Author Topic: Sidescan Mosaic Software other than DrDepth  (Read 19282 times)

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Offline jamesunique

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Sidescan Mosaic Software other than DrDepth
« on: March 20, 2011, 04:54:42 PM »
Can anyone suggest an inexpensive alternative to DrDepth for producing sidescan mosaics?

I'm having memory/resolution issues with DrDepth which seems to require a lot of extra RAM to handle larger survey areas which I need to conduct mapping. From what I can see, there's nothing available between DrDepth and high end systems like HYPACK and CARIS. Hopefully someone can suggest alternatives.


Offline sonar2000

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Re: Sidescan Mosaic Software other than DrDepth
« Reply #1 on: March 20, 2011, 05:05:05 PM »
Not sure exactly how much mapping you are doing but you can check with a company called.....
www.3dfmaps.com........It is not all that expensive..
We use it for our needs.
Check the picture in the gallery or on my profile.
It will certainly do bathymetric and 3d.  You can add points to reference particular items (gps locations) or edit the output in a .jpg file and add all kinds of things...There are other things but that is about all we use.
We have been doing this for about 8 years and it works nicely.
All you have to do is export your .Son file ( we usually use the .B001 file to a .CSV and 3DF does all the rest.

Chuck
 
« Last Edit: March 20, 2011, 05:14:31 PM by sonar2000 »

Offline RGecy

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Re: Sidescan Mosaic Software other than DrDepth
« Reply #2 on: March 20, 2011, 06:19:02 PM »
It sounds like your files are too large.  You are gonna have issues with most programs if this is the case.  You can change the resolution of the processed scans, but you will lose a lot of clarity.

You can try Deep Vision publisher.  It is about the same price, but does a good job on Mosaics.

Robert
Humminbird Guru and Forum Administrator

Offline jamesunique

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Re: Sidescan Mosaic Software other than DrDepth
« Reply #3 on: March 21, 2011, 06:26:32 AM »
Chuck - Thanks for the link/suggestion however this doesn't create sidescan mosaics - looks good for producing the bathymetry (I'm using Golden Software's Surfer to do this but I looks like it can do the job for a fraction of the price).

Robert - Yes, the file sizes are too large however it would be great for the software to be able to work out the best resolution available within the memory or processing power constraints.
I've just tried the Deep Vision Publisher demo which does produce nice high resolution images which DrDepth can't seem to manage when processing the same sidescan file.

I've contacted the software developer to establish whether their DeepView SE software offers more flexibility but over all, you've given me a very good lead, thanks :)

Offline drpelle

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Re: Sidescan Mosaic Software other than DrDepth
« Reply #4 on: March 21, 2011, 12:11:03 PM »
> Yes, the file sizes are too large...

The problem is not the file size, it's the area+resolution.  You simply cannot have a large area
and a very fine resolution at the same time. DrDepth applies user setable resolution and area,
Deepvision publisher uses a target image size (which means the resolution will suffer when the
area is large...). Can't have the cake and eat it too, regardless the name of the program.
The obvious solution is make two or more tiles of the area, then you can control your target
resolution as you wish.

Per
www.drdepth.se

Offline jamesunique

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Re: Sidescan Mosaic Software other than DrDepth
« Reply #5 on: March 21, 2011, 02:03:02 PM »
Hi Per,

that's understood and appreciated however when making a direct comparison between renders of the same file at the maximum resolution permissible, DeepVision is giving me a higher resolution output - this may be that resolution can be defined in steps between 1 to 50 allowing me to get closer to the optimum resolution in relation to the input file in DeepVision.

In a perfect world, the software would render as much and at as high a resolution of the sidescan as possible and generate an image, continue and render a further image and continue until all the sidescan data been rendered into 'tiles' which the software would then stitch together. This would be a slow process for sure, but anyone familiar with 3d rendering would be prepared to wait for a high resolution output.

This type of file handling is common in audio production where multiple audio tracks and effects are merged into a single audio track to save audio channels and thus processor power.

I can also appreciate that this would remove the 'live playback' eye candy but for me, highest quality output resolution is more important. Perhaps this is something worth considering for future releases.

I must add that Per has been extremely helpful proving support for an excellent product and that my requirements exceed what might usually be required of such software. I guess you can't get Hypack performance without paying Hypack prices.


Offline bobn

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Re: Sidescan Mosaic Software other than DrDepth
« Reply #6 on: March 21, 2011, 04:33:40 PM »
" my requirements exceed what might usually be required of such software. I guess you can't get Hypack performance without paying Hypack prices."

   I don't understand how you can expect hypack performance  when you are starting with a consumer grade sidescan sonar,  transom mounted transducer

 and  WAAS  corrected GPS ? 

