RELEASE 3.9 Product Notes

August 2006

The following changes have been made to DAT/EM products. Please review these items before installing your update.

As always, DAT/EM welcomes comments and suggestions from you, our clients, so please don’t hesitate to contact our support department at support@datem.com, or by calling in or faxing us with your requests.

Release 3.9 is compiled specifically for Windows 2000 and XP.

PLEASE NOTE: If you are thinking about purchasing a 64-bit computer, please contact DAT/EM. There are newly pending drivers associated with hardware and software. Special considerations for compatibility are necessary when using this newest option in hardware technology.

Summit Evolution

1. Summit’s stereo view now refreshes faster and performs even more smoothly due to improvements utilizing system resources. When a CAD drawing opens and SuperImposition activates, this could put a strain on available system CPU resources. OpenGL version 2.0 and higher offers the best performance results.

2. ZINDEX was changed to keep the current model loaded and just refresh after updating measurements. In previous releases the current model was reconstructed, which could cause a PC with limited memory resources to crash.

3. A bug was introduced which de-activated the “automatically load the next model” option in Summit after opening the Project Viewer. This was fixed.

4. The cursor in Summit Viewer moves independently of the system mouse. Now using the Viewer will be easier than ever with the ability to distinguish the system cursor from the Viewer cursor. Also, the Viewer has a new low price, so contact sales@datem.com if you’re interested in using the Summit Viewer for quality 3D viewing.

5. The birds-eye window has changed to improve overall performance. The window is now embedded into Summit’s stereo view. This uses fewer resources when displaying superimposed vectors. To adjust the birds-eye or make changes, right click in the area of the birds-eye window. The following menu will appear.

Previous birds-eye displays are still available from Summit’s View pulldown menu.

6. Many clients were looking for a way to view all of the measured relative points for a project, rather than just a stereo pair at a time. The points may be viewed using the “Overview” button in the Tie Points Dialog. This opens a Tie Point Overview dialog.

This tool will be improved in future releases. For now, it is useful for viewing relative points for most projects.

The icons, from left to right, represent the following:

Zoom Fit, Zoom Realtime, Zoom Window, Pan, Selection, Center on Point, View Measurements, and Options.

Below is a brief description of the last four toolbar functions.

o If Selection is chosen and a point is picked in the window, Summit will drive to the location for point review.

o Center on Point will adjust the Tie Point Overview window so that the selected relative point is centered in the view.

o View Measurements opens a dialog containing thumbprint images of the tie point measurement in each image, listing the image name below it. The user can select various “zoom levels” or sizes for the localized point image display.

o Options will open a dialog assigning various color selections which indicate the number of images registering a measurement for that relative point.

7. MEASURE MEAN is a new tool in Summit available from the Tools pulldown menu. Vertical, Horizontal, or distances taking into account both horizontal and vertical point distance, are recorded in the main text window for Distance.

The mean of all current measurements is displayed in the text field “Mean”. To restart measurements and clear the display, click the eraser icon. An individual measurement may be highlighted and removed from the list, excluding it from the mean calculated value, by selecting the red “X” icon.

8. Different von Gruber position definitions can be saved to and loaded from the registry. Open either Relative or Tie Point dialog boxes and click “Quick Points”.

In the “Custom” section, type in the desired description name in the text field. Make sure undesired point position indicators are cleared, and new ones placed, then click “Add”.

Pre-existing configuration names can be viewed by clicking the selection list arrow on the right side of the text field. After selecting the configuration you want, click “Load” and the point positions will be loaded into the Quick Points view. It is a good idea to “Clear” any existing positions before using “Load”. If the red “X” is selected, then the configuration listed will be deleted from the list. A warning message appears before permanently removing the configuration.

9. Multiple User CAD commands may be assigned on a single button using the Button Manager. Type in each command and separate it from the next with a semi-colon “;”. To toggle from one command to the next, simply hit the button. Similar functionality was already available for setting zoom levels and changing cursors.

10. ZINDEX has two new buttons, “Save..” and “Load…” Use these buttons to save an existing list of points which are visited for setting a ZINDEX offset, and use it over and over.

SuperImposition

MicroStation S/I

1. Improvements were made for displaying rubber-banding for the DATDRAW PSQR command. The second point position was not displayed.

AutoCAD S/I

No changes.

Stereo Capture for ArcGIS

1. The Stereo Capture cursor and system mouse cursor are independent with the new USE DATEM CURSOR option in the toolbar . When activated, the stereoplotter cursor and system mouse cursors may both be used without interfering with each other. The GIS cursor takes on a representation of the DATEM CURSOR icon if no editing or digitizing command is active.

Capture for AutoCAD

NOTE: All changes apply to AutoCAD 2000-2006 versions unless stated otherwise. Enhancements and bug fixes do not apply to AutoCAD R14.

1. Layer settings for Capture Contour were not being saved correctly. This was fixed.

2. DTMIT was modified to include the option to place grid marks on even coordinate values.

3. The Datem.mnu file was edited to run JOINIT instead of JOIN.

Capture for MicroStation

Changes apply to Capture for MicroStation V8/2004 Edition series only. MicroStation V8 version should be 08.05.00.64 or higher.

1. REPLACE CELL has been redesigned.

The “Select Cell to Replace” section reads all of the cells in the open .dgn file and lists them for easy reference and selection. To assist in choosing the appropriate operations, the cell Type is displayed.

On the right side, “Select New Cell” includes a “Select Library” button. The button does not load a library. It stores the library name and loads cell library information upon execution, unloading it just before the process is complete. In this way you may use various cell libraries without changing the cell library actually attached to a drawing. The cells in the new cell list are those found in the selected library.

