BHD - 3D Grid Display

Rotate

Pan Hor.

Vessels

DTM

DTM Textures

Static Objects

Water Surface

Pan Vert.

Recenter

Range Markers

Line Planning

Cameras

Fonts & Colors

Performance

Left button

Hold the left mouse button down. Move the mouse left and right spins the scene about a pivot point. Move the mouse up and down rotates the scene vertically about the same pivot point.

Right button

Right click in the scene to set a new pivot point. If the click is on an object the pivot point is located on the object itself. Otherwise the pivot is located on the DTM surface.

Scroll wheel

Zooms in toward and out from the pivot point.

Translation

Sometimes because of the way the *.X files were configured, the connections between the objects may not have a perfect match. Translation can be used to shift an object on any axis.
Translation is also useful when shifting location of Static objects.
Leaving the values for translation and rotation at zero will result in the visualization of the original 3D File.

Rotation

Sometimes the orientation of the original file may not match reality.
A 180 degree reversal is quite common (see image below where the backhoe is reversed).
Enter a value in degrees to rotate the model about any of the three axes. For example entering Y=90 rotates the object 90 degrees to starboard.  
Leaving the values for translation and rotation at zero will result in the visualization of the original 3D file.

Scale

It may be necessary to re-scale the object, sometimes because the units used in the original file are not real world units, or to convert meters to feet or vice versa..
Leaving the scale value at 1 will result in the visualization of the original 3D file.

Additional terrain

In the Controller's Session Setup - Planning you can add Additional Terrains as an alternative. One of up to 10 of these can be selected.
A warning message (Not a DTM) is displayed when the additional terrain is not recognized as valid.

<currently active file>.grd

The grid file selected in the Session Setup of the Controller is automatically added with its name displayed here. Switch it on or off.
If no grid file is selected in the Controller it shows No File.

Create flat surface DTM

This option creates an infinite horizontal plane when no data from the other selected DTM files is available.
A data entry field is displayed under Settings below.
This is meant as a visual aid only.

Press the [+] sign to open the tree structure menu.

Layer

From the drop down menu, select which Layer to show in the 3D Grid Display.

Attribute

From the drop down menu, select the Attribute of the selected Layer to show.
Only attributes already set in creating the sounding grid are available to select.

Improve coverage

The sounding grid is built up from multiple resolution levels (e.g. 1x1, 2x2, 4x4, etc).
With the Improve Coverage option data from a lower resolution level is used to fill gaps in the grid.

Vertical scale

By default this is set to 1. Increase this value to exaggerate the Vertical Scale of the grid.

Height

When a flat surface DTM was selected, the Height of this surface is shown here.

Add one or more *.ecw files to drape on top of the DTM. For example an orthoimage like a sidescan mosaic or a satellite image.

Set the order of the layers using the up and down arrow buttons at the right hand side of the dialog.
For example it makes more sense to draw the grid on top of the *.ecw file than the other way around. The file at the top of the list is drawn on top of the others.

Remove any *.ecw files no longer needed.

No file.grd

The active grid file selected in the Session Setup of the Controller is automatically added. It can be switched on or off.
If no grid file is selected in the Controller it will show No File.

Create texture outside DTM

This option creates an infinite horizontal plane where no data from the other selected DTM files is available. This is meant as a visual aid only.
DTM files selected in the DTM page are already visible in this list.

Color source settings

If necessary press the [+] sign to open the tree structure menu.

Use DTM settings

When the box is checked you are electing to use the same layer and attribute that was set in the DTM dialog.
When unchecked additional options are added to the dialog to allow definition of an alternative Layer, Attribute, and Reference Layer if applicable.
The latter could be the design layer used to show the difference between two layers in a selected color scheme.

Layer

Only available if 'Use DTM settings' is disabled. Select the Layer to be used for color coding.

Attribute

Only available if 'Use DTM settings' is disabled. Select the Attribute of the selected layer to be used for color coding.

Reference layer

Only available if 'Use DTM settings' is disabled.
Optionally a Reference Layer can be selected to show the difference between it and the active layer. Select a color scheme to depict differences clearly.

Improve coverage

The sounding grid is built up using multiple resolution levels (i.e. if Level 0 has a cell size of 0.5x0.5m, Level 1 has cell size 1.0x1.0m, Level 2 has cell size 2.0x2.0m etc.).
Activating Improve Coverage means that data from a lower resolution level is used to fill gaps in the grid of a higher resolution level.

Color map settings

Use range from

Project Settings - The color range set under the Global Settings option in the Console is used. When the Project Settings are used Color map options are disabled. 
User Defined - Enter values for Maximum and Minimum to set a range. If the values you enter are not accepted, check above to make sure 'Project settings' is NOT selected.
When User Defined is chosen, use the  button to automatically scale the color map according to detected Minimum and Maximum depths for the attribute selected in the active grid layer.
Color map - A predefined coloring file can be selected to color the grid.

Color map

A number of maps are predefined in the software.

Color Map settings apply to the currently active Layer.
When switching to a different active Layer the settings are stored for the original Layer and new settings can be set for the new Layer.

Note: Color Maps are typically used to visualize a range of bathymetric depths or a range of backscatter intensity values.

Maximum / Minimum

Set the upper and lower extents for the color map. For depths this is a negative number, for elevations it is a positive number.
When Color Map is selected as range source these values will be set to the default values for the selected color map.
Enter values manually if needed.

Transparency

Set the Transparency level for the grid layer in order to better see underlying features.

