M. Workflows

Owned by Harald Sund (Unlicensed)
Last updated: Aug 18, 2015 by Anders Moe

Introduction

A workflow in Geocap is a way of combining datasets and actions or visualizations in sequence to produce visualizations, movements and powerpoint style 3D presentations. In this section we will have a look at one of the workflows provided with the Atlantis project and then we will create a workflow our self. It is up to you if you want to create a workflow from the Atlantis project or from the new project you built.

Exercises

 

Exercise

Examine the workflows provided in the Atlantis project.

  1. Make sure the Atlantis project is open.
  2. In Geocap, click File > Open > Workflow, and browse to the Atlantis project folder, then open the the sub-folder called workflows.
  3. Select Basic_Workflow.gwf and click Open. This will open the workflow below the project.
  4. Examine the contents of the workflow items by clicking on the triangles next to the root folders.
  5. Click on the Go to first executable element  icon and then click on the Execute next element  icon. (This will initialize the basic display settings and nothing will appear in the display window yet)
  6. Click on the Execute next element  icon again and notice everything in the Base map folder will be displayed.

  7. Continue clicking on the Execute next element  icon until you reach the end of the workflow and observe how different elements of the Atlantis project are displayed.

  8. Close the workflow by clicking Close

Note that the user may also execute each element one at a time by right clicking on the command and choosing Execute, see the image below.

 

Workflows are saved as single files on disk with file extension *.gwf, (Geocap Work Flow). It is a good idea to store them in a folder called workflows next to the db folder on disk. In the next exercises we will create a new empty workflow. 

Exercise

Create a new workflow

  1. Go to File > New > Workflow.
  2. Browse for workflow folder or create a new one.
  3. Give your workflow a name and click Save.
  4. The new empty workflow window will pop up below the project

 

We are now going to add different commands to our workflow. There are a number of ways to do this. You can turn on the recorder and start executing commands and they will end up in the workflow or you can copy commands from the Toolbox and paste them into the workflow. You can also add elements from the workflow toolbar.

Exercise

Build the workflow

  1. Select a dataset in your project that you want to display.
  2. In the Toolbox right click the display command you want to use in your workflow and select Copy
  3. Click the button in the workflow. The command will now be opened in edit mode. 
  4. Check the settings and click OK
  5. Continue to add elements to your workflow by selecting a dataset and copying a command into the workflow.
Exercise

Execute the workflow

  1. Click the icon.
  2. Click the icon to execute next element or the icon to execute all elements in the workflow.

 

A flight tour collects a series of camera positions and moves the camera smoothly through these positions. In order to create a camera position all you need to do is right click a folder and select New > Camera Position.

Exercise

Create a flight tour

  1. In your project, create a new generic folder called Cameras
  2. Zoom to an area you want to save as a camera position.
  3. Right click the folder Cameras and select New > Camera Position
  4. Repeat the last two steps to create more camera positions.
  5. Select the Cameras folder in your project.
  6. In the Toolbox go to Shared Commands > Visualization, right click Flight Tour and select Copy.
  7. Paste the command into your workflow. The command will open and it should have selected the Cameras folder as input. 
  8. Set the flight time between every camera position to 5 seconds and make sure Collect cameras in folder to smooth flight tour and Single flight tour is checked
  9. Click OK
  10. Select the Flight Tour command in the workflow and click theicon to run the flight tour.

To update a camera position, set the view in the graphics window, right click the camera position and select Assign View.


It is possible to group elements in a folder. Add folders by clicking New workflow element on the workflow toolbar and selecting Group under General .