Interactive Mosaic Editing. Mosaic Tool Training Guide

Transcription

1 Interactive Mosaic Editing Mosaic Tool Training Guide Version 1.0 June 15, 2016

2 Copyright notice 2015 PCI Geomatics Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved. Software copyrighted by: PCI Geomatics Enterprises, Inc. 90 Allstate Parkway, Suite 501 Markham, Ontario L3R 6H3 CANADA Telephone number: (905) The Licensed Software contain material that is protected by international Copyright Law and trade secret law, and by international treaty provisions, as well as by the laws of the country in which this software is used All rights not granted to Licensee herein are reserved to Licensor. Licensee may not remove any proprietary notice of Licensor from any copy of the Licensed Software. RESTRICTED RIGHTS Canadian Government Use, duplication, or disclosure is subject to restrictions as set forth in Public Works and Government Services Canada Supplemental General Conditions Licensed Software U.S. Government Use, duplication, or disclosure by the Government is subject to restrictions set forth in subparagraph (b)(3) of the Rights in Technical Data and Computer Software clause of DFARS or subparagraph (c)(1) and (2) of the Commercial Computer Software-Restricted Rights clause at 48 CFR as amended, or any successor regulations thereto. The Government agrees: (a) if the Licensed Software is supplied to the Department of Defense ( DoD ), the Licensed Software is classified as Commercial Computer Software and the Government is acquiring only RESTRICTED RIGHTS in the Software as that term is defined in Clause (c)(1)(ii) of the DFARS (48 CFR ); and (b) if the Licensed Software is supplied to any unit or agency of the United States Government other than DoD, the Government s rights in the Licensed Software will be as defined in Clause (c)(2) of Supplement to the FAR. PCI, PCI Geomatics, PCI and design (logo), Geomatica, Committed to GeoIntelligence Solutions, GeoGateway, FLY!, OrthoEngine, RADARSOFT, EASI/PACE, ImageWorks, GCPWorks, PCI Author, PCI Visual Modeler, and SPANS are registered trademarks of PCI Geomatics Enterprises, Inc. Sentinel is a registered trademark of SafeNet, Inc. Copyright (c) Info-ZIP. All rights reserved. InstallAnywhere is a registered trademark of Macrovision Corporation. All other trademarks and registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Interactive Mosaic Editing Mosaic Tool Training Guide ii

3 Acknowledgement Contents Copyright notice... ii Acknowledgement Introduction to Mosaic Editing About the Mosaic Tool Mosaic Tool - Interface Mosaic Tool Tools and Features Overview Menu Items Toolbar Buttons Context Menus Getting Started with the Mosaic Tool Preprocessing Requirements Opening a Project through File Selector Opening a Project with Drag and Drop (windows only) Mosaic Overview Window Viewing and Selection Options Layer Selection Turning Layers on and off Changing Band Combinations Enhancements Panning and Zooming Best Practices Image Sorting (Z-Order) Changing Z-Order from Image Properties Changing Z-Order from Image Tree-list Cutlines Selecting a Cutline to Edit Quick Cutline Editing Reshape Tool Adding Vertices to a Cutline Deleting Cutlines Quickly Creating New Cutlines Advanced Cutline Editing and Creation About the Collection Viewer Manual Cutline Editing with the Collection Viewer Creating New Cutlines with the Collection Viewer Color Balancing and Dodging Tips & Best Practice Minor Touch Ups (Simple) Challenging Color Edits Improving Water Improving Land Pixels Improving Local Brightness Quality Assurance and Verification Layers Quality Assurance Image Status Update Saving your edits Interactive Mosaic Editing Mosaic Tool Training Guide i

4 Acknowledgement Acknowledgement PCI Geomatics acknowledges Blackbridge Geomatics for providing the sample data used in this text book. The data used in this training manual remain the property of Blackbridge Geomatics, Inc. The user of this manual is granted a non-transferable right to use the data/imagery contained in the documents in a non-commercial manner. The user may not, and may not permit others to, use, reproduce, or distribute, in whole or in part, the material in the documents. Interactive Mosaic Editing Mosaic Tool Training Guide 2

