Creating a "Floating" Bitmap

RockWorks | Utilities | Imagery |
Horizontal Images (Single)

This program floats a single raster image at a specified elevation. Supported bitmap formats include: BMP, JPG, EMF and WMF, PCX, PNG, TGA, and TIFF.

! The bitmap must reside in the current project folder.

Menu Options
Step-by-Step Summary
 

Menu Options

• Image File: Click to the right to browse for the name of the bitmap image you want to float. Supported formats are listed above.
  
  
• Elevation: Enter here the elevation at which the bitmap is to be floated.
  
  
• Image Location:  You have several options for entering the coordinates at which the bitmap is to be displayed in RockPlot3D:
  • Output Dimensions:  Choose this option if the current output dimensions represent the border coordinates for the image you've selected.
  • World File: Choose this option if there is an accompanying World File which defines the image extents.  Expand this heading to select the World File.
    • Automatically Determine:  Choose this option if the program is to search automatically for a World File with the same file name as the Image File, above, and with either world file name extensions: *.bmpw or *.bpw  (italicized letters are replaced by the extension characters of the Image File, as in *.pngw or *.pgw, etc.)
    • Manually Select: Choose this option to specify the name for the World file.  Expand this heading to browse for the World file to be used for georeferencing the selected image.
  • Manually Specify:  Click in this radio button if you want to type in the X and Y coordinates for each bitmap corner.  Expand this heading to enter those coordinates.
    • Western Border: Enter the X (Easting) coordinate represented along the western edge of the image (X-Min).
    • Southern Border: Enter the Y (Northing) coordinate represented along the southern edge of the image (Y-Min).
    • Eastern Border: Enter the X (Easting) coordinate represented along the eastern edge of the image (X-Max).
    • Northern Border: Enter the Y (Northing) coordinate represented along the northern edge of the image (Y-Max).

• Layer Name: Type in a name for this layer; it will simply be used to label the floating bitmap in RockPlot3D. For example, if the image represents a satellite image, you might name this layer "Satellite Image."
• Set Transparent Color: Insert a check in this box if you want to specify a specific color in the bitmap image to be displayed transparent. For example if the image has a white background and you would like that part to be see-through, you would select white. 
  If activated, expand this heading to click on the color box to choose the image color that is to be set to transparent.
• Reference Cage: Insert a check here to include reference labels or lines in the output 3D image. More

Step-by-Step Summary

1. Access either the RockWorks Utilities program tab.  This tool does not read data from the main data window.
2. Select the Imagery | Horizontal Images | Single menu option.
3. Enter the requested menu settings, described above.
4. Click the Process button to continue.

The program will read the indicated bitmap image, and, if manually specified, assign its corners the indicated coordinates.  The image will be displayed in a RockPlot3D tab in the Options window.

If you requested use of an automatically-determined World file, the program will do this:

• It will start searching for a file in the project folder that uses the 4-character world file extension (such as ".bmpw" or ".pngw").  If that file exists, it becomes the World file.
• The program then searches for a file that uses the 3-character extension (such as ".bpw" or ".pgw"). If that file exists, it becomes the World file and supersedes the 4-character file (if it existed).

The floating image will be displayed in a RockPlot3D tab.

! If neither the 4-character nor the 3-character version of the World file exists, the program will present the user with the following error message: "Unable to locate a "World" file that corresponds to the following raster image: (file name). Neither World file naming convention was found (examples shown)."

5. You can adjust any of the options along the left (such as elevation or transparent color) and click the Process button to regenerate the 3D image.
   ! Each time you click the Process button, the existing display will be replaced. 
    
6. View / manipulate the image in RockPlot3D.

Tip: Use RockPlot3D’s File | Save As to save the floating bitmap view, then use File | Append to append an existing RockPlot3D view to this image.

See also: Rectifying Images if you need to rotate and/or crop the image prior to floating the image.  This tool also offers creation of a world file.

Back to Imagery Menu Summary

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