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Applied Imagery
Quick Terrain Modeler User's Manual
Copyright 2013 Applied Imagery LLC
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Table of Contents
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Contents II
12 Load List
................................................................................................................................... 40
13 Batch...................................................................................................................................
Scripting 40
Scripting..........................................................................................................................................................
- Add Action 41
Scripting..........................................................................................................................................................
- Edit, Insert, Remove Actions 42
Scripting..........................................................................................................................................................
- Running Scripts 42
Scripting..........................................................................................................................................................
- Log File 42
Scripting..........................................................................................................................................................
- Script File 43
14 Options/Settings
................................................................................................................................... 43
Always Copy
..........................................................................................................................................................
QTA Data Files 43
Add Normals
..........................................................................................................................................................
When Importing Point Clouds 43
Auto Reset
..........................................................................................................................................................
View on Model Load 43
Convert DTEDs
..........................................................................................................................................................
to UTM 43
Memory ..........................................................................................................................................................
Management Options 44
Show Toolbar
.......................................................................................................................................................... 44
Show Progress
..........................................................................................................................................................
Bar 44
.......................................................................................................................................................... 44
Go Fullscreen
Set Screensize
.......................................................................................................................................................... 45
GeoTIFF..........................................................................................................................................................
Export Setup 45
KML Options
.......................................................................................................................................................... 45
LAS File..........................................................................................................................................................
Open Options 45
Mensuration
..........................................................................................................................................................
Options 46
Set QTM..........................................................................................................................................................
Display Units 46
Open QT..........................................................................................................................................................
Files Directory 46
Set QT Temp
..........................................................................................................................................................
Directory 47
Set QTM..........................................................................................................................................................
Registered File Types 47
15 Exit ................................................................................................................................... 48
II
III Quick Terrain Modeler User's Manual
7 Merge...................................................................................................................................
Models 59
8 Repair...................................................................................................................................
DEMs 60
9 Subtract
...................................................................................................................................
Models 61
...................................................................................................................................
10 Edit Model Text 62
11 Rename
...................................................................................................................................
Models 62
...................................................................................................................................
12 Georegister Model 62
13 Set Model
...................................................................................................................................
Position 64
14 Add Normals
...................................................................................................................................
to Surface Models 64
...................................................................................................................................
15 Remove Normals from Surface Model 64
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Contents IV
4 GeoTIFF
...................................................................................................................................
Export Setup 94
5 Override
...................................................................................................................................
Georegistration 95
6 Movies
................................................................................................................................... 96
Record QMV
..........................................................................................................................................................
Movie 96
Play QMV
..........................................................................................................................................................
Movie 97
Create AVI
..........................................................................................................................................................
from QMV Movie 97
Create AVI
..........................................................................................................................................................
from Line 98
...................................................................................................................................
7 PowerPoint Tool 99
8 Render
...................................................................................................................................
Screen to Registered Image 100
...................................................................................................................................
9 Render Screen to TIF 101
10 Export
...................................................................................................................................
Screen to Garmin GPS 102
11 Render
...................................................................................................................................
Selection Area to GPS 103
...................................................................................................................................
12 Create KML Index 105
13 Export Outline to KML
................................................................................................................................... 107
14 Save...................................................................................................................................
Extents to KML 108
15 KML ...................................................................................................................................
Options 108
16 GPX ...................................................................................................................................
Export Options 109
IV
V Quick Terrain Modeler User's Manual
Remove..........................................................................................................................................................
Vertex Alphas From Model 134
3 QTA ...................................................................................................................................
Attribute Analysis 134
Quick Color
..........................................................................................................................................................
Maps 134
Color by
..........................................................................................................................................................
QTA Attribute 135
QTA Continuous
..........................................................................................................................................................
Attribute Filtering (Advanced) 136
QTA Continuous
..........................................................................................................................................................
Attribute Filtering 138
QTA Discrete
..........................................................................................................................................................
Attribute Filtering (Advanced) 139
QTA Discrete
..........................................................................................................................................................
Attribute Filtering 140
QTA Multivariate
..........................................................................................................................................................
Filtering 141
Assign QTA
..........................................................................................................................................................
Attributes 142
Rename..........................................................................................................................................................
QTA Attribute 143
4 Visibility
...................................................................................................................................
Analysis 143
Line of ..........................................................................................................................................................
Sight Map 143
Omnidirectional
.........................................................................................................................................................
LOS 145
Directional
.........................................................................................................................................................
LOS 148
Sensor
.........................................................................................................................................................
View LOS 149
Vector
.........................................................................................................................................................
LOS 150
Virtual ..........................................................................................................................................................
Line of Sight from Marker 151
Virtual ..........................................................................................................................................................
Line of Sight from Line 154
Travel Route
..........................................................................................................................................................
Line of Sight 156
Point to..........................................................................................................................................................
Point Line of Sight 158
Terrain..........................................................................................................................................................
Mask 159
5 Grid ...................................................................................................................................
Statistics 159
Grid Stats-Define
..........................................................................................................................................................
Grid 160
Grid Stats-Select
..........................................................................................................................................................
variable 160
Grid Stats-Calculate
.......................................................................................................................................................... 161
Grid Stats-Visualization
..........................................................................................................................................................
Options 162
Grid Stats
..........................................................................................................................................................
- Blank Palette 163
Grid Stats-Act
..........................................................................................................................................................
Upon Data 164
Grid Stats-Configuration
..........................................................................................................................................................
Options 165
Grid Stats
..........................................................................................................................................................
- Model Comparison 165
6 Generate
...................................................................................................................................
Grid Lines 165
7 Generate Contour Lines
................................................................................................................................... 168
8 Generate
...................................................................................................................................
Outline 169
9 Generate
...................................................................................................................................
Range Rings 170
10 Import
...................................................................................................................................
Mensuration from KML 171
11 Import
...................................................................................................................................
Mensuration from Shapefile 172
12 Save...................................................................................................................................
Mensuration as KML 172
13 Save...................................................................................................................................
Mensuration as Shapefile 172
14 Point...................................................................................................................................
Query Utility 172
15 AGL ...................................................................................................................................
Analyst 174
AGL - Ground
..........................................................................................................................................................
Estimate 175
AGL - Visualization
.......................................................................................................................................................... 176
AGL - Exploitation
.......................................................................................................................................................... 177
AGL - Export
..........................................................................................................................................................
Products 178
16 Area...................................................................................................................................
Statistics 179
17 Find ...................................................................................................................................
Highest Point in Area 179
18 Model
...................................................................................................................................
Manager 179
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Contents VI
19 Model
...................................................................................................................................
Statistics 180
20 Volume
...................................................................................................................................
Calculations 181
21 Filtering
................................................................................................................................... 181
Set Alpha
..........................................................................................................................................................
Filtering 182
Set Change
..........................................................................................................................................................
Detection Filtering 182
Set Clipping
..........................................................................................................................................................
Plane 182
QTA Continuous
..........................................................................................................................................................
Filtering 183
Clear All
..........................................................................................................................................................
Filters 184
...................................................................................................................................
22 Set Water Level 184
VI
VII Quick Terrain Modeler User's Manual
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Contents VIII
11 Show/Hide
...................................................................................................................................
Markers 223
12 Edit Route
................................................................................................................................... 224
13 Export
...................................................................................................................................
Mission 228
14 Save...................................................................................................................................
Mission 228
15 Load...................................................................................................................................
Mission 228
...................................................................................................................................
16 Marker Options 228
17 Marker
...................................................................................................................................
Options Individual 230
18 Markers
...................................................................................................................................
- Billboards 230
...................................................................................................................................
19 Marker Point and Click 231
VIII
IX Quick Terrain Modeler User's Manual
Index 261
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Quick Terrain Modeler
Version 8
Part
I
2 Quick Terrain Modeler User's Manual
What’s New for Quick Terrain Modeler Version 8.0 (February 2013)
We are finally rolling the Quick Terrain Modeler version number forward to v8.0! Our decision was based on
a combination of new features in v8.0 and a refinement of significant capabilities we have introduced with
little fanfare the past few releases (e.g., coordinate conversion, virtual tools running on the graphics card,
route planning tools, etc.). Version 8.0 is, in some ways, a return to basics. In addition to a sleeker new
look, we have revisited one of our most fundamental tools – measurement lines and their associated
profiles – and come up with a handful of powerful new analysis and editing tools that are easier, faster, and
more capable than ever. Here is a brief overview:
Measurement Line Upgrades: Profiles, Travel Routes, Cross Sections, and More
The measurement line has become simple to edit and the profile has morphed into 4 new tools:
Measurement Line Editing: Double click on measurement lines to interactively add/delete/move
nodes. Measurement lines can be instantly converted to routes (Right click on Active
Mensuration Line in Layer Tree, Choose “Create QT Route”) (Learn More)
Profile Analysis Tool: The profile now offers dozens of way to look at point cloud profiles, isolate
and interrogate points in the profile, correlate them to the 3D point cloud view, and then operate
on them (set color, hide, delete, set classification, etc.). These tools will be useful not only in the
scientific and remote sensing communities, but also in the defense tactical community for slicing
through point clouds and spotting objects in areas of dense foliage. (Right click on Active
Mensuration Line in Layer Tree, Choose “Profile Analysis Tool”) (below, left). (Learn More)
Travel Route Analysis Tool (above, right): This is a specialized profile view of a measurement line
or route that includes tools such as buffer settings, cross/down track slope analysis,
instantaneous (i.e., “virtual”) line of sight analysis as the traveler moves down the route, and in-
profile measurement tools to measure travel route slopes and obstructions to mobility. (Right
click on Active Mensuration Line in Layer Tree, Choose “Travel Route Analysis Tool”). (Learn
More)
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What's New in v8.0 3
Cross Section Tool: Easily and interactively create cross sections and parallel profiles. See the
cross sections in the 3D scene before finalizing exports. Mask to just the cross sections in the 3D
scene. (Right click on Active Mensuration Line in Layer Tree, Choose “Cross Section Tool”) (Below,
left). (Learn More)
Point to Point Line of Sight (above, right): A fusion of the old point to point line of sight and
point to point viewing tools that makes it very easy to “become” one marker and look at another
marker. The visualization of the terrain profile in between is now optional. (Analysis Menu >
Visibility Analysis > Point to Point Line of Sight) (Learn More)
Miscellaneous:
Licensing
Eliminated the automatic fallback of Flex licenses to the Sentinel dongle in the USA version. This
capability is still available, but requires the user to interact with the .INI file which is in the QT
Modeler program files directory (filename = QTDefaults.ini if QTM has never ben run) or in the
user directory (QTViewer.ini if QTM has been installed and run at least once).
Added auto-handler for Vertical Datum differences. Note that: This assumes that you can correct
for a vertical datum difference with a simple, global z offset and it doesn't actually convert the
source file, so for some purposes (file export) the z values will stay in the original CS.
Updated to latest libPROJ4
Updated to latest GDAL
Fixed EGM96 datum file to fix half-pixel offset.
Fixed issue where "export to GEOTIFF DEM" and Model->Export->"GDAL GEOTIFF DEM" didn't
honor CS overrides.
The standard window that pops up to warn you when you are loading incompatible data now
includes vertical CS info. It also now contains some explanation text.
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Quick Terrain Modeler
Version 8
Part
II
6 Quick Terrain Modeler User's Manual
2 Getting Started
* Note: New Intel HD4000 graphics have moderate OpenGL support, but advanced QTM functions such as
Virtual Shadows, Virtual Line of Sight, etc. require still more advanced capability.
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Getting Started 7
info@appliedimagery.com
Version of Quick Terrain Modeler (This should appear on your screen when you start the Quick Terrain
Modeler)
Name
Company or Organization Name
Address
Phone Number
Applied Imagery will send you a key via email. When you receive the key, please restart the Quick Terrain
Modeler and enter the name and key information exactly as they appear in the Applied Imagery email.
You will only need to do this once, as the key will be stored for all future uses.
Getting Started With Portable and Floating Licenses (Sentinel Dongle License Key)
A hardware key is an external physical key (also known as a "dongle" - see image below) that plugs into a
USB or parallel port on the PC. A hardware key allows the user to install the Quick Terrain Modeler on
any number of PC's, but only permits one simultaneous use. Applied Imagery uses SafeNet Sentinel
SuperPro hardware keys. Since the Sentinel drivers look for the key "outside" of the PC (i.e., either on the
USB port or the local network), users must ensure that their firewall and/or security software permits this
communication to occur.
Install the Quick Terrain Modeler. You must also install the Sentinel key drivers. Please be sure that the
Sentinel key is NOT installed when installing the Sentinel key drivers. Once both packages are installed,
simply plug your hardware key into your PC, start the Quick Terrain Modeler and begin using the
software.
Notes:
Please be sure to remove your Sentinel key from the USB or parallel port prior to installing the new
drivers.
After installing the new drivers, please allow your system to reboot prior to using the Quick Terrain
Modeler again.
Sometimes Quick Terrain Modeler may lose contact with the Sentinel hardware key. Users may get the
message "Aborting, Cannot Find Sentinel Hardware Key!". If this is the case, please ensure that a
hardware key is plugged in locally (Portable Version or Floating Version) or is available on the network
(Floating Version only). If the key is plugged in, simply click the retry button (see window below). If this
8 Quick Terrain Modeler User's Manual
does not solve the problem, you may need to restart the Sentinel driver. This can be done one of two
ways:
1. When prompted with "Attempt to Restart Sentinel Driver?" (see window below), choose "Yes". This
will restart the Sentinel driver and Quick Terrain Modeler should recognize the key.
2. If you have an older Quick Terrain Modeler version, please go to your PC's Control Panel, then click
on "Administrative Tools", then click on "Services". You will see the "Sentinel Protection Server" as
one of the services. Make sure its status is "Started". If Sentinel Protection Server is Started and you
still have no connectivity to the key, highlight Sentinel Protection Server on the list, right click with
your mouse, and choose "Restart" from the menu. This should fix the problem. If it does not, please
contact Applied Imagery at support@appliedimagery.com.
3. The default mode for the Quick Terrain Modeler floating license is to first look on the local machine
USB port. If the key is not available there, the next step is to broadcast a request for the Sentinel
key on the local subnet of the network. If a key is available, QTM will use it, regardless of the IP
Address location of the available key. If no key is available, QTM will indicate a failure to find a
license, then prompt the user for an IP address. Enter a specific IP address in the window. QT
Modeler will search specifically on that IP address, even if it is not on the same subnet with the
client workstation.
License Server: In a floating license environment, the license server is usually a network server that
does not run Quick Terrain Modeler software. The key components on the server are:
o FlexNet Software LMGRD: The basic license server “engine”. LMGRD can manage license servers for
many software packages simultaneously (e.g., Quick Terrain Modeler and ARCMap)
o LMTOOLS: A suite of utilities and diagnostic tools that assist in troubleshooting and performing
tasks such as starting and stopping FlexNet servers.
o Vendor Daemon: A small exe file that identifies the software vendor (Applied Imagery’s will always
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Getting Started 9
Client Machine: This is the end user machine that actually runs Quick Terrain Modeler. The only
relevant component in this architecture is the QTM executable itself. When using QTM the first time,
the user will be prompted for the location of the license server, but after that the process should be
transparent to the end user.
What Applied Imagery Needs from the Customer to Create a License File:
1. The Flex License Server Name - It is typically a very short text string, something like this: flexsrvr02
Remember, this is the license server machine, not the client machine.
2. The FlexNet Server ID. The server Operating System (OS) will dictate what the Server ID looks like.
When in doubt, run the FLEXTOOLS utility and determine what FLEX thinks it is. Here is what they will
look like:
o Windows 32-bit: It is the MAC Address of the Flex Server. A MAC address looks like this:
00219B69DF21
o Windows 64-bit: Also MAC address, same as Windows 32-bit.
o SPARC/Solaris 32-bit: an 8 digit string that looks something like this: 837b1b9e
3. The License Server Operating System. License Files are generated differently if they are on different OS.
We can support
o Windows 32-bit
o Windows 64-bit
o SPARC/Solaris 32-bit
4. Getting your license file: Please email the information above to Applied Imagery –
info@appliedimagery.com. Applied Imagery will use this information to create your license file.
Applied Imagery will email you the license file as an attachment.
You should get an indication that the service has started successfully. If not, there is a problem and it
needs to be fixed on the server before proceeding to the client side. (Screen Grab Below)
6. Once the service is running successfully, proceed to installing QT Modeler on the client and pointing to
the server.
2. Point to the license Server. QTM/Flex will prompt them for the license server name/ID upon opening
up. If it cannot find the server or a valid license, QT will attempt to fall back to the Sentinel license/
server. If neither can be found, QT will not open. An error message will appear indicating the locations
that QT had attempted to look for a valid license.
Notes/Helpful Hints:
1. As of Version 7.1.2, QTM Flex Floating licenses can “fall back” to a Sentinel dongle. I.e., the QTM Flex
executable can use a QTM Sentinel dongle instead of a Flex license file. This can make a migration from
a Sentinel environment less painful. It can also enable a hybrid flex/sentinel architecture.
2. Finding my MAC address: If you are not sure what the server MAC address is, use the LMTOOLS utility
to assist.
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Getting Started 11
The Quick Terrain Modeler DVD will include one sample surface model. It is called Grass Lake Surface
Model.qtt. It is a surface model of a town called Grass Lake in the state of Michigan. It is a high resolution
model that was created from an airborne survey with .33 meter spot spacing on the ground. It also has RGB
(color) intensity that achieves a very photo realistic effect.
There are information boxes in the status bar at the bottom of the Quick Terrain Modeler window.
Depending on the size of the window, the boxes can contain some or all of the following information:
The UTM Zone (if using UTM).
A running log of cursor position in XYZ space in UTM, or other coordinates. As the user moves the
cursor, these numbers will change.
The name of the model under the cursor. If multiple models are loaded, this name will change as the
user zooms in/out and moves the cursor over different tiles/models.
The control mode. The Quick Terrain Modeler provides five modes in which you can interact you're
your models: Targeted Point (the default), Model mode, Flight mode, Terrain Following mode, and
Constant Altitude.
Height Scale exaggeration factor (if not set to 1) will appear as Z Scale: X, where X will be the height
exaggeration factor
Details on how quickly the Quick Terrain Modeler can render the terrain and how many points are
visible in the display window.
Mouse Controls:
Rotate: Hold down left mouse button and drag the mouse.
Zoom: Hold down both mouse buttons and drag the mouse
Zoom (Alternate Method): Use the wheel on your mouse to zoom in and out.
Move/Pan: Hold down right mouse button and drag the mouse.
Reset Lighting: Hold down the control key and right mouse button and drag the mouse. Moving the
mouse around will display a variety of lighting conditions.
Keyboard Controls:
Rotate: Use the Arrow keys. Each key has a different effect.
Zoom In: Use the Home key.
Zoom Out: Use the End key.
Move/Pan: Use the Control key and the Arrow keys.
Transport: Press the T key. This feature is used in conjunction with the mouse. Simply locate the mouse
over a target area, then press T to zoom in on that area very quickly.
12 Quick Terrain Modeler User's Manual
Reset Lighting: Hold down the control key and right mouse button and drag the mouse. Moving the
mouse around will display a variety of lighting conditions.
Helpful Hints:
It may take a few attempts to get the "feel" of navigation. It may help to think of a terrain model as a
table top that pivots about its center. The most friendly control mode is "Targeted Point".
If you get "lost" or get "under" a model, press the Reset Display button or go to the Control pull down
menu and select Reset Viewer. This will return you to the starting point.
Resetting Lighting can be very useful and may need to be adjusted as imagery is overlaid. Simply click the
lighting button and adjust as needed. Lighting can also be found in the Display...Settings menu.
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Quick Terrain Modeler
Version 8
Part
III
14 Quick Terrain Modeler User's Manual
1. The Menus: There are 10 pull down menus that contain a wide variety of functions. To access these
functions, simply place the cursor over the desired menu and click on it.
2. The Button Bar: The button bar contains eighteen frequently accessed functions. Some of these are
toggle buttons and some call up other windows or functions. T
3. The Layer Tree: Displays all open models, vectors, textures, etc.
4. The MiniMap: Displays the extents of the loaded model and the footprint of the current view.
4. The Status Bar: The status bar displays the status of the model, the location of the cursor within the
model, the mode the Quick Terrain Modeler is operating in, and details about the rendering of the
current model view. Please note the Status bar can be altered by selecting a specific coordinate system
which Quick Terrain Modeler will use to display the position of the cursor, regardless of whether the
original model was in UTM or geodetic coordinates to begin with. Please refer to the section on
Display...Settings...Mensuration Options.
5. Model Space: The center of the screen is the window in which models will be displayed.
The layer tree can be minimized to provide more screen space for data display.
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Screen Layout, Buttons, Layer Tree, Status Bar 15
5. Markers: Markers are QT Modeler-generated marker files, either generated manually by the user or
imported from an external file.
6. Routes: Routes are an assembly of markers that are connected in a sequence to define routes for
walking, driving, or other travel.
7. Textures: Textures are imagery and other raster products that are overlaid on a model, but never
actually become part of the model.
8. Bookmarks: Bookmarks allow a quick marking of a specific view or perspective that can be returned
to later or sent to another user.
9. Minimize the layer tree by clicking the minimize layer tree button at the top of the layer tree:
10.Access the layer transparency control by clicking the layer transparency button at the top of the layer
tree:
Special Overlays are tools that assist with visualization, but are not file-based or object-based entities that
have separate folders in the layer tree (e.g., Models, Textures). The special overlays that are available are:
Virtual QTA Analyst: Enables filtering/coloring based on QTA attributes of point clouds. Only works on
QTA point clouds with attributes. (More Info - QTA Continuous Attribute Filtering Advanced)
Virtual Height Colors: Basic Height coloration (More Info - Set Height Coloration)
Virtual Contour Lines: Customizable Contour Lines (More Info - Contour Lines)
Virtual Shadows: Generates shadow maps instantly based on user-set lighting direction (More Info - Set
Lighting)
Virtual LOS Map: Instant generation of Line of Sight map based on a marker position. (More Info - Virtual
Line of Sight - Marker)
Axes: 3D Version of a North Arrow.
Compass: Gives real time readout of camera orientation (azimuth and elevation)
Crosshairs: Places small crosshair in the center of the screen. "Targeted Point" mode rotates around the
center of the screen, so crosshairs can be a useful navigation aid.
Legend: Displays the legend for a variety of purposes - e.g., height color, slope, HLZ, etc.
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Screen Layout, Buttons, Layer Tree, Status Bar 17
Scale(2D): Distance scale only available in 2D mode ( ) due to the difficulty in accurately representing
scale in a 3D scene.
Note that Special Overlays are all reliant upon graphics card capabilities. In particular, Virtual Contours,
Virtual Shadows, and Virtual LOS Map rely heavily on relatively advanced OpenGL capabilities and the
availability of multiple texture slots.
Virtual shadows cast shadows in real time as the lighting direction is adjusted. Subsequent shadow maps
can be turned into a "real" shadow map image file and exported to other applications. To use Virtual
Shadows:
3.2.2 Workspace
File Menu > Save Local Workspace, Export Portable Workspace, and Load Workspace
Layer Tree Button Bar:
Workspaces enable the user to save and/or share the entire contents of the layer tree for future use.
Workspaces can be accessed from the button bar at the top of the layer tree or from the File menu. There
are two types of workspace - local and portable. These are the basic principles behind workspaces. Please
click the hyperlinks to learn more about each topic.
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Screen Layout, Buttons, Layer Tree, Status Bar 19
finished working for the day, or needs to move to another project, a local workspace enables a return to
the entire project at a later time. When an analyst needs to share results with a downstream user, a
portable workspace will copy all files and display settings into a single file that contains 3D models,
images, vectors, annotation layers, bookmarks, etc., so the end user sees exactly what the analyst wanted
to share.
Yes. The Quick Terrain Reader is free, requires no key, and has the same underlying rendering
"horsepower" as the Quick Terrain Modeler. It can be downloaded from here: http://
www.appliedimagery.com/download.php The QT Reader will be able to view workspaces, but will not be
able to create or save workspaces. See more Information and Suggestions here: Sharing Workspace with
QT Reader.
The Quick Terrain Reader is free and does not require a license file or any interaction from Applied
Imagery. Simply download from our website - http://www.appliedimagery.com/download.php ,
install, and begin using.
You can Open Workspace files in QT Reader multiple ways:
o Drag and drop the Workspace file (.qwz) into QT Reader.
o Open using the "Open Workspace" button at the top of the layer tree:
o Go to the File Menu > Open Workspace.
Keep in mind the potential limitations of your downstream users' computers:
o Potential graphics card limitations, especially lack of OpenGL support, will impact display of
point clouds and textures. QT Reader has the same graphics requirements as QT Modeler.
o Potential RAM limitations could limit maximum file sizes.
There could be a user learning curve for the end user. Bookmarks are a good way to guide the end
user to the features you want them to see.
File structure required. Please use the exact names, including capitalization to establish a workspace file
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Screen Layout, Buttons, Layer Tree, Status Bar 21
(Notes in parenthesis) :
After creating the folder structure and copying files into the appropriate folders, it is also useful (but not
mandatory) to copy a QT Modeler INI file into the top level directory. See images below.
The .ins File: When QT Modeler generates a workspace, it creates an auxiliary file for each model that is
called modelname.ins (where modelname is the original file name). This is an instruction file. It details
specific characteristics about the file in the context of how the workspace was saved. At the present time, it
only contains information about whether the model/vector/image/etc. was visible (i.e., was the checkbox
checked in the layer tree when the workspace was saved/exported?). In the future, the instruction file may
contain additional information. Instruction files are not necessary for the successful creation and opening of
a QT Modeler workspace. The only drawback at this time for not having an instruction file is that all check
boxes in the layer tree will be checked when a user opens a workspace.
3.2.3 Bookmarks
Bookmarks are similar in concept to bookmarks in a browser or "favorites" in other software. Bookmarks
store a specific viewpoint that can be returned to again in the future, saved, or shared with other users. To
use bookmarks:
1. Navigate to a zoom level and perspective that you would like to recall later.
2. Type "Q" on the keyboard or Right Click on the Bookmarks section of the layer tree to create a bookmark.
It will appear in the layer tree.
3. Rename the bookmark by right clicking on it and choosing "Rename"
4. If desired add an Annotation Layer to a bookmark. Annotation layers enable documentation of features
in a scene. More info on Annotation Layers
22 Quick Terrain Modeler User's Manual
5. Continue navigating through the model. Click on the bookmark to return to that view.
Bookmark notes: Bookmarks are storing a camera position and view angle. They are not associated with a
specific data set, nor do they store an image of the scene. Bookmarks can be saved and shared with other
users, but the other user needs to load the same data set (or at least a data set from the same location) for
bookmark sharing to work.
Establish a Bookmark
Bookmarks can be established either from the hot key "Q" or by right clicking the Bookmark folder in the
Layer tree and choosing "Create New Bookmark". See more info on Bookmarks.
Check Box Checked = Annotation Mode: Locked to Bookmark & Navigation Suspended
When the Bookmark with Annotation Overlay has its check box checked, the scene is locked to that
perspective and is in "Annotation Mode", i.e., all mouse controls, hot keys, etc. are now dedicated to
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Screen Layout, Buttons, Layer Tree, Status Bar 23
editing the annotation layer, not to manipulating the model. To get back to "normal" control modes, the
check box must be unchecked.
Registered or Unregistered Image or use export GeoTIFF button ). Note, annotated images can
only be exported as a georegistered raster product if QT Modeler is in 2D mode. Otherwise, the
perspective of 3D mode will make it impossible to correctly georegister the image.
Export to Garmin GPS - but only if annotation layer was created in 2D mode. Otherwise, it cannot be
exported as a georegsitered product an Garmin will not know the location of the image. Use Garmin
button .
Users can customize the toolbar by going to the File...Options and Settings menu and selecting Configure
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Screen Layout, Buttons, Layer Tree, Status Bar 25
Toolbar.
Open New Model: Opens a model and displays it in Quick Terrain Modeler. This button will open
pre-built models of any type - point cloud, surface model, DTED, GeoTIFF DEM as well as LAS files.
Clear Model: Clears all loaded models. Note: Be sure to save all models before clearing.
Import Model Data: This button calls up the import functionality. This functionality creates models
from raw model data.
Export Model Data: This button calls up the export functionality. This functionality exports various
types of 2-D or 3-D models and images from the existing model.
Import Vector Data: Thus button calls up the import vector functionality. Most vector formats (e.g.,
SHP, KML, etc.) are supported.
Export KML to Google Earth: This button exports KML products as specified by the user. If specified,
it also opens Google Earth and displays the products.
Toggle Height Coloration: This button turns height coloration on and off. Please note, on some video
cards, the height coloration effect can only be achieved simultaneously with overlaid textures.
Real time contour line generation. Click this button to generate contour lines on the fly. Right click on
the button to display the Contour Line configuration window. This feature only works with surface models.
Toggle Loaded Textures: "Texture" is a generic term for overlaid imagery (e.g., photographs, maps,
etc.) that is independent of the model itself. Images may be overlaid as textures across all current models in
one of three methods Projective, Orthographic and Orthorectified. Once these images/textures are overlaid,
use the "Toggle Loaded Textures" button to quickly and temporarily add and remove the imagery from the
current display.
Toggle Vertex Colors: This button turns on/off any colors that are embedded in the models
themselves. This includes LOS maps, slope maps, change detection maps, shadow calculations, intensity or
26 Quick Terrain Modeler User's Manual
Overlay Orthorectified Texture: This button calls up the Overlay Orthorectified Texture functionality.
Please note that the Quick Terrain Modeler also overlays orthographic and projective imagery, so this
button may not be suitable for all imagery.
2-D Mode: 2-D Mode toggles the display mode to 2-D. 2-D mode may be more suitable for tasks that
involve overlaying vector data. In 2-D mode, tilt and rotate are suspended.
Reset Display: This button resets the model view to the entire extents of the visible model(s). This is
a useful tool for reorienting the user in a large model or set of models. Occasionally, the user may need to
reset more parameters (e.g., lighting, height scale, etc.). To reset display and these other parameters, use
the menu function "Reset Viewer".
Stop Current Process: Depending on model sizes and PC configurations, some processes may take a
long time to complete. Almost any process except for saving and loading may be canceled by pressing the
"Stop Current Process" button on the toolbar.
View Model Statistics: Users can obtain information and statistics on the currently loaded models by
clicking on the View Model Statistics button. This will open a window listing the total number of points,
model extents in X, Y, and Z, the model origin in Geodetic/UTM space, the model size and type, and a
histogram of all the Z values in the model. The top of the window will contain a drop-down list allowing you
to select for which model to display statistics. If multiple models are loaded one scale will be selected for all
model histograms to make comparisons direct. Also refer to Model Statistics section.
Place Marker Pin: The user can add custom labeled and colored markers to indicate positions of
important features and to create Line-of-Sight maps. To place a marker, the user can click on the "Place
Marker Pin" button in the toolbar, left-clicking and dragging the mouse on the model to the desired
position. The user can then edit markers positions, names, sizes and colors by selecting Edit Marker, Set
Marker Size and Show Labels from the Markers menu. "Markers" are saved and loaded as "mrk" files. If you
have saved your markers they will be added to any tilesets you save. But you must save the markers to load
them either through the Marker menu, Load or through a tileset.
