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Home - General / All posts - How do I make an image from a map in Manifold 9?
tjonas11 post(s)
#10-May-18 17:35

I am an occasional Manifold 8 user. I do only simple operations: importing elevation data, making a map and saving and exporting an image of the map.

I recently bought Manifold 9 and the learning curve is daunting to me. It seems like none of the terminology and functions are like Manifold 8.

I have figured out how to import data and create a map but I am puzzled about how to make an image of the map.In Manifold 8 I chose "Tools/Make Image" and then entered the extent and size parameters. How do I do that in 9?

Thanks in advance!

Tom

Dimitri


7,413 post(s)
#11-May-18 07:08

I recently bought Manifold 9 and the learning curve is daunting to me. It seems like none of the terminology and functions are like Manifold 8.

Some advice: It's been said before but is worth repeating... 9 is not 8. It is a completely different product. If you approach the learning of 9 as "It's going to be like 8. I can just pick it up as I go along" then you are setting yourself up for a world of completely unnecessary misery.

The fastest, easiest, lowest stress way to learn 9 is to a) download and use the latest Cutting Edge build, and then b) start with the first topic in the User Manual (called "Read Me First") and to read that carefully. Get into the habit of not skimming. Actually read the whole topic.

Next, skip the second topic, called Changes and Additions. That's mainly there for people who last dialed into the program months ago and are now surprised to see it is now very different than what it was. It helps them catch up.

Next, keep going with the Introduction topic. Read that as well. Don't skim. After that you should read all of the topics in the Getting Started book and then read all of the topics in the Basics book. After you get through the first five or six topics, take a break from time to time from reading topics to work through the Examples, beginning, of course, with the Introductory Examples. It also helps to watch videos from the Gallery page. One problem with videos is that YouTube, which hosts the Manifold videos, does not allow updates. The older videos, therefore, show a product that has long since evolved into something better. But they still show the style of how to use 9 in a way that is useful.

If you skip the learning the above process provides you just set yourself up for lots of wasted time and lots of totally unnecessary frustration. It's like those guys who spend years trying to "wing it" with PhotoShop without ever bothering to learn the basics of the thing in a structured way, and then when they get around people who actually know PhotoShop the experienced hands are amazed the "wing it" guy does things so inefficiently. Kind of reminds me of a friend who lived in Paris and who had a very limited life in the city because he never learned the baby step of how to use the Metro. So he had to walk everywhere. That totally denied him the use of parks and other wonderful aspects of the city that people who knew how to use the Metro took for granted. Just the investment of an hour or so to learn how to work the thing would have made a big difference for years of experience.

About making images: Create a layout and print that to PDF. PDF is more or less the universal format 9 uses for publication.

dchall8
1,008 post(s)
#11-May-18 18:34

You are correct. Manifold 9 is more of a different product than it is a simple version number advancement. I went from Manifold 4 through 8 without having to learn a lot of new terminology or user interface changes. Version 9; however, is completely different. If you follow Dimitri's path to knowledge, you're going to spend a lot of time reading about things you will never do. You're using Manifold 8 as an information consolidator and then image processor. As an image processor, I think Manifold 9 will be far superior once you learn the user interface for the tasks you do. There is a great video here showing how to use layouts in M9 for printing. That will get you started.

What are you using the images for? I would suggest there are better images possible out of M8 than using the approach you described. What I do is more complicated, but it results in a very high resolution image suitable for large projection or printing. I create a map and create a layout from the map. I set the size of the layout to 36 inches wide by 45 inches tall (or vice versa). Then I find the area I want to image and use the Views pane (from View>Panes>Views) to save the particular view I want to image. Open the layout and right click to get Properties. In the Properties window select Scope: View and select the name of the View you just created (it might be called View unless you renamed it in the Views Pane). You'll have to experiment with the zoom factor to get the image you want. When it looks good in the Layout window, then select File>Export>Image. I always export to .PDF from which I can either print directly or export to another image format.

Printing images or PDFs out of M9 to PDF is not quite all there yet. I still get Operation failed errors when trying to print. Here is the process I use (which is directly out of the video). I create the Layout, go to File>Page Setup... to make it 36 x 45 inches, drag the Map into Layout, double click the Map frame inside the Layout to change the way it zooms, mousewheel scroll to zoom in, and then File>Print to Adobe Acrobat. It seems to start to produce a file and then the Operation failed error dialog pops up. But, I think printing will get fixed resulting in a very impressive map print processor.

Attachments:
M9 Print Operation Failed.jpg

Dimitri


7,413 post(s)
#11-May-18 19:42

It seems to start to produce a file and then the Operation failed error dialog pops up.

Based on that hyper-precise and exceptionally informative error message, I'd say try something else. :-)

No, seriously, it's worth a try to first, try a different PDF printer. There was a thread a while back about different PDF printers. There are plenty to try, beginning with the Microsoft print to PDF facility, and there are plenty of free PDF printers.

The other thing to consider is whether you are running out of resources, such as not enough free space on your TEMP folder, not enough free space on disk, etc. When 9 dispatches a print job that ends up going to a PDF printer, and then something fails after 9 hands off the job, the chances of getting back some sort of useful error message from all that third party stuff is slim.

Don't give up on it. Report back here in terms of ... 64 or 32 bit operation, free space on disk, free space in your TEMP folder, what happens using different print to PDF, what version of windows and so on.

adamw


10,447 post(s)
#14-May-18 13:22

Printing images or PDFs out of M9 to PDF is not quite all there yet. I still get Operation failed errors when trying to print.

If you have time, please report this to tech support.

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