Background Images in 2D and 3D Views



Figure 1. Urban database (Stuttgart, Germany) with background Image on X / Y plane.

WallMan can display image files together with a database. This is very useful to draw databases manually or to get additional information about the database. WallMan supports all common graphics file formats like .bmp, .png, .jpg, .gif and .tiff.

To configure background images select Images > Configuration from the menu or click on the corresponding icon in the toolbar.



Figure 2. The Image Configuration dialog.
In order to add an image to the current project, first, click on Add and select an image file in one of the supported formats. The next step is to define the image position and its size. Therefore enter the coordinates of its lower-left corner in the Lower-left X/Y/Z fields. Fill the Width and Height fields with the according to values. Finally, select the plane the image should appear in from the drop-down list. Clearing the Visible box hides an image from the views. In case a georeference is available for the image, the georeference file can be loaded by pressing the Load button in order to adjust the image correctly. The image properties will be assigned according to the content of the georeference file. It is also possible to create a georeference file by pressing the Save button if the image was scaled and adjusted manually.
Note: Georeferencing of a background image is only possible in the X/Y plane and for UTM coordinate system.

Scale and Move the Images with the Mouse

If no information about the position and size of the image are available it is also possible to position and scale it manually by mouse. The according tools can either be selected from the menu or from the toolbar. It is important that the view (for example, (X / Y)) in which the image should be moved / scaled is activated before selecting the tool. The active view is indicated by a red font instead of a black font for non-active views.


Figure 3. Non-active (left) and active (right) view.
Move Image (Images > Move Image from the menu): When the left mouse button is pressed the image is moved with each mouse movement.
Scale Image (Images > Scale Image from the menu): Pressing the left mouse button and moving the mouse resizes the image. Depending on where the mouse pointer was when the left mouse button was pressed the image is scaled in different directions. For example, clicking on the upper-left corner of the image and moving the mouse will shrink or enlarge the image at the upper-left corner (the lower-right corner remains where it was).
In case that more than one image lies in the same plane as the active view (for example, X / Y) WallMan displays a dialog where the user can select the image that should be modified.


Figure 4. The Select an Image dialog.

Edit Images

Images can be edited in WallMan as well. After selecting Edit Image from the Images menu, a dialog opens, where different edit tools can be selected.



Figure 5. The Image Edit dialog.

The Polyline Rubber tool offers the possibility to erase contents of the image by defining a polyline. The individual points of the polyline can be specified with a left mouse click. A right click will close the polyline and erase the image data which is located within the polyline.

The second option to delete image data is to use the Rectangular Rubber tool. In case the fixed pixel size is set to zero, the user can define an arbitrary rectangle with the mouse. Otherwise, the user-defined fixed rectangle size will be used for the rubber rectangle.

The Pipette tool can be used to obtain the color of a certain pixel. If this tool is active and the user clicks with the left mouse button, the corresponding color will be displayed in the lower part of the Image Edit dialog.

The color of pixels can be changed using the Pen tool. The color to be set has to be selected in the color section in the lower part of the dialog by clicking on the coloured rectangle.

Images can be rotated at an arbitrary angle using the Rotation tool. After defining the angle and pressing the button, the image will be rotated clockwise.

The Trim tool cuts the overlaying background of an image.