What's New in Version 7.4 of the Fledermaus Suite - March 27th, 2014
Full Webinar Title: What's New in Version 7.4 of the Fledermaus Suite
Presentation Date(s): March 27, 2014
Presenter(s): Danny Neville, Fledermaus Product Manager, QPS
This webinar covered:
- Major changes in 7.4, including the improved rendering engine. This rendering engine change means that files created in 7.4 and later are NOT backward compatible. A backward compatible option will be available in 7.4.1.
- QINSy projects with a Navigation Surface can be directly loaded in Fledermaus for editing of the navigation surface using the 3D Editor.
- QPS/DB file pairs can be directly loaded in FMGeocoder Toolbox and FMMidwater for processing of backscatter and watercolumn data.
- Improved coordinate system support, specifically support for QINSy projections library.
- Preview of upcoming functionality.
Webinar prerequisites:
- Familiarity with the Fledermaus Suite. File types, module functionality, etc. not fully explained.
- The QPS QINSy acquisition software and the workflow between the two products was also discussed; familiarity with QPS QINSy is necessary to fully understand this part of the presentation.
Webinar Recording
Attendee Questions & Answers
Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| What separates QINSy, Qastor, Qloud, and Fledermaus, and for MBES processing where would you use each product? | Qastor is a navigation, piloting and docking software application, that is not related to multibeam echosounder acquisition or processing; you can find product sheets with more information here: http://www.qps.nl/display/qastor/productsheets. QINSy, in general, is used for survey planning, acquisition of data from a variety of sensors, and sonar processing. Qloud is a tool for filtering and performing point cloud editing for multibeam sonar and laser data. Fledermaus is a suite of modules for geospatial processing and QA/QC of mulitbeam and laser data, processing of multibeam backscatter and watercolumn (multibeam, singlebeam, CHIRP) data, and interactive visualization of data. The latest integration of QINSy and Fledermaus presented during the webinar provides a significant improvement to clients. There is no export or import of data (which takes time and can be prone to errors) to Fledermaus when data is acquired in QINSy, making it much easier to use Fledermaus directly for further processing of bathymetry, backscatter and water column data. We continue to work on providing a cleaner integration and improved workflow between our products, and removing any overlap or confusion in their use. |
| Is it possible to analyze (CUBE) hypothesis directory in QINSy, without using Fledermaus? | In the QINSy Processing Manager there is currently only capability to show the following Cube parameters: Cube Depth, Cube Uncertainty, Cube Hypotheses Count, Cube Strength, and Cube Number of Soundings. There is however no functionality to show or select the alternative Hypotheses. |
Is it possible to analyze lidar data in Fledermaus? | Yes you can use the same tools (Fledermaus, 3D Editor) on LAS, XYZ, and laser data in QINSy projects. |
Is there any automatic target detection tool in FMMidwater? | Not currently, but we are working on implementing some tools to do this. |
| So when you say you open a QINSy project in Fledermaus, what file do you mean specifically? The db file? | With the functionality implemented in Version 7.4, we are using File > Open QINSy Project in Fledermaus to load the Navigation Surface from the project. You select the project directory, and Fledermaus extracts the navigation surface. |
| Which version of QINSy are you using in the presentation? Are we waiting on a new QINSy release? | Danny was using the upcoming release, probable version number will be 8.10.2014.03.26.1. However, the basic QINSy project support (without CUBE) is available with any project created in a fairly recent version of QINSy (within the last year or so); if you want to use CUBE as part of your workflow, then you will need the QINSy intermediate release (Note: this has since been release and is available for download, 2 April, version 8.10.2014.03.26.1). |
| Is there any speed improvement for 'traditional' PFM creation for non-QINSy users (ie raw.all files or HIPS files). | No, not in this release. |
| Can one load QINSy projects with Fledermaus without having the QINSy dongle plugged in? | Yes, as long as you have the appropriate Fledermaus licensing (license includes the 3D Editor). The FM Pro and FM Hydro bundles have the correct licensing to work with QINSy projects. |
| Is it possible to open solid works objects in Fledermaus? | The model formats that Fledermaus support are 3DS and OBJ. 3DS is a product of 3D studio max. We realize that we should add support for other model formats and we welcome suggestions on this. |
| Is there documentation on the functionality differences between 32b & 64b versions | Not in one consolidated place. I have asked support for a summary of this information to be placed on our Knowledge Base. In the meantime, you can find a collection of issues related to the limitations here: https://confluence.qps.nl/label/KBE/limitations |
| Is there a way to "Save object as..." for earlier versions? | Not currently, we are going to add the option to save in a backward-compatible format to the version 7.4.1 release (upcoming). |
| Why have some of the options in 3D Editor been removed when using QINSy projects? For example target editing, color by line. | We will be adding more of these options to the QINSy project (Navigation Surface) support in the 7.4.1 release of Fledermaus (upcoming). Target editing won't be in 7.4.1 but it will be addressed. |
| What are the CUBE surface format supported by Fledermaus? | Fledermaus only supports CUBE surfaces generated within Fledermaus and QINSy (QPS products), we can't support other vendor's CUBE surfaces because of differences in how CUBE has been implemented by those vendors – there is no common "CUBE Surface" format. We do however support BAGs (Bathymetric Attributed Grids, a product of CUBE) generated from any software, as long as they meet the BAG specifications. |
| If I have QPD-files from several platforms (as is then located in subfolders in the QPD-folder) will all those be loaded directly also? | It depends on how you create the navigation surface. If you select all of those files when you create the navigation surface, they will all be brought in to Fledermaus. |
| Is Spline filtering somewhere on the roadmap? | Yes, not sure where it sits in the release schedule but we are looking at how we can add that to Fledermaus. |
| How does this interact with edits made in Qloud? | Once you are finished editing in Qloud, you can do the QPD synchronize. Once you do that synchronize, when you open the Navigation Surface in Fledermaus the edits will be maintained from Qloud and you will be able to see them as rejected. You can choose to keep them rejected, or unreject. |
| With direct support for R2Sonic systems, do you refer to Truepix data or snippets? | SNIPPETS. TruePix can only be read in FMGT as XTF, and not through QINSy QPD/DB files . |
A WMV recording of the webinar and a PDF of the presentation are also available for download. Please email webinars@qps.nl if you would like to obtain the download location for this webinar.