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We not only develop our product but also use it for execution of different projects. That’s why interesting innovations sometimes appear in it quite unexpectedly. As a rule, we make intermediate versions available for downloading from our web-site if we believe that new abilities may be attractive for a broad circle of users. The package is supplied with a mechanism of upgrade availability check that promptly informs you about new versions on the site.
There are two ways to check upgrade availability. First, it may be done automatically if the option "Check upgrade automatically" is on (Service->System Settings->Miscellaneous). Second, you may click the Check Updates button in the About Easy Trace dialog box to do it explicitly.
It is clear that your computer should be in the Internet to execute the check.
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Development of interactive digitizing tools in Easy Trace PRO is focused on processing of indistinct, ambiguous, noisy, and repeatedly intersecting objects. It is quite reasonable to improve them even before tracing applying available means of line restoration, segment joining across short gaps and deletion of obvious artifacts. Then you proceed to tracing – in this case it consists in assembling of raw vector data into long linear and polygonal objects.
The Search for Line tool is supplied with the mode of interactive polygon assembling in the current version of the program. This mode enables you to extract a coherent polygonal cover successively applying the Autoclose mode similar to one of the tracers that process image instead of raw vector data. It may be done in the following way:
- Trace a line or a contour interactively – specify a point in any segment of the line as well as the first and the last points of the trace. Additional points are required if there are several equiprobable versions of the route. Gaps and "branches" in the line will be ignored automatically;
- The program automatically deletes constituent vector segments of the line on completion of trace forming and optimizes line form in accordance with preset parameters;
- Adjoining raw vector segments restore their connectedness with the optimized trace and thus enable forming of adjacent polygons.
Parameters Bar of the Search for Lines tool.
Example of application.
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Copying is extremely useful when you process materials with numerous one-type objects, e.g. topological symbols. You may take any vector object as a pattern on the screen directly instead of object type selection in different menus and tables.
As this method proved to be very effective, copying with the help of Editors was substituted for a special mode of copy insertion. Objects selected for copying "hang" by the cursor and one click is sufficient for insertion of their replica.
The mode of copy insertion is provided for the Editor and Group Editor tools.
- Performance capabilities of the Topology Check-up utility are enlarged. It is possible now to detect and mark common vertices and nodes of the specified degree of connectedness. Together with the mechanism of quick navigation from mark to mark, this feature facilitates check of automatically formed polygonal covers or arc-and-node models. The following options are added:
- "Vertices of degree..." – when on, sites of line intersections and joinings with a common vertex forming will be marked if the number of segments connected with the vertex is above or equal to the specified value.
- "Only nodes" – when on, nodes will be marked if the number of distinct line segments connected with the node exceeds the specified value.
- "Vertices of degree..." – when on, sites of line intersections and joinings with a common vertex forming will be marked if the number of segments connected with the vertex is above or equal to the specified value.
- Manual forming of long and complex curves representing indistinct boundaries of natural objects is a rather laborious task that may be most conveniently solved in the spline mode of interactive tracing. But objects in the image may differ greatly in the nature of resulting vector curves. Exact flexure control is essential at tracing of long smooth lines but becomes superfluous at winding line forming and slows down the process. That’s why:
- Parameters for spline mode control are added to the strategy of interactive tracing. These are the step of line bend change at rotation of the mouse wheel (in pixels) and the step of bend position change on the current line segment (% of the segment length).
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Lines are hardly distinct from traces of erasure on badly worn paper materials like 1:500 maps. On the other hand, new changes on the same maps may have good contrast. And all of them are drawn on a dirty background of old yellowed paper.
The Local Contrast Enhancement tool proved to be the most effective mean of data extract from such materials but it is rather resource-intensive and parameter selection (particularly at process deceleration) is unobvious. Improvements made in the current ET version have notably simplified setting adjustment whereas algorithm optimization has enhanced response of the tool to parameter changes.
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Project execution may "disintegrate" into processing of individual subject layers or map fragments at conveyor-like work. At that, accounting of total working time becomes difficult as time information about processing of separate parts will be lost at final data assembling. It is particularly inconvenient at execution of a series of small projects with cost calculation on work completion.
Storage of timetable information for individual parts of the project is optionally added to the Import JET operation for further use after final project assembling in Easy Trace.
- Polygonal cover models consisting of individual polygon edges and centroids become increasingly prevalent. The Polygon Decomposition utility is provided in Easy Trace for transfer from a polygonal model with boundary doubling to a node-and-arc one. It is accelerated in the current version and processing of embedded polygons is improved.
- The bug is corrected, which terminated work of the Cut Out Subprojects utility at use of a missing font in the project and at selection of layers without vector objects.
- A feature of the Object Attributes dialog box is restored: the last selected / specified value is the first in the list if sorting of previously specified values is off. The feature was lost in previous versions.
- Small bugs of text and block processing are corrected.
- The bug is corrected – object attributes could be changed on frozen layers with the help of F2 hot key.
- Search for Lines tool – some bugs of the Autosearch method are corrected (return along an already formed line, non-deletion of detected line segments, lack of line completion at closing, line reverse failing, etc.).
- The bug at gif-files reading is corrected.
- Use of semi-transparent cursors (standard for Vista and better) is corrected.
- Wrong functioning of the Camber Editor tool is corrected - it didn’t respond to switching of the “Use only objects from the layers” option if there were no vector objects attributed to these layers.
- The bug is corrected – miscalculation of image positioning coefficients in the "without correction" mode at manual input of image parameters and use of pixels of the image as project units.
- The bug is corrected in the Line Form Optimization utility – a closed line could open after optimization if there were other lines snapped to it.
- The bug is corrected – the cursor of the Eraser and Camber Editor tools disappeared when moved outside a drop-down list (e.g., the list of layers).
Easy Trace Pro 9.2.2036