5 Introduction to Mosaic Editing 1. Introduction to Mosaic Editing PCI s Geomatica and GXL software include advanced algorithms for automatic color balancing and seamline (cutline) generation for small and large mosaics. While the mosaicking algorithms generate high quality outputs, it is always prudent to perform a visual quality assurance (QA) of the color balancing and cutlines (seamlines) before generating the full resolution final mosaic. The Mosaic Tool provides an advanced environment and toolset for viewing and editing preview mosaics generated with the mosaicking workflow in Geomatica or the GXL. A very lightweight mosaic preview is generated with the Mosaic Preparation workflow, where color balancing and cutlines are automatically generated. The Mosaic Preparation module doesn t actually generate any image pixels, but rather provides all the information required (via XML files) for the Mosaic Tool to generate the mosaic on-thefly. As such, the Mosaic Preparation process is incredibly fast. The output from the Mosaic Preparation module can then be directly read into the Mosaic Tool for quality assurance and interactive editing. This approach gives the operator (user) an opportunity to inspect and improve the mosaic (color balancing, cutlines) before running the process and I/O intensive Mosaic Generation module, to produce the final mosaic. Figure 1 GXL and Geomatica mosaicking workflow 1.1 About the Mosaic Tool PCI Geomatics Mosaic Tool is a viewing and editing software application that allows users to perform modifications to the cutlines (seamlines), color balancing, image dodging, scene order, and image normalization of preview mosaics. The Mosaic Tool renders mosaics on-the-fly by reading in an XML file generated by the Mosaic Preparation workflow. The XML file contains all of the information required for the Mosaic Tool to correctly render the mosaic preview and apply the correct adjustments to colors and cutlines. The Mosaic Tool contains advanced and easy-to-use tools for quickly editing cutlines, colors and image order of the preview mosaic. Furthermore, the Mosaic Tool comes with a WYSIWYG viewer, so that all manual edits and alterations made to the mosaic are immediately rendered in the viewer. This gives users immediate feedback about how their edits will affect the output mosaic. Interactive Mosaic Editing Mosaic Tool Training Guide 3

6 Introduction to Mosaic Editing 1.2 Mosaic Tool - Interface The Mosaic Tool is a graphical software application that allows users to view and edit a preview mosaic. The interface contains a viewer, toolbar, menu bar, and image tree-list pane. Image Tree-list: Provides an ordered list of ortho-images used to build (render) the mosaic in the viewer. The order of the list (top to bottom) corresponds to the z-order of the images in the mosaic; images higher in the list are rendered on top of images lower in the list. The Image Tree-list can be used to select images for editing, access properties of images, change the z-order and more. Mosaic Viewer: A dynamic WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) viewer, provides users with immediate feedback about how the edits will affect their mosaic. The viewer is fast and builds the mosaic and applies edits on-the-fly. Menu bar: Four (4) dropdown menus for accessing project options, online help, viewing options and editing tools. Toolbar: Quick access to a wide range of mosaic specific editing tools, viewing and panning tools, and display enhancements. Status Bar: Provides output system messages, zoom scale, cursor location and processing progress Interactive Mosaic Editing Mosaic Tool Training Guide 4

7 Introduction to Mosaic Editing 1.3 Mosaic Tool Tools and Features Overview This section provides an overview and highlights of the different tools and options that can be accessed in the Mosaic Tool s menu bar, toolbar and context menus. Menu Bar: Toolbar: Context Menus: Three Different Context Menus: Far-left menu appears when right clicking on a single image in Image Tree-list, middle menu appears when right clicking on viewer, far-right menu appears when right clicking on multiple images in Image Tree-list Menu Items File Menu Open Project Close Project Save Project Save Project As... Mosaic Overview Opens a mosaicking project. Closes the current mosaicking project, prompting you to save the project if changes have been made to it. Saves the current mosaicking project. Saves a copy of the current mosaicking project under a new file name. Opens the Mosaic Overview window, which can be used to select subsets of the mosaic for loading for editing. Also can be used as a management tool for when multiple are connecting to the same mosaic from different computers Interactive Mosaic Editing Mosaic Tool Training Guide 5