Offline jamesunique

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Re: Sidescan Mosaic Software other than DrDepth
« Reply #7 on: March 21, 2011, 06:40:30 PM »
I get your point but it's also about workflow - having a single application which can filter data spikes, create bathymetry, overlay mosaic'ed sidescan images and output this in a print-ready format is desirable for me. Hypack can do this with 1cm or +/-3m accuracy.

Currently I have to extract position and depth data to a spreadsheet, correct the tidal heights by interpolating non-linear tidal data, take this data and grid it, convert to vector files which then forms the basis for editing within adobe illustrator into artwork ready for print production. When constrained by budget I have to do this with several software packages - anything that can improve my workflow is worth exploring.

Offline jamesunique

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Re: Sidescan Mosaic Software other than DrDepth
« Reply #8 on: March 23, 2011, 06:45:50 AM »
Update - I am now getting good results from DrDepth which are comparable if not superior to Deep View following some analysis by Per. I would like to thank him for his assistance to date.

Offline mendota

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Re: Sidescan Mosaic Software other than DrDepth
« Reply #9 on: March 23, 2011, 10:26:06 AM »
Can I ask, what changed?  Were there settings within DrDepth that needed tweeking?

I also have been using Surfer, but the idea of adding a mosaiced overlay is certainly intriguing.  I'd be really interested in seeing how well parallel and orthogonal scans on a 50' grid lined up with each other, especially in areas of high relief.  Any insight would be appreciated.

It's really too bad we have no way of getting a quality custom map back on our HB, though.

Offline jamesunique

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Re: Sidescan Mosaic Software other than DrDepth
« Reply #10 on: March 23, 2011, 07:29:57 PM »
Hi Mendota

The main thing I established through Per (The developer) was that setting the map size/coverage area prior to importing data is the key to getting the highest available resolution output. Once the resolution issue was improved, the additional feature of brightening the extremities of the sidescan edges does effectively improve the sidescan range and presents a fairly even mosaic.

I think rendering the mosaic to a high resolution with lat/long lines, cropping the image in photoshop and placing as a layer in Surfer and adjusting scale to match size and projection promises to work well in 2d but not sure how well or if at all in 3d. The main reason for me overlaying the sidescan mosaic is to manually 'draw in' additional bank data where I didn't want to risk grounding with the survey vessel.

Depth estimates measured from the sidescan are a bit loose off the track line for even amateur surveying so I'll look for my track crossing a ridge and making a best depth estimate from the track depth and following along that ridge.

It would be great if I could skip using Surfer altogether if DrDepth was able to render a vector pdf or eps with depth posts from the track being included in the output in addition to contour depth labels then this would effectively become a one-stop chart production package. As it stands, as there is no tidally corrected data export (that I can find) in DrDepth, I can't really use much of what it creates in my chart artwork. In short, DrDepth is providing me with good sidescan mosaicing which I can overlay in Surfer but I still need to spend hours manipulating a spreadsheet to apply tidal corrections before gridding in Surfer.

I asked Per if he might implement a PDF export (as an editable vector in illustrator) but he doesn't think there's a market for it - I suppose he's right, there are more fishermen than surveyors.

You can see what I need to achieve by visiting my site http://www.eastcoastrivers.com and clicking on a chart download.

As I've never had the facility to import custom charts into a depth/gps plotter, I don't miss the facilty but it does sound like a nice feature if you have a Lowrance

Offline jamesunique

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Re: Sidescan Mosaic Software other than DrDepth
« Reply #11 on: March 24, 2011, 07:00:16 AM »
A quick update, DrDepth does in fact export a tidally corrected csv file which could then be imported into Surfer to create post labels from track data.
« Last Edit: March 24, 2011, 07:02:41 AM by jamesunique »

Offline mendota

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Re: Sidescan Mosaic Software other than DrDepth
« Reply #12 on: March 25, 2011, 02:03:22 PM »
Thank you for the clarification and commentary.

Per is probably going to get another customer here - it sounds like graphical editing of the soundings can be done, which beats parsing a text file.  I generally know where in a run I am likely to get bad soundings; it would be nice to just edit or delete them based on a graphical location.

And "painting" a hydro map with the sidescan data could be very interesting visually, although I am a bit apprehensive that the slant range corrections will result in too much distortion.

Great idea to use the SI to locate the water's edge, though.  I'm sure it's more accurate than tracing from GE, which is what I do now.


Offline pebe

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Re: Sidescan Mosaic Software other than DrDepth
« Reply #13 on: May 02, 2011, 02:52:41 AM »
Is there any German, helpful HowTo for the mosaic Enhancements ?

Also does anyone knows a German spelled Forum which was helpful in mosaic´ing and Dr.Depth ?

I appreciate for any Source of Information to mosaic Software and Information specially related to Dr.Depth.

Right now i am still in War with the mosaic Enhancement of Dr.Depth. ;D
Sometimes i get good Results, somtimes not.  :)

mosaic´ing is verry exciting !


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