| I. Overview.
After you have
exported an SVG map and
edited it with a drawing
program such as Inkscape or Adobe Illustrator, making changes can be quite difficult. For example, if you want to reposition
passages on the paper, you may have to move thousand of individual lines
to a new location, which can very tedious. The Compass SVG Exporter
has special tools that allow you to manipulate a finished SVG map to
accommodate new data, adjust the map's position and size on the page and
warp the map when shots change position when you correct errors. These
three steps are called Merging, Adjusting and Morphing. Here is an
explanation of each step:
A. Merging. Merging allows you to add newly surveyed passages into
your existing maps. As you survey more passages in your cave, the
program will add the shots, LRUDs and Passage outlines to your finished
map. The LRUD's and Passage Outlines are saved on their own individual
layers so they can be enabled when you want to
draw the passage outlines and
floor details. In this way, you can keep your finished map up to
date with the latest surveys. Instead of having to start over every time
you get new data, you can now add the latest surveys
B. Adjusting. When you add new surveys to a map, you often have to
make room for the new surveys by repositioning the cave on the paper.
You may needs change the scale or even rotate the cave so it fits on the
paper properly. Normally this would require hours of manual adjustment.
The Adjustment step allows you to reposition, scale or rotate all the
hand-drawn aspects of your finished map in just a few minutes. You can
also change paper size, margins and certain colors automatically.
SVG Exporter displays a picture of what the cave will look like on
the map. You can move, scale and rotate cave so you can see exactly what
it will look like when it is finished. You can also see the margins,
grids, backgrounds and paper size. All these options allow you to get
the exact layout you want of the cave on the paper.
C. Morphing. If you correct a survey error or close a loop, the
position of the cave passages relative to one and another may change
dramatically. The length of passage may change, the angle between
passage may change, and the overall arraignment of passages may be
different. To fix these problems, the program "warps" the passage to
track the changes. For example, if a passage has gotten longer, the
program will stretch all the passage walls so they still match the shot
line. Likewise, if the passage has rotated, the program will stretch the
walls so they follow the rotation. The program can follow very complex
changes in length, position and rotation of passages. It can even handle
adjacent passages that change in different ways. For example, if the
angle changes between two passages, the program can fix the passage wall
associated with the passages by warping the drawing.
How the drawing is warped depends on what layer it is on. Click here
for for a complete
explanation of layers and
how they are handled.
II. Step-By-Step Instructions. The following is a step-by-step tutorial for using the Merge, Adjust
and Morphing tools in the SVG Exporter.
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