When a cell is replaced with a new cell type the options offered in the “New Cell Options” section control whether to use shared cells, apply a rotation, or adjust the size. The “Point” and “Graphic” subsections activate the options available depending on selection.

Due to the different characteristics between point and graphic cell types, and the option for turning Relative on or off, it is often important to know what type of cell you will be replacing. Below is a short guide describing results for various combinations of settings organized in columns.

CELL TYPE

Point/Graphic	Point	Point	Graphic	Graphic	Graphic
Shared	On	Off	On	Off	Off
Relative	NA	NA	NA	On	Off
Result	Header on user defined level. Individual elements on levels where the cell definition elements were created. All levels created if necessary.	Elements on user defined levels. New levels created if necessary.	Header on base level. Elements on levels where the cell definition elements were created. All levels created if necessary.	Elements placed relative to created elements levels with the base level as the lowest level. All levels created if necessary.	Elements placed on same levels as the created cell elements. All levels created if necessary.

The Relative option does not apply to point cells or to graphic cells when shared cells are selected.

2. There is a new keypad overlay for MicroStation called MicroStationV8.dkf. This uses both point and graphic cell types. The DAT/EM seed file and cell library provided were also updated. The seed file uses level names as well as numeric levels. The active scale and active text scale are set to 1.0. The cell library now includes both graphic and point cell types. All cells were scaled to be 1.0 units across.

3. EZ is a new command to simply change the positions of cells, points or vertices. By detecting the type of object under the cursor, the user does not need to activate any element-specific editing command or double-click to select. This minimizes the number of button hits and creates a very fast and efficient editing tool.

a. Cells. Pause the cursor over a cell. The cell is highlighted. Pick shifts the cell to the current, or stereoplotter Z. The cell must be in the attached library or a message will be displayed indicating that shift failed and that the cell was not in the attached library. Ctrl-Z will undo the measurement.

b. Points. Pause the cursor over a point. The point is highlighted. Pick shifts the point to the current Z. Ctrl-Z will undo the measurement.

c. Lines, Line strings, and Complex elements. Pause the cursor over any vertex, line segment, or the mid-point of an arc. If the entire element is highlighted, Pick automatically positions the cursor over the first vertex of the line string. Subsequent Picks drive the cursor to the next vertex. At each Pick the vertex is shifted in Z. If only a vertex is highlighted there will be a shift in the Z of that vertex and the line string object will contain the new measurement for that vertex. Reset ends the process. Ctrl-Z will undo the previous shift.

4. A new command, CROSSCHECK, was added. CROSSCHECK finds line string intersections and either adds a vertex or breaks at each intersection. The results of CROSSCHECK can be 2D or 3D intersections. Line strings may be the same symbology between the two intersecting groups of elements.

The “Intersect this Group” (Group 1) section defines objects used to evaluate possible intersections in the “With this Group” (Group 2) section. Each section may contain like symbology groups, or groups of objects with very different symbology (color, level, line weight, line style). Only intersections with Group 1 will be found. If identical symbology between the two groups is selected, the Break or Add Vertex option settings for Group 1 will be used.

The selection “Match elevations. Set to average Z of original intersection.” Is designed assign the same elevation values for the vertices added or endpoints of broken lines for both elements. An average of Z values will determine the elevation assigned. If the elevations are already the same, perhaps they have been snapped together, then they will not be changed. Unchecking this option will not change any elevations, but vertices will be added and breaks performed as requested.

Checking on “Ignore intersections with Z differences greater than xxx” ignores intersections with an elevation difference greater than the user-defined value in ground units. If the elevation difference is within the range, the “At Intersection” action will be performed. If this box is unchecked, all objects within groups 1 and 2 will be acted upon, regardless of their elevation differences.

5. Potential conflicts with the new PSQR and DATDRAW family of commands with keypad entries and other commands was fixed. The problem cause a "pick" to be ignored, or keypad commands were not recognized.

6. The following DATDRAW problems were fixed in Release 3.9.

a. DATDRAW ZSEQUENCE OFF did not uncheck the “Z Sequence” dialog box item.

b. The “Modify”, “Next”, “Increase” and “Decrease” dialog items stayed greyed-out and unselectable when key-ins were activated from the keypad.

c. DATDRAW PSQR did not digitize more than 3 points.

d. The DATDRAW CHANGE SETTINGS dialog opened off the top left of the second monitor.

e. DATDRAW AUTOARC and DATDRAW 2DAUTOARC were both 3D. Now the 2D option works correctly.

f. DATDRAW ZSEQUENCE DECREASE did not work, but the increase option did. Now both work correctly.

7. ELINE NEARESTZ uses basic ELINE functionality with the option of assigning the elevations of the offset line string’s edited vertices to an elevation matching a “sister” line string. An elevation is interpolated for the position nearest a perpendicular intersection between the two line strings, and this elevation is applied to the corresponding new vertex along the edited line string. ELINE NEARESTZ is useful when editing two sides of a river, for example, where you want the same elevation on both sides.

Enter the command using the keypad or by typing in the command in the key-in of MicroStation. In future versions of Capture, there will be toolbar and pulldown menu options. A prompt appears to begin editing a line string. At this point, the command is working exactly like ELINE. Once editing the line string is completed, instead of immediately toggling through the various results to accept one, a prompt is given to “Select element to determine Z values”. Now select the line string from which the elevations will be assigned to the new vertices of the edited line string. After selecting the “sister” line string, you can use Reset to toggle through the edit results and accept the one you want, just like ELINE.

General Interface Changes

1. DAT/EM Keypad: A new Edit Key dialog is resizeable in the X direction for enhanced viewing of long text strings.