Select: Pressing the Select button places the user in "Select" mode which enables the user to select
an area to keep or an area to cut. Pressing the button again exits the user from Select mode. This can also
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Screen Layout, Buttons, Layer Tree, Status Bar 27
To select an area, left-click and drag in the main viewing window to select a region of the model. The
selected region will be highlighted. Right clicking and dragging will allow the user to rotate this box to a
desired orientation. Regions may also be selected numerically by choosing "Select Area…" from the Edit
menu.
Z Select Polygon: Pressing the Select Polygon button places the user in "Z Polygon Select" mode which
enables the user to select an area down the Z axis to keep, measure, or cut. Once the button is pressed, the
user simply left clicks on each vertex of the desired polygon. When completed, the user right clicks on the
polygon to complete it.
Select Window Polygon: Pressing the Select Polygon button places the user in "Polygon Window
Select" mode which enables the user to select an area down the viewing axis to keep, measure, or cut. Once
the button is pressed, the user simply left clicks on each vertex of the desired polygon. When completed,
the user right clicks on the polygon to complete it. Window select is useful for removing groups of points
from a point cloud without removing the points directly beneath them. See Example.
Cut: The Cut button removes the selected area from the model. Select Area with either Select or
Select Polygon tools. Selection areas can also be imported from a shape file.
Crop: the crop button removes everything except the selected are from the model. Select Area with
either Select or Select Polygon tools. Selection areas can also be imported from a shape file.
Place Mensuration Line: The user can measure between any points in the model. Simply click the
Place Mensuration Line Button, then move the mouse cursor to any place in the model. Left click on the
start point and again on the end point. This can be repeated for a multi-segmented line. When the line is
complete, click on the Place Mensuration Line button again.
Volume Calculation: Clicking the volume calculation button calls up the volume calculation function.
Line of Sight: Calls up the Line of Sight functionality. (USA Version Only)
Set Water Level: Calls up the Set Water Level function which performs flood simulation and tidal
inundation analysis.
Show/Hide Models: Calls up the Show/Hide Models window which enables turning individual models/
layers on and off selectively.
Set Height Scale: Calls up the Set Height Scale Function to exaggerate or minimize elevation
differences.
28 Quick Terrain Modeler User's Manual
Calculate Grid Statistics: Calls up the grid statistics tool. The same function is also available in the
Analysis menu.
QTA Quick Color button: Enables the quick coloration of point cloud models by a variety of attributes,
such as classification, return number, intensity, first/last/intermediate return, AGL height, etc.
Set Lighting: The set lighting button calls up the Set Lighting functionality. It is frequently useful to
manipulate the lighting to achieve maximum relief in the model or to brighten the model after overlaying a
texture.
Set Cloud Point Size: Calls up the Set Cloud Point Size interface to allow rapid changing of point sizes.
To add buttons to the toolbar, double click on a button choice in the left hand "Button Choices" column. It
will appear in the right hand "Current Toolbar" column. Use the Move Up, Move Down, and Remove button
to group buttons together as desired. Click "Apply" to make the choices appear in the actual toolbar.
Click the "QT Modeler Defaults" button to return to the default button selection and order. DoD users may
find it helpful to click "Tactical Defaults" to configure the most commonly used buttons - i.e., HLZ Analysis,
GPS Export, Model Search, etc.
Custom toolbar configurations can be saved and loaded using the Save and Load buttons.
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Screen Layout, Buttons, Layer Tree, Status Bar 29
Google Earth:
G: Type "G" to perform an instantaneous synchronization with Google Earth.
Cutting/Cropping:
CTRL: If multiple models are loaded, but some models are hidden (using show/hide model),cutting or
cropping will only apply to the visible model(s). Holding down "CTRL" prior to performing cut or crop will
force the editing function to apply to all models, whether they are hidden or visible.
Lighting
CTRL: Hold down "CTRL", then left click and drag. Lighting direction will change.
Line of Sight
L: Calculate Vector Line of Sight (move cursor to desired observation point, left click, then type "L") to all
loaded markers. Type "L" again to remove LOS vectors. (USA Version only).
30 Quick Terrain Modeler User's Manual
Coordinate Conversion
P: Left click on location, Type "P" to pull up coordinate conversion utility and populate
with position information.
Markers:
M: Hold down "M", left click to quickly place markers in a model.
K: Hold down “K”, move cursor to the vicinity of an existing marker, then left click and drag to move the
marker.
Bookmarks:
Q: Simply type Q on the keyboard to create a new bookmark.
1. Change the coordinate system that reads out in the status bar. In order for this real time coordinate
conversion to occur, data must be in UTM or geodetic (lat/long) coordinates. At this time, QTM cannot
convert between state plane and other coordinate systems.
2. Show the range from the "camera" (i.e., simulating where the user's eyes are relative to the terrain) and
the model itself. This can be useful to understand what a scene may look like from a given distance. This is
the range from the camera to the point underneath the cursor.
Note that when the coordinates displayed in the status bar are no longer the native coordinates of the
model, the status bar will be colored yellow. In the example below, the range to the model at the point
under the cursor is 177.87 meters.
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Quick Terrain Modeler
Version 8
Part
IV
32 Quick Terrain Modeler User's Manual
4 Menu - File
Inspect the file header to determine critical information such as number of points in an LAS file,
georegistration information in LAS and GeoTIFF files, and the spatial extents of the data. Essentially, any
information contained in the file header is visible.
Inspect NGA Variable Length Records (VLR's) that contain important information such as collection date,
sensor, classification level, etc. Please note that users will have identical functionality for NGA LAS files
that are encoded as NTM.
Preview the file's spatial extents in Google Earth. This enables a quick check to see if the data is in the
user's Area of Interest prior to taking the time to load it. If LAS point data coverage is irregularly shaped,
the extents will appear in Google Earth as a rectangle (min/max X and Y), rather than conforming to the
exact shape of the actual data coverage.
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Menu - File 33
acquisition date, sensor ID, security level, etc. QT Modeler gives the user the ability to preview the NGA
VLR in the preview window. The process is identical if the LAS file is in its native LAS file format, or if it is
wrapped in a NITF wrapper (i.e., file extension of .ntm).
Notes:
1. Data in UTM, geodetic, and State Plane can be previewed in Google Earth.
2. Unregistered Cartesian data can not be previewed, as QT Modeler has no way to understand its
position on the Earth.
3. Spatial preview works with 3D, 2D, and vector data.
4. Multiple file selection will result in multiple footprints being displayed in Google Earth. If these file are
not near each other, it may result in Google Earth zooming out extremely far.
If the model you are trying to load does not have a recognized extension, you will need to use the pull down
menu to look at "All Files".
Please note that you can continue to add any number of models and any type of models to be displayed
simultaneously. The size and number of models you may load is limited only by the amount of memory on
your PC.
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For Quick Terrain Reader: All of the above functionality will work with the free Quick Terrain Reader, but the
command is qtreader.exe.
Provides a simple way to convert a single point between five coordinate systems - Native (could be
any known coordinate system, Geodetic (decimal degrees), Geodetic (Degrees/minutes), Geodetic
(degrees/minutes/seconds), and Military Grid Reference System (MGRS). A sixth coordinate box
contains an "Edit" button that enables the user to select any other known coordinate system to
convert to.
Allows the user to quickly zoom to the location specified in the interface or to pre-placed markers.
Create markers in specific locations.
Convert existing marker positions between the five coordinate systems mentioned above.
Determine elevation values for specific X-Y positions.
Manually: To manually go to a specific location, simply type in the coordinates in one of the five
available coordinate system input fields. Regardless of which coordinate system is entered, all five
will be immediately updated to the new position.
From a Marker: If markers are loaded, the user can select a marker from the "Marker" pull down
menu. Once a marker is selected, the position of the marker will be populated in the five coordinate
systems.
From a Position in the model: To convert the coordinates of any position in the model, simply point
the cursor to that position, left click the mouse, and type "P" on the keyboard. The position under
the cursor will be populated in all five coordinate systems.
Entering Altitude
The default position of the "Altitude" field is set to AGL (Above Ground Level) with a value of zero. This
means that the position is resting on the surface of the model. To set a specific altitude, either set the AGL
value to a nonzero number (e.g., to simulate a planned observation tower), or set an absolute elevation
value.
Creating Markers
Once a position has been entered either manually (by typing the position into one of the input fields) or
from a position in the model (by left clicking on a model position and typing "P"), the user can create a
marker in that position. The user must manually type a marker name in the marker name field (to the right
of the "Create Marker Named..." button). A marker will appear. Markers can be edited, saved, and
exported. Furthermore, markers of locations can be sent to users of the Quick Terrain Modeler or the free
Quick Terrain Reader to share positional information. Please note that markers also form the basis of line of
sight analysis.
"Look Here": This function brings the location (or marker) to the center of the screen, but using the
current camera position. This operation is equivalent to rotating one's head to put an object in the
center of the field of view. The head (camera) is rotated (camera heading) and/or tilted (camera
pitch), but the head (camera) stays in the same position. For this reason, Zoom level is irrelevant
with respect to "Look Here". To "Look" at a point, simply enter the position manually or by typing
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"P", then click "Look Here". To "Look" at a marker, simply select the appropriate marker from the
pull down menu and click "Look Here"
"Go Here": This function reorients the model so the user is looking straight down (nadir view) on the
position or marker. In contrast to the "Look Here" function, the "Go Here" function moves the
camera position, points it straight down at the marker, and orients the model north-up. The Zoom
Level is important when using the "Go Here" function, as it will determine how closely the user is
zoomed in when the "Go Here" button is pressed
"Zoom Level": Zoom Level determines how closely the user will be zoomed in when using the "Go
Here" function. The zoom level is irrelevant when using the "Look Here" function.
2. Choose whether to search for 2D Imagery or 3D Models. Note that these are separate searches that
cannot be performed at the same time. The 2D Imagery search will find almost any raster format
(GeoTIFF, MRSID, ECW, CADRG, CIB, etc.) and the 3D Model Search will find any type of 3D data (LAS,
GeoTIFF DEM, DTED, etc.).
3. Click the "Select Directory" button. Choose a directory to search. Note that all subdirectories of the
chosen directory will be searched for relevant data.
4. Alternatively, use a "Search Cache" to find data. A Search Cache is a precalculated result to expedite
repetitive searches. A search cache is a file that is created by pointing the QTM search tool to a
directory or drive, calculating what files exist and their spatial extents. Learn more about Search
Caches.
5. Input a coordinate in the appropriate field. Note that the coordinate system only needs to be input in
one of the five available coordinate sections. Upon input of the coordinate, QTM will convert
between the input coordinate and the other four coordinate systems (e.g., if you input an MGRS
coordinate, the UTM, Decimal Degree, Degrees-Minutes, and Degrees-Minutes-Seconds will be
automatically and simultaneously updated). See notes below.
UTM: Input both the northing and easting coordinates. Use the pulldown menus to select the
zone.
MGRS: Input a single MGRS coordinate. Please use as much precision as possible (e.g., 18S TH
93523 24676 - 10-digit grid coordinates). If using coordinates with lower precision, please be
sure to include the spaces when inputting the coordinate (e.g., 18S TH 935 246) or pad the
number with zeroes (e.g., 18S TH 93500 24600). Note that if less precision is used, QT Modeler
is still interpreting the input coordinate as a single point with 10-digit precision, rather than a
grid square (i.e., a point rather than an area) and will return relevant data as such. Future
releases will have the ability to search an area, but this release (v7.0.3) is searching on a point
with no buffer area around it.
Geodetic/Geographic: Input a coordinate in one of the three formats available - Decimal Degree,
Degrees-Decimal Minutes, and Degrees-Minutes-Seconds.
Cartesian/Unregistered/State Plane: Check the "Unregistered" check box. Input the X and Y
coordinates. The other coordinate systems will be grayed out.
4. Click "Find Models". The search time will depend on how many files and subdirectories QTM needs to
search, but should be measured in seconds. Searches for remotely connected storage will take longer
than local storage.
5. QTM will display a list of the files that match your search criteria. The list will potentially consist of
QTT, QTC, QTA, LAS, DTED, GeoTIFF DEM, and/or shape files.
6. Highlight a file or files on the results list. Click "Load Models"
7. Click "Load Search Point as Marker" to create a marker that quickly identifies the exact location of the
search coordinate one the model(s) is loaded.
8. Export to KML: Highlight the models of interest in the Search Results window, then click "Export to
KML". Save the KML vector outlines of model extents.
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6. QTM will display a list of the files that match your search criteria. The list will potentially consist of
QTT, QTC, QTA, LAS, DTED, GeoTIFF DEM, and/or shape files.
7. Highlight a file or files on the results list. Click "Load Models"
9. Export to KML: Highlight the models of interest in the Search Results window, then click "Export to
KML". Save the KML vector outlines of model extents.
CAUTION: If you have created or modified a model and wish to save it, be sure to save it before you clear it.
If you accidentally clear a newly created model without saving it, you will need to reconstruct it from the
raw data.
CAUTION: If you have created or modified a model and wish to save it, be sure to save it before you clear it.
If you accidentally clear a newly created model without saving it, you will need to reconstruct it from the
raw data.
The user must open Quick Terrain Modeler and create the script by adding actions to a list. The list is then
saved, and then run against a set of data files. The script can be run from Quick Terrain Modeler, or can be
run from a command line interface external to QTM. The following "Actions" are available:
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To add one of these actions to the script, select it from the pull-down window and click the "Add Action"
button. Please note the following Action-specific instructions
Import Model Data: (Related Topics: Import Model Data, Importing LAS, Importing ASCII)
1) Choose the appropriate input and export formats. Leave "Batch Import" unchecked. Select "Allow
42 Quick Terrain Modeler User's Manual
Save Model:
Save model simply saves the model as it was created (i.e., as specified in the "Import Model Data" Model
Format), either a QTT gridded surface model or a QTC point cloud. At this time, the model name will be the
original data file name with an extension of QTT or QTC, depending on the import model type chosen. For
example, models generated from the LAS file smithcounty_101.las get saved as smithcounty_101.qtt and/or
smithcounty_101.qtc.
Perform Script:
Perform Script opens the Windows file selection dialog. Simply choose the desired files and the script will
immediately begin running.
Apply to List:
This method points the script to a text file containing file names to be processed. The file names in the text
file must include the entire path.
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Menu - File 43
In the qtvlog.txt file, there are some useful comments indicating progress of the scripts as they perform
their functions. At this time (i.e., during the beta testing period), the activity of the batch script is
documented as "QT Error 0". This does not actually indicate an error, it is simply documenting a step in the
process to assist in diagnosis of progress and any problems that may occur along the way.
If scripts are not executing properly, it will be helpful to examine the log file and determine where the
process is breaking down. Providing this log file to Applied Imagery (support@appliedimagery.com) will be
helpful in diagnosis.
The philosophy behind creating scripts in this manner, while a bit "old school", is to create a universally
understood and writable format that is easily accessed, read, written, and replicated.
4.14 Options/Settings
Pseudo DTED's (DTC), if converted to UTM, will need to be regridded to fit the QTT (i.e., 32-bit elevation
value) format. Therefore, loading will take longer.
Allow Compressed Models: Setting this option will cause Quick Terrain Modeler to compress models
both in situations where the user has explicitly enabled compression (e.g., model import from raw
ASCII text or LAS data) and where the user has not explicitly enabled compression (e.g., loading
GeoTIFF DEM's or DTED's). Checking this box will ensure that all QTT and QTC models. Compressing
models will make the file sizes smaller, thus enabling more points or vertices to be loaded at a given
time. The engineering cost of compression could be a loss of precision, depending on the geographic
extents of the model. See Compress Models topic.
Disable Surface Normals: Choosing this setting disables the creation of surface normals. Surface
normals are vectors that represent an orientation (azimuth and elevation) for each vertex. While
Quick Terrain Modeler users never actually "see" surface normals, they can see the effect of having the
normals present. Appropriate shading of a rendered surface relies upon the calculation of a surface
normal (i.e., knowing what should be in full light and what should be in shadow, and all the gradations
in between). The advantage of calculating surface normals in advance is rendering speed and image
quality. The disadvantage is the memory consumed in storing the surface normals. Note: while
surface normals impact the rendering and visualization of a model, they do not impact the
mathematical composition of the model. Therefore, from a measurement and engineering calculation
perspective, surface normals are not required and their absence will not impact analytical results.
The Memory Management Options window will also calculate the impact to a variety of model types - QTC
and QTT, both with and without vertex colors (e.g., intensity is a vertex color). Compressing models and
removing surface normals can have a dramatic impact on file size, hence maximum model size permitted in
a given fixed memory space.
4.14.8 Go Fullscreen
Toggles to/from Fullscreen and Window Mode.
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Menu - File 45
LAS data files can either be opened or imported. There are advantages to each. Opening is a single step
process that can even be achieved by dragging and dropping an LAS file into QTM. It is faster than
"importing" and will always result in the display of a point cloud. Importing an LAS file opens up a wide
variety of options for filtering, gridding, surface creation etc. that are not available to just opening a file.
The purpose the the default LAS Options interface is to define the desired behavior when simply opening or
dragging/dropping a file into QTM. The possible choices are:
1. Import Intensity: Choose to color the resulting point cloud a grayscale value based on the intensity
value associated with each point
2. Import RGB: Choose to color the resulting point cloud a Red/Green/Blue value based on the RGB
value associated with each point in the original LAS file. The original file must contain RGB values in
the point data record for this option to have any effect.
3. Filter by classification: Only import specific classifications as a subset of the original LAS file.
4. Filter by desired return: Only import a specific return number as a subset of the original LAS file.
5. Trust LAS Header Extents: Speeds file opening by assuming the header accurately represents data
extents, thus eliminating the need for QT Modeler to verify prior to loading the data. Since verification
requires a pass through the file on a point by point basis, this step can be unnecessarily time
consuming.
Setting the QT Modeler display units will impact what units distances and elevations are displayed in user
interfaces, on the measurement line readout, and in the status bar. The "Global Default" simply uses the
units of the original 3D data in all displays. For example, if LiDAR data is collected and distributed in meters,
the Global Default will display distances and elevations in meters. Setting display units to US Survey feet
will override the default units and display distances and elevations in feet instead. Conversely, data
collected and distributed in feet can have measurements in meters. Note that setting display units does not
convert the original data to a new measurement unit, it simply impacts the display during the QT Modeler
session.
It is useful to navigate quickly to this folder for troubleshooting purposes. If you are having trouble and
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require support from Applied Imagery, it is frequently useful for Applied Imagery's support team to see your
QTVLog.txt file, as well as your INI files.
The default path for the temp directory is in your PC's default Windows temp directory location. Typically,
this will look something like this:
QT Modeler will clean up the temp directory after closing out of models ("Clear All Models") as well as
during the shut-down process. QT Modeler-created temp directories will begin with the text string "TMP
followed by 4 hexadecimal numbers. See image below.
The purpose of this tool is to easily set the file types for which QT Modeler is the default program. Simply
check the desired boxes and click "Apply".
4.15 Exit
The Exit command closes the Quick Terrain Modeler. Please make sure all models are saved prior to exiting.
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Quick Terrain Modeler
Version 8
Part
V
50 Quick Terrain Modeler User's Manual
5 Menu - Edit
5.2.1 Select
Edit > Select
Pressing the Select button places the user in "Select" mode which enables the user to select an area to keep
or an area to cut. Pressing the button again exits the user from Select mode. This can also be done by
choosing Select from the Edit menu.
To select an area, left-click and drag in the main viewing window to select a region of the model. The
selected region will be highlighted. Right clicking and dragging will allow the user to rotate this box to a
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desired orientation. Users may temporarily suspend mouse controls for selecting an area by holding down
the "ALT" key, moving the model, then releasing the "ALT" key to resume selecting the area.
Regions may also be selected numerically by choosing "Select Area…" from the Edit menu.
Note: Once the area is selected, the user can interrogate the Quick Terrain Modeler for the area statistics,
use the area as the basis for area smoothing or flattening, or can export the selection area as a shapefile.
Z Select: This is a user defined polygon selected down the Z axis. This is useful for ensuring that ALL
points get selected in a given XY (i.e., horizontal) region. The Z select polygon will extend from the highest to
the lowest elevations in the model, thus ensuring all points in a given area are selected.
Window Select:Window Select places a selection polygon down the viewing axis. This enables more
precise selection of groups of points by tilting a model to a more horizontal view and selecting points. See
example below.
Selecting a tree in a point cloud by two methods: Z Select and Window Select:
Instructions: Select "Import Selection from Shapefile" from the Edit menu. Select the appropriate shape
file. The "Shapefile Importer" window will appear. Important: It is essential that an accurate coordinate
system is attached to the shapefile. This information does not exist in the shapefile itself, so without it, the
Quick Terrain Modeler will be unable to determine where to place the shapefile. If the model is UTM, please
make sure to specify UTM as the coordinate system as well as the correct zone. After specifying this
information, Click OK.
The selection area will appear immediately. Use this selection area for any editing or analysis functions as
you would during normal Quick Terrain Modeler operation. Functions that will work with an imported
shape file include Area Statistics, Volume Calculation, Cutting, Cropping, Flattening and Smoothing.
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Menu - Edit 53
Instructions: Draw a selection area using Quick Terrain Modeler's tools. Select "Save Selection as
Shapefile" from the Analysis menu. Designate a file name. Click the Save button. The shapefile can
now be imported into any application that can read shapefiles.
Note: The selection area will be saved as a 2-D shapefile. Therefore, it will have no inherent elevation
value. In many cases, 2-D shapefiles are sufficient to represent a selected area in GIS applications.
The Quick Terrain Modeler only needs a 2-D shapefile to define a selection area. If you require a 3-D
shape file around a selected area, there are two solutions:
1. Loosely sampled perimeter: If loose sampling is acceptable, create a mensuration line around
the selected area, then save the mensuration line as a shapefile. The saved shapefile will be 3-
D, but it will have a sampling equal to the number of vertices you select in the mensuration
line. For example, if you assemble a selection area from ten line segment, the 3-D shapefile
will also have ten 3-D segments.
2. Tightly sampled perimeter: If tight sampling around the perimeter is required, use the Select
or Select Area tools to select an area. Crop to the area. Now use the Generate Outline toll in
the Analysis menu to generate a 3-D shapefile outline of the selected area perimeter. Export
the model as a shapefile.
To import the shapefile back into a model, use the Import Selection from Shapefile function.
Note: All of these functions apply only to the visible models. I.e., if there are models that are hidden in the
show/hide models process, the functions will not apply to them.
Set Alpha: Use this to reset alpha values. This may be useful when using alpha filtering to show/hide
subsets of the data. Values must be between 0 and 255 (i.e, an 8-bit field).
Set Color: Setting color resets the vertex colors in a point cloud or a surface model. This may be useful to
color specific areas of the model or to modify raster analysis results display. For example, after
performing HLZ analysis, a user may want to remove the coloration.
Cut: Cuts all points within selection area.
Crop: Cuts all points except those contained in the selection area.
Decimate: Removes every nth point from the selection area.
Export Area: Export the selection rectangle or selection polygon as a vector file (SHP, KML, etc.)
Export Points: Exports all points within the selection area as LAS, ASCII, or Binary.
5.4.2 Cut
The cut function removes the selected area from the model. Prior to cutting, a user must select an area in
one of the following ways:
Cutting will only apply to the visible model. If multiple models are loaded, but only one is visible, the cut
function can be applied to all models by holding down the "CTRL" key while cutting.
Note: The "Undo" function will only undo one cut or crop option.
5.4.3 Crop
The Crop function removes every part of the model except the selected area. Prior to cropping, a user
must select an area in one of the following ways:
Cropping will only apply to the visible model. If multiple models are loaded, but only one is visible, the crop
function can be applied to all models by holding down the "CTRL" key while cropping.
Note: The "Undo" function will only undo one cut or crop option.
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Notes:
Smooth area only works on surface models (.qtt files).
Once the area is "smoothed", the process can not be reversed.
Selection areas can be imported as shapefiles. Therefore, desired areas can be identified in GIS
applications.
Try to avoid including trees or other jagged surface elements in the selection polygon boundary.
These elevation anomalies may contribute to an irregular surface being created.
Save model after smoothing. If the model is not saved, the changes will be lost.
The two figures below illustrate selecting an area for smoothing. The first figure shows the house with a
selection polygon around it. The second figure shows the result of the area smoothing. The house has been
replaced by a smooth terrain surface.
Instructions: Draw a selection polygon around an area that requires flattening. Choose "Flatten Area" from
the Edit menu. When the "Desired Area Height" window appears, enter the elevation height required for the
surface. Quick Terrain Modeler will create a flat surface based on the elevation specified. Note: Any
elevation can be specified to either flatten a terrain or to simulate a new structure in the terrain.
In the example below, the goal is to remove the building and vehicles from the Grass Lake model and flatten
the DEM to an elevation of the surface of the surrounding terrain. First, use a selection polygon to select
the building and area around it. Use the Flatten Area command in the Edit Menu. Specify an elevation value
for the resultant surface (302.5m). Click OK. The result of the area smoothing operation is a DEM with the
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Artificial structures can be created by selecting elevations higher than the surrounding terrain. In the
example below, an elevation of 320m is used to create a building in the same footprint as the selection area
above.
1. Select an area of interest, either because you want to temporarily isolate that area (i.e., temporary crop)
or you want to temporarily hide that area. (temporary cut). Any selection area tool can be used for this
operation.
3. A crop filter will appear in the textures section of the layer tree. This can be checked and unchecked to
show/hide the rest of the points.
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To Convert Models:
Helpful hints:
It may be useful to build a point cloud to see the original data as collected, then use Convert Models to
change the point cloud into a gridded surface model. Furthermore, users may outline a specific area of
a point cloud with the selection tools, then convert only that area to a surface model. If the user
builds a QTT gridded surface model first, please note that Quick Terrain Modeler will not convert the
model to a point cloud of the original data, but rather to a point cloud of the gridded data.
When converting coordinates, any coordinate system can be converted to UTM or Geodetic (lat/long).
If using any other coordinate system than UTM or geodetic, select "No Change" to preserve
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Open all desired models with overlapping terrain. Simply use the "Open New Model" and/or "Add
Model" commands or buttons.
Go to the "Models" menu and select "Match Model Altitudes". A "Select Models" window will
appear.
Select the models that are misaligned in altitude. If all loaded models need to be aligned, click the
"Select All" button.
Checking the "Match to Reference Model" button forces one of the models to stay fixed in altitude.
You can choose the model that stays fixed in altitude by selecting it from the pulldown menu. If the
user chooses "Auto Select", the stationary model will be the one the is most likely to be correct (i.e.,
the model that is "in the middle" if some models are "high" and some are "low"). Unchecking this box
will allow Quick Terrain Modeler to move all of the models in altitude. Any adjustments that are
made to the models will be reflected in the QT Match Report.
Checking the "Don't Match High Variance Regions" check box will cause the Quick Terrain Modeler to
ignore high variance regions that may artificially alter the altitude synchronization calculation.
Users may select a sampling ratio that can speed the alignment process at the cost of accuracy. Use a
higher sampling ratio (from the pulldown menu) to speed the calculation.
Click "OK"
After alignment is completed, you will be prompted to save the "Match Report" file. This file records
the calculated corrections, which model was used as a baseline, and how much each model was
shifted in altitude. Please name the file and place it in the appropriate directory.
Alignment can be performed on QTT or QTC models.
IMPORTANT: If you want the altitude correction to be permanent, you must save each model with
the corrected altitude.
Note: If there is no significant statistical difference in the overlap areas, the Quick Terrain Modeler will make
no modification to the altitude of either model. This will be noted in the Match Report.
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The numerical values in the "Altitude Matching" section are the calculated differences between the
pairs of models.
The numerical values in the "Calculated Corrections" are the corrections to move all Models to the
calculated "median level"
The "selected baseline" is the model selected as closest to the median.
The numerical values in the "Applied Corrections" section are the values added to all z values in each
model to match it to the baseline.
Note: The Merge Models Function is not available on the Quick Terrain Modeler Education Edition.
Why: Users frequently have models (e.g., .qtt surface models, .qtc point clouds, DTED's, GeoTIFF's) that are
of varying resolutions, varying overlaps, tiled to various smaller sizes, etc. that need to be merged into a
single coherent model. The merged model can then be enhanced, edited, exported and distributed as
needed.
Instructions:
Open/Add desired models.
From the "Models" menu select "Merge Models".
The "Select Models" Window will appear (See Fig 15).
Select the desired models to merge. Simply "Select All" if you need to merge all loaded models.
Select your desired "Density Cutoff". This value is preset at 2. The Density Cutoff establishes a
data density threshold above which data will be ignored. For example assume Model X has a data
density of one point every 1 meter and Model Y has a density of one point every 4 meters. If the
Density Cutoff is set to 2, the Quick Terrain Modeler will ignore Model Y's data in any overlap
areas (i.e., Quick Terrain Modeler will utilize the high density data and discard the low density
data.) If the Density Cutoff is set to 4, Quick Terrain Modeler will use both sets of data. It is
important to note the principles:
Data Densities Identical: If the densities of the two models are the same, both sets of data
will be used to merge the models.
Data Density Variance Relatively Small: If the densities of the two models being compared
are different but within the user-specified Density Cutoff (i.e., one density is less than X times
the other density, where X is the Density Cutoff), both sets of data will be used to merge the
models.
Data Density Variance Beyond User-defined Tolerance: If the difference in densities of the
two models being compared is greater than the user-specified Density Cutoff (i.e., one
density is greater than X times the other density, where X is the Density Cutoff), only the high
density data will be used to merge the models.
Select type of output model desired. This is either a .qtt surface model or a .qtc point cloud.
Select whether to color by density. This is the same functionality as the normal Data Density
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Analysis tool.
Choose whether to allow a rotated grid. This is only applicable for .qtt surface models. Allowing
a rotated grid creates the smallest possible model size and is therefore recommended.
Unchecking the box will force the grid to be aligned North-South, therefore not minimizing the size
of the grid/model.
The Quick Terrain Modeler will suggest a grid spacing based on model information. If you require
a specific grid spacing, enter it in the grid spacing window.
Choose Decimation/Crop and Filter options as appropriate.
Click "Merge".
No Access to Original Point Data: Users may not have access to the original point data that created a
DEM, so the Import process and configuration tools are not available. Repair DEM is a tool to use on
an existing surface and does not require, nor does it permit, access to the original source point data
file.
Hole Fill: Some surface models may have "holes" - areas of null data values - that may not be
desirable. DEM repair offers several choices to fill holes.
Spike Removal: Some surface models may contain "spike" - areas of abnormal or erroneous data that
need to be removed.
Quick revision of imported surface model: Even if the user has access to the original source data file, a
quick revision of an existing surface model may be all that is necessary. Avoiding the entire importing
process could save time.
1. Load an existing surface model such as a QTT, GeoTIFF DEM, or DTED file.
2. Go to the Edit Menu and select "Repair DEM" from the menu.
3. Choose options to fill holes and remove spikes. These choices are explained fully in the Gridding and
Triangulation Section.
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To subtract models:
The same model with the bare earth model subtracted. Note that all elevations are now measured in AGL
space (i.e., terrain is flattened around an elevation of zero):
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1. Build/load model (s). Georegistration will work on gridded surface models (QTT) as well as
ungridded point clouds (QTC). The georegistration transformation will be applied equally to all
loaded models. For example, if a terrestrial laser scanner exports four scans, and all four scans are
loaded together as point clouds, Quick Terrain Modeler will transform all four point clouds during
the georegistration process, regardless of where the registration points are placed.
2. Click Import on the Georegister Models window. The Import ASCII Registration Points window will
appear.
