U. Workflows

Owned by Harald Sund (Unlicensed)
Last updated: Oct 21, 2015 by Tore Sannes (Unlicensed)
4 min read

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. The Atlantis Project is used throughout this tutorial.

Exercises

 

Exercise

Examine the workflows provided in the Atlantis_Mini project

  1. In Geocap, click File > Open > File, and browse to the Atlantis_Mini folder, then open the the sub-folder called Workflows.
  2. Double click on the file called sample_workflow.gwf to open it, or single click to highlight it and then click, Open. This will open the workflow below the project.
  3. Examine the contents of the workflow items by clicking on the triangles next to the root folders.
  4. Click on the Go to first executable element icon and then click on the Execute next element icon. This will display the seabed and land.
  5. Click on the Execute next element icon again and notice that the 2500m isobath is displayed.
  6. Continue clicking on the Execute next element icon until you reach the end of the workflow and observe how different elements of the Atlantis_Mini project are displayed.

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

 

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. Click File > New > Workflow.
  2. Browse for the 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. Press the New Workflow Element icon to create the first entry. That may also be achieved by a right-click New Element.
  2. Select the Display command found in the Commands folder and click OK.
  3. Right-click the Display command in the workflow and select Edit.
  4. In a workflow, you will need to select a dataset from the project. The command usually requires a dataset to do an action on (such as a type of display).
  5. In your project, select a line and click the green arrow in the Display edit menu.
  6. Choose the display settings you like (color, glue to surface or not, etc.) and click OK again.
  7. Right click the element in the workflow and choose Execute. Alternatively, click the Execute icon.
  8. Examine how your display looks and edit the command if necessary to achieve the results you want by right clicking on the command and choosing edit.
  9. In order to keep your workflow organized it is recommended to change the name of the newly added commands from Display to something more descriptive like, Display Coastline Yellow which is done by right clicking the command and choosing Rename.
  10. Continue to add different commands to your workflow.
  11. Remember to save the workflow by clicking the Save Workflow icon.

Commands may also be copied from Shared commands, Item commands and Schema commands and pasted into 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 the Execute next element icon 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 .