light: When on, this causes the landscape to be drawn with consideration to the light-source (taken to be behind the view point). It can be switched off to increase the speed of processing. Draw outlines: When on, the landscape appears as a grid - to emphasise the perspective depth. Default viewer height --------------------- This allows the user to specify the default height of the viewer - ie. how tall the person is. Exporting maps back into the 2D editor *NOT IMPLEMENTED* -------------------------------------- Once 3D views have been specified and stored, the modified maps can be exported back into the 2D editor for further work, if required.