3. Load the reference points input file. The input file should be a user-created list of ground truthing
points that easily correspond visually to reference points in the loaded model. At a minimum, the
input file must be in an ASCII columnar format and contain a column for XYZ (Easting, Northing,
Altitude) locations. The Import ASCII Registration Points window can adapt to a variety of formats.
Once selected, a sample of the input file text can be previewed in the "Sample Text from File"
window.
4. Configure the format for the input file. Specify the appropriate coordinate system. If the data is
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not in UTM or Lat/Long, choose Cartesian. Specify the number of header rows (if any). Specify the
column numbers for Point ID, X (Easting), Y (Northing), Z (Altitude). Specify a delimiter (e.g.,
comma) if necessary. Click "OK". The Registration points will appear in the left "Unmatched
Points" column of the Georegister Models window.
5. If the model is completely unregistered and/or not even close to the target coordinate system (e.g.,
3-D laser scanned data in project coordinate space), the user must press the "Prepare Unregistered
Model"button. This will move the model roughly into the coordinate space, allowing for an easier
registration process. This is a mandatory step for unregistered models.
6. Helpful Hint: If you are matching georegistration points to the known origin points of terrestrial
(e.g., ILRIS) scans that have been aligned in the scan alignment tool, be sure to turn on the display
feature "Show Model Origins" in the Display...Options menu. THis will highlight the origin points in
yellow, making the identification of the origins much easier.
7. Click on a point and highlight it in the "Unmatched Points" column. Move to the loaded model(s) in
the model space. Select a corresponding point in the loaded model(s) by holding down the "SHIFT"
key and moving the cursor in the model space. A cross hair and a red square will move from point
to point as the cursor is moved. When the cursor is over the correct point, left click on the mouse.
Once the corresponding point has been identified, the point will move from the "Unmatched
Points" to the "Matched Points" column. The point will also turn blue in the model.
8. If the user selects the wrong point accidentally, the point can be reselected. Simply highlight the
point in the "Matched Points" column, then repeat Step 6.
9. Repeat Step 6 for all points, or at least a sufficient number of points to calculate registration (4
points minimum).
10.Press "Calculate Registration" to determine the required adjustments in X, Y, Z, Roll, Pitch, Heading.
Tis function will also calculate the RMS error of the transformation. If the error is acceptable,
proceed to step 10. If the error is not acceptable, the user must attempt to re-match points. The
user may choose to start from scratch by clicking the "Unmatch All" button and repeating step 6.
11. To apply the registration to the model, the user has two choices. Only one is necessary. Do not
attempt to apply both, as the transformation will be applied twice.:
Apply to Models (2D): If the model(s) are in roughly the correct coordinate system and are
not skewed in pitch and roll (e.g., airborne LiDAR data), press "Apply to Models (2D)" to
apply only the X, Y, Z, and Heading transformation. This method is faster.
Apply to Models (Full): If the model(s) were originally unregistered data (e.g., terrestrial
laser-scanned data such as Optech ILRIS), press "Apply to Models (Full)" to apply the full
transformation: X, Y, Z, Roll, Pitch, and Heading.
Save Models.
The "Georegister Models" Window (left) and the "Import ASCII Registration Points" Window (right). Note all
points are unmatched.
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The "Georegister Models" Window (left) showing a single point, "Crane" matched. The "Georegister
Models" window (right) showing 4 corresponding matched registration points.
This window can also be used to reset the "No Data" value in the model.
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and memory consumption. removing surface normals will increase the size of a QTT surface model with nor
vertex colors by approximately 120%. Please note that surface normals can be removed and added as the
user see fit. See also Smooth Normals.
Quick Terrain Modeler
Version 8
Part
VI
Menu - Import 67
6 Menu - Import
QTT Gridded Surface Model: This type of model, often called a DEM (Digital Elevation Model), is a
triangulated, regularly gridded surface representation of the original data. (See QTT details)
QTC Point Cloud Model: QTC models are point-cloud models that simply represent each XYZ point as a
graphical point. The primary advantage of QTC models over QTT models (which can also be displayed in
point-cloud form) is that QTT models encapsulate evenly gridded data, while QTC models can display
arbitrarily dispersed 3-D data. (See QTC Details)
QTA Attribute Table: QTA Attribute tables enable the use and exploitation of per-point attributes that
may be available in an LAS, ASCII Text, or other type of source data files. A QTA file is simply an index and
attribute table for the original source data file that enables Quick Terrain Modeler to work with the per-
point attributes. (See QTA Details)
1. Serves as an index and "translator" between a QTC point cloud model and the original source data. It
enables QTM to look up all per-point attributes (e.g., an LAS point data record), display them, analyze
them, and filter/edit by point attribute values.
2. Enables user-defined custom coloration of point cloud data based on per-point attribute values (e.g.,
return number, classification, scan angle).
3. Enables temporary and permanent filtering based on per-point attribute values (e.g., delete all points
where classification = 5).
4. Enables assignment of per-point attribute values into the Z-axis (e.g., 3-dimensional view of scan angle)
and/or the point Red, Green, Blue, and Alpha Channels, thus creating thematic 3D representations of data
characteristics, rather than "real world" replication of reality.
5. Gives users access to point attributes to be used as the basis for statistical analysis in the Grid Statistics
Tool.
6. Enables creation of attribute-specific point cloud histograms (e.g., show histogram of return number,
classification, etc.)
7. Establishes a framework for user-defined, per-point attributes that may not be supported in a given file
format or standard (e.g., LAS), but the user wishes to add (e.g., AGL heights of points).
8. Enables the new "Proxy Mode", which allows analysis and exploitation of unlimited sized models, but
viewing of only a subset of the points. The QTA serves as an intermediary file between what is in the
source data file and what is being displayed in the QTC point cloud. Proxy mode enables working with
point clouds too large to fit in memory.
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1) Proxy mode will only work with a QTA import. QTT gridded surface models and "normal" (i.e., non-QTA)
QTC point clouds can not access the original data in proxy mode.
2) Proxy mode is designed to overcome memory limitations. It is an excellent tool if a given data set will
not fit in available memory, but is not necessary if models will fit in memory.
3) Proxy Mode decimates a model by 10 as a default. This means that every 10th point of the data set will
be displayed, although all points will be available for analytical purposes. To adjust the decimation level,
go to the decimation/crop options of the import interface and set the decimation level to another
number. The proxy mode decimation level will be designated in the model information window as shown
below.
4) When in proxy mode, analysis tools such as grid statistics will be performed on all points in the data set,
not just what is visible.
5) When taking profiles of point clouds in proxy mode, the user will have the option to generate a "Scatter
Plot" of either the visible points "From Model", or the entire data set "From QTA Data". There will be a
significant difference in the scatter plot profile as shown below.
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Scatter plot "From Model" (i.e., the loaded and visible points):
Scatter plot "From QTA Data" of the same profile and data set (i.e., all points in the original data file). Note
the increased density of points:
Select Import Models from the Models Menu. The Import Models window will appear.
Select the appropriate input file format. The choices are:
FLT (Binary Float Height Field)
DTED
ASCII XYZ
ASCII Z Grid (ESRI's gridded format generated from gridascii command)
GeoTIFF DEM
FXYZ (Binary)
LAS (also see LAS Quick Open) Version 1.1 and 1.2
TIFF
USGS DEM
Optech Comprehensive
Optech CSD
Optech IXF
Select whether to build a QTT Gridded Surface Model, QTC Point Cloud, or QTA (Point Cloud with
Attribute Table).
Select whether to batch import the selected file (s)
Select whether to compress models or not. Compressing models only applies to QTC (Point Cloud)
models. Please refer to the section on compressing models.
Select whether to access data in Proxy Mode
Click Import.
Select your raw data file from the file selection window. If it does not appear, it may be because the file
extension is not recognized. If this is the case, choose "All Files" in the file type window. NOTE: The
Quick Terrain Modeler will build models from multiple data sets at the same time. If you wish to use
multiple data sets, select them all during this step.
Click Open
An appropriate Import window will pop up for your specified source data file. This window will display
various attributes about your file and about the model you are creating.
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Instructions: When importing models, simply check the box labeled "Batch Import?", then import as
normal. The Quick Terrain Modeler will automatically create models in the same directory as the source
data files. The models will be named identically to the source data, but will have a .qtt or .qtc extension.
Important Note: Model Format Precision is not the accuracy of the model data. Model accuracy is
dependent solely upon the accuracy of original survey data, and will be minimally impacted by
compressing model data. Do not use "Model Format Precision" as an accuracy basis for making critical
spatial decisions (e.g., targeting, flight planning, etc.).
Process as a group: Selecting this button will allow the user build a single model out of multiple data
sets. This is an excellent way to build a single, seamless model out of multiple tiled data sets.
Process Individually: Selecting this button will allow the user to build and save multiple individual
models from multiple individual data sets. Note: the resulting models must all be saved individually.
in between as well. Therefore, there would be thousands of miles of empty space in the model. In a
surface model, this would occupy enormous amounts of memory and would probably result in a
failure to load.
Many users have requested a tool that would tell them where data is either exceptionally dense or
exceptionally sparse. Steep hillsides frequently have sparse point spacing, even if average point spacing is
acceptable. Flight line overlaps have data that can be exceptionally dense. Users need to know when to
"trust" the data and when further investigation or analysis is required. Note that low density over water is
normal as water absorbs LiDAR energy.
How (NOTE: This tool only works when importing to a .qtt surface model):
Import a model by selecting "Import Model" from the Models menu.
Select your data file type and choose QTT Gridded Surface as the model type.
Click "Import" and select the data file you want to analyze.
Use the import tool in the normal fashion.
Note: Density will be defined in relation to your selected grid spacing. Make sure your grid spacing
reflects a data density you are "testing" for.
Check the "Color by Density" option.
IMPORTANT: Do not check the "Import Intensity" box. The Quick Terrain Modeler can only display
one "color" on a surface model. This color can either be the data density or the intensity. If both are
checked, only intensity will be displayed on the new surface model.
Click "OK"
The Quick Terrain Modeler will build a surface model colored by data density.
The results:
The definition of "density" is based upon the grid spacing you select.
"Dense" data will be colored green. Dense is defined as a data point with an adjacent point equal to or
less than your selected grid spacing. For example, in a 1-meter grid, dense data will be defined as any
data point with a "neighbor" data point less than one meter away. These places in the terrain will be
colored green.
"Sparse" data will be colored red. Sparse is defined as a data point with the closest adjacent point
greater than four times your selected grid spacing. For example, in a 1-meter grid, sparse data will be
defined as any data point with a closest "neighbor" data point greater than four meters away. This
definition is hard coded into the Quick Terrain Modeler, so users can not define sparse. Sparse places
in the terrain will be colored red.
Data that is neither sparse nor dense will be colored varying gradations of color from green to red.
Example:
The user needs to know the data density of a survey in order to investigate areas where coverage was
exceptionally sparse. The user defines "sparse" relative to a one meter grid (i.e., sparse data will have its
closest neighbor point more than four meters away. The user sets grid spacing at 1 meter, makes sure
intensity is not selected, and imports the data. The result is shown below. Note the sparse data areas in the
lower left and upper right corners. The user may conclude that, for the area around the dam itself, the data
is sufficiently dense.
Selecting the "Color By Density" Option and Result of the Serpent Mound Data Density Analysis Showing
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same visual resolution with a much larger model size (i.e., unnecessary memory consumption). For
example, data collected with 1 meter posting will not look appreciably better by using a grid sampling
of .25 meters. Forcing the grid into such tight spacing will, however, make the surface model 16 times
as large. So the user that attempts this will have an enormous file, but still will not achieve a "super
high resolution" effect.
3. There is something to be gained by making the grid "sparser". For example, if data was collected over
a vast area at 1 meter posting, the file size would be enormous - too big to build and load, perhaps. By
building a model with 4 meter grid sampling, the user may be able to visualize the entire data set -
albeit at a lower resolution - because the resulting model is only 1/16 (6%) the size of the same data
set at 1 meter grid sampling. The user may then choose to re-import data in specific sections at 1
meter grid sampling.
4. Engineering tradeoff: Smaller grid spacing results in higher resolution models, but larger models. A
model that contains 20 million points (vertices) at 2 meter grid sampling will contain 80 million points
at 1 meter sampling. Each halving of the point spacing results in a quadrupling of the points. Memory
usage is directly proportional to number of points.
5. Be mindful of units. If the raw data set is in meters, make sure to specify grid spacing in meters. If the
raw data set is in feet, make sure the grid sampling is in feet.
Decimation/Crop Options. Both of these options are accessed by clicking the Decimation/Crop Options
button. The user can utilize both of these features at once. Only one of these options will reduce the
size of the final surface model.
Decimation Level: The decimation level does nothing to minimize the size of a surface model. Surface
model size will be entirely determined by the grid sampling and the geographic extents of the model.
Crop to a Defined Area: Crop to defined area works exactly as above for a surface model.
It is usually best to allow the grid to be rotated. The Quick Terrain Modeler can significantly minimize the
final model size (and therefore memory usage) by rotating the grid to the optimum orientation. Some
external applications may require that the grid be oriented north-south. If the user wishes to export the
gridded data to an application that requires north-south orientation, simply uncheck the box.
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Terrain Modeler samples every 10th point, etc. Decimation is irrelevant when creating gridded
surface models. See FAQ: Why should I decimate a file?
2. Crop to a Defined Area: If the user knows is only interested in a subset of the overall survey, he/
she may define that smaller section in this window. This can be done in a number of ways:
Manually insert the extents of the area in the windows provided. Important: make sure to
select the extents by checking the boxes "Crop to defined Area" as well as the boxes for the
extents of your subset area. Most subsets will only require checking the boxes next to "Min X
- Max X" and "Min Y - Max Y". If the user further wishes to crop by altitude (Z) or Intensity (I),
check those as well, but they are not necessary.
Automatically insert the extents of the area based on an existing mensuration. Use this
method if you have a mensuration line in a model that represent the area you would like to
import. Click the "Copy From Mensuration" button to automatically populate the values from
the area you have just measured. Note: The Quick Terrain Modeler will simply import a
rectangle based on the min/max X and Y of your existing mensuration line.
Automatically insert the extents of the area based on a selection. Use this method if you have
used the Select or Select Polygon to define the area to import. Note: The Quick Terrain
Modeler will simply import a rectangle based on the min/max X and Y of your selected area. If
you have an irregular area defined, it will be imported as a rectangle.
Automatically insert the extents of the area based on an external shape file. Use this method
if you have an external shape file that defines the desired boundary of the imported area. The
user will need to specify the coordinate system and UTM zone (if working in UTM) for the
shape file. Note: The Quick Terrain Modeler will simply import a rectangle based on the min/
max X and Y of your shape file. If you have an irregular area defined, it will be imported as a
rectangle. If you wish to cut or crop to the irregular area later, please import the shape file as
a selection area.
Important: make sure to select the extents by checking the boxes "Crop to defined Area" as well as the
boxes for the extents of your subset area. Most subsets will only require checking the boxes next to "Min X
- Max X" and "Min Y - Max Y". If the user further wishes to crop by altitude (Z) or Intensity (I), check those as
well, but they are not necessary.
The Decimation/Crop Options Window and the Shape File Importer Window:
DEM - Digital Elevation Model (Bare Earth Surface): Adaptive Triangulation, Mean Z, Apply
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1. Mathematically create a grid of user-specified spacing. This spacing is the "Grid Sampling" specified in
the gridding options section of the import window. Ultimately, this becomes the grid framework for the
3D raster surface model (DEM, DSM, DTM, etc.).
2. Evaluate the points within each of the grid cells to determine the elevation value that should be used
for each raster or vertex. There are four possible choices:
Min Z: QT Modeler will choose the lowest point in each grid cell to represent the elevation in that
cell. This may be useful to approximate a ground surface or to eliminate spikes caused by
vegetation.
Max Z: QT Modeler will choose the highest point in each grid cell to represent the elevation in that
cell. This might be useful to ensure that vertical obstructions and/or vegetation are accurately
represented.
Mean Z: QT Modeler will average all elevation values in each grid cell to represent the elevation in
that cell. This is perhaps the most useful all-around methodology, as it is less susceptible to spikes
and noise, but should accurately represent buildings and vegetation.
Max I: QT Modeler will choose the point with the maximum intensity value in each grid cell to
represent the elevation in that cell.
3. In grid cells that have no points whatsoever, the user must decide what to do with the holes. In some
cases, it is best to leave them as null data values, thus accurately representing that no data existed in
the first place. In other cases, it is more desirable to fill the holes as intelligently as possible. It is best
to think of the first three "Hole Fill" methodologies as a continuum, as this is the sequence of the
process used by QT Modeler:
No Fill: Any grid cells with no data are assigned a value of "null" - i.e., no data exists.
Simple Interpolation: Interpolate an elevation value for an empty grid cell by evaluating the 8
neighboring cells. In the interpolation methodology, the empty grid cell must have a minimum of
five neighboring grid cells (out of a possible of 8 neighboring cells) with a valid elevation value (i.e.,
not an interpolated value) for interpolation to take place. If there are less than 5 valid neighbors,
the grid cell will remain empty. If there are 5 or more valid neighbors, QTM will average the
adjacent elevation values and assign the empty cell the average elevation value.
Adaptive Triangulation: Once the gridding and simple interpolation processes are complete,
adaptive triangulation continues the hole fill process by creating surfaces across the remaining
empty cells. Please note that triangulation will not impact grid cells that have been assigned an
elevation value in the previous two steps. Triangulation is simply a tool to fill empty areas that
simple interpolation was unsuitable for. Adaptive triangulation creates 3D triangles across empty
areas, then samples the elevation value of the triangle surface at each empty grid cell. This sample
value then becomes the elevation value for each empty cell.
Anti-Aliasing: Anti-aliasing attempts to increase the precision of the triangulation by subdividing
each grid cell into 16 equal segments and recording which segment contained the point that was
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used to represent the elevation value of the grid cell. When triangulation occurs, this increased
level of precision will enhance the accuracy of the triangles and the subsequent sampling that
occurs. The sub-grid is not retained after the QTT is created.
Smooth Interpolation: Checking "Smooth Interpolation" applied a Natural Neighbor smoothing
algorithm. Instead of a straight line on each triangle edge, the triangulated surfaces can form
graceful curves based on the elevation values of a given point's neighbors. Therefore, slopes and
building edges may be represented in a smoother, more natural fashion.
2) Select Algorithm:
a) Min Z: Use the lowest point in each grid cell.
b) Max Z: Use the highest point in each grid cell.
c) Mean Z: (DEFAULT) Use the mean elevation value of all the points in a grid cell.
d) Max I: Use the elevation value of the point with the maximum intensity value as the elevation value
for the grid cell.
3) Triangulation Options:
a) Max Distance to Real Point: In some LiDAR data sets, there are areas of very sparse data. This may
occur for a variety of reasons such as very steep terrain, surveys over water, or parts of the survey
being blocked from view of the laser (i.e., "laser shadow"). When the Quick Terrain Modeler builds a
surface model, it will simply attempt to draw the best surface from the existing data. If data is
sparse, this may result in extraordinarily large triangles in the surface model (See Example below). In
order to prevent this, the user may set a Max Distance to Real Point. This feature will limit the
length of an individual triangle side to the value input by the user. For example, if the user sets a
value to "5", the maximum triangle side length will be 5 meters (if working in UTM). This may result
in "holes" in the model. In some cases, holes may be preferable to false surfaces. (DEFAULT =
unchecked = minimum 10 times the user-specified grid sampling)
b) Max Length of a Triangle Side: The "Max Length of Triangle Side" value will ignore large triangles in
the triangulation process that exceed the user set value. (DEFAULT = unchecked = unspecified, but
at least 10 times the grid sampling)
c) Edge Threshold: Setting the edge threshold is a tool to help ensure that sides of buildings are truly
vertical, preserving sharp edges. It is particularly useful where there is laser "shadow" on one side of
a building. The number specifies the change in Z for a triangle, above which QT Modeler may
consider it an "edge", rather than a gentle change in slope. When using spike/well filtering, it is
useful to have this turned on, as it might assist in identifying a spike as a spike, rather than a gentler
slope. (DEFAULT = unchecked = no limit)
d) Helpful Hints:
If you get "holes" in your data and do not want them, increase the Max distance to real point and
max length of triangle side until holes get filled in.
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There is no direct correlation between the file size of the input file and the file size of the surface
model created from it/them. Final surface model file size only depends on the user selected grid
size and geographic extents of the final model. Input file size only depends on the number of
points.
Time/Speed Impacts: Most of the interim process during grid creation involve reading the original
file data. In order of speed, No Fill is the fastest, followed by Simple Interpolation, followed by
Adaptive Triangulation. Each of these processes is adding a new step to the same process. Legacy
triangulation is far slower than Adaptive Triangulation.
Memory Impacts: Most of the interim processes that impact memory consumption involve grid
creation and triangulation. Minimizing max triangle sides reduces memory consumption for
Adaptive Triangulation, but not for Legacy. Anti-aliasing, smoothing, and using Mean Z as the
algorithm each consume additional memory during model creation, but do not impact the size of
the final model.
Legacy triangulation methodologies are both slower and more memory consumptive than the
newer grid creation methodologies.
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Triangulation Examples: Without Maximum Excursion Set (Large Triangles) and with Maximum Distance
to Real Point set to 10 Meters (jagged model outline).
Radius: The distance, measured terms of in the user defined grid cell spacing (i.e., "bins"), that the
pre-filter will use to evaluate subsets of points. QTM will use a radius centered in each grid cell to
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compare every point to maximum Z (or Min Z) its neighbors within that radius. The numbers on
the radius are .5 (no filtering), .75, 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5, and 3- indicating the search radius as measured
in grid increments. The larger the radius, the higher the probability that points will be filtered out
- i.e., larger radius = smoother surface. Terminology note: a "bin" is simply a way to divide up
points based on a certain criteria for the purpose of statistical analysis. In the case of 3D LiDAR
points, the "bin" is the 2D user-defined grid cell.
Z Tolerance: How close to the max (or min) Z that is tolerable for a point to be considered in the
triangulation process within the radius that is set above. For example, if Z tolerance is set to 1
meter, any point that has a difference in Z greater than 1 meter from the highest point (or lowest
in the case of using the Min Z algorithm) will not be considered in the gridding/triangulation
process, thus permitting a smoother surface.
Spike/Well Removal
Spike/Well removal attempts to identify grid cells that may contain erroneous elevation data that the
user may not want reflected in the final surface. There are many causes of erroneous point data, but
the symptoms are usually similar - data that is considerably higher or lower than all of its neighboring
grid cells. QTM's approach to identifying these areas is to evaluate each and every grid cell to answer
the fundamental question - is this cell a spike or well? To answer this question, QTM will evaluate the
elevation of each grid cell relative to its 20 closest neighboring grid cells (i.e., two grid cells in each
direction except diagonally). The process is as follows:
QTM will evaluate the elevation of the 20 adjacent grid cells and count how many meet the criteria
for "Minimum Spike Level". Thus, the user must specify the difference in elevation that would
trigger the tool to classify a cell a spike.
QTM will tally the number of cells in the adjacent 20 cells in which the difference was less than the
"Minimum Spike Level" (i.e., relatively close in value).
QTM will designate a cell a "spike" if the criteria was met between one time (least aggressive) and
five or more times (most aggressive). It is helpful to think of this as follows: If there is only one
cell in the adjacent 20 cells that is less than the "minimum Spike Level", then that grid cell is most
likely a spike. Thus, interpolating a new elevation value in that circumstance is the "least
aggressive".
If the cell is designated a "spike", its elevation value will be reset using simple interpolation of its 8
neighboring grid cells.
Note: When spikes are negative, they are referred to as wells. Spikes and wells are treated the
same in this filter.
Tiling Settings
Position: The tiling settings for position attempt to guarantee the corner location of a QTT model. Rather
than letting QT Modeler decide where the grid corner origin should be based on the extents of the
original point data, users may prefer to "snap" to a specific grid increment or location. The choices are
as follows:
Auto: Quick Terrain Modeler will decide on the placement of the grid origin (i.e., corner). It may
or may not fall on a logical grid increment (e.g., an even 1 meter UTM grid corner)
Snap to Grid (Expand): This choice will "Snap" the created grid to the next higher grid increment
(relative to the grid sampling chosen) in both X and Y (Easting and Northing), but will choose to
increase the size of the grid to achieve the "snap". For example, a 2m QTT in UTM built with
"Snap to Grid (Expand)" will always choose a lower left corner on an even UTM 2m increment that
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starts slightly further south and west of the "natural" mathematically calculated origin as well as
an upper right corner that is further east and north than may "naturally" occur.
Snap to Grid (Contract): Similar to the (Expand) choice, but will snap to the lower left corner to
the north and east, and the upper right corner to the south and west, thus creating a smaller grid
than may have naturally occurred. Choosing Snap to Grid (Contract) may prevent null data values
along the edges of DEM's.
Specify Grid Tie Point: Specifying the grid tie point ensures that a model or series of models is
"locked down" to a designated origin. Specifying Grid Tie Point goes hand in hand with the
selection of the grid size, and will most likely be used when the tile size specified is uniform across
an entire data set. For example, specifying an origin of X = 1000 and Y = 1000, along with a fixed
Size Model of 1000m high and 1000m wide will ensure that all subsequent model edges will begin
and end precisely on a 1000m UTM corner. This will take the guesswork out of tile sizes and will
effectively "trim" the edges of DEM's to ensure perfect alignment with adjacent tiles.
Size: The tile size settings allow the user to choose specific resulting surface model sizes, or to let QT
Modeler choose an appropriate size based on the extents of the original point data. The choices are as
follows:
Auto: Quick Terrain Modeler will decide how big to make the model based on the extents of the
original point data.
Maintain Size: Quick Terrain Modeler will maintain the height and width of the original point data
extents.
Fixed Size (Units): The user must specify the number of units in height or width.
Fixed Size (pixels): The user must specify the number of pixels in width and height. E.g., if using
2m grid spacing and a 1000m x 1000m is desired, width and height need to be specified as 500 x
500.
Amount to Trim from Borders: In some instances, it may be desirable to remove rows/columns from the
edges of DEM's. This may be desirable to avoid "null data" values around the edges of DEM's. In some
cases, QTM's gridding algorithm may create an extra row or column that may be partially populated with
null data values. Trimming the edges will allow QTM to first create a DEM, then trim off any edges. The
units specified will be in the linear units of the model.
The Geo-Registration portion of the import window is divided into these sections:
1. Source Data Native Coordinate System: This field is automatically populated with the Geo Keys of
the source data file. This source data native coordinate system can be overridden by clicking the
"Edit" button and selecting the correct coordinate system. Please note that editing the coordinate
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system does not perform a coordinate conversion on the data. It simply changes the coordinate
system tag. The coordinate system should only be edited and overridden if the Geo Key is incorrect
or if the data has no coordinate system whatsoever.
2. QTM Active Coordinate System: This field is only populated if data is already loaded into QTM. If
no data is loaded, the field will display "Unknown". Once a data set is loaded into QTM, subsequent
data sets will be compared against the loaded data set to determine of the two data sets have a
compatible coordinate system. Important: QT Modeler can only work in one active coordinate
system at a time. Even if data may be spatially overlapping, but in different coordinate systems, it
will likely not display properly in the same scene.
3. Edit Button: Clicking the edit button enables the selection of an alternate coordinate system for the
source data file. Read more: Set Georegistration
4. Radio Buttons to Perform Actions Upon the Source Data Geo Registration
Compatible CS/Ignore CS: Do nothing to the georegistration tags of the data to be imported.
If the data about to be imported is deemed to be compatible with the data already loaded, the
background color will be green and the radio button will display "Compatible CS". Essentially,
this means that the data is compatible with what is loaded and nothing will be done to the
georegistration. If the source data georegistration is different and incompatible with the
Active Coordinate System, the radio button will read "Ignore CS" and will offer the user the
option to disregard the warning of incompatible coordinate system and proceed anyway. This
is usually not advisable, but there may be instances where it could be useful (e.g., "Cartesian"
coordinate systems in relative survey coordinate frameworks)
Set Data to Active CS: Simply re-tags the source data file to the active Coordinate system.
Note that this does not perform coordinate conversion - only a re-tagging of the data.
Transform Data to Active CS: This feature is disabled at this time. In the future, this will
provide a dynamic coordinate conversion upon import or load
Blue: The source file is tagged with a different coordinate system than the active (i.e., already
loaded) coordinate system, but QTM has determined that it can be loaded into the same scene
and, with some minimal adjustment, be recognized in the active coordinate system. A
common example of this would be data in two adjacent UTM zones, which is a very
understandable relationship. In this case, the Active Coordinate System would not be changed,
the new source file would simply be placed adjacent to the already loaded data.
Yellow: The user has chosen to manually override the existing Geo Keys to make the source
data file have a compatible coordinate system with the loaded data, or the user has chosen to
tag data that was never tagged in the first place. In essence, the yellow color means that the
use has chosen to manually set the coordinate system of the source data file, and thus the
responsibility is upon the user to ensure that this is correct. Once the user manually sets or
overrides the coordinate system of a given data set, QTM will have no subsequent way to
determine of the override is correct.
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Red: The source file is tagged with a different coordinate system than the active (i.e., already
loaded) coordinate system and QTM has determined that it cannot be loaded into the same
scene as the active data. The user may proceed and the data will load, but the placement of
the resulting data will be entirely dependent upon the Active Coordinate System that has
already been established. Any resulting analysis done on data that has been "forced" into the
Active Coordinate System will likely be unreliable.
The Geo-Registration Section of the Import Window - No Data Loaded (Green) and a "Compatible"
Source Data Native Coordinate System (Green):
The Geo-Registration Section of the Import Window - Source Data Native Coordinate System Different
and Incompatible (Red), Different but Still Compatible (Blue):
The Geo-Registration Section of the Import Window After Source Data Native Coordinate System Has
Been Edited/Changed by User (Yellow):
Northing and Altitude. In the example below, these are in columns 1, 2 and 3 respectively. The user
has input these values into the appropriate boxes.
Import Intensity: The user must check this box to import intensity values into the model.
Import RGB: The user must check this box to import RGB (Red, Green, Blue color) values into the
model. Note: Intensity or RGB may be built into the model, but not both.
Import Alpha: The user must check this box to import Alpha values into the model.
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Related Topics: Compressed Data, Color by Density, Allow Rotated Grid, Decimation Options, Filtering
Options
Quick Terrain Modeler supports filtering the LAS data file by classification. The user can select specific
returns to import and decide whether to make discrete models from them or to merge them into one
model. To filter by classification upon import, the user simply needs to press the "Classification" button.
The "LAS Filter Selections" window will appear. The user must check the "Filter Using Classification" box,
then check which particular classification values are of interest. The user must also check "Merge
Selections" to merge the data into a single file or "Separate Selections" to make a separate model for each
selected classification value. The official ASPRS-defined values for some of the classification values are
specified in the window (e.g., 3 = Low Vegetation), but please note that if the original data did not follow the
ASPRS standard, Quick Terrain Modeler filters by numerical value alone. For example, if a user has defined
buildings to have a classification value of 1, and wants to create a model with only "Building" data, the user
must select 1 as the classification value (not 6 as per the ASPRS defined value). If a user builds separate
models for each classification value, it may be very helpful to autocolor the models and/or selectively show/
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hide models.
Including Withheld, Synthetic, and/or key points enables the filtering based on these specific criteria, which
frequently behave as extensions of the classification byte in the LAS point data record.
The last import setup from the LAS Open Configuration tool will determine the configuration choices
of importing the LAS file.
