Author Topic: Contour Shading in 2D  (Read 8438 times)

Metzen

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Contour Shading in 2D
« on: February 12, 2007, 07:01:18 PM »
I notice that 3.0 has contour shading in 3D mode (nice!), is there a way to turn that on for 2D?

Krein

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Contour Shading in 2D
« Reply #1 on: February 13, 2007, 11:09:46 AM »
Nope, can't do contour shading in 2D.  The first thing we need is caching of downloaded 3D data, making 3D switches fast, and allowing us to do things like shaded relief and grabbing arbitrary elevations (at mouse location, for example).

It's on the list for a future version of the program...

sanewcomb

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Contour Shading in 2D
« Reply #2 on: February 15, 2007, 07:47:31 PM »
No reason to. The combo tiles do this very well, even better than simple shading. I should say where aerial tiles exist, this pseudo shading is pretty cool. Though at times the shading direction changes because the position of the sun is different. Play around with the contrast and brightness controls under the Window menu|Image Processing. I've always liked this view. Works great in 3D too.

BTW Scott, as it was pointed out in a different thread, the way contrast and brightness changes the entire desktop and other apps is very naughty behavior. On my machine it makes it difficult to switch to other apps and use them due to blown out whites and contrast. Also, the sliders on the dialog box on the contrast/brightness go up and down by 2s. It's kind of annoying if you're trying to hit a specific number, like returning it to 50. (update- never mind, I see you've added arrow support so the sliders can be nudged 1 unit at a time. Wouldn't hurt to have the slider's value shown all the time and incremented as the arrows are  pressed. Purely user friendly issue though.

Checking out ver 3.0 for the first time. Will submit any bugs I find.

Will also send some more moola. Well worth the cash and always like supporting the little guys.

Steve
Tucson, AZ

Krein

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Contour Shading in 2D
« Reply #3 on: February 15, 2007, 08:27:37 PM »
Quote (sanewcomb @ Feb. 15 2007,7:47)

Steve -- good points and thanks for the post.

I guess 2D contour shading isn't much a priority for the reason you suggest.  I have found, however, that using combo tiles in some areas doesn't do much in terms of shading.  So I think there is still some merit to it.

I agree 100% about the contrast/brightness.  Definitely bad form, and it will be fixed in the next version.

Thanks for the continued testing and support, Steve.

Metzen

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Contour Shading in 2D
« Reply #4 on: February 15, 2007, 08:50:12 PM »
The reason I asked was I just installed National Geographic Topo! for Utah.

Their software sucks rocks compared to TopoFusion, but the map quality (topo only, no ariel) is amazing.

The 3D feature and usability is crap compared to TF, but the 2D shading really does add a lot to the maps.  They stay looking crisp and clean and you can still get a sense of the lay of the land. The arial shadows aren't even close to being a replacement.

I'm building a mapping / data logging computer for my ATV that will have a 15" or so LCD, and having the crisp, clean topo's will make it very usable in 2D mode with live tracking.

I can see that many other things would be much higher on the to-do list, but I agree that 2D shadows shouldn't be dropped from the list.

Thanks.

Metzen

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Contour Shading in 2D
« Reply #5 on: February 15, 2007, 08:52:24 PM »
One thing I forgot to mention, I go on a lot of ATV Jamboree's with hundreds of ATV'ers around.

Having a computer right there on my ATV, I really look forward to the chance to show off TopoFusion.  I've told a lot of people about it, but being able to show it to them right there on the trail will be great!

chuckt

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Contour Shading in 2D
« Reply #6 on: May 10, 2007, 02:55:39 PM »

definitely high on my wishlist. It would make a big improvement to printed Topos.
« Last Edit: September 24, 2009, 02:08:59 PM by ScottMorris »

ScottMorris

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Re: Contour Shading in 2D
« Reply #7 on: September 24, 2009, 02:08:22 PM »
Quick note on this thread -- v3.90 is out with shaded relief in all 2D modes.
Scott Morris - founder and co-author of TopoFusion
email: smorris@topofusion.com