8 Introduction to Mosaic Editing New Quality Control Layer Load Reference Vectors Place annotation points to make notes about problems in a given area and pass the notes between different users Allows you to load vector layers to help in evaluating the quality of the mosaic. Information Tool Opens the Information Report window, which displays individual attributes of selected features for rasters and vectors. Exit Closes the Mosaic Tool application. View Menu All Images All Cutlines All Labels All Local Masks All Match Areas Zoom To Toggles the display of all images. Toggles the display of cutlines for all image files. Toggles the display of labels for all image files. Toggles the display of exclusion masks for all image files. Toggles the display of match areas for all image files. Sets the zoom level for the display. Options include: Zoom to Overview: Displays the entire image in the View pane Zoom In: Increases display view. Zoom Out: Decreases display view. Zoom to 1:1 Image Resolution Zoom To Ratio: 25%, 50%, 100%, 200%, 400%, 800%, 1600% Tools Menu Image Status Enhance Normalize Allows you to set the status of a selected image or images. Options include: Verified, Unverified Allows you to enhance the layers currently displayed in the View pane. Options include: None Linear Root Adaptive Equalize Infrequency Allows you to normalize the images using one of the standard normalization methods. Options include: None Hot Spot Adaptive Filter Note: Because of the intensive processing required, the Adaptive Filter normalization is not dynamic. Also, any color balancing effects Interactive Mosaic Editing Mosaic Tool Training Guide 6

9 Introduction to Mosaic Editing on the normalized image will appear only when the image has been added to the output mosaic. Color Balance Compute Cutlines Allows you to apply a global or single color balance function to the data being mosaicked. Options include: None Manual Area Overlap Area Histogram Computes the cutlines for the selected input images while still respecting the current tree list order for all images. Options include: Minimum Difference Minimum Relative Difference Edge Feature Maximum Data File Extent Collection Viewer Launches the Collection Viewer window, which allows you to work on the currently selected or active image. New Cutline New Mask New Match Area Enables vector editing mode, which allows you to collect new cutlines or modify existing ones. Enables vector editing mode, which allows you to create an exclusion mask to use for color balancing. Enables vector editing mode, which allows you to collect new match areas or modify existing ones. Options Toolbar Buttons Button Label Description Mosaic Overview Add Image(s) Undo / Redo Opens the Mosaic Overview window, which displays an overview of your mosaic and allows you to select and work with a subset of images in your mosaic. Opens the Add Image window, allowing you to add images that were previously removed. Cancels or restores the last action. Zoom To Overview Zooms to display the entire image in the View pane. Interactive Mosaic Editing Mosaic Tool Training Guide 7

10 Introduction to Mosaic Editing Button Label Description Zoom Interactive Zoom In / Out Zooms in on the user-defined area of the image. Click and drag an area of the screen to define the zoom area. Zooms in or out of an image. Pan Enhancements Contrast Brightness Normalization Color Balancing Compute Cutlines Enters pan mode, allowing you to dynamically move the image around the View pane. Click and drag to move the image. Applies enhancement options to the currently selected image or layer. Options include: None, Linear, Root, Adaptive, Equalize, Infrequency, Tail Trim, Exclude Min/Max, Set Trim % Controls the difference between the light and dark extremes for all images displayed. Controls the overall luminosity (amount of light) for all images displayed. Applies normalization options to all images displayed. Options include: None Hot Spot Adaptive Filter Allows you to apply a global or single color balance function. Options include: None Manual Area Overlap Area Histogram Match Area is available only if match area shapes exist for the selected or active image. The Settings option allows you to specify general color balancing and histogram settings. Computes the cutlines for the selected input images while still respecting the current tree list order for all images. Options include: Minimum Difference Minimum Relative Difference Edge Feature Maximum Data File Extent Interactive Mosaic Editing Mosaic Tool Training Guide 8