The LAS Quick Open tool will only open LAS files as QTC/QTA point clouds. It will not build QTT
gridded surface models.
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1. Import and overlay 2-D and 3-D shape files. This is the most basic shape file support capability.
This capability allows users to build 3-D models from LiDAR, SAR or other 3-D data sets, then overlay shape
files that were created in ESRI GIS (or other) software. To overlay shape files, simply click the import vector
data button or choose import vector data from the Import menu. The user then selects an individual shape
file or entire GIS layer. Quick Terrain Modeler will then prompt the user for a coordinate system with the
window below. The user must select a coordinate system and UTM zone if appropriate. The user must
ensure that the coordinate system matches the coordinate system of the model. 2-D shape files will be
projected into the model space by assigning an elevation value to each vertex of the shape file. Quick
Terrain Modeler will assign the elevation value of the surface of the model and connect the vertices with a
straight vector. For this reason, some vectors may appear to pierce the surface of the model if the surface is
highly irregular. 3-D shape files have inherent elevation values associated with all vertices. These shape files
will be placed in the correct 3-D space. Quick Terrain Modeler will not reassign elevation values to 3-D shape
files.
Note: Imported shape files and/or GIS layers become separate vector models. Users can assign
different colors to the vector models by using the Display...Set Base Mode Color function. Users can also
selectively turn the vector layers on and off by using the Display...Show/Hide Models function.
2. Import 2-D shape files for use as a mensuration line. The concept behind this tool is that users may
have created lines in other programs that can be used as mensuration lines in a 3-D terrain model. As a
mensuration line, this tool can provide repeatable measurements and cross sections. An imported
mensuration line can also serve as the basis for multiple cross section analysis (e.g., for cut and fill
applications).
3. Import shape file polygons for use as a selection area. Just like the 2-D shape file import, the
import of a polygon shape file forms the basis of analysis of specific areas. For example, an imported shape
file selection area can specify an area in which to edit the terrain (e.g., crop to a specific area designated in
GIS analysis), perform volume calculations or to measure area statistics (number of points, average point
density, etc.)
4. Save a Quick Terrain Modeler mensuration line as a shape file. Once a specific measurement is
performed, the user can save the mensuration line as a shape file. The mensuration line can be imported
into ESRI GIS software, other applications, or can simply be saved to perform repeated mensuration analysis
(e.g., cross section of before/after DEM's, compare cross sections of a bare earth DEM versus an all points
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5. Save a Quick Terrain Modeler selection area. Just as in saving a mensuration line, saving a selection
area provides two basic benefits. First, the area is available to perform the same analysis in the same
location on different models (e.g., before/after volume analysis, etc.). Second, the measured and analyzed
area can be easily exported to other applications (ESRI GIS, etc.) for additional analysis.
6. Save and export the perimeters of surveys as shape files. This tool serves as the basis for evaluating
survey coverage. Quick Terrain Modeler will create and save a shape file that represents the total survey
coverage. This can be imported into ESRI GIS and other software to compare survey coverage against target
survey extents (e.g., county boundary) as well as existing geospatial information.
7. Save contour and grid overlays as shape files. This tool enables the export of contour and grid lines
as shape files.
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Version 8
Part
VII
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7 Menu - Export
The two most popular formats, by far, for exporting 3D data are LAS for point clouds and GeoTIFF DEM for
DEM's and other surface models. Please refer to the appropriate sections for the following export formats:
LAS: Open standard file format for exchange and storage of point cloud information.
LAZ: Open standard file format for storage and exchange of compressed LAS point cloud files.
XYZ ASCII (I) (A): Generates a columnated ASCII file format and will append Intensity and/or alpha values
if they are present.
ASCII XYZ-RGB (A): Generates a columnated ASCII file format and will append RGB color values and/or
alpha values if they are present.
AutoCAD ASCII DXF: This format is only appropriate for exporting contour lines and grid lines.
Binary XYZ (I) (A): Generates a binary file format and will include Intensity and/or alpha values if they are
present.
Binary XYZ (RGB) (A): Generates a binary file format and will include RGB color and/or alpha values if
they are present.
ESRI ASCII Z Grid: The ESRI ASCII format is similar to the GeoTIFF DEM format. It is ESRI's format that
consists of a grid of elevation values.
ESRI Shape File: The ESRI shape file format can export vectors or points.
Export file extensions: Quick Terrain Modeler has a default extension for each exported file format, but users
can set a custom file extension when exporting multiple models/files. Simply click the radio button "Use
Custom Extension?", then manually enter the file extension in the box. All files will have the same
extension.
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While some of these values may have been present in the original LAS data file, Quick Terrain Modeler does
not retain some of them unless the data was import as a QTA, thus the information may not be available
during export.
When opening LAZ files, simply "Open Model" or drag/drop the LAZ file into the scene.
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Models eligible for export to ASCII XYZ RGB (A): QTT, QTC, or QDT
Models eligible for export to DXF: Contour lines and grid lines only.
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1. Exporting models that consist of lines. For the Quick Terrain Modeler, this means that only vectors
(e.g., grid lines, contour lines, and model outlines )can be exported as linear shape files.
2. Exporting Point Clouds. Quick Terrain Modeler can export entire QTC ungridded point clouds to ESRI
point shape files (PointZM format). QTT gridded surface models can not be exported as shape files.
Models eligible for export to ESRI Shape File: Contour Lines, Grid Lines, Selection Polygons, Mensuration
Lines, QTC Point Clouds, and Markers
Note: Quick Terrain Modeler will export a KML file along with each GeoTIFF created. This will enable the
export of 2D imagery to Google Earth. Please be aware that there are suggested image size limits (2k x 2k
pixels) for importing into Google Earth. Related Topics: Create KML Index, Export Outline to KML, Save
Extents Outline to KML, KML Options, Synchronize Google Earth
Intensity Image exports the vertex colors (e.g., intensity, change detection, slope analysis, etc.) in
black and white only.
Overlay Image exports vertex colors (e.g., intensity, change detection, slope analysis, etc.) as a color
image.
Sun-shaded options produce images shaded by the current light orientation. This tool is helpful for
producing hillshade images at various lighting conditions. Note that the user can set lighting (by
pressing the set lighting button ) based on the following parameters:
Time of day.
Azimuth and elevation (e.g., AZ 315, EL 45 for hillshade imagery)
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By user preference by holding down the control key, left mouse button and moving the mouse
to a satisfactory result.
Notes:
Be sure altitude coloration is set appropriately prior to generating GeoTIFF's.
It may be beneficial to remove vertex colors prior to generating GeoTIFF's. To remove image from
model, go to the Analysis menu and Remove Vertex Colors. This will prevent intensity or analysis
results from obscuring the exported GeoTIFF. Vertex colors will be generated in the exported
GeoTIFF's even if they are not visible at the time of export.
Be sure to export the appropriate format of GeoTIFF header, world (.tfw) file, etc. by using the GeoTIFF
Export Setup.
Georegistration Tags:
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1. The first choice the user has is whether to write the .tfw file (aka World file) associated with the
GeoTIFF. Applications such as ESRI Arc GIS may look for the .tfw file to determine the geographic
information. If you require a .tfw file, please check the first box. Note that the .tfw file does not hold
as much information as the standard GeoTIFF header. For example, the coordinate system (e.g.,
UTM vs. Geodetic) is stored in the GeoTIFF header but not in the .tfw file.
2. The second choice is whether to write the GeoTIFF tags into the TIFF header. If this box is unchecked,
a simple TIFF will be generated without the geographic information in the header.
3. The third choice is whether to write the georegistration tags specifically to meet ESRI expectations.
Handling Rotation*:
These configuration choices may be particularly useful if the original DEM is not oriented north-south
(i.e., allow rotated grid). Some applications struggle to read the rotation value in the GeoTIFF header, but
may be able to read it in the .tfw file or vice-versa. Some applications may require a North-South oriented
GeoTIFF. Ultimately, the requirements of your downstream applications will determine the correct
configuration, as there is no single universally accepted method of reading GeoTIFF's.. If so, the two choices
for handling rotation are:
Use the GeoTIFF Model Transformation Tag. This is the default and complies with the GeoTIFF
standard.
Use multiple GeoTIFF tie points. This provides explicit coordinates for the corners of the
GeoTIFF. While this is not a standard, it may be useful for applications that do not support the
standard method of representing GeoTIFF rotation.
Color Map:
In some instances, it may be useful for a "no data" condition in an exported 2D GeoTIFF to be
distinguished from a "real" color of black, which may be the result of an analysis process. The default
behavior of QT Modeler is to export "real" black as exported as RGB = 0,0,0. Checking the box in the Color
Map section forces export products to distinguish between no data and "black". If the box is checked,
nodata conditions will be exported as RGB = 0,0,0 and "black" pixels will be exported as RGB = 0,0,1. This
will allow downstream applications to distinguish between the two conditions: no/null data and real data
with a color value of RGB = 0,0,0. This only applies to 2D GeoTIFF's.
2. For some of the more popular coordinate systems, namely UTM, Geodetic, and Cartesian, use the
coordinate system presets at the top of the interface, then fine tune things like linear/vertical units
in the various georegistration keys pull down menus.
3. Use the check boxes and pulldown menus to select the precise coordinate system, vertical datum,
and units.
4. If you intend to reuse the coordinate system override frequently, use "Custom" as the Coordinate
System Preset pull-down, then click the "Add to Preset List" button to save it. It can later be
removed with the "Remove from Preset List" button.
Notes:
QT Modeler has no way of knowing if your selections are correct. Once you choose to override
georegistration tags, there is no checking process to ensure that the choice is correct.
If geokeys existed previously, they will be overwritten by the new selection.
Not all geokey types are required. Only check the keys that you require and are sure are correct.
7.6 Movies
1. Recording and playing a .qmv movie that requires the Quick Terrain Modeler to be running during
playback.
2. Using the .qmv movie as a template to create an .avi movie that does not require the Quick Terrain
Modeler for playback.
To record a movie:
Select Record Movie… from the Export...Movies menu.
Push the Select File… button and select a file to which to save the movie.
Press Start Recording, and move about the model and alter lighting as desired.
When finished, press Stop Recording to end the movie.
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You may also generate AVIs from QMV movies recorded as above. First select Create an AVI from the Export
menu, and then select a QMV movie as the source (being sure you have already loaded the desired models,
textures, etc into the Quick Terrain Modeler). Then select the desired window size and frame rate of the AVI,
and press "OK". You will then be prompted with a window to select the desired compression format from
those video codecs installed on your computer. You can configure the compression options for the format
you have selected using the "configure" button. Once that is completed press "OK" to generate the AVI.
Due to the way video card buffers are currently manipulated you cannot generate an AVI larger than the
current Quick Terrain Modeler window. The AVI utility will prevent you from doing this.
Although the AVI generator will attempt to smoothly interpolate between points in the QMV movie to
generate higher frame rates, the interpolation algorithm is not perfect. If you find you are having
problems with "jumpy" motion it may help to re-record your QMV movie at a higher frame rate than the
default of 8 (by altering Set Framerate in the Control...Options menu before recording the QMV).
Notes:
Due to the way video card buffers are currently manipulated you cannot generate an AVI larger than the
current Quick Terrain Modeler window. The AVI utility will prevent you from doing this.
Although the AVI generator will attempt to smoothly interpolate between points in the QMV movie to
generate higher frame rates, the interpolation algorithm is not perfect. If you find you are having
problems with "jumpy" motion it may help to re-record your QMV movie at a higher frame rate than the
default of 8 (by altering Set Framerate in the Control...Options menu before recording the QMV).
98 Quick Terrain Modeler User's Manual
1. Create a mensuration line in the model. Create this line exactly where you want the fly through to
occur. Think of this as laying down a flight line for an aircraft.
2. Select a file name for the avi file you are about to create by clicking on the AVI File Output button.
3. Select an AVI frame rate by moving the AVI Frame Rate slider. Faster frame rates create a smoother
fly-through but result in larger file sizes.
4. Select an AVI screen size by moving the AVI Screen Size slider.
5. Input an altitude by entering it in the Altitude window. Choose whether this is an absolute altitude
or an Above Ground Level (AGL) height.
6. Input a speed at which you would like to move the "camera". At this point, it might be helpful to
look at the overall length of the mensuration line you created in Step 1 above (there will be a
Mensuration Data window open that displays this information), determine how long you would like
the movie to be (in seconds) and simply divide the length by the time. This will be your target
speed. Input this value in the window.
7. Input a look angle in the Look Angle window. The look angle is measured from horizontal. This
means the following:
0 indicates a look angle of horizontal. This is generally not very useful.
-90 indicates a look angle straight down (nadir).
Look angles between -45 and -90 will probably be most useful.
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Menu - Export 99
The PowerPoint Tool quickly builds PowerPoint briefings by directly exporting QTM screen grabs, titles,
captions, orientation axes (North arrow), and legends to PowerPoint slides. This tool also enables a
"permanent burn" of classification level or other text into the exported images and the ability to save
specific view parameters to return to later (i.e., a 3D bookmark).
1. Load a model(s).
2. Adjust lighting, coloration, vertex colors, overlaid imagery, mensuration lines, selection areas, etc. and
move the model to a desirable orientation and zoom level. Note that the export to PPT will export the
entire QTM screen space as the image. Exported images will not be georegistered.
3. Go to the Export Menu and choose "PowerPoint Tool"
4. Choose checkboxes for showing axes (the 3D orientation arrows) and/or showing legends (e.g., height
coloration) in the exported image.
5. Choose a PowerPoint template to populate by clicking either "Select" or "Edit" in the PowerPoint
Template section. A sample template is included (QTTemplate.ppt) and will be installed in the same
directory as the Quick Terrain Modeler executable file (qtmodeler.exe). See notes below for creating a
new template or modifying an existing presentation to accept QTM export.
6. Manually type in Title Text (displayed at the top of the template), Caption Text (displayed at the bottom
of the template), and QT Screenshot Text ("burned" permanently into the exported image). Note that
images will be scaled to fit in the available image space of the PowerPoint slide, so the QT Screenshot
Text font size may need to be adjusted accordingly, as it will also be scaled identically to the image.
7. Click the Export button. If PowerPoint is not already open, it will open and the first slide after the title
slide will be created. If PowerPoint is already open, it will create a new slide at the end of the
presentation. All new slides will be built upon the template of the last slide in the presentation.
8. Note: Quick Terrain Modeler will immediately rename the template file to a unique name such as
"QT42.ppt", "QT58.ppt", etc. and will save it in your pre designated Window TEMP directory.
9. Continue to add slides as needed.
10. If you would like to return to the same perspective in the future, click the "Save View" button and save
a QTV file. Load the QTV file later by clicking "Load View" and selecting the saved file.
11. When completed, save the PowerPoint presentation, moving it out of the TEMP folder if necessary/
desired.
Alternative Text. Important: Right click on the Caption Text place holder and select "Format Place
Holder..." from the dialog box. Select the "Web" tab. In the "Alternative Text" box, type in "Caption".
This is the only way that QT Modeler will be able to identify the Caption Text area.
4. Image: For the image area, you will need to place a sample image in the desired location in the
template slide. Important: Right click on the image place holder and select "Format Picture..." from
the dialog box. Select the "Web" tab. In the "Alternative Text" box, type in "QT Image". This is the
only way that QT Modeler will be able to identify the desired image area and required scale factor.
5. Save the template. Use as directed above.
Requirement: In order to export a georegistered screen grab, you must be in 2D Mode. Otherwise, it
is impossible to accurately tag the image with georegistration information.
Anything and everything that is included in the scene will be exported with the image. This means
that markers, analysis results, legends, axes, etc. will all be exported.
QT Modeler windows (analysis tools, configuration menus, etc.) will not be rendered.
The resolution of the exported image will be equal to the resolution of QT Modeler's model space.
For example, if the resolution of QTM's screen space is 1000 x 800 pixels, that is the size/resolution
of the resulting image. The resulting image will not necessarily be proportional to the underlaying
resolution of loaded models or overlaid imagery/textures.
The Exported images can be used in any downstream application that can utilize georegistered
images (e.g., Google Earth, ESRI, hand held GPS, ELT's, etc.)
Instructions:
1. Load Model
2. Go to 2D mode by pressing the "2D" button.
3. Zoom to a the desired area in the model.
4. Load any other items that may be useful in the resulting image - overlaid textures, markers, legends,
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Menu - Export 101
etc.
5. Go to the Export Menu and select "Render Screen to Registered Image"
6. Select an output file name/location.
7. Choose a pixel width/height. These values will be autopopulated with your QT Modeler window
size. Please note the file size window for the exported file. Some applications, notably Garmin GPS,
have a 3MB file size limit.
8. Image Options:
Show Axes: Checking this box will cause the 3D Axes/North Arrow to display in the exported
image.
Show Legend: Causes the legend to be included in the exported image
Create in KMZ: Will wrap the exported file in a KMZ format.
Create Garmin KMZ: creates a very specific output format required by Garmin GPS devices so
the resulting imagery can be used as a "Custom Map". Make sure to save the file in Garmin's
"Custom Map" folder.
9. Caption Text: Choose font size, font color, and manually entered text in the top left of the exported
image.
There are also several options for adding information to the exported TIFF:
1) Show Axes: This is the 3D equivalent of a "North Arrow". Because a standard TIFF is not geospatially
registered like a GeoTIFF, the axes help orient the view of the exported TIFF in 3D space. The axes will
appear in the upper right corner of the exported TIFF.
2) Show Legend: The legend can be a basic height legend or it can be the result of AGL analysis or grid
statistics. The legend will appear in the lower left corner of the exported TIFF.
3) Caption Text: The user can type in text that will be displayed in the upper left corner of the exported TIFF.
The user can set a font size and color.
The Render to TIFF Window and a sample of a rendered TIFF showing legend, 3D axes, and Caption:
102 Quick Terrain Modeler User's Manual
A screen grab can be exported directly to a Garmin hand held GPS as a custom map. Applied Imagery has
tested this functionality on Garmin Oregon and Colorado units. To export the screen as a Garmin custom
map:
2. Zoom/Pan as needed to get the level of detail required. Make sure layers, axes, vectors, etc. are as
desired. Whatever you see on the screen will be rendered, pixel for pixel, to the Garmin custom map.
Items like scale bar and north arrow are not necessary when exporting to Garmin, as the Garmin will
know the scale and north orientation already.
3. Click the Export to Garmin button or go to the Export menu > Render screen to Garmin.
4. Place the exported image in the Garmin > CustomMaps folder. If this folder does not exist, you will
need to create it. Garmin will only recognize the custom map if it is in this folder.
5. Custom map will automatically appear when navigating with the Garmin. Note that the image
resolution ion the Garmin will be dependent upon the zoom level of QT Modeler when the image was
exported.
6. If you require multiple images along a route, repeat steps 2-4 as needed.
The iGarmin screen grab below shows both a custom map export (the color part of the screen) and a
track created/exported by QT Modeler. The green portion of the screen and the "Masby Road"
annotation were already part of the Garmin map information.
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Menu - Export 103
The purpose of QT Modeler's Image exporting tool is to subdivide a very large image into many smaller
images that, in aggregate, represent the entire larger image. These two processes are known as
"chipping" (i.e., cutting a smaller piece out of larger image) and "tiling" (i.e., dividing a large image into
smaller, more manageable pieces, or "tiles" that can subsequently be easily reassembled into the original,
larger image). QT Modeler's "render Selection Area to GPS" tool performs both of these functions. First, it
enables users to chip out a smaller portion of the scene in QT Modeler. Second, it tiles this image chip into
even smaller pieces that can then be ingested into a hand held GPS unit, specifically Garmin devices (as a
Custom Map on a Garmin Colorado, Oregon, or Montana). The resulting file is a KMZ file, which can also be
read into other applications such as Google Earth.
The instructions for using the Tiled KMZ Export tool are as follows:
Get the Scene EXACTLY as You Want to See on Your Garmin or Downstream Application
Since the exported image will be "What You See is What You Get" (WYSIWYG), anything that is visible in
the scene and contained in the selection area will be rendered into the exported image. This includes
height coloration schemes, markers, vectors, routes, annotations, etc.
Use one of the selection tools on the button bar to define the area that needs to be
exported. The selection area will not appear in the final export product.
Click the 2D button to get into 2D mode. 2D mode is required to properly georegister the exported
products.
Open the Tool (Export Menu > Render Selection Area to GPS)
Go to the Export Menu and select "Render Selection Area to GPS. The "Tiled KMZ Export" interface will
appear and the default tiling scheme will be visible in the scene. The tiling scheme will be a set of
contiguous rectangles that cover the entire selection area. It is likely that the tiled area will be larger than
the selection area, as it is designed to include 100% of the selection area. Note that for tiles that only
104 Quick Terrain Modeler User's Manual
cover a portion of the selection area, the entire image tile will be exported. The selection area will not
appear in the final export product, nor will the white tiling scheme.
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Instructions
Note: A Search Cache will automatically be created each time you create an index. Search caches
enable extremely fast spatial searches.
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Google Earth Export button or select "Export Outline to KML" from the Export menu.
Notes:
Google Earth works in Geodetic coordinates, so exporting UTM data will require converting perimeters
to latitude/longitude. The resulting conversion may not appear to be perfectly rectangular or north/
south.
At this time, KML indexing can only be performed on:
QTT and QTC file formats.
Models in UTM or Geodetic coordinates.
Step 3: Export to Google Earth. Image on top shows the tile outline. Image on the bottom shows
information marker.
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(Left) Exporting Outline to KML with 3 Models Loaded (note 3 separate KML outlines):
(Right) Saving Extents to KML with the Same 3 Models Loaded (note single rectangular outline):
Model Outline
Extents Outline vs. Tight Outline: The difference between these tow outlines is that the extents
outline simply generates a rectangle at the maximum X-Y extents of the model, regardless of the shape
of the model. This may be fine if the model is rectangular or if a simple polygon is required. A "Tight
Outline" will provide a much more accurate picture of the model extent. For example, LiDAR flight
lines will be represented very accurately, showing the irregular boundaries at the edge of a strip. In
contrast, the "Extents Outline" would just draw a rectangular box around the XY extents of the flight
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Menu - Export 109
line.
Opacity: The opacity setting will determine whether the outline will appear with no fill in the center
(0%) or whether it will be a solid, opaque polygon (100%), or somewhere in between.
Line Thickness: Line Thickness alters the line width on the exported KML polygon.
Waypoints: In QT Modeler, waypoints are associated with markers. markers form the basis of routes, but
can also be "unassigned" , i.e., they can simply mark positions that are not stops/turns along a route. The
user can decide which of these marker positions should be exported as waypoints as follows:
Include Unassigned Markers: Checking/unchecking this box will determine whether markers that
are not part of a route will be exported as a waypoint.
Include Hidden Markers: Checking this box will cause QT Modeler to ignore whether the marker is
currently visible when deciding which markers to export as waypoints. The default behavior is that
if a marker is hidden in the scene (i.e., unchecked in the layer tree), then it will not be exported as a
waypoint.
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Include Markers Assigned to Routes: Checking this box will cause QT Modeler to export every turn
and waypoint along a route separately as a waypoint. This is generally undesirable as duplicating
waypoints on the Garmin will result in a very cluttered display on the Garmin/GPS device.
GPX Routes: The route itself can be exported as a GPX Route or as a GPX Track. While the same exact path
will be exported in both cases, it will be displayed differently on the Garmin.
GPX Tracks: As noted above, the QT Modeler route can be exported as either a GPX track or route. Some
navigation functionality on the Garmin may not be available when exporting as a track. See images below
for display differences on the same route export.
Route Exported as
GPX Track (No
Pushpins)
Route Exported as
GPX Route (Blue
Pushpins)
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Quick Terrain Modeler
Version 8
Part
VIII
112 Quick Terrain Modeler User's Manual
8 Menu - Textures
As of Version 7.1.5, Quick Terrain Modeler can also open 2D images alone - i.e., it is no longer a requirement
to have 3D data loaded first. See more information on "2D Only Mode" here.
DEM/Imagery Fusion
Texture "Slot": While not technically an OpenGL term, it is useful to think of a video card as having a
finite number of "slots" into which textures can be placed and subsequently displayed on top of QTM's
3D models. A typical graphics card will have between 2 and 32 texture "slots", which is the maximum
number of active textures that can be simultaneously displayed. When overlaying textures in QTM,
please keep this limitation in mind. Your graphics card most likely can not support more than 16 images
simultaneously (more likely 4 or 8), so it might be necessary to merge many smaller images into a
merged "mosaic" prior to overlaying as a texture in QTM. To find the number of texture "slots"
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supported by your graphics card, go the Help Menu...OpenGL Resources. In addition to the maximum
number of textures available, this tool will also display the maximum image size (in pixels) supported by
your graphics card. The maximum texture size is likely to be 4k x 4k pixels or 8k x 8k pixels.
.
Vertex Color: Vertex colors are RGB values that are an integrated part of a point cloud or DEM. For
example, intensity values, analysis results, and attribute coloring are color values that are applied and
"attached" on a point-by-point (in a point cloud) or vertex-by-vertex (in a DEM) basis. When a QTC or
QTT model is saved, vertex colors are saved along with it and will reappear when the model is reloaded.
After a texture is draped onto a model, the color values can be permanently sampled into the model
vertex colors by using the "Sample Active Textures Into Vertex Colors" tool in the Textures Menu or on
the Edit Orthorectified Textures interface.
OpenGL: (Open Graphics Library) is a standard that defines a way for applications to produce and render
2D and 3D computer graphics. QTM uses OpenGL extensively during rendering operations and uses
OpenGL's texture "slots" to display overlaid images.
Graphics Card: A graphics card is the display and rendering engine for a computer. With respect to
overlaying textures in QTM, the graphics card uses OpenGL and available texture slots to project images
onto a 3D surface (point cloud or DEM). Some critical attributes of the graphics card are the
Sampling: Sampling is the concept of reducing the resolution of an image to fit in an available texture
slot. If you have a maximum texture size of 8k x 8k pixels an image that is 16k x 16k pixels, it will need to
be "downsampled" by 2 to fit in the maximum size texture slot. Sampling happens automatically.
Orthographic Textures: Orthographic textures are treated as photographs taken with an infinite focal
length - resulting in a perfectly flat projection. They are defined in terms of LOS angles, tie points, and
image plane scaling. Satellite imagery is an example of an orthographic texture.
Projective textures: Projective textures are treated as photographs taken from a frame camera, defined in
terms of field-of-view, position, and orientation. Users may either specify the camera parameters
manually or load a View file corresponding to the camera view that most closely approximates the Point-
of-View of the image. Oblique imagery is considered a "projective" texture.
Unregistered Images: Images that have no georegistration whatsoever can be manually registered using
QT Modeler's Image Registration Tool.
Load: Simply “Import Texture” rather than “Load Model” to load a specific image.
Search: To search for 2D imagery, go to the Model Search tool (File Menu) and select the Image
Search (2D Data) radio button at the top of the window. Note: QT Modeler can search for both 2D
imagery (GeoTIFF’s, MRSID, NITF, etc.) and 3D data (LAS files, DEM’s, etc.), but not at the same time.
Tools that will not work without 3D data loaded (as of v7.1.5):
o Range Rings
o Generate Grid Lines
o Generate Outline
o Export Vector (Annotation purposes)
o Lighting
o Cut/Crop
o Anything that requires 3D analysis for analysis purposes (terrain profiles, lien of sight, etc.)
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No Cropping: There are only two reasons that "No Cropping" should be selected. First, if you plan to
load additional 3D data that covers a larger geographic area, you may not want to crop the image upon
import. Second, if your image is poorly registered and you feel the need to edit it by moving the image,
you may not want to crop it. Otherwise, portions of the image that do not intersect with the loaded
models should be eliminated with one of the cropping options below.
Crop to Model Extents: This option will crop the image to precisely the X -Y dimensions of the loaded
model(s). There is no need to load unnecessary pixels into video memory. Once Quick Terrain Modeler
crops the image to the X - Y extents, it will still need to determine the level of downsampling required to
fit in video memory. Each video card is different, but the key factors in determining downsampling are
the maximum texture size allowed by your video card (measured in pixels, typically 2k x 2k, 4k x 4k, or 8k
x 8k) and the total amount of video memory available. There is no way to manually set a sampling value.
Crop to View Extents: This option is helpful if you would like to view your image at full resolution, but do
not have the video memory or texture size to load at full resolution. Simply zoom to the area of interest,
select the image, and it will appear, cropped to the X-Y extents of the view. While it is not guaranteed to
appear without downsampling, it is far more likely to fit when "chipped" (i.e., cropped to a smaller area).
loaded 3D model is in UTM or geodetic (lat/long) coordinates. For example, if your 3D data is in UTM,
you can overlay a model in State Plane coordinates. QTM will perform the coordinates conversion on the
fly and project the image in the correct location. When working with DEM's or point clouds in UTM and
overlaying imagery that is in lat/long, there may be some slight error in converting angular coordinates to
a linear framework.
Image format: Typically this will be GeoTIFF, MrSID, IMG, ECW, NITF, or many other popular
formats. This section will also list the bit depth and color parameters of the original image (e.g., RGB-
24 = Red/Green/Blue, 24 bits per pixel).
Sampled Width and Height: This is the resultant pixel width/height of the loaded image.
Sampling: This displays the sampling level in width and height. Depending on the capabilities of
your video card, these numbers need not be the same. A sampling value of 1 indicates that no
downsampling occurred and that the image is being displayed at full resolution. A sampling value of
2 means that one pixel was created for every 2 pixels in the original image, a sampling value of 3
means that one pixel was created for every 3 pixels in the original image, etc. Another way to think
of the sampling values is that if your original image was 0.5 meter resolution (i.e., 0.5m pixel size)
and the resulting imported texture required a sampling value of 2, the resulting image texture
resolution would be 1 meter. A sampling value of 4 for the same 0.5m resolution image would result
in a 2 meter resolution in QT Modeler.
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where the "void" between points may not offer the continuous projection screen to display the texture.
When overlaying large geodetic (lat/long) images on top of a UTM model, the coordinate conversion
from an angular system to a Cartesian system may distort the image slightly. This effect is minimized
with a smaller geographic area. Consider "cropping to view" if this is an issue.
QTM will examine many image formats, including GeoTIFF, MrSID, ECW, NITF, IMG and a variety of other
formats and include them in the results. Image formats can not be specified as a search criteria. Please
note the image must be georegistered to be discovered and listed in the results.
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Menu - Textures 119
high level directory, you may want to uncheck this box to save unnecessary search time in irrelevant
subdirectories.
Selecting a Cache will search through a pre-built cache file rather than through hard drives. See more on
Caches.
The default setting for an image coordinate system is "Any Matching" It is possible to narrow the search
to UTM or Geodetic only. Please note that, at the time of this release (v7.1.0), QTM does not support
State Plane and other coordinate systems explicitly. QTM supports these coordinate systems under the
broad umbrella of "Cartesian" coordinate systems. If the loaded model is in "Cartesian" and matching
images are not being displayed, please try the "Cartesian Search" to locate the images.
Find Image(s)
Click "Find Images" to begin the search. QTM will begin searching directories (and subdirectories if the
box is checked) and listing any matching images.
Load Image
Once you have selected the image that you wish to load, click the "Load Image" button. QTM will begin
the texture overlay process, which may require downsampling. The Image Search window will close and
the Overlay Orthorectified Texture window will reappear.
Export to KML
Once you have selected the image that you wish to load, click the "Load Image" button. QTM will begin
the texture overlay process, which may require downsampling. The Image Search window will close and
the Overlay Orthorectified Texture window will reappear.
