Here is a presentation of the new functionalities which have been added to the raster editing capabilities of Descartes.
GeoRaster Support
DEM Raster Surfaces can now be attached by Bentley Descartes. The DEM rasters are displayed as 2D but the user can assign colors to them based on elevation, slope or aspect to enhance Z data visualization.
Oracle GeoRaster Support
Queries can be sent to an Oracle server containing Georeferenced Raster Data. This data can then be displayed as a read-only raster attachment in Descartes.
Define Seam tool Enhancements
We can now define the feathering area of the Define Seam tool interactively. A preview of the feathering isdisplayed dynamically while placing the seam line. Another improvement is that only the raster displayed in front gets clipped and feathered by the operation, therefore the mosaic can be detached and reattached without losing the mosaicking.
Combine Images
Logical operations can now be performed on selected areas of two selected monochrome rasters, the result of the logical operation being placed onto an output monochrome raster.
Paste from File
The Paste tool found in the Edit menu now allows selecting a raster file on disk to be pasted onto other raster files attached to a DGN. Once the raster on disk is opened, the workflow is similar to using the conventional Paste tool.
Merge tool Enhancements
Rasterization of a view or of a portion of a view can now be sent to the clipboard by using the Merge tool.
New Fence behavior in Editing tools
The tools that support fences to define the area have a new toggle in their tool settings called "Use Fence". When this option is turned ON, the editing tool will work on all the raster attachments overlapped by the fence and will ignore the raster selection. The fence will always be treated as a fence clip which means that only the pixels overlapped by the fence will be edited.
Line Cap and Line Join Settings
A new section labeled "Line Ends" has been added to the Line Mapping Settings dialog. This section comprises two new settings labeled "Line Cap and "Line Join". These settings specify the line caps and line joins to be used in the Merge and Stamp operations.
Dynamic Rubber Band Display Enhancements
The display of the dynamic rubber bands used in the Bentley Descartes editing tools has been enhanced so that they are easier to see.
Enhanced Merge tool
It is now possible to rasterize vector elements to various output raster formats. It is also possible to cut the areas into multiple output zones based on a predefinned vector index stored in a DGN model. The merged output can be stored in various resolutions such as at a blend of Pixel Size, DPI, Number of Pixels and Scale combinations, at Existing Raster resolution if a raster attachment is present in the area to be merged, or at view resolution.
Edition of 3D Oriented Rasters
It is now possible to edit rasters attached in any orientation with the Bentley Descartes editing tools. In previous versions of Bentley Descartes, only rasters attached parallel to the XY plane were editable. Most of the editing tools now have a "Work in Image Plane" toggle. Local Transform tools Crop and Resize Canvas always work in the image plane. When this option is turned on, all editing operations are performed as if the MicroStation coordinate system origin was moved to the raster's origin and the axes are rotated as the raster is oriented.
Binary Files Enhancements
Improvements for working with binary files include enhanced speed for binary images editing, and for the use of editing tools and the Undo/Redo operations. Two new tools have been added: Resize Canvas and Dynamic Raster Snap. These tools are described in detail below.
Resize Canvas
This tool allows users to change the canvas size of raster images. Just like the Shrink tool in I/RAS B, it allows cutting off excess background of raster data and fits the raster border so it goes to the extent of the raster's foreground. [Use the Crop tool to remove the excess (or blank) area(s) around the desired raster image.]
Dynamic Raster Snap
When this option is ON, all mouse moves have a shadow cursor snapped to the nearest raster foreground (if close enough). If a data point is entered while the shadow cursor is visible, the data point will be set to the shadow coordinates. Therefore, it is possible to snap on raster drawings while placing MicroStation elements. This feature is only available for binary files.
Local Transform Tools
This new tool box is designed to perform local transformations inside a raster. All the data used with these tools come from and/or go to the same raster. For example, the "Local Move" tool can be used to move a chair from one corner of an office to another in a scanned drawing. Available tools are: "Local Copy", "Local Move", "Local Scale", "Local Rotate", "Local Mirror" and "Local Warp". The "Cover up Area" and "Clone Area" tools are also available in this tool box. They can be used to hide or duplicate a feature in continuous tone images. The feathering option makes the boundary of the edited area seamless. These two tools also offer the option of defining a feathering area to seamlessly copy the selected area.
Vectorize Enhancements
These features were added to the Vectorize tools:
- The Node elements generated by the line following operations are now undoable.
- It is possible to continue ahead at intersections. A point will continue to be placed in the intersection but the convert process will not stop.
- The new "Convert Area" tool has been added to the Vectorize tool box. This tool will convert all rasters found in the selected area to vector lines.
Copy/Paste are Now Integrated with the Windows Clipboard
The "Copy" and "Paste" functions have been rewritten. They are faster than before and now use the Windows clipboard. This means that it is possible to copy a portion of the rasters displayed in MicroStation and paste it into a third party software as "Word".
Line Mapping
Available in the Rasterize tool box, these tools allow matching the line mapping settings with those displayed at the desired zoom magnification. These tools were in the "Stamp" tool box in previous versions.
Resample a Raster to another Coordinate System
It is now possible to resample a raster in another Coordinate System in the "Save as" when Descartes is loaded.
Import .COR Files
The COR file format is the I/RASB version of the Descartes RGR file. These files contain the definition and control points that define the model. It is now possible to import COR files in Descartes. With this feature it is possible for users migrating from I/RAS B to Descartes to use their old COR file.
New Filters
The new Blur, Sharpen, Smooth, Detail, Edge Enhance and Find Edges filters are available in the Enhance Image tool box.