11 Introduction to Mosaic Editing Button Label Description Cursor Control RGB Mapper Displays the Cursor Control window, allowing you to define the cursor position in three different coordinate systems: raster geocoded user-defined projection You can move the cursor in any of the supported coordinate systems by changing the associated coordinates. Opens the RGB Mapping window. Collection Viewer Vector Editing Toolbar New Cutline New Mask Opens the Collection Viewer window, which allows you to work on the currently selected or active image. Displays the Vector Editing toolbar, allowing you to modify existing cutlines and match areas in the pixmap. Options include: Find, Reverse Vertices, Add Vertices, Start Vertex, Previous Vertex, Midpoint, Next Vertex, End Vertex, Show Vertices, Vertices Information Enters Vector Editing mode, allowing you to define new cutlines. Applies to the currently selected or active image. Options include: Polygon, Rectangle, Ellipse Enters vector editing mode, allowing you to create a new exclusion mask for color balancing. Applies to the currently selected or active image. Options include: Polygon, Rectangle, Ellipse New Match Area Enables vector editing mode, which allows you to collect new match areas or modify existing ones. Options include: Polygon, Rectangle, Ellipse Map Layer Selection Flash Selected Map Layers Image Status Allows you to select a raster image layer in the View pane. The selected layer appears highlighted in the Control pane. Single-click to select the top-most raster at the cursor location Click-and-drag to select all layers touched Control-click to select multiple images Allows a selecting image in the View pane or in the tree list to flash for easy recognition. Allows you to set the status of a selected image or images. Options include: Verified, Unverified Interactive Mosaic Editing Mosaic Tool Training Guide 9

12 Introduction to Mosaic Editing Context Menus Right-click on viewer pane Opens a mosaicking project. Zooms in on the user-defined area of the image. Click and drag an area of the screen to define the zoom area. Zooms in on an image. Zooms out of an image. Zooms to image resolution 1:1 Right-click on single image in Image Tree-list Enters pan mode, allowing you to dynamically move the image around the View pane. Click and drag to move the image. Zooms to overview of the selected image Allows you to set (stamp) an image as verified or unverified Accesses the Image Normalization options for the selected image Accesses the Color Balancing options for the selected image Accesses the cutline options for the selected image Opens the Collection Viewer for advanced cutline editing for the selected image Enters draw cutline image mode for the selected image Enters draw mask mode for the selected image Enters draw match mode area for the selected image Removes the image from the mosaic Accesses properties of the image Right-click on multiple images in Image Tree-list Interactive Mosaic Editing Mosaic Tool Training Guide 10

13 Introduction to Mosaic Editing Allows you to set (stamp) all images selected as verified or unverified Accesses the Image Normalization options and apply image normalization method to all selected images Access color balancing options and apply changes to all selected images Access automatic cutline options and apply method to all selected images Remove all selected images from the mosaic Interactive Mosaic Editing Mosaic Tool Training Guide 11

14 Getting Started with the Mosaic Tool 2. Getting Started with the Mosaic Tool This section provides quick instructions for how to start a Mosaic QA and editing project with the mosaic tool. It provides information about prerequisite processes, methods to opening a new project, information about how the Mosaic Overview window can be used and some basic initial notes for starting your project. 2.1 Preprocessing Requirements The Mosaic Tool renders a preview mosaic on-the-fly. As such, the Mosaic Preparation workflow in the GXL or MOSDEF and MOSPREP PCI Pluggable Functions (PPFs) in Geomatica need to be run first in order to compute the automatic color balancing, image normalization coefficients and cutlines, as well as to create the necessary files required by the Mosaic Tool. 2.2 Opening a Project through File Selector 1. On the Geomatica Toolbar, click on the Mosaic Tool to launch the application 2. On the Mosaic Tool menu bar, select the File dropdown menu and click Open Project 3. In File Selector, navigate to the saved source image list XML file and select Open a. If you are using the data from this guide: C:\...\mprep\mpRE.xml Note: In some cases, multiple XML files will exist in the directory. Always load the XML file with the same name as the directory (e.g. mpre.xml) Interactive Mosaic Editing Mosaic Tool Training Guide 12

15 Getting Started with the Mosaic Tool The mosaicking project will open the mosaic will be rendered in the Mosaic Tool viewer and the images listed in the Image Tree-list Note: If you open a large mosaicking project, the Mosaic Overview window will open (see section 2.2.3) The Green translucent area is a global mask that was provided as an input into the mosaic preparation processing to mask out water so to improve color balancing. 4. On the Image Tree-list pane, uncheck Global Mask checkbox to turn it off Interactive Mosaic Editing Mosaic Tool Training Guide 13