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Enhance Contrast:
Sample Into Vertex Colors: This tool will sample the overlaid texture into the vertex colors, thus
creating a colorized point cloud or DEM. See separate topic link for additional instructions.
Export GeoTIFF
Corner position: Selecting either one of the four corners or the center of the image as the reference.
Easting/Northing. Pushing the arrow buttons will move the image in real time across the terrain to
fine-tune the alignment.
Width/Height: If the scale is incorrect, the user may need to manually insert the dimensions of the
image.
Orientation: Rotates the image.
Note: Once the image is properly aligned, press the "Save Registration" button. This will generate a .PAR
file that records the updates settings of your overlaid image. When reloading the image in the future,
simply load the misaligned image, then load the PAR file corresponding to it. The image will immediately
move back to the correct alignment. This can also be done by saving a Tile Set.
Select an Image
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Menu - Textures 121
If the image is completely unregistered or in a different coordinate system than the loaded model, be sure
to choose “No Cropping” as the crop option, as the “units” of the image may make no sense at all in the
context of the loaded model.
Click the “Register With Control Points” button at the bottom of the “Import Orthorectified
Textures” window.
Clicking this button will call up the Image Registration Tool. This is an unnecessary step if you started from
the Textures...Overlay Textures...Unregistered menu selection.
Register Image
First decide whether you image registration application requires an exported, registered 2D GeoTIFF. If so,
select the "Limited Stretching" radio button. This choice will limit some aspects of the image
transformation to enable a GeoTIFF export that is compatible with most software packages. If you do not
intend to export a georegistered product, choose "Unlimited Stretching", which will apply a more
sophisticated transformation to the image, but may cause local stretching.
Click the “Register Image” button to apply the transformation necessary to move the image to its correct
location. Be sure to toggle loaded textures back on. The image should be placed properly. Some image
warping (i.e., image may not be a perfect rectangle after the transformation) may occur during the
transformation. This is normal. The residual error is a calculation of how well your crosshair placements
correlate to the marker placement – i.e., are your crosshairs relatively spaced comparable to your control
point markers. It is not a measure of the absolute accuracy of the final transformed image.
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The Edit Orthorectified Texture Interface: Access this window from the Textures...Edit
Textures...Orthorectified menu. Simply press the button to sample the texture onto the model.
The Sample Active Textures into Vertex Colors command in the Textures Menu. Simply select the
command and the process will begin.
Please note the free Quick Terrain Reader is an excellent way to share colorized DEM's and/or point
clouds with your users.
Sampling a Gridded Raster Product with an Ungridded Point Cloud: When QTM samples an image onto a
point cloud, it will simply extract the RGB color value that exists at each X-Y point location. As point
clouds are inherently ungridded, the sampling will likely not match up on a pixel-by-pixel basis. Areas
that have large point voids (e.g., water areas with no LiDAR returns, "holes" in bare earth point clouds,
etc.) will not sample the overlaid texture at all. Thus, any RGB information without a point/vertex
"under" it will be lost.
Spatial Overlap of Overlaid Texture: The sampling into vertex colors process will sample all active
textures. In areas where to or more textures overlap, the resulting RGB value will be a combination of the
overlapping values. There is no tool to address this overlap phenomenon.
Vertex Colors: "There Can Only be One": When the sampling process occurs, it will delete the RGB value
that already existing in the vertex color. For example, if intensity was loaded into the vertex colors
already, it will be replaced by the new sampled RGB values.
Users may also check the "Auto-scale Models Individually" box. Checking this box will make Quick
Terrain Modeler scale the elevation color palette individually, scaling the colors appropriately for each
individual tile. This may be useful when working with many tiles in a region of widely varying elevation.
In this situation, elevation coloration of individual tiles may occupy only a small portion of the overall
model space elevation range. Autoscaling will create much more intra-tile color variation. If this box is
checked, users will not be able to manually set altitude ranges.
Five built in palettes are included. They are Earth Tones, High-Low, Blue to Red, Blue Continuous, Green/
Red, and Grayscale. These can be changed by pressing the Edit Palette button
The High-Low palette quickly highlights the lowest and highest elevations in a terrain. Red represents the
highest and blue represents the lowest elevations in the terrain. Users may refine this further by moving
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Menu - Textures 125
the Minimum and Maximum Altitude sliders to refine the bands for highest and lowest elevations. The
image below shows the High-Low palette being used to highlight the highest and lowest points in an
urban setting.
Custom-Palettes may also be used in place of the default Red-Green-Blue and Earth Tone schemes. The
Height Coloration setting window includes a button to load a QTV palette file. QTV palette files (*.qpl)
are ASCII text files listing discrete RGB values. The Modeler can then interpolate between the provided
values to provide a full-resolution height texture. Palette files must be in the following format. The
fourth column is optional, and denotes the relative position of the samples in the spectrum (from 0.0 to
1.0). If the fourth column is not present the colors will be assumed to be ordered from the highest
elevation to the lowest.
(Any number of lines of arbitrary text header - but lines containing columnated numbers will be assumed
to be data lines)
etc.
The height coloration effect is accomplished using OpenGL's texturing mechanisms, and so it will only be
possible to have height coloration active simultaneously with overlaid textures on video cards supporting
multi-texturing. The total number of possible textures (including the height color texture) will be limited
by the video card.
Quick Terrain Modeler
Version 8
Part
IX
Menu - Analysis 127
9 Menu - Analysis
Embedding vertex colors will only work if their dimensions exactly match those of the model. (Note: This is
not true of textures (e.g., overlaid photographs), which do not have to match the model size.) In vertex
colors (e.g., an intensity image), if the dimensions do not match 1-1 model vertices vs. image pixels you
must use the texturing routines to overlay the image as a texture.
Instructions:
Load a model.
Select "Change Detection Map" from the Analysis...Add Vertex Colors to Model menu.
In the Change Detection window Select a model against which to compare.
Choose whether to perform a Binary Color or Continuous Color output.
WARNING: This HLZ map tool only considers slope, radius, and obstructions in a gridded surface model
and is reliant upon the accuracy of the data provided by the user. Other critical information such as
Vertical Obstruction (VO) analysis, terrain categorization, and weather information is not accounted for, so
this tool should only be used as a preliminary HLZ location search tool. Also, bodies of water may appear
as flat surfaces in DEM's, thus falsely appearing as a desirable HLZ (see screen grab below). Lastly, the
LiDAR survey may have been performed during drastically different weather and/or seasonal conditions -
be alert for lakes/ponds that may have been frozen during the survey, but are now thawed, tall crops at
harvest time that were flat fields early in the season, and seasonal foliage changes.
1. Load a gridded surface model (GeOTIFF DEM, .QTT file, etc.). The HLZ Map tool will not work on a point
cloud (LAS file or.QTC file)
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Maximum Tolerable Slope: set the slope (in degrees or percent) of the maximum tolerable slope.
Minimum Necessary Radius: Set the minimum required radius of tolerable slope in units of the
model. UTM models will have units in meters.
Delta Z Tolerance: The Delta Z Tolerance is the height of terrain and surface obstructions that you
wish to ignore during the analysis. When working with high resolution DEM's, local slope
calculations could unnecessarily trigger a "failure" of the HLZ search criteria. For example, if a DEM
of 30cm resolution had two adjacent vertices or "pixels" that differed in elevation by only 10cm, the
local slope between the two pixels would be roughly 18 degrees, thus triggering a failure of the HLZ
search. It is likely, though, that a 10cm obstruction is tolerable in the HLZ. Thus, use the Delta Z
tolerance for two reasons: First, when working with very high resolution DEM's, use it to make sure
the local slope does not trigger unnecessary failures. Second, if there truly is a higher tolerance for
obstructions, set the Delta Z Tolerance to the height of the tolerable obstruction. It may also be
helpful to think of the Delta Z tolerance as the ground clearance under the helicopter.
3. Set a Pass, Fail, and Blockage color. Terrain will be colored the "Pass" color when the slope and minimum
radius conditions are met, and the fail color when they are not met. The Blockage color is also technically
a "Fail" area, but it highlights the terrain features that triggered the "Failure". Note that a location
colored as the "pass" color meets the criteria of slope and radius (i.e., the user does not need to add a
"buffer area" to a "Pass" area) and may be displayed as just a few pixels.
4. Optional: Set the HLZ "Fringe" Color. The purpose of adding "fringe" pixels back into the display is to
assist in making "pass" areas more obvious and perhaps to string together multiple small HLZ's into a
coherent larger area. Please note that, technically, "fringe" pixels are not "Pass" pixels. They have failed
one of the criteria- either they are too close to an obstruction or too close to areas of high slope, but they
are likely to have met the maximum tolerable slope criteria.
5. Click "Apply". The terrain will be entirely colored in the "pass", "fail", and "blockage" colors (and optional
"fringe" color). These results can be exported as a GeoTIFF raster with a KML file for use in Google Earth
and other applications.
6. Results can be exported as a raster. Go to the Export Menu...Export Model Image and select the 24-Bit
RGB Overlay. At this time, there is no direct raster to vector conversion in Quick Terrain Modeler.
7. Note: Measurement lines can be saved as vector models to document more than one HLZ at a time.
Converting mensuration lines to vector models will enable the "crosshair" to be palced on an HLZ.
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Note: As of Version 7.1.6, this traditional ray-trace tool has been largely superseded by a real-time
"Virtual" tool that uses the graphics card to calculate shadows on the fly. The primary differences between
this tool and Virtual Shadow Map are that this "traditional" shadow map does not rely on the graphics
card for calculation and it pushes the results into vertex colors (rather than a Virtual Texture).
"Traditional" shadow map is still a valid tool, but see information on Virtual Shadow Map to learn more
about the new tool.
Surface models may be displayed with true ray-traced shadows using a pre-calculated image map. First, set
the light direction as desired. This may be done either graphically by holding down the "Ctrl" key and the
Right mouse button and dragging the mouse, or by selecting Set Lighting from the Display...Settings menu.
Once you have set the lighting as desired, select Add Shadow Map to Model(s)… to calculate and display the
new image overlay. Shadow Maps may be saved for future retrieval using Save Vertex Colors… from the
Analysis menu. They will also be embedded into saved models.
Notes:
Shadow Maps are single-model calculations. If you have multiple models loaded they will not
properly cast shadows upon each other.
Shadow Maps will be added to any existing vertex colors. For example, if a model has intensity built
as a vertex color, the shadow map will be added to intensity.
Example: Baltimore's Camden Yards Stadium before and after creation of shadow map. Note the user-set
direction of lighting.
Instructions:
Open a .qtt (or other) surface model. This tool only works on surface models.
From the "Analysis... Add Vertex Colors to Model" menu select "Slope Map"
The "Slope Analysis" Window will appear.
Select slope break points by typing the slope (in degrees) into the break point window and clicking the
"Add Break Point" button. For example, if break points are desired every 10 degrees, type "10" and
click the button, type "20" and click the button, etc. until the maximum slope of 90 is reached.
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To remove a break point, click the "Remove Break Point" button, then click on the break point that
needs to be removed. The break point will disappear.
Select a color for each band by clicking the "Set Color" button, clicking on the gray area in a slope
band, and choosing a color. After choosing the color in the color palette, it will appear in the
associated slop band.
If desired, save a slope palette by clicking the "Save Palette" button, selecting a name and location for
the palette file, and clicking the "Save" button.
To reload a saved palette, click the "Load Palette" button, locate the palette file, and click "Open".
Area Filtering:
To filter slope maps by area, check the appropriate box for minimum area and/or maximum area. Enter an
area value in the units of the loaded model (e.g., UTM models in square meters). Click "Apply. Areas that
meet the slope criteria but not the area criteria will be colored in gray. The contiguous areas that meet both
the slope and the area criteria will be colored in the appropriate color. In the image below, the user is
seeking areas of 10,000 square meters in which the slope is 5 degrees or less.
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select a file, you will also be presented with a window where you may enter X and Y offsets vs. the Model (if
any) and choose whether or not to flip the image (in X and Y) before applying it to the Model. Images may
be removed from model(s) by selecting Remove Vertex Colors from Model(s)… from the Analysis menu.
Images generated by the Modeler through means such as Shadow Maps and Line-of-Sight Maps may also be
saved to Raw RGB or GeoTIFF using Save Vertex Colors from the Analysis menu.
Notes:
Unsigned Char (USC) images are organized exactly like FLT data files - except that instead of consisting
of floating point altitudes they consist of Unsigned Char intensities. RGB files are similar - except that
three unsigned chars representing the RGB values are used for each vertex. RGBA (RGB + alpha) files are
also supported.
When importing vertex colors that have been created by QT Modeler in the Raw RGB (24-bit Binary
RGB) format, the image needs to be flipped (check the "Flip Image" Check box) when re-importing.
Vertex Colors generated by the Quick Terrain Modeler through means such as Shadow Maps and Line-of-
Sight Maps may be saved to the following formats:
QTA Attribute Analysis enables display, analysis, and filtering functions based on point attribute values. The
following topics explain Quick Terrain Modeler's tools to work with point-specific attributes:
Click on the QTA Quick Color Button or go to the Analysis...QTA Attribute Analysis...Quick Color
Maps menu
Classification: Color by LAS classification. QTM will choose a separate color for all existing classifications.
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Examples
Continuous: Continuous attribute values are distributed within a relatively large and continuous range
and are best represented with a continuous color ramp, either RGB or grayscale.
Discrete: Discrete attributes are attributes whose values fall within a relatively small and defined (i.e.,
discrete) categories. Some examples of LiDAR-related discrete attributes are return number (typically 1, 2,
3, or 4) or classification (typically values between 1 and 12).
The strategies for working with discrete versus continuous attributes vary slightly.
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Overview:
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QTA continuous analysis enables the selective viewing and coloration of points based on a given attribute's
value. This tool is customized for continuous attributes but can also be used with discrete attributes.
Example uses of continuous LAS attributes (i.e., values in the LAS point data record) are intensity and scan
angle rank. Examples of Quick Terrain Modeler’s calculated and appended continuous attributes are AGL
and Grid Statistics results. NOTE: the coloration is packed into the FILTER CHANNEL and not the VERTEX
CHANNEL. This coloration can be toggled on and off by expanding the SPECIAL OVERLAYS section of the
layer tree and by adjusting overall transparency by going to Display > Layer Transparency.
1. From the pull-down menus, select the model name you wish to filter and the attribute on which to
apply the filter (e.g., intensity). Click “Pack Attribute into Filter Channel” and the Minimum and
Maximum text boxes will populate with the min/max values of the selected attribute.
2. If necessary, reset the Minimum and Maximum to better reflect where the bulk of the points are
distributed using the histogram. Click Set Manually to reset the histogram. Additionally, reset the
Min/Max values by adjusting the vertical slider bars to the left and right of the histogram.
3. OPTIONAL, a continuous attribute such as Intensity can be grouped together into bands for filtering
or coloring. Click the Configure Bands to define how to “bin” these points together into discrete
bands.
4. Select the Default Palette of choice. A color ramp such as Blue to Red or Earthtones is good for
coloration while a filter palette such as Hide Above or Hide Below are appropriate for filtering
(Hide/Show). The breakline can also be moved by left clicking and dragging the line left and right.
5. The palette and histogram can be right clicked for added customization. Right click to add or
remove additional breaklines to create more filter classes. This context menu will also allow you to
show/hide (e.g., filter) and/or color the right clicked band. NOTE: the hatched pattern means the
band is hidden (filtered).
6. OPTIONAL, the Opacity slider bar allows the user to control how much underlying colors can show
through.
7. OPTIONAL, the histogram can be export by clicking the Export Histogram Button
8. OPTIONAL, the Crop Model button can be pushed to permanently remove the filtered points.
NOTE: the original source data will remain unchanged. The crop is only “permanent” within the
current Quick Terrain Modeler session. If needed, the original source data can be saved or exported
over, but this is generally NOT RECOMMENDED.
Figure 1. QTA Continuous Analyst window is set to color Intensity by a graduated blue to red color ramp
with 100% Opacity. The Intensity values of the dataset range from 0 to 5100 however the ramp was
adjusted to reflect the majority of points by changing the Maximum to 117.3.
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Figure 2. Configure QTA Bands window is opened by clicking the Configure Bands button in the Continuous
Analyst window. Here, a continuous attribute can be segmented into user controlled bands for coloration
and filtering.
1. From the Analysis Menu...QTA Attribute Analysis, select "QTA Continuous Attribute Filtering.
2. From the pull-down menu, select a continuous attribute on which to apply the filter (e.g., intensity). Once
the attribute is selected, Quick Terrain Modeler will populate the attribute range window with the entire
range of attribute values as well as a histogram showing the distribution of points within that attribute
value range.
3. If necessary, reset the range values in the lower right two windows. This may be necessary of there are
"outlier" values that skew the range. It may be necessary to reset the min/max values of the range to
reflect where the bulk of the points are distributed.
4. Click the "Apply" button. Once the Apply button is clicked, the range will be reset and the filtering
capability will be active.
5. The "Apply" button will only need to be pressed again if the range is reset or if a new attribute is chosen.
6. Choose whether to filter above, below, equal to, or not equal to by clicking the appropriate radio button.
Use the slider to filter the points appropriately.
7. If desired, place the slider with an explicit value and clicking the "Enter Value" button.
8. Clicking "Crop Models" will permanently eliminate all but the visible points.
Note: When filtering, the entire range of an attribute's values are scaled into an 8-bit field. What this
means is that the entire range will be divided by 256 to get the filtering "increments". If the attribute value
has a large range, the filtering increments will also be large. For example, if intensity is scaled between 1
and 2560, each filtering increment will be 10. Thus, the filtering slider will jump from 10 to 20 to 30, etc.
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QTA
Overview:
QTA discrete analysis enables the selective viewing and coloration of points based on a given attribute's
value. This tool is customized for discrete values such as return number, number of returns, and
classification however continuous attributes such as intensity and Z value can also be used by configuring
the bands. NOTE: the coloration is packed into the FILTER CHANNEL and not the VERTEX CHANNEL. This
coloration can be toggled on and off by expanding the SPECIAL OVERLAYS section of the layer tree and by
adjusting overall transparency by going to Display > Layer Transparency.
1. From the pull-down menus, select the model name you wish to filter and the attribute on which to
apply the filter (e.g., intensity). Click “Pack Attribute into Filter Channel” and the Minimum and
Maximum text boxes will populate with the min/max values of the selected attribute.
2. OPTIONAL, the Opacity slider bar allows the user to control how much underlying colors can show
through.
3. OPTIONAL, click Auto-Color Bands to colorize points differently based on their band
4. Click on the bands to Hide/Show (Highlighted in blue means the band is being shown).
5. OPTIONAL, a continuous attribute such as Intensity can be grouped together into bands for filtering
or coloring. Click the Configure Bands to define how to “bin” these points together into discrete
bands.
6. OPTIONAL, the Crop Model button can be pushed to permanently remove the filtered points.
NOTE: the original source data will remain unchanged. The crop is only “permanent” within the
current Quick Terrain Modeler session. If needed, the original source data can be saved or exported
over, but this is generally NOT RECOMMENDED.
Figure 1. QTA Discrete Analyst window is set to color each classification differently (Class 1 as RED, Class 2
as GREEN, Class 7 as BLUE, and Class 12 as AQUA). Also shown are the number of points from the model
that fall into each band (ie., there are 2,003,762 Class 2 points). All bands are being shown (highlighted in
Blue):
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Figure 2. Configure QTA Bands window is opened by clicking the Configure Bands button in the Discrete
Analyst window. Here, a continuous attribute can be segmented into user controlled bands for coloration
and filtering:
1. From the Analysis Menu...QTA Attribute Analysis, select "QTA Discrete Attribute Filtering.
2. From the pull-down menu, select a discrete attribute on which to apply the filter (e.g., classification,
return number). Once the attribute is selected, Quick Terrain Modeler will populate the lower window
with the available discrete attribute values as well as the number of points associated with that attribute
value.
3. Select an attribute value (or values using "shift" and/or "control" and left clicking). The value(s) will be
highlighted.
4. Click the "Apply" button. All attribute values not selected will be removed from the view.
5. If desired, select other attribute values and click "Apply" to isolate that value(s).
6. Clicking "Crop Models" will permanently eliminate all but the visible points.
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It is sometimes useful to divide a "Continuous" attribute (e.g., intensity, scan angle) into discrete brackets,
then filter on these brackets.
1. From the Analysis Menu...QTA Attribute Analysis, select "QTA Discrete Attribute Filtering.
2. From the pull-down menu, select a continuous attribute on which to apply the filter (e.g., intensity). Once
the attribute is selected, Quick Terrain Modeler will divide the range of the attribute values into 10
brackets and display of points associated with that attribute value bracket.
3. Select an attribute value bracket (or values using "shift" and/or "control" and left clicking). The value(s)
will be highlighted.
4. Click the "Apply" button. All attribute value brackets not selected will be removed from the view.
5. If desired, select other attribute value bracket and click "Apply" to isolate that range(s).
6. Clicking "Crop Models" will permanently eliminate all but the visible points.
Notes:
Applying an attribute value range to the Z axis will dramatically alter the look of the model, as elevation
will be replaced by the attribute value.
Grayscale and Red Green Blue (RGB) are mutually exclusive. A user can place an attribute value in
Grayscale, or in RGB, but not both.
If selecting values to place in RGB, a value must be selected for Red, Green, and Blue.
Any value placed in the Alpha field can subsequently be filtered by Alpha.
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Background:
The Line of Sight Analysis function provides a wide array of functionality. Once markers are placed in a
terrain, the user can perform line of sight (LOS) analysis to determine what the user can see from that
location. Conversely, LOS will show what can see the observer. It is a very useful and powerful tool for
tactical situational awareness, microwave tower placement analysis, analyzing placement of street signs,
and many other functions. Quick Terrain Modeler's LOS analysis can be broken down into four basic groups:
1. Omnidirectional Line of Sight Analysis: This type of analysis establishes what parts of the terrain can
be seen from a specific location and vice versa. Quick Terrain Modeler will evaluate whether there is
visibility to the terrain in all directions.
2. Directional Line of Sight Analysis (Sensor at or near ground level): Directional viewshed analysis will
simulate the visibility of s specific sensor or camera which exists at or near ground level. This type of
sensor's position and orientation can be defined by placing a marker in the terrain and establishing an
orientation and field of view. Some examples of this application may be surveillance camera
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3. Sensor Line of Sight Analysis (Sensor far above ground): This type of analysis defines the observer
relative to a marker in the terrain, but the observer is generally far from the terrain. Examples of this
type of sensor may be an airborne camera, LiDAR sensor, or satellite.
4. Vector Line of Sight Analysis: Vector LOS analysis establishes a vector to/from all markers (i.e., specific
positions) in the terrain from any position on the surface of the model. This type of analysis can also
simulate a "motorcade" route along which LOS vectors and ground distances are calculated in real
time as the observer progresses along the route.
Directional Line of Sight from the "Serpent Head" Marker, Orientation Due South (180 Degrees), Horizontal
and Vertical field of view = 45 degrees.
Sensor Line of Sight Analysis. Sensor is "placed" 10km from "Serpent Head" marker, facing south, 15 degree
grazing angle, 2 degree horizontal and vertical field of view:
(Left) Vector Line of Sight Analysis - Travel Route. This analysis shows LOS exists (green vector) to three
markers and does not exist (red vector) to one marker. (Right) Vector Line of Sight Analysis - Random Point.
This analysis shows that, from a random point on the surface of the model, LOS exists (green vector) to
three markers and does not exist (red vector) to one marker.
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1. Omnidirectional LOS can only be performed on a surface model (.QTT, GeoTIFF DEM, DTED, etc.)
2. LOS analysis is performed around a marker or group of markers, so at least one marker must be placed
in the terrain.
3.
There are three display modes for line of sight. They are as follows:
Basic Coloration: Basic coloration performs LOS analysis and applies a color to the model based on one
of four conditions:
All Can See: All selected markers have visibility to this point in the model, based on observer/target
height settings, limitations to line of sight distance (if any), and marker specific limitations to field of
view (see sensor view LOS). The default coloration for this condition is red.
Some Can See: If N markers are loaded, the "some can see" condition is achieved when between 1
and N-1 observers (i.e., markers) have visibility to that point, based on viewing constraints noted
above. The default coloration for this condition is yellow.
None Can See: This condition is achieved if none of the loaded markers have visibility to a given
point in the terrain, based on viewing constraints noted above. The default coloration for this
condition is light gray.
Not Evaluated: This condition is achieved if a user limits the line of sight distance and the extents of
the terrain are greater than the limitation. For example, if a user sets a LOS distance limitation at 300
meters and the model is 5 km x 5km, there will be areas that are simply "not evaluated" because the
user has chosen to limit the analysis in distance. This is a distinctively different condition than "None
Can See", as no analysis has been performed. The default coloration for this condition is dark gray.
Interactivity: In this type of coloration, Quick Terrain Modeler will color the terrain with respective
colors of the markers selected. For example, if there are a red and a green marker loaded, the areas of
the terrain visible to the red marker alone will be colored red. Those areas visible to the green marker
will be green. The overlap (i.e., "Interactivity") will be yellow. The utility of this type of coloration
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decreases sharply if there are many markers loaded and complex interaction between them.
Cumulative Coloration: This coloration uses a blue to red palette that represents the number of
markers that have visibility to a given location. Blue represents "Low" and red represents "High". For
example, if ten markers were used for the analysis, a color of blue would represent a location that had
visibility to one markers, aqua would represent a location that had visibility to two markers, and so on
up the color wheel until red represents an area that has visibility to all 10 markers. The number of
discrete colors are proportional to the number of markers used in the analysis (i.e., many markers =
many colors, but still in the blue=visibility to few markers, red=visibility to many markers continuum).
A condition of no visibility is still represented by light gray and "not evaluated" by dark gray.
At least one marker must be placed in the terrain prior to performing LOS analysis. Either manually place a
marker in the terrain or import markers from text file, shape file, or KML.
Pull down the Analysis menu...Add Vertex Colors to Model, select Line of Sight Map (Or press the Line of
Sight Button - ). The Create Line-of-Sight Map window will pop up. There are three sections to the Line
of Sight Interface:
Select Observer
This sections displays what markers are available in the model. The first step is to select a marker or
markers upon which the LOS analysis will be performed. Users also have the ability to edit the markers if
necessary by clicking the "Edit Markers" button.
Viewing Parameters
This section requires the user to set the observer and target heights. Note: The marker is the observer for
purposes of the LOS calculations. These heights will be in the units of the model (i.e., if model is in feet,
heights will be in feet). Optionally, the user can limit the line of sight to a certain distance. To limit line of
sight distance, check the box and enter the desired distance in the window. This distance will also be in the
units of the model.
Instructions:
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Helpful Hints:
Make sure your markers are very precisely placed. If on a rooftop, make sure the marker is at the
very edge of the building (if this is where the observer will be). Sometimes small adjustments in the
placement of the observer make a vast difference in the results of the line of sight analysis.
If available, import markers from a text file to establish observer or target positions.
Place markers along a known travel route and use "Cumulative Coloration" to evaluate areas of high
visibility to your route.
Use in conjunction with vector LOS analysis to help pinpoint exactly which markers have visibility.
Example of Compound Line of Sight Analysis with Interactivity Coloration: The first figure shows simple line
of sight analysis around Marker 1. The second figure shows compound line of sight analysis for both Marker
1 and Marker 2. The areas in yellow represent the overlap of the two viewsheds.
Example Line of Sight Analysis Using Limited Distance: The first figure shows four markers in the terrain.
The second figure shows line of sight analysis limited to 50 meters around each of the markers. This
analysis was performed on all markers simultaneously using "Interactivity" coloration.
Example Line of Sight Analysis Cumulative Coloration: The analysis shows 16 markers placed along a road.
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Areas with visibility to many markers have coloration on the red end of the spectrum. Areas with visibility
to few markers are on the blue end of the spectrum. Areas with no visibility to the markers appear gray.
Example Line of Sight Analysis Basic Coloration: The analysis shows the same 16 markers as above. Areas
with visibility to all markers are red. Areas with visibility to one through 15 markers are yellow. Areas with
no visibility to the markers appear gray.
Vector LOS can be used in a very complementary fashion to other omnidirectional LOS analysis results.
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In the "Select" Observer(s) section of the interface, click the "Edit Markers" button.
Using the Marker pull down menu, select the marker upon which to attach a sensor.
Check the "Sensor Attached" box and press the "Edit Sensor" button.
Input the following parameters:
Azimuth in degrees clockwise from north relative to the sensor (camera)
Elevation in degrees up from the horizon. Negative values are required for situations in which the
sensor is "looking down" (i.e., pointing below the horizon relative to the sensor).
Roll in degrees clockwise looking down the "boresight" (i.e., the centerline of the sensor's orientation)
Horizontal Field of View (FOV) in degrees.
Vertical Field of View (FOV) in degrees
Range should be set to zero for cameras or sensors at the location of the marker.
Click "OK" and "OK" in the open windows.
Perform LOS analysis exactly as in Omnidirectional LOS. All "Image Generation Options" will be available.
Note that, when a sensor is attached to a marker, it will have a pyramid instead of a sphere on top.
Directional LOS analysis will look different than omnidirectional LOS. The horizontal field of view may be
apparent in the results (right).
Important: Boresight angles are defined relative to the sensor, not the marker. Therefore, most elevation
angles are likely to be negative. To convert a "Grazing Angle" to a Quick Terrain Modeler elevation angle,
simply place a negative sign in front of the angle (e.g., 20 degree grazing angle becomes -20 degree elevation
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angle from the sensor perspective). To convert a ground perspective Azimuth angle to a sensor-view
azimuth angle, simply add 180 (e.g., 45 degree azimuth angle from ground perspective becomes 225 degree
azimuth angle from the sensor perspective.
In the "Select" Observer(s) section of the interface, click the "Edit Markers" button.
Using the Marker pull down menu, select the marker upon which to attach a sensor.
Check the "Sensor Attached" box and press the "Edit Sensor" button.
Input the following parameters:
Azimuth in degrees clockwise from north relative to the sensor (camera)
Elevation in degrees up from the horizon. Negative values are required for situations in which the
sensor is "looking down" (i.e., pointing below the horizon relative to the sensor).
Roll in degrees clockwise looking down the "boresight" (i.e., the centerline of the sensor's orientation)
Horizontal Field of View (FOV) in degrees.
Vertical Field of View (FOV) in degrees.
Range should be set to zero for cameras or sensors at the location of the marker.
Click "OK" and "OK" in the open windows.
Perform LOS analysis exactly as in Omnidirectional LOS. All "Image Generation Options" will be available.
(Left) LOS map based on a sensor pointing at Marker 2. The sensor is 10,000 meters away with an azimuth
of 180 (looking directly south), an elevation of -20 (i.e., a "grazing angle" of 20 degrees) and a Horizontal and
Vertical Field of View of 2 degrees. (Right) Checking the "Make "No" Solid Black" option will starkly highlight
shadow areas. These are areas in which the sensor has no visibility.
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Below: Random Point Vector LOS showing LOS to three observers and no LOS to one observer. Typing "L"
on the keyboard will remove the vectors from the display.
Note that either Virtual LOS (Marker) or Virtual LOS (Line) may be displayed, but both cannot be displayed
at the same time.
To perform Virtual Line of Sight around a marker, follow these simple steps (click to expand topics and see
graphics):
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installing it. Integrated graphics chipsets (e.g., Intel) will have a more difficult time supporting advanced
graphics capabilities.