Swap color map

The colors for deep and shallow will be reversed. For example when using the qps.clr map, white represents the shallower depths of the depth range and black represents the deepest. These can be switched with this option so white is shallow and black is deep.

Draw over- / underflow

All data shallower than the maximum value are colored with the Overflow color; all data deeper than the minimum value are colored with the Underflow color.
Underflow color can be useful as a guide to show when design depth is reached. 

Link to

Select whether the object should be linked to:

• • Manual - a manually entered position, which is entered in the Offsets fields. 

  • Fixed node - this node must be predefined in Database Setup.
    

  • Waypoint - a predefined point in a Line Database file.

The parameters displayed depend on which Link To option was chosen.
In case of Manual enter the coordinate set.
In case of a Fixed node, select the fixed node from the drop down list that shows all the fixed nodes defined in the template database.
In case of a Waypoint first select the relevant Line Database file and the appropriate waypoint.

Drop on DTM

The Object origin receives the height of the DTM at that location. This overwrites the manually entered Z value.
However, if the object origin is not located at the base of the object, it may be necessary to uncheck this box and use Offsets to place the bottom of the object on the DTM surface.

Offsets

These values shift the *.x file relative to the selected location, or they set the absolute position when Link To is set to Manual.

Rotation

The object is rotated around its own pivot point in one or more axes.

Scale

The object can be re-scaled if the original model is not created in real world coordinates.
Using only Z scaling a vertical exaggeration of the scale is possible.

Water plane

Select either a Horizontal Plane or a Boundary. The Boundary option uses a DTM from a *.PRO / *.QGF file.

3D File

Only available for the Boundary option. Use the browse button to select the *.PRO / *.QGF file which contains the DTM.

DTM Layer

Select the DTM Layer from the selected *.PRO / *.QGF file.

Color

Select the color for the water plane.

Transparency

A very high Transparency means the water plane is hardly visible.
A very low water Transparency makes all layers underneath almost invisible.

Height mode

The height of the water plane is determined by either a Manually entered height relative to Vertical Datum or by an Object height.
In the latter case the Water Plane is drawn at the height of the reference point of the object but can be offset if that point is not at water level.

Link to

Only available if Object height is selected.
Select which object the water plane should be drawn relative to. 

Offset

In case of a Manual Height enter the Offset from survey datum to draw the Water Plane.
In case of Object Height this is the offset from the height of the reference point on the object.

Range marker between two nodes on different objects. This type could be used to show the distance between two vessels.
Type A label.

Range marker between a node on a vessel and a fixed node as defined in the Database Setup.
Type A label.

Vertical marker between a node on a vessel and the sounding grid DTM below.
Type B label.

Vertical marker between a node on a vessel and the water plane as defined under option 'Water' above.
Type B label.

Range marker between a node on a vessel and a predefined point in a Line Database File.
Type A label.

Range marker between a node on a vessel and the location at which the left mouse button is clicked in the display. A new label is generated at each mouse click.
Type A label.

Range marker between an anchor wire and a selected waypoint. This option enables the monitoring of the separation between an anchor wire and any potentially hazardous object.
Label shows the range between the wire and waypoint, plus the height separation value.

Type = Track
Type = Fixed

The Camera maintains a fixed position relative to the object being tracked.
The Camera maintains a fixed position in the absolute sense, i.e. its world position does not change as the object moves.
When positioning is jumpy, it may be better to choose Fixed, which will create a more stable display.

Link to Track
Link to Fixed

Select the vessel (object) which the Camera should track, e.g. dredge head.
Select a fixed node from the template database.

Offsets

Press the [+] sign to open the tree structure menu.
The readings in the left hand column change as you use the mouse inside the display or as you enter them manually. The readings in the right hand column are the saved home position readings.

Orientation

Option is only available for a tracking camera. Select the direction in which the camera is looking.

• • Object (Heading): Direction is relative to the heading of the object. In the example the Starboard Lateral camera is oriented at 64.25 deg. to the heading of the object, so in this case looking from starboard toward port. An orientation of 270 deg. means the camera is looking from port to starboard.

  • Object (CoG): Very similar to Object (Heading) except camera orientation changes with the course over ground, and hence can be more stable depending on settings in Computation Setup that determine how CoG is computed.

  • Line Bearing: If the current line has a bearing of 45 deg. and the orientation angle is set at 90 deg., the camera is on the starboard side of the line looking in the direction 315 deg.

  • Fixed: Camera orientation is relative to north. If orientation is set at 45 deg. the camera looks toward 225 deg.

Tilt Angle

The angle entered is relative to the horizontal. A negative angle means the camera is looking down.

View Distance

In case of a tracking camera: the distance between the camera and the object. In case of a fixed camera: the distance between the camera and the current pivot point of the scene.

X/Y/Z Offsets

For a tracking camera these are the offsets of the camera from the object's reference node. In the example, the pontoon reference point is on the keel directly below the rotation point of the backhoe. If the reference point were elsewhere you may need to enter an offset to shift the camera position to a different point.

For a fixed camera linked to a fixed node, the offsets entered determine where the camera is relative to the fixed node. 

For a fixed camera Do Not Inherit offsets act like grid coordinates.

Display quality

Performance - Low quality of the scene but high performance.
Balanced - A balance between the quality of the scene and the performance.
Quality - The highest scene quality but the lowest performance.

Show reverse side of DTM

By default this option is switched Off because of the performance of the display.
(The reverse side of a DTM is not shown as accurately as the top side.)