To perform Virtual Line of Sight down a line, follow these simple steps (click to expand topics and see
graphics):
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between the traveler and specific positions in the terrain that are represented by markers. However, if
there are many markers in the terrain, the display can become very busy and therefore distracting,
thus making it desirable to uncheck this box and turn the vectors off. An alternative to turning vectors
off entirely is to simply uncheck some of the markers in the layer tree.
Traveler Height: The traveler is the marker along the path. Use the slider or the input box to set the
eye-level height of the traveler - either above ground or above the vector as noted above. Changing the
traveler/observer height will cause two icons to appear next to the traveler marker. The two icons
represent the relative heights of the traveler (eyeball icon) and the observer (person icon). Changing
traveler/observer heights raises and lowers these icons along the marker pin in scale with the terrain.
Observer Height: Height above the ground of the observer (i.e., everywhere in the scene except the
traveler marker). Note that QT Modeler will simply add the observer height to the elevation of every
location in the scene. I.e., QT Modeler has no way of knowing if a location is on the ground or on a
building, tree, or other tall object.
Limit Range?: Check the box to limit the distance of the LOS analysis. Use the slider or the input box to
set the range from the traveler. Units will be in the current display units of the model.
Analysis Menu > Visibility Analysis > Travel Route Line of Sight Map (Button: )
Travel Route Line of Sight Analysis analyzes the visibility in all directions in a terrain along a predefined route
at user defined intervals. There are only two basic requirements to perform this analysis:
1. Travel Route LOS can only be performed on a surface model (.QTT, GeoTIFF DEM, DTED, etc.)
2. LOS analysis is performed along a predefined route so a Mensuration Line must be present.
Cumulative Coloration
Basic Coloration
There are two analysis types for line of sight. They are as follows:
Basic Coloration: Basic coloration performs LOS analysis and applies a color to the model based on one of
four conditions:
o Above Threshold – If the number of observations (samples) along the line is greater than the defined
Sample Cutoff on a pixel by pixel basis.
o Below Threshold – If the number of observations (samples) along the line is less than the defined
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Cumulative Coloration: This coloration uses a blue to red palette that represents the percentage of
samples that have visibility to each cell. Blue represents "1%" and red represents "100%". For example, if
100 samples along the line were used for the analysis, a color of blue would represent a location that had
visibility to one sample, aqua would represent a location that had visibility to 20 samples, and so on up
the color wheel until red represents an area that has visibility to all 100 samples. A condition of no
visibility is still represented by light gray and "not evaluated" by dark gray.
Instructions:
1. Place mensuration line in terrain.
2. Choose Basic or Cumulative Coloration as your analysis type
3. In “Sampling Parameters”, choose the distance between samples desired along the mensuration line as
well as a minimum number of samples you want included in a given pixel across the model.
4. In "Viewing Parameters", choose your observer height (the samples along the route are the observers, the
rest of the terrain is the "target"). The default is set to 1.8m, roughly the eye-level height of a human
being. If you want to evaluate line of sight for a vehicle window, then the number should be changed to
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Helpful Hints:
Watch the "Number of Samples". The time required to perform the entire calculation is directly
proportional to the number of samples. If this number gets large (i.e., hundreds of samples), calculation
could take a very long time. Consider spacing the samples further apart (e.g., every 5 meters instead of
every 1 meter) to dramatically reduce calcualtion time.
Make sure your mensuration line is very precisely placed. Obstructions along the route such as signage,
vegetation, etc will make a vast difference in the results of the line of sight analysis depending on the line
placement.
Consider saving the mensuration line for future reference by right clicking in the layer tree or choose
Analysis > Export Mensuration
Use "Cumulative Coloration" to evaluate areas of high visibility to your route.
Make sure the Vertex Colors toggle is toggled to the "On" position. If you do not see results immediately
after the calculation is complete, this is usually the reason. The vertex color toggle looks like this:
Example:
Example Above: Settings for Cumulative Coloration map for samples every 2 meters along the mensuration
line. Each sample is taken at 1.8 meters above the ground and a the target height of 1.8 meters above each
cell. A minimum of 2 samples must have LOS to be included in the results (Sample Cutoff). Click images to
expand them.
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If multiple models are loaded, statistical calculations will be performed on all visible models.
The use of Grid Statistics breaks down into a few basic operations:
The grid is always rectangular and is based on the XY extents of the model. The resulting exported
GeoTIFFs will be of the same dimensions and orientation. If a grid cell has no data in it (e.g., if the
data set is irregularly shaped) Quick Terrain Modeler will not calculate statistics for that cell, and it
will be represented as "no data" in exported GeoTIFF products.
The grid is always aligned with the primary XY axes of the model. Therefore, if the model is oriented
north up (i.e., no rotation), the resultant grid will be oriented north up.
The initial grid spacing set by Quick Terrain Modeler is 3 times the average point spacing of the
loaded model. The user can either keep this value, or set another value.
Each grid "cell" is a square of n x n units, where n is the user set grid spacing in the "spacing" field
and units are specified in the pull down menu.
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Choosing variables and statistics in the "Calculate Statistics" portion of the window:
status bar will remain visible even when the calculation is complete. The "Minimum" and "Maximum"
windows will be populated with the minimum and maximum values for the specified calculation.
1. Evaluate the range of values calculated. The initial evaluation is in the "Minimum" and "Maximum"
values of th calculate metrics windows.
2. Set Display Range: This sets a range of statistical values that will be displayed. This should be based upon
the minimum and maximum values. The two ways to set the display range are:
Set Manually: A user can manually type in minimum and maximum values and click the "Set
Manually" button.
Autoset: Clicking "Autoset" will set the range of the display from the 5th to the 95th percentiles in
the distribution histogram.
3. Choose a palette.
Blank: Starting with a blank palette allows users to set specific break points and customized color
schemes. See separate section on Grid Stats: Blank Color Palette
Continuous Color Blue to Red: This is a color ramp with blue at the low end and red at the high end
of the range.
Earth Tones: This is a 13 segment banded color scheme with no "ramp" between the colors (i.e., each
cell will become one of the 13 colors).
Color Wheel: The color wheel is a continuous color palette that starts at red, goes to blue, and comes
back to red in a full circuit of the color wheel. It is useful for coloring on "Aspect", which is measured
in degrees clockwise from north. Because an aspect of 359 degrees and 0 degrees are very similar,
the color wheel option is best suited for aspect display.
4. Click "Apply". Make sure the "Show Texture" button is toggled on, as the statistical result will be
displayed as a texture.
5. Force Colors: Forces display results into vertex colors as opposed to a texture. This may be desirable
when evaluating a large model if there is insufficient video memory to display a\the large analysis result
texture.
6. Turn on legend (Display Menu...Options...Show Legend) to display color legend of statistical result.
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Quality assurance tasks with specific statistical cutoff for quality (e.g., minimum points per square
meter).
Looking for specific objects above a terrain (e.g., sort on Z range to get minimum object height AGL).
Isolating specific statistical bands for future export.
Custom palette created from blank palette, highlighting specific areas of high and low point counts:
2) Push Stat into QTA: This choice will append a new attribute and associated value to each point in a QTA
point cloud. Please note that this value is based on the result within each statistical grid cell, so every
point in that cell will have the identical statistical value. For example, if a user calculates Z Deviation on a
2m grid, then each and every point within a given cell will have the same Z deviation value in the Z
Deviation attribute. Pushing Grid Stats into QTA will enable using grid stats results as part of QTA
multivariate filtering.
3) Save GeoTIFF: Exports a GeoTIFF with an array of 24-bit RGB values that represent the display of the
statistical results (but not the actual values). (Click "Save GeoTIFF" button)
4) Three actions can also be access by right clicking on the grid stats palette in a specific band of interest
a) Export Points: Export the selected band of points as LAS or ASCII (Note: this action will export all
points if the continuous palettes are being used).
b) Cut Points: Cut (i.e., delete) the points in the selected band (Note: this action will cut all points if the
continuous palettes are being used).
c) Decimate: Decimate the points by factors of 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, or 100. (Note: this action will decimate
all points if the continuous palettes are being used).
Buttons used for exporting values of the entire model (left) and sample text of exported ASCII values (right)
Interface showing right clicking in the color palette to act upon a statistical band of data:
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1. Saving/Loading Templates: Saves the entire contents of the grid statistics interface for future reference.
This saves grid size, variable, statistic, and all custom palette information. This is useful when performing
the same analysis on many data sets.
Compare temporally different data sets to each other to identify and quantify change.
Compare original point data sets to gridded data sets in an effort to assess the impact of gridding to
vertical accuracy.
Compare two data sets together to quantify the impact of data decimation/thinning.
The statistical model comparison tool is simply a specific configuration of the Grid Statistics tool. To
compare two models statistically:
All other functions (calculate, visualize, etc.) will be identical to the grid statistics tool. Please note that the
exported GeoTIFF product when clicking the "Save Values" button will either be MGRS or Difference, but
both will be represented in a 32-bit field
tool enables the creation of custom, interactive, 3D Grid References Graphics (GRG's), that, in conjunction
with QT Modeler's Imagery Overlay tools, Marker Tagging, Analysis Tools (e.g., Line of Sight, HLZ, Slope/
Mobility), Google Earth Synchronization, and flexible export tools (e.g., PowerPoint, GeoTIFF, KML, SHP etc.)
create opportunities to create and interact with GRG's, both in 3D and 2D.
Instructions:
Things to Consider Before you Start (Size and Spacing of Grid, Intended Purpose)
Before creating custom grid lines, it is worth considering a few things regarding your desired final product,
the amount of time available, and the models currently loaded. Some things to consider:
The grid will always be oriented North up with no rotation.
The grid will always begin in the nearest spacing increment in the user's coordinate system. For example,
if the user specifies a 1000 meter grid, Quick Terrain Modeler will start the grid on X and Y coordinates
that are an even multiple of 1000 meters.
Very dense grids (e.g., 25m) are only useful when zoomed in. Therefore, if a dense grid is required,
consider zooming in to the area of interest and checking the "Crop to Visible Area" check box to limit grid
creation. This will also make grid creation faster.
Generating a grid on point clouds will take longer than on a surface model.
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Tick Marks
Choose to display major, minor, and/or interior tick marks.
Creating the Grid: Check "Show Grid" and Click the "Generate" Button
The last step in generating grid lines is to check the "Show Grid" check box and click "Generate". Please note
that grid lines can be removed by unchecking "Show Grid" and clicking "Generate" again.
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Grid lines can be turned on and off by selecting Show/Hide from the Display menu. Select Show/Hide
Models. Unselect the model called GridLines.
Grid lines can be permanently removed by selecting Remove Models from the File menu. Select the
GridLines model and click OK.
1. Real time contour lines (aka, "Virtual" Contour Lines) for display purposes only.
2. Vector contour lines which can be exported in many vector formats (e.g., shp, kml).
You must specify a line spacing, minimum and maximum contour levels, and a sampling level. The spacing
(defined in the Real Time contour portion), minimum, and maximum determine the altitudes for which
contour lines are generated. The sampling determines the resolution of the contour lines, and is defined in
the units of the model. Thus a sampling of "1.0" will generate contour lines at 1 meter resolution in a UTM
model, or 1 foot in a US State Plane model. Contour lines will take longer to generate and will require more
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memory as the sampling gets smaller, but will also more closely match smaller model features. It takes
much longer to generate contour lines for ungridded QTC point clouds than it does for QTT or DTED models.
Contour Lines will be generated as a vector model named "contour", which can then be saved, loaded, or
removed as normal for any other QT model.
If you intend to export the contour lines as DXF or shapefiles, it is helpful to check the "Consolidate
Contour" checkbox. This function minimizes the number of individual line segments in the resulting file.
Without checking this box, Quick Terrain Modeler will generate contour lines in the fastest manner possible,
but exports may result in an excessive number of lines segments.
Contour lines can be turned on and off by selecting Show/Hide from the Display menu. Select Show/Hide
Models. Unselect the model called Contour.
Contour lines can be permanently removed by selecting Remove Models from the File menu. Select the
"Contour" model and click OK.
Contour Line repeatability: In order to precisely repeat contour lines on multiple models that may have
been created from multiple overlapping data sets, please ensure the following:
1. Build models without rotation. Make sure the "Allow Rotated Grid" box is unchecked on the
Import window.
2. Use the same grid sampling for each model.
3. Use the same contour sampling for each model.
If these steps are not taken, there may be a slight X-Y variance in the contour lines proportional to the
grid sampling and/or the contour sampling.
Contour lines can be exported as DXF, KML, or shapefile. Choose Export Model from the Export Menu.
Select the "Contour" model and export either as "AutoCAD ASCII DXF" or as "ESRI Shape File".
The Generate Contour Lines Window and Example Contour Line Generation.
Instructions: Load a model. Choose "Generate Outline" from the Analysis menu. You will see the perimeter
outline appear. Choose "Export Model" from the Export menu. Select the model called "Outline" and
choose "ESRI Shape File" as the export format. Click "Export". Choose a directory and file name for the
exported shape file.
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Instructions:
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will sample the elevations of the model and create true 3D sampled vectors.
Flat Z: Choosing Flat Z creates range rings by averaging the elevation values of each ring and assigning
the ring that elevation. If you create multiple concentric rings, each ring gets its own average elevation
value assigned.
Export Options
As noted above, range rings are a vector model and can be exported to vector formats such as Shape file
and KML. Go to the Export Menu, choose "Export Models, choose the range rings from the model list and
choose the export format from the pull down menu. See below for an example of KML export of range
rings to Google Earth.
Instructions: Select "Import Mensuration from Shapefile" from the Analysis menu. Select the appropriate
shape file. A Shapefile Importer window will appear. Enter the appropriate Geo Registration information to
ensure that the shapefile is projected appropriately. Click OK. The mensuration line will appear
immediately.
Notes:
Mensuration lines will be saved as 3-D shape files. The shape files will contain as many line
segments as were specified in the original mensuration line. For example, if the original mensuration
line had ten segments, the saved 3-D shapefile will also have ten segments.
If you need to save a selected area rather than a line, please use the Save Selection as a Shapefile
tool in the Edit menu. Saving a selection as a shape file will result in a 2-D shape file being saved.
Instructions: Draw a mensuration line. Select "Save Mensuration as Shapefile" from the Analysis menu.
Designate a file name. Click the Save button. The shapefile can now be imported into any application
that can read shapefiles.
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demonstrate survey quality metrics to customers (e.g., FEMA LiDAR Specifications for Flood Hazard
Mapping).
The point query utility examines a list of points (this list must be in ASCII text format), compares the
elevation of the points to elevations in a loaded model, and exports a custom report of the results. The
steps to perform this analysis are as follows:
1. Load or create a model against which you wish to compare the ground truth (or other) points. The
Point Query Utility works on gridded surface models (QTT) as well as ungridded point clouds (QTC).
Note: If the Point Query Utility is used on a .QTT gridded surface model, the query result is simply the
elevation value at each X-Y point in the surface model. If the Point Query Utility is used on a .QTC
point cloud, Quick Terrain Modeler will locally TIN (Triangular Irregular Network) the surface to
establish a surface value against which to query for an elevation value (since it is highly unlikely for
the X-Y value in the point query to coincide with an actual point). Quick Terrain Modeler will not
render the local TIN, it will only calculate the TIN values mathematically. Thus, the elevation value
returned by sampling the .QTC model is the result of sampling the specific TIN triangle associated
with the X-Y value. This TINing methodology is in compliance with the Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA) standards for establishing RMSE and quality control of LiDAR surveys.
2. Go to the Analysis menu, select "Point Query Utility..." from the menu. The ASCII Point Query
window will appear.
3. Select the model to query in the top pulldown menu. The user may specify a specific individual
model, or if multiple models are loaded, users can select "All Models". Selecting "All Models" will
perform the query on all loaded models. In areas where multiple models overlap and the user has
chosen "All Models", the Point Query Utility will return the highest elevation value in that specific XY
location.
4. Select the Input File. The input file can either be a user-created list of ground truthing points, XYZ
values from another model, or any other ASCII data. At a minimum, the input file must be in an ASCII
columnar format and contain a column for XY locations (in the same coordinate system as the model
being queried) which need to be queried. The Point Query Utility can adapt to a variety of formats.
Once selected, a sample of the input file text can be previewed in the "Sample Text from File" window.
5. Configure the format for the input file. Specify the appropriate coordinate system. If the data is not
in UTM or Lat/Long, choose Cartesian. Specify the number of header rows (if any). Specify the
column numbers for Point ID, X (Easting), Y (Northing), Z (Altitude). Specify a delimiter (e.g., comma)
if necessary.
6. Select Options: Users can create markers at the location of the input points to visually inspect where
the ground truth points are in the model. Users can also choose to open a text editor upon report
completion.
7. Configure the format for the output file. The output file will be an ASCII formatted text file with a
customized column structure. Users must specify whether to use (by checking the checkbox) and if
so, specify a desired column for exporting the following parameters:
X - The X (Easting) position of the queried point.
Y - The Y (Northing) position of the queried point.
Z1 (Input) - The source elevation value of the input data set.
Z2 (Output) - The measured elevation value of the queried model.
Delta Z - The difference in elevation of input and output (Delta Z = Z2 - Z1).
Point ID - The name associated with each point.
If the Point ID is specified in the input file, the Point Query Utility will reuse the same Point ID's.
If the Point ID is not specified in the input file, but the user would like Point ID's to be created in
the output file, simply check the box and specify a column. QT Modeler will create Point ID's as
follows: Sample 1, Sample 2, Sample 3, etc.
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Include Statistics - Includes Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) and Z Bias. These will be calculated
for the entire data set and written as header lines in the output file.
Retain Unused Input Columns - Checking this box will append all unused columns to the end of
each point record row.
1. Calculate AGL heights of every point either by comparing to a bare earth model (if available) or by
quickly estimating a ground surface. Go to AGL - Ground Estimate
2. Once AGL Values are calculated, apply a color scheme based on AGL heights, rather than absolute
heights. Go to AGL - Visualization
3. Exploit the AGL model by querying points for their AGL heights, clipping data based on height AGL
(i.e., temporarily removing points based on their heights above ground), and swapping the AGL
elevation values with the absolute elevation values, and displaying an AGL height legend. Go to AGL -
Exploitation
4. Export products such as the 3D ground estimate, an ASCII file of the AGL points, and point clouds
edited by AGL values. Go to AGL - Export Products
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1) Choose whether to calculate a ground estimate or to select a bare earth model by selecting the
appropriate radio button.
a) Auto-Calculate Ground Estimate: If calculating a ground estimate, simply slide the slider bar between
"Fine Grid" and "Coarse Grid" based on the desired result. The finer the grid, the more closely the
result will attempt to follow the terrain, but the more likely large objects (e.g., a building or large tree)
will be interpreted as "ground". Conversely, the coarser the grid, the less likely a building or large tree
will be interpreted as ground, but the more likely that subtle changes in terrain will not be represented
in the ground estimate. Once the grid coarseness has been selected, press the "Calculate AGL" button
to calculate AGL height for all points.
b) Use External Model: If using an external bare earth model as a basis for the "ground" in the AGL
calculation, click the "Select Model" button and select the appropriate file. The AGL calculation will
happen automatically. The grid spacing slider is irrelevant when using an external model.
2) Regardless of the method for calculating AGL, the results will appear in the "Minimum" and "Maximum"
windows. These numbers represent the lowest and highest point/vertex values relative to the ground.
Note that these values could potentially be negative, as some points may be below the "ground" surface.
3) (Option) If the user has calculated a ground estimate as in step 1.a, it can be exported as a QTT gridded
surface model. This ground estimate can subsequently be loaded back into the scene to visually inspect
the basis for the assignment of AGL values. Upon inspection, a user may find it useful to recalculate the
ground estimate based on a coarser or finer grid, or to edit the ground estimate by removing spikes, then
recalculate the AGL values using the "External Model" method in 1.b. above.
Once the AGL values are calculated, the user can move to the next step, AGL Visualization Options.
Related Topics: AGL Analyst Overview, AGL Visualization, AGL Exploitation, AGL Export Products, Alpha
Filtering
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Related Topics: AGL Analyst Overview, AGL Visualization, AGL Exploitation, AGL Export Products, Alpha
Filtering
1) Clip Model based on AGL Value. When Quick Terrain Modeler calculates AGL values, it places the AGL
height in an "Alpha Value" attached to each point. To clip points based on their height AGL, go to the
Analysis Menu and select "Set Alpha Filtering". Choose to Filter Above, Filter Below, Filter Equal, or Filter
Not Equal. By entering values manually or sliding the slider, users can clip the data temporarily from
view. The advantage to Alpha Clipping over a standard clipping plane is that, if a terrain is not flat (e.g.,
hillside or rugged terrain), clipping by Alpha (i.e., AGL height), will "peel back" the canopy by the height of
the vegetation, rather than the absolute elevation of the vegetation. AGL clipping makes foliage
penetrating LiDAR collections very useful for identifying objects under the canopy. In addition, this type
of clipping is useful for removing or isolating vertical objects, power lines, trees, towers, or any object
that is higher than the ground. If a user desires,
2) Query individual points for AGL Values. Hold down "Shift" and left click on an individual point. The
display will show both the absolute and AGL height values of that point.
3) Swap AGL Heights with absolute heights. By pressing the "Swap AGL into Z" button, users can replace the
absolute heights in the model with AGL heights. The swap can be undone by pressing the "Undo Swap"
button. Swapping AGL heights into Z can be used to work entirely in AGL space, rather than absolute
space. Please note that, from a visual perspective, this may have the effect of "flattening" the terrain, so
may be undesirable for that reason.
Exploitation Examples: The figure on the left shows buildings that are visible once the tree canopy was
removed by AGL height. The figure on the right shows the AGL height of a radio tower (14.1 m) during a
point interrogation.
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Related Topics: AGL Analyst Overview, AGL Visualization, AGL Exploitation, AGL Export Products, Alpha
Filtering
1) Ground Estimate: The ground estimate can be exported as a QTT gridded surface model. Please note that
this is just a quick estimate, and not necessarily a true bare earth representation.
2) Exporting subset of Points based on AGL: To export a statistical band of points by AGL (e.g., all points
with an AGL value greater than 3.5 meters), simply customize the palette as shown in AGL - Visualization,
right click in a band of AGL values, then choose to export the points as LAS or ASCII. These points can also
be decimated or cut. See image below.
3) Export Entire Point Cloud Including AGL and Absolute Z Values. Pressing the "Export Points" button will
export a file of ASCII points in the format of X, Y, Z, R, G, B, AGL. See sample below.
Example showing the export of points having an AGL value of 3.5m or greater. Note that only the roof tops
and tree points (blue) will be exported:
Related Topics: AGL Analyst Overview, AGL Visualization, AGL Exploitation, AGL Export Products, Alpha
Filtering
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Scale: Scale is the average spacing between points in the point cloud. A scale value of 1.2 in a point cloud
measured in meters would indicate an average spacing between points of 1.2 meters. This is also referred
to as "posting".
Density: Density is the number of points per square unit. If the model is measured in meters, a value of 1.8
would indicate that, on average, there were 1.8 points per square meter.
Please note a QTA point cloud model will have a pulldown menu to select between different histograms.
3. Use the Select Rectangle or Select Polygon tools to define a sub-area of the model.
4. Go to the Analysis menu, choose "Find Highest Point in Area".
5. A red square will appear on the highest point and the Point Interrogation Tool will pop up.
6. Users can inspect the XYZ coordinates of the point, create a marker on the point, and/or delete the
point.
Scale: Scale is the average spacing between points in the point cloud. A scale value of 1.2 in a point cloud
measured in meters would indicate an average spacing between points of 1.2 meters. This is also referred
to as "posting"
Density: Density is the number of points per square unit. If the model is measured in meters, a value of 1.8
would indicate that, on average, there were 1.8 points per square meter.
Maximum Model Quantization Error: As Quick Terrain Modeler samples and stores values, there may be
some loss to model precision. Maximum Model Quantization Error is the maximum possible impact to
model precision that has been introduced by digitizing X, Y, and Z values. This quantization error will be
proportional to the range of values in the X, Y, and Z axes. Larger ranges will have larger quantization errors.
Compressing QTC models will increase the quantization error.
Important Note: Maximum Model Quantization Error is not the accuracy of the model data. Model
accuracy is dependent solely upon the accuracy of original survey data, and will be minimally impacted by
compressing model data. Do not use "Maximum Model Quantization Error" as an accuracy basis for
making critical spatial decisions (e.g., targeting, flight planning, etc.).
When working with QTA Models, the a histogram for all point attributes can be displayed by selecting the
specific attribute from the "Histogram" pull-down menu.
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Example: Volume Calculation of hill based on comparison to a flat plane at an elevation of 172 meters.
9.21 Filtering
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Instructions: Perform the binary change detection by selecting the Analysis menu, Add Vertex Colors to
Model, Change Detection Map. Choose the comparison model. Choose Binary Color change detection.
Select a noise threshold. Click OK. Once the change detection analysis is performed, use the Set Change
Detection Filtering option from the Analysis menu. Adjust minimum and maximum volumes and/or the
minimum and maximum differences (in altitude) as needed.
A Binary Change Detected Model and the Change Detection Filter Window:
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Clipping is a temporary operation until the "Crop Model" button is pressed. "Crop Model" permanently
deletes all points/vertices that have been visually clipped from the display. Caution: There is no "Undo"
function, so use "Crop Model" with care.
1. From the pull-down menus, select the model name you wish to filter and the attribute on which
to apply the filter (e.g., intensity). Click “Pack Attribute into Filter Channel” and the Minimum
and Maximum text boxes will populate with the min/max values of the selected attribute.
2. Select the type of filtering you wish to do by clicking the appropriate radio button (No Filtering,
Filter Above, Filter Below, Filter Inside Band, Filter Outside Band).
3. If necessary, reset the Minimum and Maximum to better reflect where the bulk of the points
are distributed using the histogram. Click Set Range Manually to reset the histogram.
4. The filter breakline can be adjusted by manually entering a number below the histogram and
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clicking the Set Value 1 button. The breakline can also be moved by left clicking and dragging
the line left and right.
5. The palette and histogram can be right clicked for added customization. Right click to add or
remove additional breaklines to create more filter classes. This context menu will also allow
you to show/hide (e.g., filter) and/or color the right clicked band. NOTE: the hatched pattern
means the band is hidden (filtered).
6. OPTIONAL, the histogram can be export by clicking the Export Histogram Button
7. OPTIONAL, the Crop Model button can be pushed to permanently remove the filtered points.
NOTE: the original source data will remain unchanged. The crop is only “permanent” within
the current Quick Terrain Modeler session. If needed, the original source data can be saved or
exported over, but this is generally NOT RECOMMENDED.
Figure 1. QTA Continuous Filtering window is set to color every point with an intensity value (from LAS) less
than 30 as red, and filter out all points with an intensity value greater than 30.
Figure 2. QTA Continuous Filtering window is set to filter the points outside a defined band of AGL (Above
Ground Level) values, calculated by the AGL Analyst Tool. In this example, points with an AGL of between 5
and 10 meters above the ground are green, while points below 5 and above 10 are filtered out.
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Instructions:
Open a model.
From the "Analysis" menu, select "Set Water Level".
The "Set Water Properties" Window will appear.
Select your desired water level by using the Water Level slider.
Select your desired water opacity by using the Water Opacity slider or by entering a numeric value.
Decide whether to clip the resultant model (i.e., eliminate areas above or below a certain threshold.)
The water level will rise and fall in real time as you move the slider.
Click "OK"
The terrain will show the simulated rise in water level
Once the desired water level is achieved, the user may draw a contour line representing everywhere the
"water" hits the model. To do this, simply click the contour button. The contour line will be drawn. Once
drawn, the contour line can be exported to an Auto CAD .dxf file. using the export tool.
Example:
The user needs to know what impact a flood stage at 173 meters has on the Serpent Mound Model. The
"Set Water Properties" Tool shows the user-input water elevation of 173 meters and the resulting impact on
the terrain. The user can now press the "Contour" button to draw a contour around the flooded area:
In addition, the user can perform a volume and/or area calculation on impacted regions by selecting an area
with either the Select Polygon or the Select Rectangle tool, then clicking the volume and/or area calculation
button. The volume calculation represents the volume of "water" above the surface of the model, below the
surface of the "water", and bounded in X and Y by the selection rectangle or polygon. The area calculation
represents the X-Y area occupied by "water" in the simulated flood. Both results will be in the units of the
model (e.g., for a model in meters, volume results will be in cubic meters and area results will be in square
meters). Note that water level will appear on the profile window (bottom).
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10 Menu - Display
Note: When a subset of loaded models are visible, resetting the view (from the primary button bar )
will only reset the view to the extents of the visible model(s), rather than to the extents of all loaded
models.
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Quick Terrain Modeler enables the output of a 3D stereo display signal. In order to enable and configure 3D
stereo output:
Hardware Requirements
QT Modeler's 3D stereo output capability requires a graphics card that support quad buffered stereo in
OpenGL, such as the NVIDIA Quadro series of video cards.
Attach the 3D stereo display to the computer. Restart QT Modeler. In Display > Options, the selection for
"Use 3D Stereo Display" should no longer be grayed out.
Separation: Establishes a multiplier for the distance that separates the left and right eye viewing
positions. The baseline eye separation is 1. Use the slider to increase eye separation by multiplying by
a factor greater than 1 (maximum = 2) or decrease separation by adjusting to a separation multiplier
less than 1 (smallest multiplier = 0.1). See diagram below.
Parallax: Changes the parallax angle by multiplying the baseline parallax angle by the multiplier
represented in the slider bar. It can be helpful also to think of this as moving the focus nearer/farther
to the observer, thus impacting the parallax angle of the two "eyes" shown in the diagram below.
Maximum = 2, minimum = -2.
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while the red arrows represent the direction from the camera to the model center. Thus, aligning the green
arrows with the red will point the camera at the model center. Once set, this option will persist even after
you close and restart the Quick Terrain Modeler.
Altitude Legend (shown below): The altitude legend displays relationship between altitude and color.
These colors can be set automatically with a pre-built palette (earth tones or blue-to-red) or can be
customized by the user. In any case, the altitude legend will be displayed in the lower left corner of the
Quick Terrain Modeler window.
Change Detection Legend: The change detection legend displays the relationship between the color of
the model surface and the change in altitude that was detected in the Change Detection analysis.
QTA Quick Coloration
Helicopter Landing Zone (HLZ) Analysis
Grid Statistics
Line of Sight Analysis
Instructions: To turn the legend on or off, simply check/uncheck the "Show Legend" selection in the Display
menu, Options settings.
Mini Map is always zoomed to full extents. You cannot zoom in.
Mini Map is always a 2D view
Mini Map cannot be rotated or tilted.
Mini Map is dockable. It can be undocked from the main window and enlarged to create a full-size 2D
context window, possibly on a secondary monitor. Simply click the "Undock" button contained
within the minimap button bar -
Mini Map shows a footprint of the visible model area (white vector outline) that is being visualized in
the primary window. Rather than the model and view moving, the model/view stays static and the
view footprint moves dynamically.
The diamond visible in the mini map is the position of the "camera" - i.e., where your "eyes" are as
you look into the primary 3D scene
Create markers (hold down 'M' and click)
Place mensuration line (type S, E, C, and click)
Place Vectors (Press V) now works on the minimap
Coordinate Conversion: Left click in Mini Map, press 'P' to call up coordinate converter
Create range rings: Left click in Mini Map, press 'R' to create range rings
Double Click on a location in the mini map to zoom to that location in the main view. Your current
camera position and orientation will be preserved.
Right click and drag a rectangle in the mini map to zoom to that rectangle in the primary view
Toggle height coloration, overlaid textures, vertex colors, vectors, and markers to make them visible/
invisible in the mini map
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Instructions: Simply go to the Display menu, Options submenu and check the "Show Model Names/
Outlines". Note: Quick Terrain Modeler's "Show Model Names/Outlines" function works continuously in 2-
D mode, but only works in 3-D mode if the user "Resets Display". In 3-D mode, as soon as the model moves
out of the original position, the tile map will disappear. The tile map will reappear after clicking the "Reset
Display" button.
QT Modeler can display measurements in a number of display units, regardless of the native units of the
model. For example, it may be useful to display measurements in feet, even if the native units of the model
are in meter. This conversion is for display purposes only and will not affect the underlying units of the
data. This tool can be accessed from the Display Menu > Options > Set Display Units. Use the pulldown
menu to select the desired display units. Use "Global Default" to display all measurements in the native
units of the model.
Mensuration Line
Scale Bar (2D Mode only)
Range Rings
AGL Analyst
LOS Analyst
Parade Route LOS
Point to Point LOS
HLZ Analyst
Z in status bar
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There are three basic ways to render the points of a point cloud:
1. Fixed Size: This setting will render all points the same size, regardless of zoom level or relative position to
the viewing plane. Use this in conjunction with the "Base Size" slider to optimize viewing of the point
cloud.
2. Point Autosize: This setting renders all points the same size, but will automatically adjust the size of the
points based on zoom level. As the user zooms in, the points become larger, and as the user zooms out,
the points become smaller. Point Autosizing should also be used in conjunction with he "Base Size" slider
to establish a preferred base size for the points.
3. Voxel Autosize: Voxel autosize will render points at different sizes, based on their relative position to the
viewing plane. Points that are close the viewing plane will be rendered large, whereas points that are far
from the viewing plane will be rendered small.
Checking the "Antialias (Circular Points)" button will do two things when in Voxel mode: First, the points
will become circular instead of square. Second, the delineation between "rings" of different sized points will
be eliminated. Please note that anti-aliasing happens on the graphics card, so very old versions of OpenGL
or cards with integrated graphics chips may see a significant rendering speed hit when using this feature. If
this is the case, simply uncheck the box.
It can be useful to toggle between these modes by clicking between the three radio buttons. Adjusting the
base size slider can also help achieve the desired point viewing effect.
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10.3.2 DisplaySettingsMensurationOptions
Display > Settings > Mensuration Settings
(Also accessed by pressing the "Options" button in the mensuration data window after a line has been
placed
The appearance of the mensuration line can be changed significantly as desired. The items that can be
changed on the mensuration line are:
1. Real Time Display (Readout): The real time readout on the end of the line can display one of the
following:
3D: displays the distance in 3 dimensions (XYZ distance), taking elevation change into account
when calculating the distance
2D: calculates and displays the distance in 2 dimensions (XY distance only).
Z: calculates and displays only the change in elevation from the beginning of the line to the
cursor position.
Slope: The slope between the two end points of the line. This is not an average slope
calculation. It is simply point to point.
Az: Displays the azimuth (heading) in degrees of the line from start to end.
Combo: Displays 3D distance, slope, and azimuth together. Good for documenting Helicopter
Landing Zones (HLZ).
None - no display.
3. Line Height: Only applicable to "floating" line. Sets the height above the terrain/point cloud that
the measurement line will be displayed.
4. Line Color: Click the line color button to change the color of the measurement line.
5. Line Display:
Floating: Mensuration line connects line nodes with a single, straight line.
Terrain Hugging: Mensuration line is sampled at roughly the data resolution, thus creating a
line that hugs the terrain.
Both: Display both floating and terrain hugging at the same time.
Images show the Mensuration Options Interface and terrain hugging/floating mensuration lines.
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Note: Exaggerating height scale can impact lighting conditions. The user may need to reset lighting to make
the terrain brighter.
The Serpent Mound Model before and after scaling the height by a factor of 4. Note the change in the
status bar:
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Note: While setting the lighting directions impacts the real time display of the model, it may also be helpful
to create a shadow map for specific lighting conditions. A shadow map will cast geo-correct shadows that
are not a normal part of the real-time lighting/shading. Shadow maps will not work on a point cloud.
Display > Layer Opacity (Also Accessed by Right Clicking "Special Overlays" Folder in Layer Tree)
Overview:
Layer Transparency allows for user defined customization of varying coloration. The Quick Terrain
Modeler has different color channels for variables such as Vertex Channel, Base Model, Height, Filter
Channel, Texture Imagery, and Lighting. These variables can be set for different transparency/opacity
for better visualization. Examples of use would be to configure the slider bars to show a vertex color
such as Intensity (when in the vertex channel), along with AGL (when in the filter channel) with overlaid
imagery (when in the texture slot). NOTE: Layer Transparency can also be accessed by left clicking the
Special Overlay line item in the layer tree.
1. Drag the Slider Bars for each variable toward the right to decrease their Transparency
2. Drag the Slider Bars for each variable toward the left to increase their Transparency
3. Check the check box at the top of the interface to reset the transparency after clearing all
models. This can be useful if transparency controls are set to meet specific conditions of a
given model/analysis/texture combination, but are generally not needed. Furthermore, finely
tuned layer opacity settings may not be as useful in the next project, and are easily overlooked.
Unless there is a specific need to remember layer opacity settings, this check box is best left
checked.
4. NOTE: there must be an attribute or data loaded for the slider bars to change opacity. For
example, if the vertex channel of the model is empty, the vertex color slider bar will have no
effect on the coloration.
5. NOTE: most of these variables are additive so that, in some combinations, the display of an
individual point may appear black. If this occurs, change the color band of the original attribute
in a place such as Analysis > QTA Attribute Analysis > Color By QTA Attribute
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Note that base model colors will be reflected in terrain profiles (shown on the right below). If multiple
models are set with different base colors, all of these colors will be reflected in the terrain profile window.
1. Change the coordinate system that reads out in the status bar. In order for this real time coordinate
conversion to occur, data must be in UTM or geodetic (lat/long) coordinates. At this time, QTM cannot
convert between state plane and other coordinate systems.
2. Show the range from the "camera" (i.e., simulating where the user's eyes are relative to the terrain) and
the model itself. This can be useful to understand what a scene may look like from a given distance. This is
the range from the camera to the point underneath the cursor.
Note that when the coordinates displayed in the status bar are no longer the native coordinates of the
model, the status bar will be colored yellow. In the example below, the range to the model at the point
under the cursor is 177.87 meters.
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Example: Four adjacent tiles of point cloud data with no model coloration:
Example: The same four adjacent tiles of point cloud data with model autocoloration and Show Model
Names/Outlines Activated:
The Configure Vector Models tool provides an interface to set display preferences for any loaded vector
model. In addition, the user can set the default display parameters for all vector models. Typical vector
models are:
Contour Lines
Grid Lines
Range Rings
Sampled/Unsampled Vector Annotation
Imported Vectors
1. Select vector model to configure. Use the "Vector Model" pull down menu. A vector model must be
loaded in the scene to appear in the list.
2. Rename Vector Model: This is an optional step that can make it easier to identify loaded vectors. For
example, there may be several vectors called "Mensuration1", "Mensuration2", etc. It may be helpful
to name the something more descriptive (e.g., building roofline, road, etc.)
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3. Set Line Style: Current choices are solid, dashed, dotted, dash-dot, and mensuration.
4. Set Line Color: Click the Set Color button and choose a color from the palette.
5. Choose an end style: Currently there is only a choice to apply arrows to either end.
6. Choose a Line Size: Alters the thickness of the vector line.
7. Add a caption by checking the "Display Caption" box, editing caption text, and choosing how/where
the caption should be displayed.
8. Set Defaults: Applied current choices to all future vectors placed in the model.
9. Sample Z from Models will sample a Z value from the loaded model at each vertex of a vector. These
sampled vectors can subsequently be exported as a 3D shapefile.
Display > Layer Opacity (Also Accessed by Right Clicking "Special Overlays" Folder in Layer Tree)
Overview:
Layer Transparency allows for user defined customization of varying coloration. The Quick Terrain
Modeler has different color channels for variables such as Vertex Channel, Base Model, Height, Filter
Channel, Texture Imagery, and Lighting. These variables can be set for different transparency/opacity
for better visualization. Examples of use would be to configure the slider bars to show a vertex color
such as Intensity (when in the vertex channel), along with AGL (when in the filter channel) with overlaid
imagery (when in the texture slot). NOTE: Layer Transparency can also be accessed by left clicking the
Special Overlay line item in the layer tree.
1. Drag the Slider Bars for each variable toward the right to increase their Transparency
2. Drag the Slider Bars for each variable toward the left to increase their Transparency
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3. NOTE: there must be an attribute or data loaded for the slider bars to change opacity. For
example, if the vertex channel of the model is empty, the vertex color slider bar will have no
effect on the coloration.
4. NOTE: most of these variables are additive so that, in some combinations, the display of an
individual point may appear black. If this occurs, change the color band of the original attribute
in a place such as Analysis > QTA Attribute Analysis > Color By QTA Attribute
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11 Menu - Control
11.3 Go to Point
The "Go to Point" function performs the same function as the coordinate conversion utility which is as
follows:
Provides a simple way to convert a single point between five coordinate systems - UTM, Geodetic
(decimal degrees), Geodetic (Degrees/minutes), Geodetic (degrees/minutes/seconds), and Military
Grid Reference System (MGRS).
Allows the user to quickly zoom to the location specified in the interface or to pre-placed markers.
Create markers in specific locations.
Convert existing marker positions between the five coordinate systems mentioned above.
Determine elevation values for specific X-Y positions.
Manually: To manually go to a specific location, simply type in the coordinates in one of the five
available coordinate system input fields. Regardless of which coordinate system is entered, all five
will be immediately updated to the new position.
From a Marker: If markers are loaded, the user can select a marker from the "Marker" pull down
menu. Once a marker is selected, the position of the marker will be populated in the five coordinate
systems.
From a Position in the model: To convert the coordinates of any position in the model, simply point
the cursor to that position, left click the mouse, and type "P" on the keyboard. The position under
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Entering Altitude
The default position of the "Altitude" field is set to AGL (Above Ground Level) with a value of zero. This
means that the position is resting on the surface of the model. To set a specific altitude, either set the AGL
value to a nonzero number (e.g., to simulate a planned observation tower), or set an absolute elevation
value.
Creating Markers
Once a position has been entered either manually (by typing the position into one of the input fields) or
from a position in the model (by left clicking on a model position and typing "P"), the user can create a
marker in that position. The user must manually type a marker name in the marker name field (to the right
of the "Create Marker Named..." button). A marker will appear. Markers can be edited, saved, and
exported. Furthermore, markers of locations can be sent to users of the Quick Terrain Modeler or the free
Quick Terrain Reader to share positional information. Please note that markers also form the basis of line of
sight analysis.
"Look Here": This function brings the location (or marker) to the center of the screen, but using the
current camera position. This operation is equivalent to rotating one's head to put an object in the
center of the field of view. The head (camera) is rotated (camera heading) and/or tilted (camera
pitch), but the head (camera) stays in the same position. For this reason, Zoom level is irrelevant
with respect to "Look Here". To "Look" at a point, simply enter the position manually or by typing
"P", then click "Look Here". To "Look" at a marker, simply select the appropriate marker from the
pull down menu and click "Look Here"
"Go Here": This function reorients the model so the user is looking straight down (nadir view) on the
position or marker. In contrast to the "Look Here" function, the "Go Here" function moves the
camera position, points it straight down at the marker, and orients the model north-up. The Zoom
Level is important when using the "Go Here" function, as it will determine how closely the user is
zoomed in when the "Go Here" button is pressed
"Zoom Level": Zoom Level determines how closely the user will be zoomed in when using the "Go
Here" function. The zoom level is irrelevant when using the "Look Here" function.
Point to point viewing enables the user to "become" a marker (i.e., position QTM's camera right at the
marker location and look out across the 3D scene) and look at other markers in the scene. The control
mode will shift to "free flight mode" while performing point to point viewing. This means the camera will
look right/left/up/down from the position of the marker. In addition, the user can see distances, changes in
elevation, angles of inclination, line of sight vectors, and optionally look at the terrain profile between the
markers.
Open Point Viewing from the Control Menu or Analysis > Visibility Analysis Menu
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The viewing perspective will change to being "on top of" the marker and looking at the "Look At" marker.
Use the radio buttons to show the Line of Sight (LOS) vectors between the observer and the target
("selected") or between the observer and every other marker in the scene ("All"). Note that these vectors
may not be visible from the original perspective after clicking "Show Me".
Click "View Profile" to call up the terrain profile analysis window and "refresh list" to update list of
available markers (if new markers were placed after opening the Point to Point LOS window).
Note, simply zooming to the extents of the model without resetting the parameters above can be achieved
by pressing the reset display button.
While you manipulate the Modeler in any mode, it will adjust the refinement level at which it displays the
model to maintain the current target frame rate - which defaults to 8 frames per second. This value may be
altered by selecting Set Frame rate from the Control...Options menu.
In all modes except Model Mode collision detection will be enforced unless you disable it in the Options
menu. Pressing the "Space bar" will always rotate the camera to face the center of the model, while
selecting Reset Viewer from the Commands menu will return the camera to its initial position and
orientation. Pressing "T" (for Transport) will automatically move the camera to the position on the surface
of the model indicated by the current mouse position.
In all modes you may change the lighting angle by holding down the "Ctrl" key and the Right mouse button
and dragging the mouse. If you have selected Show Light from the Options menu, you will be provided with
a graphical indication of the light direction while you change the lighting angle.
Holding down the left mouse button and dragging the mouse will rotate your view in space (the same
may be accomplished using the arrow keys). Motion in Flight mode is cylindrical - you will rotate with
respect to the absolute z-axis rather than with respect to your view direction (as in the Model mode).
Holding down the right button will cause you to begin moving forward until you release the button (the
same may be accomplished using "Home" and "End" on the keyboard, or using the mouse-wheel on
wheel-mice).
Holding down "Shift" and the right mouse button and dragging cause you to slide in space - sideways for
horizontal mouse motion and up/down for vertical mouse motion.
Holding down "Shift" and the left mouse button and dragging will cause you to roll with respect to the
terrain.
Movement speed may be altered by selecting Set Moving Speed from the Control...Options menu.
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Holding down the left mouse button and dragging the mouse will rotate the model in space (the same
may be accomplished using the arrow keys).
Holding down the right button and dragging will translate the model's position in space.
Holding down both buttons and dragging will zoom in and out (the same may be accomplished using
"Home" and "End" on the keyboard, or using the mouse-wheel on wheel-mice).
Holding down the left mouse button and dragging the mouse will rotate your view about the target point
(the same may be accomplished using the arrow keys).
Holding down the right button and dragging will pan the camera, allowing you to move to a new target
point.
Holding down both buttons and dragging will zoom in and out (the same may be accomplished using
"Home" and "End" on the keyboard, or using the mouse-wheel on wheel-mice).
Checking the "Google Earth Style Zoom" simply reverses the functionality of the mouse scroll wheel with
respect to zooming. The default behavior is to pull the wheel towards you to zoom in, push the wheel away
from you to zoom out. Checking this choice reverses the functionality, thus making the scroll wheel behave
identically to Google Earth and some other geospatial software packages. To change the functionality, go to
Control Menu > Control Mode > Google Earth Style Zoom and check/uncheck the feature as desired.
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A non-continuous synchronization with Google Earth can be achieved by unchecking "Synchronize Google
Earth" and simply typing "G" on the keyboard whenever a periodic synchronization of views is desired.
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12 Menu - Markers
Provides the same functionality as the Place Marker Pin button . The user can add custom labeled and
colored markers to indicate positions of important features and to create Line-of-Sight maps. To place a
marker, the user can click on the "Place Marker Pin" button in the toolbar, left-clicking and dragging the
mouse on the model to the desired position. The user can then edit markers positions, names, sizes and
colors by selecting Edit Marker, Set Marker Size and Show Labels from the Markers menu.
Markers can also be placed by holding down "M" on the keyboard and left clicking on the location where a
marker needs to be placed.
NOTE: Markers will NOT be automatically saved when saving a model. Markers must be saved separately in
the Markers pull-down menu and loaded as a Tile Set later.
Provides a simple way to convert a single point between five coordinate systems - UTM, Geodetic
(decimal degrees), Geodetic (Degrees/minutes), Geodetic (degrees/minutes/seconds), and Military
Grid Reference System (MGRS).
Allows the user to quickly zoom to the location specified in the interface or to pre-placed markers.
Create markers in specific locations.
Convert existing marker positions between the five coordinate systems mentioned above.
Determine elevation values for specific X-Y positions.
Manually: To manually go to a specific location, simply type in the coordinates in one of the five
available coordinate system input fields. Regardless of which coordinate system is entered, all five
will be immediately updated to the new position.
From a Marker: If markers are loaded, the user can select a marker from the "Marker" pull down
menu. Once a marker is selected, the position of the marker will be populated in the five coordinate
systems.
From a Position in the model: To convert the coordinates of any position in the model, simply point
the cursor to that position, left click the mouse, and type "P" on the keyboard. The position under
the cursor will be populated in all five coordinate systems.
Entering Altitude
The default position of the "Altitude" field is set to AGL (Above Ground Level) with a value of zero. This
means that the position is resting on the surface of the model. To set a specific altitude, either set the AGL
value to a nonzero number (e.g., to simulate a planned observation tower), or set an absolute elevation
value.
Creating Markers
Once a position has been entered either manually (by typing the position into one of the input fields) or
from a position in the model (by left clicking on a model position and typing "P"), the user can create a
marker in that position. The user must manually type a marker name in the marker name field (to the right
of the "Create Marker Named..." button). A marker will appear. Markers can be edited, saved, and
exported. Furthermore, markers of locations can be sent to users of the Quick Terrain Modeler or the free
Quick Terrain Reader to share positional information. Please note that markers also form the basis of line of
sight analysis.
"Look Here": This function brings the location (or marker) to the center of the screen, but using the
current camera position. This operation is equivalent to rotating one's head to put an object in the
center of the field of view. The head (camera) is rotated (camera heading) and/or tilted (camera
pitch), but the head (camera) stays in the same position. For this reason, Zoom level is irrelevant
with respect to "Look Here". To "Look" at a point, simply enter the position manually or by typing
"P", then click "Look Here". To "Look" at a marker, simply select the appropriate marker from the
pull down menu and click "Look Here"
"Go Here": This function reorients the model so the user is looking straight down (nadir view) on the
position or marker. In contrast to the "Look Here" function, the "Go Here" function moves the
camera position, points it straight down at the marker, and orients the model north-up. The Zoom
Level is important when using the "Go Here" function, as it will determine how closely the user is
zoomed in when the "Go Here" button is pressed
"Zoom Level": Zoom Level determines how closely the user will be zoomed in when using the "Go
Here" function. The zoom level is irrelevant when using the "Look Here" function.
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If a user enters an altitude Above Ground Level (AGL), Quick Terrain Modeler will query the model and reset
the altitude value to that distance above the model.
The sensor is defined relative to the marker position. The following parameters must be specified by the
user:
Boresight Angle: Boresight is defined as the line that begins at the center of the sensor and ends at the
marker the user has created and to which the sensor model is attached. All parameters defined in the
sensor are relative to this boresight which becomes the centerline for the angles defined below:
Sensor Azimuth: Azimuth is measured in degrees clockwise from north (north as defined in the model).
Note that this angle is relative to the sensor. If the user has defined the sensor position relative to the
ground point, simply add 180 degrees to the ground azimuth.
Sensor Elevation: Elevation is defined as degrees up from horizontal relative to the sensor. Because it
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is defined relative to the sensor, most airborne sensors will have a negative value for elevation. If the
user wishes to convert a "grazing angle" to sensor elevation angle, simply insert a negative sign in front
of the elevation angle (e.g., 30 degree grazing angle becomes -35 degree sensor elevation angle).
Sensor Roll: Roll is defined as degrees clockwise relative to the boresight that starts at the sensor and
ends at the marker.
Field of View:
Horizontal Field of View (FOV): This is defined in degrees of total field horizontal of view centered along
the sensor boresight.
Vertical Field of View (FOV): This is defined in degrees of total field vertical of view centered along the
sensor boresight.
Range:
Range: Range is defined as the distance from the sensor to the marker along the boresight. The setting
of range will likely fall into one of two categories:
a.) Sensors which are intended to be mounted on top of the marker (e.g., video surveillance camera,
microwave communications antenna): These sensors should have their range set to zero.
b.) Sensors that will be relatively far from the markers (e.g., airborne camera, LiDAR sensor, etc.) should
have their range set to the distance between the sensor and the marker.
Save/Load Sensor Profile: Marker profiles can be saved and reloaded later by simply clicking the "Save"
button, naming the file, and "Loading" later.
Two potential scenarios: The first (left) shows a potential setup for a surveillance camera that is intended to
be mounted "on top of" the marker. The second (right) illustrated a hypothetical airborne sensor that is 10
km from the marker and has a 2 degree field of view. Note the negative elevation value.
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Instructions:
Select Import From ASCII File from the Markers Menu.
Select the ASCII file in which the markers are stored. An import window will appear. It will have a
preview of the marker file in the "Sample Text from File" window. Note: if importing from a CSV file,
please refer to the "Import marker from CSV File" Topic. Select the column to be used for the Marker
Name. This is the text value that will be displayed as the marker label. It can be any column available.
Specify the appropriate number of header lines as well as the column number for X (Easting), Y
(Northing), Z (Altitude).
If specific colors are associated with the data files, specify the columns for RGB by pressing the
"Import RGB" button and specify the columns in which the colors are stored. If no specific colors are
required, leave the "Import RGB" checkbox unchecked.
Specify the coordinate system and UTM Zone (if applicable).
Choosing the "Interpolate Z From Models" radio button allows the user to derive an elevation value
from the loaded model instead of from the marker information table.
Choosing "Interpret Z as AGL" will place the markers above the terrain at the height specified in the
elevation column. Use this if importing markers for use in Line of Sight Analysis.Click OK.
Markers should appear immediately in the terrain.
Notes:
If you require specific names for markers, specify the appropriate column of the ASCII data. The Quick
Terrain Modeler will automatically name the markers based on the specified column. Do not include
spaces in the names, as this will alter the column structure.
It is helpful to think of the marker as a point in space. Therefore, it only has one elevation value. The
user must decide if this elevation value should be on the surface (interpolated from the model), above
the surface (AGL), or at a specific elevation (e.g., ground truth points).
The "Strip Zone from Easting" checkbox should only be checked if the raw data has a UTM zone
prepended to the easting value (e.g., Optech REALM data). Otherwise, leave this box unchecked.
If markers are categorized in broad groups (e.g., seismic sources, geophones, cell phone towers, power
transmission towers, etc.), it may be helpful for all markers in each group to be colored identically.
For example, all cell phone towers could be red and all power transmission towers could be green.
These values must be set in the source data file. In the source data file, red, green and blue values
should be in separate columns. If you desire markers to be the same color, make sure the same color
value is specified for each one in the source data file. If no colors are specified, the Quick Terrain
Modeler will assign a different color to each marker.
The user may still edit markers once imported.
The two figures below show the Serpent Mound Model before and after importing four marker files from an
ASCII text file. The figure below shows the ASCII Text file import window.
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The examples below show three possible configurations for importing markers. The first shows a
configuration that will place the markers at a specific elevation in the terrain. The second configuration
interpolated the marker elevation value from the model. The third interprets the elevation value as height
Above Ground Level (AGL), used primarily for Line of Sight Analysis.
To create markers from a CSV (Comma Separated Variable) file, follow these steps:
Load a model.
Choose import markers from ASCII in the Marker Menu.
Choose a CSV file to import from. This file must consist of a simple format with attribute labels in the
first line, each separated by commas (no spaces).
In the ASCII Import window, import as normal, but check the box "Import CSV Format Metadata" Box.
Note that any column can be used as the marker label, but this can not be changed later.
Once the markers are imported, users can access the data associated with each marker by selecting Edit
Marker from the Marker Menu, selecting the appropriate marker, and clicking the "Info" button. A separate
text window will appear to display the marker information.
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After selecting the appropriate file, choose the coordinate system from the pop-up menu, then select
whether to interpret the height field as absolute, AGL (Above Ground Level), or to let Quick Terrain Modeler
interpolate an elevation from the loaded model. Markers will appear in the correct location.
MRK Marker File: This is Quick Terrain Modeler's proprietary marker format. Markers in
MRK format can simply be loaded with the "Load Marker" command and/or included in a
tile set.
ESRI SHP File: This format exports specific marker locations in ESRI shape file format.
Exporting in SHP format permits the rapid import of locations into ESRI GIS products and
other software that can read shape files.
ASCII File: This format creates a single ASCII file of marker names, locations, and color
attributes. The ASCII marker export format will contain one line for each marker. Each line
will have the following fields separated by a space: Marker Name, X, Y, Z, R, G, B (R, G, and
B represent the color values for each marker). The following is an example of four markers
exported in ASCII format:
To save markers, highlight the markers to be saved, select the output type, and click OK.
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Instructions:
Set Visualization Options: Look At/Go To, Sync Google Earth, Display Only Target
There are several choices to make regarding visualization of the inspected markers:
Look at vs. Go TO: As the user progresses through the list of markers, the view will shift to the next
marker. The two choices for the visualization are:
Look At: Rotates the model at the current camera position to bring the marker to the center
of the view.
Go To: Moves the view to directly above the marker (nadir view, i.e., straight down).
Sync Google Earth: Google Earth can be a valuable context tool when performing the marker
inspection. It can give additional clues for objects like vertical obstructions, presence of water, or
other contextual information. Check this box to ensure Google Earth "follows" each marker. NOTE:
Google Earth synchronization only works in 32-bit mode.
Display only Target: Only displays the marker being inspected. Prevents display of huge numbers of
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loaded markers.
List All vs. List Local: Showing Only the Markers that Correspond to the Loaded Models
Use the "List Local" button to display only markers that overlap the spatial extents of the loaded models.
Markers may have been imported from a text file that contains markers for a large area, but only a
subset of that area is currently loaded.
Edit Markers
Edit marker values and attributes by clicking in a table "cell" and manually entering the new value.
Right Click on a Marker to Report, Remove, Edit, Find Models. Look At, or Go To
Right clicking on a selected marker or markers will display a context menu offering the following
functions:
Export: Select KML, SHP, or ASCII
Set Color: Change the color of a marker(s)
Remove: Delete the marker permanently
Find Models: Activates the Find Model/Model Search window and populates the coordinates with
the coordinates of the marker.
Look At: Rotates the model at the current camera position to bring the marker to the center of the
view.
Go To: Moves the view to directly above the marker (nadir view, i.e., straight down).
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Instructions:
List All vs. List Local: Showing Only the Markers that Correspond to the Loaded Models
Use the "List Local" button to display only markers that overlap the spatial extents of the loaded models.
Markers may have been imported from a text file that contains markers for a large area, but only a
subset of that area is currently loaded.
Edit Markers
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Edit marker values and attributes by clicking in a table "cell" and manually entering the new value.
Right Click on a Marker to Report, Remove, Edit, Find Models. Look At, or Go To
Right clicking on a selected marker or markers will display a context menu offering the following
functions:
Export: Select KML, SHP, or ASCII
Set Color: Change the color of a marker(s)
Remove: Delete the marker permanently
Find Models: Activates the Find Model/Model Search window and populates the coordinates with
the coordinates of the marker.
Look At: Rotates the model at the current camera position to bring the marker to the center of the
view.
Go To: Moves the view to directly above the marker (nadir view, i.e., straight down).
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terminology)
3. Multiple Routes become a Mission.
4. Markers, Routes, and Missions can be saved in QTM-specific formats and reloaded and/or shared
with others.
5. Markers, Routes, and Missions can be exported in a variety of vector formats (KML, SHP, GPX) either
as individual markers, individual routes, or entire missions.
Instructions:
Place Markers
Ultimately, the markers placed in the terrain will either become components of a sequential route (or of
multiple routes), or will remain a "standalone" waypoint. Markers can be placed in a variety of ways:
Manually one at a time from the marker button.
Rapidly by holding down the "M" key and clicking the locations where the markers need to be (this is
the easiest and fastest way).
Importing from a text file or vector. See Import Markers
Helpful hints when placing markers:
Use the Marker Options tool to set a naming and numbering scheme. It may be useful to call the
markers something more intuitive such as "WP_1" for waypoints.
Use the Edit Marker tool to edit names, colors, and other attributes of individual markers.
To move a marker, click on the marker button, then place the cursor crosshairs over the marker,
then left click and drag to the new location.
Use the "Reverse Order" and "Rename" functions to reset the naming/numbering scheme. If the goal is
to use a naming scheme (e.g., "CP" for check point) that counts down to the target location, type "CP"
Any unused markers will be exported as a "waypoint" when exporting to GPX.
If multiple routes are desired, simply "Create Route" and begin assembling the new route from the
same list of markers.
Note: Markers can be used in more than one route (e.g., in alternate or ingress/egress routes)
As markers are being placed into routes, colored lines will appear to indicate the route and the
relationship of the markers in the sequence.
Use the "Show/Hide Markers" tool to select which markers will be visible in QT Modeler, as well as
which one will be visible when you export to GPS. Note that any markers associated with a route will
be exported as part of the route. However, any markers that are not visible will not be exported as a
labeled route point.
Multiple Routes:
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Save GPX files directly onto handheld GPS devices (e.g., Garmin Colorado, Garmin Foretrex 401,
etc.)
To save the mission (Routes and Waypoints" directly onto a handheld GPS device, first plug your GPS
device into the USB port on your computer. Choose "Export Mission" from the Markers menu, choose
"GPX" as the format. When the file save dialog appears, go to "My Computer" and find the GPS device
which will appear as an external storage device (if Garmin, the folder "GARMIN" will appear). Navigate to
the GPS folder, find the folder labeled "GPX" and save the mission file in the GPX folder. When the GPS is
turned back on, all routes and waypoints should be available on the device.
Label Defaults:
1) Font: Changes the font style and size displayed in the marker label, billboard, and ID display.
2) Show/Hide: Chose to show the following in the marker display:
a) Name: This is the user-defined name of the marker.
b) ID's: ID's are the internal index number of the marker. Each marker has a unique ID.
c) Coordinate: Choose to display the marker coordinate. Use the radio buttons to define coordinate
system to use.
d) Z: Choose to show the elevation of the marker.
e) Info Text: Choose to show user-defined information associated with the marker.
f) Billboards: Billboards display marker information with a white background. In addition, marker
billboards can have considerably more text attached than a standard marker label.
g) Mouseover Text: Will only display billboards if the user moves mouse over the marker. Otherwise,
billboards will be hidden.
h) Always on Top: Choose whether the marker billboards will always pop to the top of the display (e.g.,
will it show up when rotated "behind" a mountain, or will it disappear?)
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Object Size:
Fixed (meters): Define an absolute marker size in meters (or the units of the model if different than
meters). This will achieve a sense of scale with other objects in the scene. Setting markers to 2m high
could be useful in understanding the scale of a human being relative to buildings or other 3D features.
Fixed (Pixels): Define markers in absolute pixel size so the markers are always the same size, regardless of
zoom level or perspective.
Autosize (Meters): Choose to autosize markers based on zoom level.
Marker Coordinates:
The horizontal coordinates of each marker can be displayed along with the name, ID, and billboard. Choose
a coordinate system to display by selecting the radio button. If a model is in Cartesian coordinates, the user
will not be able to convert between the various coordinate systems. Checking the "Z" box will display the
elevation of the terrain at the point the marker is placed.
Shortcuts:
M: Hold down "M", left click to quickly place markers in a model.
K: Hold down “K”, move cursor to the vicinity of an existing marker, then left click and drag to
move the marker.
USER HINT: For GRG creation, it may be most useful to use the marker settings below. It will create a
simple numeric tag on a white background with no marker pin.
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1. The Marker Itself: The basic styles are Default, None, Push Pin, Sign Post, and Point. Push Pins are the
standard way QTM's markers have always been represented. Sign Posts are a new marker object style
that enables an image (any image) to be used as a marker.
2. Attach an Image (optional): QT Modeler's Markers enable the user to attach any image to the marker,
thus enabling an infinite variety of markers in a scene. Some examples of images may be mapping
symbology, images associated with that location, or any other useful imagery. Simply click "Attach
Image", select the file, and adjust the size if necessary. See example below in which a JPEG of a smiley
face has been attached to a marker. In addition, the marker object was changed to a "sign post".
3. The Text Associated with Markers: Choose the content, style, and position of the marker text. Also
choose whether the text will have a background ("Billboard").
4. Style: User defined and saved style for the marker. Use the "Store Marker as Style" button to remember
and return to a marker style.
1. Create a marker.
2. Go to the Marker menu, select "Edit Marker".
3. Choose the marker to which a billboard needs to be attached.
4. Click the "Info Text" button.
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Instructions:
Push marker button.
Left Click on an existing marker. You will need to get very close to the existing marker or a new
marker will be created instead. Click and drag it to the new location.
Right Click on marker to pull up the "Edit Marker" dialog box for that specific marker.
Also, holding down the "K" key and left clicking on a marker enables interactive moving of the
marker.
Quick Terrain Modeler
Version 8
Part
XIII
Measurement Line and Associated Tools 233
Quick Terrain Modeler's measurement line tool is the basis for a comprehensive suite of measurement,
analysis, and editing capabilities. Some examples include:
Basic 3D Measurements - Measure distances, changes in elevation, slope, and azimuth directly from
the scene. Choose from a variety of display options (e.g., terrain hugging vs. straight line) and dynamic
informational displays on the end of the line (e.g., display in feet vs. meters, display 3D distance vs.
change in elevation), thus enabling quick, easy, and informative measurements.
Profile Analysis: Use the Profile Analysis Tool to display cross sections of point clouds and/or DEM's,
display the profiles as points or lines, and use the profile tool to alter the main 3D or the profile
display, correlate points between the profile and main 3D displays, and edit (e.g., cut, crop, reclassify)
from within the profile window. Profile analysis tools will be of most used when working with point
clouds.
Cross Sections: Use the measurement line to create customized cross sections and/or parallel profiles
of both DEM's and point clouds.
Route Planning: Use the interactive measurement line placement and editing capabilities to place
precise routes in a terrain model and/or point cloud, then visualize and analyze the route with the
Travel Route Analysis Tool (e.g. visibility along route, cross/along track slope analysis, displaying
buffers around routes, etc.). Export the route and vector to GPS devices as a GPX file.
Create Vectors, Export Files: Convert the measurement line to easily shared file formats such as shape
file (.SHP), Google Earth (.KML), and/or CAD (.DXF).
The fundamental tasks for using the measurement line break down into the following categories:
Display Measurement Line Info - Vector Info and End Point Info
The Quick Terrain Modeler provides several mensuration functions to provide information about points on
the models.
Pressing "S" will set the Start position of a mensuration line at the current position of the mouse over the
model. You may then drag the other end of the line about the model until you press "E" to set the End
position. When this is done, a dialog window will appear listing the endpoint coordinates and the distance
and bearing between them. You may manipulate the model as normal while the line is visible to see it from
different geometries and orientations. Pressing "L" will create a mensuration line from the camera position
to the point on the terrain corresponding to the current mouse position. Pressing "C" will erase the current
mensuration line.
You may also view profiles of the models along the selected mensuration line. Use "S" and "E" to set a
mensuration line as above. You will notice that when the mensuration data box contains a button labeled
"Examine Height Profile". Pressing this button will summon another window allowing you to graphically
examine the profiles of all loaded models over the selected line. This window will also show the heights at
the point(s) where the profile(s) intersect the position line, as well as the delta between two selected
models. You may move the position line using the slider at the bottom of the window. You may select
different models to compare using the provided list boxes. "Examine Intensity Profile" and "Examine Alpha
Profile" function similarly.
Click the measurement line button . A cross hair will appear in place of the cursor. Left click in the
scene to begin placing the line. If multiple nodes are required, repeated left clicks will establish additional
nodes. Right click to end the line. The "Active Mensuration" vector will appear in the vector folder and a
context menu will appear on the screen
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Measurement Line and Associated Tools 235
S/E: Type "S" on the keyboard to begin the measurement line. The start point of the line will be under the
cursor. If necessary, use the mouse left click to establish intermediate nodes. Type "E" to end the line. The
profile tool will immediately open.
V/V: Type "V" on the keyboard. The start point of the line will be under the cursor. If necessary, use the
mouse left click to establish intermediate nodes. Type "V" to end the line. A sampled (i.e., "terrain hugging")
vector will appear in the Layer Tree Vector folder.
SHIFT-V/SHIFT-V: Type "SHIFT-V" on the keyboard. The start point of the line will be under the cursor. If
necessary, use the mouse left click to establish intermediate nodes. Type "SHIFT-V" to end the line. An
unsampled (i.e., "straight line" or "floating") vector will appear in the Layer Tree Vector folder.
2. Get into "Edit" Mode: Double click on measurement line. The nodes will become visible as circles,
thus indicating that the line is now in Edit Mode.
3. Move Nodes: Left click on a node and drag it to a new location.
4. Delete Nodes: Right click on a node and select "Remove Node"
5. Add Nodes: Right click anywhere along the line and choose "Insert New Node" from the context
menu. This node can immediately be dragged around as in step 3 above.
The appearance of the mensuration line can be changed significantly as desired. The items that can be
changed on the mensuration line are:
1. Real Time Display (Readout): The real time readout on the end of the line can display one of the
following:
3D: displays the distance in 3 dimensions (XYZ distance), taking elevation change into account
when calculating the distance
2D: calculates and displays the distance in 2 dimensions (XY distance only).
Z: calculates and displays only the change in elevation from the beginning of the line to the
cursor position.
Slope: The slope between the two end points of the line. This is not an average slope
calculation. It is simply point to point.
Az: Displays the azimuth (heading) in degrees of the line from start to end.
Combo: Displays 3D distance, slope, and azimuth together. Good for documenting Helicopter
Landing Zones (HLZ).
None - no display.
3. Line Height: Only applicable to "floating" line. Sets the height above the terrain/point cloud that
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Measurement Line and Associated Tools 237
4. Line Color: Click the line color button to change the color of the measurement line.
5. Line Display:
Floating: Mensuration line connects line nodes with a single, straight line.
Terrain Hugging: Mensuration line is sampled at roughly the data resolution, thus creating a
line that hugs the terrain.
Both: Display both floating and terrain hugging at the same time.
Images show the Mensuration Options Interface and terrain hugging/floating mensuration lines.
1. Ending a measurement line placement by typing "E" on the keyboard. This will immediately display
the Profile Analysis Tool.
2. Choosing "Profile Analysis Tool" from the context menu that appears when ending the placement of a
measurement line by right clicking with a mouse.
3. Right clicking on the "Active Mensuration" line in the layer tree and choosing "Profile Analysis Tool"
4. Right clicking on a vector in the layer tree Vector folder and choosing "Shoe in Profile Analysis Tool"
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The Profile Analysis Tool can be broken down into several basic sections:
Buffer Settings: Choose the "Thickness" of the Profile Line and "Slice and Step" Through the
Scene
When working with point clouds, it is necessary to define a width of the original measurement line in
order to determine which points should be included in the profile display. In QT Modeler, these points
are called the "Buffer Points". Setting the width of the buffer can dramatically impact the appearance of
the profile, as different points will be included. Using the "Offset" tool will move the position of the
buffer area, thus permitting a methodical "stepping" through a point cloud. More info in Profile Buffer
Settings.
Measurements and Cursor Position Display: The Dynamic Readouts in the Upper Right
The position of the cursor in the profile display is continually displayed in the upper right corner. It is a
helpful way to determine elevations and distances along a line/route. When the measurement tool is
used, this display is converted to length, height, and slope of the measurement triangle. More info in
Profile Cursor Position Display and Profile Measurement Tool.
Basic Visualization, Display, and Measurement Buttons: Quick Ways to Evaluate Your Data
The Profile Analysis Tool contains a button bar that provides easy access to frequently used visualization
tools, zoom tools, and configuration tools. These tools impact not only the profile window, but the entire
3D display as well. These tools outline the buffer area in the 3D window, crop to only the points being
displayed in the profile window, establish a red arrow along the measurement line in the 3D window,
define the grid lines in the profile display, export to PowerPoint, and many other useful capabilities. Refer
to the individual sections in the help file.
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The Profile Analysis Tool buffer settings establish a width to the profile line. This width will default to 3
times the nominal point density of the loaded models/point clouds, but can be set to any value. To set the
buffer value, simply type a new value into the "Width" field and click "Get Buffer Points" to refresh the
profile display.
The buffer width will be the distance on either side of the original measurement line that the buffer extends.
For example, setting the buffer width to "3" will extend the buffer 3 meters (or possibly feet, depending on
the units of the model and the user-set display units) on either side of the line, resulting in a 6-meter wide
swath of points.
Once the buffer width is established or modified, it may also be useful to Outline Area in 3D, Mask to Area in
3D, and/or Push Buffer to Selection
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In LAS files, every point in the point cloud will have multiple attributes associated with it. In addition to
each point's XYZ value (i.e., its position), the point may also have intensity, return number, number of
returns, point source ID, or many other attributes. While most users may want to see profiles traditionally-
i.e., with the Y axis of the profile window displaying elevation (also known as "Z"), it can be very useful to see
other attributes in profile.
Profiles can be displayed as a collection of points, as a line, or as both. In general, point clouds are best
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displayed as points, surface models (e.g., DEM's, DSM's, DTM's) are best displayed as lines. The choices in
the pull-down menu are:
1. Default: Displays all profiles derived from point clouds as points and all profiles derived from surface
models as lines. If both point clouds and surface models are loaded together, the profile display will
be a mixture of points and lines.
2. All Lines: Displays all profiles as lines, regardless of whether the underlying model was a point cloud
or surface model.
3. All Points: Displays all profiles as points, regardless of whether the underlying model was a point
cloud or surface model.
4. All Both: Displays both a point and a line profile for each model in the model list.
When viewing LAS file-based point clouds in the profile tool, the user can choose
multiple color schemes to be used in the profile window. This function is similar to the
QTA Quick Color button in function which works on point coloration in the 3D display.
In contrast, Profile Color Scheme will alter the color display in the profile window only.
The choices for coloration are Color By Model (Default), Vertex Colors, Classification,
First/Last/Intermediate, Number of Returns, and Return Number.
The position under the cursor is displayed in the upper right corner of the Profile Analysis Tool. The top
number corresponds to the Y axis, the bottom number corresponds to the X axis. The default value for the Y
axis is Elevation (represented by the letter "Z"), but can be configured differently by selecting a different Y
axis Attribute. The cursor Y axis "position" readout will correlate to the Y axis value, regardless of whether
the value is elevation or an attribute such as Intensity, which may not have a spatial value (it is a spectral
value).
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The Model List is a list of the models that are contributing points or lines to the current profile display.
NOTE: If models are loaded in the 3D display and are not contributing points or lines to the profile,
the model name will not be displayed.
1. Show/Hide Model List: In the main profile button bar, the Show/Hide Model List button will
determine if the model list is visible at all.
2. Select Individual Models: Click on individual model names in the list to display only points/lines from
that model. Models being displayed will be highlighted. Holding down CTRL while clicking will enable
selection of multiple models. Holding down SHIFT while clicking will select all models between the
one currently highlighted in the list and the one being clicked on.
3. Buttons at the top of the Model List:
a. Select All: Display information from all models in the Model List.
b. Clear All: Clears all models from the selection.
c. Reverse All: Inverts the selected models in the list.
d. Advance All: Sequentially advances the selected model down the list.
4. Right Clicking Individual Models:
a. Select Color: Selects the profile color associated with the display of a given model.
b. Export Points: Exports the points associated with the profile of the selected model as a point file.
c. Export Line: Exports a 3D vector file of the profile line.
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Measurement Line and Associated Tools 243
The Outline Area button establishes a red outline in the 3D scene. This outlined area represents the
buffer area around the original measurement line. If points are relatively spares in the point cloud,
this red outline may be difficult to see. If so, it may be beneficial to increase point size.
The mask to area in 3D button crops the 3D display to only those points that are visible in the profile
window. This will help to isolate the points that are being visualized and manipulated in the profile
window.
The Push Buffer to Selection button is similar to "Outline Area in 3D", but instead establishes a
selection area around the perimeter of the buffer. Additional editing and analysis functions can be
performed in 3D that cannot be performed in the profile window.
The Mark Cursor in 3D button establishes a red arrow in the 3D scene at the point where the red line
in the profile intersects the measurement line. After presing the button, drag the red cursor line left/
right to change the position of the arrow in the 3D scene.
The profile zooming buttons establish quick ways to zoom out to the full extents, zoom to a box, or return
to the previous zoom level.
Proportional scaling forces the X and Y axis of the profile to be at the same scale. With proportional
scaling turned on, hills, trees, buildings, and other features will appear as they are in reality. Turning
proportional scaling on may be helpful to realistically visualize slopes of a walking/driving route, to see tree
heights in correct proportion to the terrain, etc. Turning proportional scaling off may be more useful when
performing point cloud analysis, where the points themselves are more important than a proportional
representation of the actual terrain.
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The Profile measurement tool enables measurements of slope, distance, and height within the profile
window itself. Simply click the Measurement Tool Button, left click in the profile area, and drag the
blue triangle to the end point. The slope and distances will immediately be visible.
The profile configuration appearance tool enables setting basic parameters about the appearance of
the profile window. Settings include:
Points:
o Use slider to set point size
o Use check box to outline points with a black circle.
Line Width
o Use slider to set line thickness
o Use check box to outline profile lines with a black border.
Background Color: Sets the background color of the profile display window.
Grid Lines:
o Click the button to choose a different color for profile grid lines.
o Use check box to show or hide grid lines altogether.
3D Highlight Color: Sets the color with which QT Modeler's profile editing tool will highlight selected
points in the 3D scene.
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Clicking he Profile PowerPoint Export button will send a screen grab of the profile window to
PowerPoint. See more information on the QT Modeler PowerPoint Tool.
The profile editing tools are a useful way to highlight, hide, delete, export, and/or reclassify points based on
interaction with the profile window - rather than with the point cloud itself. In some cases, interaction with
the points in the profile tool is much more intuitive and less cluttered.
Access to the profile editing tool requires that the profile analysis tool already be active. Simply press the
Profile Editing button to access the editing tools. The profile will initially turn gray (i.e., no points have been
selected yet). The entire profile editing tool is based on the concept of selecting points and performing
some function on them. Thus, the first step in editing is always to select points.
Once the profile window is in Editing Mode, the key functions are as follows (see individual topics for more
detail):
3. Change how points are displayed in 3D by Hiding Selected Points ( ) or Highlighting Selected Points (
).
4. If desired, Operate on the selected points ( ) by cutting, permanently coloring in 3D, setting
classification, and/or exporting them.
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There are two "Select Points" buttons. The first one (represented by a selection rectangle and a small green
plus sign) selects just the points contained in the rectangular selection area. The other one (represented by
a large green plus sign) "Selects All" points in the profile window. Once points are selected, they will turn
from gray to their original color in the profile window (i.e., the color the point was prior to entering edit
mode).
There are two "Unselect Points" buttons. The first one (represented by a selection rectangle and a small red
minus sign) selects just the points contained in the rectangular selection area. The other one (represented
by a large red minus sign) "Unselects All" points in the profile window. Once points are unselected, they will
turn gray.
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Measurement Line and Associated Tools 247
Set Color of Active Points: Sets a vertex color of the active point. If there is already a vertex color (e.g.,
grayscale from intensity values), the existing vertex color will be replaced by this function. Note that this
color can be exported in a LAS 1.2 file as well.
Set Classification of Active Points: Changes the classification of the selected points
Cut Active Points from Models: Permanently deletes the selected points from the model.
Cut Active Points from Profile: Permanently deletes the selected points from the profile only. The points
will still remain in the 3D view as well as the point cloud.
Export Active Points
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1. Choosing "Travel Route Analysis Tool" from the context menu that appears when ending the
placement of a measurement line by right clicking with a mouse.
2. Right clicking on the "Active Mensuration" line in the layer tree and choosing "Travel Route Analysis
Tool"
3. Right clicking on a vector in the layer tree Vector folder and choosing "Show in Travel Route Analysis
Tool"
4. From the Define Mission Route window by clicking the "Travel Route Analysis" button
The Travel Route Analysis Tool can be broken down into several basic sections:
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Measurement Line and Associated Tools 249
Traveler Definition: How Tall is the Traveler?...Above the Ground or the Vector?
When performing Line of Sight (LOS) analysis along the travel route, it is mandatory to define the eye
level height of the traveler - and whether this eye level height should be above the ground (i.e., "terrain
hugging") or above the straight line vector connecting the nodes of the route (i.e., "floating"). Use either
the input box or the slider to define the height of the traveler. Choose whether the traveler's route is
hugging the ground (e.g., a walking/driving route), or whether the route is a straight line above the
straight line vectors that connect the nodes of the mensuration line (e.g., a helicopter or airplane route).
When using the "Above vector" setting, the traveler marker may appear at varying heights above the
ground and may "float" very high above the terrain.
Terminology Clarification: In the Travel Route Analysis terminology, there are only two types of locations:
The traveler and the observer. The traveler is a single location marked by where the slider intersects the
profile and represented by a marker labeled "LOS" in the 3D scene. Everything else - whether every pixel
in the 3D scene or existing markers in the scene - are "observers". It may be helpful to think of every pixel
attempting to "look at" the traveler as it moves down the route.
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Measurement Line and Associated Tools 251
Slope Analysis: Detailed Analysis of Cross Track and Down Track Slope
If desired, the Travel Route Analysis Tool profile can be colored by slope - both Cross Track and Down
Track. To perform slope analysis:
Check the "Color Code by Slope Limits" check box.
Choose whether to color code by Cross Track or Down Track slope limits by checking the appropriate
check box.
Define a width for which the analysis should be performed.
o Cross Track Width - Think in terms of the width of a vehicle or road. QT Modeler will center this
width on the travel route line and calculate the slope perpendicular to the route.
o Down Track - Think in terms of the length of a vehicle. QT Modeler will take successive slope
measurements based on a straight line the length of the down track "width" setting.
Define a limit in degrees for both cross track and down track slope limits.
The profile will turn from blue to a red and/or green line. Red indicates slope limits have been
exceeded (i.e., "Fail") and green indicates that the limit has not been exceeded (i.e., "Pass"). Note that
the original travel route line in the 3D display will remain blue.
The "Current" slope information box displays the slope at the point where the slider meets the profile
line.
The marker list displays all visible markers (i.e., visible in terms of the QT Modeler layer tree - is it checked
or not in the layer tree) as well as their air and ground distance from the position of the traveler along the
line. Additionally, if the marker name and distance is displayed in green, the traveler can see it from the
current slider position. If the marker name and information are red, the traveler cannot see it.
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Measurement Line and Associated Tools 253
1. Choosing “Cross Section Tool” from the context menu that appears when ending the placement of a
measurement line by right clicking with a mouse.
2. Right clicking on the “Active Mensuration” line in the layer tree and choosing “Cross Section Tool”
3. Right clicking on a vector in the layer tree Vector folder and choosing “Cross Section Tool”
The Cross Sections and Parallel Profiles can be broken down into several basic sections:
Cross Sections
Mode – Choose a method for Cross Section generation
o None – No Cross Sections will be rendered
o Centered On Line – The center of the Cross Section will be directly over the active mensuration line
o Left From Line – The Cross Sections will be wholly to the left of the active mensuration line
o Right From Line – The Cross Sections will be wholly to the right of the active mensuration line
Width – Define the desired Cross Section width
Spacing – Define the distance between desired Cross Sections in data units
Parallel Profiles
Mode – Choose a method for Parallel Profile generation
o None – No Parallel Profiles will be rendered
o Centered On Line – Parallel Profiles will be drawn on both sides of the active mensuration line
equally
o Left From Line – The Parallel Profiles will be wholly to the left of the active mensuration line
o Right From Line – The Parallel Profiles will be wholly to the right of the active mensuration line
Profiles – Define the number of desired profiles
Spacing – Define the distance between desired Parallel Profiles in data units
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Appearance
Global settings for how the linework should be drawn. Choosing “Floating” will render the linework at a
defined height above the terrain. “Terrain Hugging” will render the linework at the surface height, but
may not render properly on point clouds. “Both” will render using both methods. Since these use global
settings, the same settings will be applied in Mensuration Options and Travel Route Line of Sight.
Sampling
Sample Models individually? – This option allows the sampling of multiple models simultaneously. For
example, if a Bare Earth DEM and a First Return DSM were loaded together and 5 cross sections were
made, then an export with Sample Models Individually selected would yield 10 cross sections (5 from
the DEM and 5 from the DSM). If this option is unchecked, then the highest dataset would be used.
Sample Spacing – This is to define the distance between samples along the Cross Section or Parallel
Profiles.
Example
Based on the settings above, the image below shows the active mensuration line along the stream
centerline. Cross sections are centered on this line, with a width of 100 meters across (50 meters out
from the stream centerline in both directions) and 10 meters between cross sections. The results are
displayed as terrain hugging. If one would export based on these settings, only the DEM that is displayed
is being used for sampling and those samples are taken every 1 meter.
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Measurement Line and Associated Tools 255
Save Vector
Each vector becomes its own model, so vectors must be saved as a model. Be careful to rename vectors
something other than the default value of "Mensuration".
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Measurement Line and Associated Tools 257
Related Topics: Configure Vector Display Options, HLZ Analysis, Measurement Lines
Instructions:
Open a .qtc point cloud model.
Zoom in so you can see individual points
Hold Down the "Shift" key
A red square will appear to engulf the selected point.
When you have selected the point in which you are interested, click the left mouse button. A
pop-up window will appear giving you the x, y, z and r, g and b values for the point.
If the point needs to be deleted, simply click Delete.
Note: This tool works on a surface model as well. It can provide information about the
underlying data points. In the case of a .qtt surface model, the "data point" is a vertex in the
underlying grid, not the actual collected data point.
Example:
The following screen captures are from a point cloud. While most of the points associated with the terrain
form an apparent surface, a handful of points "float" above the terrain. As it turns out, these points
constitute the tops of power transmission line towers – obviously points of interest, particularly to users
searching for obstructions to flight patterns in the terrain.
To query the points, the user would align the view of the point cloud to try to visually isolate these points.
This kind of isolation is helpful, but not absolutely mandatory. Zooming in can achieve a similar visual
isolation. Once the points of interest are visually isolated, the user simply holds down the shift button and
moves the cursor until the point is engulfed in a red ball. At this point the user clicks the left mouse button
and the Quick Terrain Modeler displays the point attributes in a pop-up window.
Users can also create a marker by clicking the "Create Marker" button. Markers can be saved and/or
exported.
In addition, users can color an entire selection area (see select and select area tools) based on the RGB color
value of another point. This function only works on point clouds.
Visual Isolation of Points Associated with Transmission Line Towers and Selection of an Individual Point and
Point Interrogation Window:
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QTA Data:
When working with QTA models (i.e., QTC point cloud with a QTA attribute table), all of the point attributes
will be visible in the Point Query window. See example below:
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Quick Terrain Modeler
Version 8
Part
XIV
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Web: www.appliedimagery.com
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Index 261
ASCII Selection 52
Index ASCII ZGrid 92
Aspect Ratio 22
Attribute 139
AutoCAD 92
-.- auto-scale 84, 85
Autosize 194
.qsc 40 avi 97, 98
Axes 190
-2- azimuth 215
2-D Image 93
2-D Mode 210 -B-
2D Only 114 background color 196
Bare Earth 175
-3- Batch Import 70
Batch Scripting 40
3-D Mode 210 Bathymetry 127
3D Stereo Display 189 Beta 40
Blank Palette 163
Bookmark 22
-A- boresight 215
Break Point 176
Add Break Point 163
Buffer 239, 248
Add Image to Model 127
building models 69
Add Model 34
Button Bar 24
Add Models with Offset 34
Buttons 24
Add Normals 64
Add Vertex Colors from File 132
AGL 61, 174, 215, 217
AGL Analyst 174
-C-
AGL Calculation 175 Cache 39
AGL Clipping 174, 177 Calculate Metrics 161
AGL Conversion 174 camera settings 204
AGL Export 177 Change detection 127, 182
AGL Export Products 178 change detection legend 191
AGL Palette 176 Change Temp File Location 47
Allow Rotated Grid 74 Chipping 103
Alpha 83, 85, 174 Clear All Models 40
alpha filtering 182 Clipping 177
altitude legend 191 clipping plane 182
Always Copy QTA 43 Cloud Point Settings 194
Annotation 22 color 72, 84
Annotation Tools 255 Color by Density 72
Applied Imagery 260 Color by LAS Attribute 134
area 184 color selection area 257
Area Statistics 179 colorized DEM 123
ASCII 83, 92, 220 colorized point cloud 123
ASCII Export Setup 94 Command Line 35
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Index 263
Log File 42
Log Files 46
Look Here 35 -N-
LOS 143, 145, 148, 149, 150
navigation 11
No Data Value 64, 90
-M- Normals 43, 64
North-South Grid Orientation 74
marker 215, 230
Marker Attribute 228
marker export 220 -O-
Marker Import 218
Obstructions 128
Marker Import - SHP 219
Omnidirectional LOS 143, 145
marker name 217
Open 34
Marker Options 228
Open New Model 34
Marker Quick Tagging 228
OpenGL 17, 112, 151, 154
Marker Sensor Model 215
Orbit Mode. 209
Marker Sort 221, 223
Orthographic 117
markers 213
Orthorectification 93
match altitude 58
Orthorectified 114, 120
match report 58
Out of Range Color 131
max sample excursion 75
Overlay 22
Maximum Model Quantization Error 180
Overview 67
measurement 233
Measurement Line Editing 235
Measurement Line Options 236
Measurement Line Placement 234
-P-
Measurement Options 195 Palette 124
Memory Management Options 44 place marker 213
Menu 32 play movie 97
Menus 14 Point Cloud 73
Merge Models 59 point interrogation 50, 257
Meters to Feet Conversion 46 Point Query Utility 172
minimap 192 point to point viewing 206
Model 34, 67 Portable Workspace 18
Model Comparison 165 position 211
Model List 242 Posting 73
Model Manager 179 PowerPoint 99
model mode 208 Preview - GeoTIFF 32
Model Overview 67 Preview - Google Earth 32
Model Search 37 Preview - LAS 32
Model Statistics 180 Primary Button Bar 24
Model Subtraction 61 processing options 71
Model Types 34 Profile Analysis Tool 237
mouse controls 11 Profile Appearance 244
movie 96, 97, 98 Profile Buffer 239
Moving Markers 231 Profile Cursor Position Display 241
moving speed 211 Profile Points vs. Lines 240
multiple models 71 Profile Y Axis Attribute 240
progress bar 44
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Index 265
Projective 117
Pseudo DTED 67
Pseudo-DTED 34 -S-
Sample 123
-Q- sample excursion 75
sample model 11
QA/QC 72, 172 Sample Textures into vertex colors 123
QDT 34 Sampled Vector 255
QT Files Directory 46 sampling 112, 114
QT Modeler Screen 14 Sampling Shapefiles 200
QTA 43, 134, 139 Save 40
QTA Discrete Attribute Filter 139 Save Image 133
QTA Quick Color 134 save marker 220
QTC 34, 67 Save Mensuration Line as KML 172
QTT 34, 67 Save Selection to ASCII 52
qtvlog.txt 42 Save Values 161
Quad Buffered Stereo 189 Screen 14
Quality 72 screen size 45
Quality Control 172 Script File 43
Quantization 180 Script Log File 42
Scripting 40
Scripts - Add Action 41
-R- Scripts - Editing Actions 42
Scripts - Running Scripts 42
Range Rings 170
Search 118
Real TIme Contour Lines 168
Search Cache 39
record movie 96
select 50
Recover Measurement Line 236
select area 51
Registration points 62
Selection Area 50
Re-Import Model 86
Selection Area Editing Tools 53
Remove Alpha 134
Selection Area Export 52
Remove Image 133
Selection Area Import 52
remove marker 220
Sensor 213, 215
Remove Model 40
Sensor Model 213, 215
Remove Surface Normals 64
Sensor View LOS 143, 149
Rename Models 62
Sentinel 6
Rename QTA Attribute 143
Set Base Model Color 199
Render Screen to GeoRegistered Image 100
Set Display Units 193
Reneder Selection Area to GPS 103
Set Model Position 64
Reset View 43
Set Vector Line Size 197
reset viewer 207
set water level 184
Restart Sentinel Driver 6
Shadow Map 131
RGB 83, 84, 92
Shadows 17
Rotated Grid 74
shape file 74, 90, 93, 219, 220
roughness 75
shapefile 87, 165, 168
Route 224
shiny terrain 189
Shortcuts 29
Show/Hide Markers 221, 223
Show/Hide Models 188
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sky 193
Slope 128
Slope Analysis 131 -U-
Slope Analysis - Travel Route 248
Undo 56
Slope Area Filtering 131
USGS DEM 69
Slope Image 131
UTM 43, 81
smooth normals 189
UTM Zone 81
smoothing 75
Sort Markers 221, 223
Spike Filter 75
Spike/Well Filter 75
-V-
state plane 81 Variable 160
Statistical Model Comparison 165 Variable Length Record 32
statistics 160, 179, 180 Variance 159
Stereo Display Output 189 Vector 87, 200
Subtract Models 61 Vector Annotation 255
Suppport 46 Vector LOS 143, 150
Surface Model 73 Vector Models 170
Surface Normals 44, 64 Vertex Colors 112, 127, 132, 133, 134
Synchronize Google Earth 210 View 43
Viewshed 143
Virtual Line of Sight 151, 154
-T- Virtual Shadow Map 17
visualizing 11
targeted point 209
VLR 32
Temp 47
volume 184
Temp File 46, 47
Volume Calculations 181
terrain following 209
Volume Change Detection 181
Terrain Hugging 195
Voxel 194
Terrain Mask 159
texture 123, 188
texture slot 112
Textures 112, 114, 117, 120, 122
-W-
tfw 94, 114 Waypoint 224
TIFF 101 What's New 2
Tiling Images 103 Window Select 51
tiling setting 75 wireframe 189
TIN 172 Workspace 18
Toggle Clouds/Surface 200 world file 94, 114
toolbar 44
traditional LOS calculations 151, 156
Travel Route Analysis Tool 248 -X-
Travel Route Line of Sight 156 XYZ Axes 190
Travel Route LOS 150
triangulation 75
Troubleshooting 46 -Z-
Z Select 50, 51
zone 81
Zoom 209
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Index 267
Zoom Level 35