16 Getting Started with the Mosaic Tool 2.3 Opening a Project with Drag and Drop (windows only) 1. On the Geomatica Toolbar, click on the Mosaic Tool to launch the application 2. In Windows file explorer, navigate to the output directory from the Mosaic Preparation (GXL) or MOSPREP (Geomatica) process a. E.g. C:\...\mostool_training_data\Output\mprep 3. Select the mpre.xml file 4. Drag and drop the xml file anywhere on to the Mosaic Tool application canvas The mosaicking project will open the mosaic will be rendered in the Mosaic Tool viewer and the images listed in the Image Tree-list Interactive Mosaic Editing Mosaic Tool Training Guide 14

17 Getting Started with the Mosaic Tool Note: If you open a large mosaicking project, the Mosaic Overview window will open (see section 2.2.3) 5. On the Image Tree-list pane, uncheck the Global Mask checkbox to turn the green mask off 2.4 Mosaic Overview Window The Mosaic Overview window allows users to select subsets of the mosaic to load into the viewing and editing window. This allows users to work on smaller, more manageable subsets, which can also improve the rendering performance of the viewer. Furthermore, the Mosaic Overview window acts as a project management tool for when multiple users connect and edit the same mosaic from different computers. It will lock images currently loaded by a user, preventing other users from accessing them at the same time. Interactive Mosaic Editing Mosaic Tool Training Guide 15

18 Getting Started with the Mosaic Tool For small mosaic projects, such as the mosaicking project in this training guide, the Mosaic Overview window will not open automatically when loading the project. However, it is still possible to access the Mosaic Overview for smaller projects. To do so, follow the steps below: 1. On the Mosaic Tool toolbar, click on the Mosaic Overview button The Mosaic Overview window will open with all images selected Interactive Mosaic Editing Mosaic Tool Training Guide 16

19 Getting Started with the Mosaic Tool 2. Place the cursor anywhere on the canvas, except on an image 3. Click and hold the left mouse button 4. Drag a rectangle that intersects some of the images The images that the selection rectangle intersects will be selected 5. At the bottom-right of the Mosaic Overview window, click on Open Selection Only the images that you selected will now be rendered into the Mosaic Tool main viewer and listed in the Image Tree-list 6. Repeat steps 1-5 of this section, but this time select all images of the project (the remaining sections in this guide require that the entire mosaic project is loaded for editing Note: If you access the Mosaic Overview window after making edits to your mosaic, the software will prompt you to save your edits, if you select No, then all edits performed since the last time saving will be lost. Interactive Mosaic Editing Mosaic Tool Training Guide 17

20 Viewing and Selection Options 3. Viewing and Selection Options In the Mosaic Tool, images can be selected in the Image Tree List or the Mosaic Viewer. A number of tools and methods for selecting and viewing layers are available to easily identify images, cutlines and editing points in any size project. Section 3 of this document will explain these tools in detail. 3.1 Layer Selection 1. Click on the Select icon from the toolbar 2. Holding the CTRL button on your keyboard, select a number of files listed in the Image Tree List. You will notice that the selected files will flash a shade of blue. 3. Select only one image from the Image Tree List. The image will flash blue once again to show you where it is located in the View Pane. 4. Click the Flash Selected Map layers from the toolbar. This will highlight the already selected image in the view pane. Alternately you can select images from the View Pane. 5. Using the Select icon, hold down the CTRL button on your keyboard while you click and drag the mouse over a number of images in the View Pane. The image id for the selected images will turn grey in the Image Tree List. Interactive Mosaic Editing Mosaic Tool Training Guide 18

21 Viewing and Selection Options 3.2 Turning Layers on and off 1. To turn off all layers in the view pane select View > All images. Cutlines, labels, masks and match areas can all be turned on or off from the View drop down panel. 2. To turn off an individual image click the check mark located to the left of the file name. 3. Select and expand a layer in the Layer List of the Mosaic Tool window by clicking the expand button to the left of the layer. 4. Cutline, label, local mask and match areas for that specific image will be displayed. Grayed out boxes signify that there is no information available. 5. To turn features for that image on or off simply click in the box to the left of the feature 3.3 Changing Band Combinations 1. Select the RGB Mapper icon from the toolbar 2. The RGB Mapping window opens. The RGB Mapping window lets you change the channel data to a color element and show the changes in the View Pane. Changes made in the RGB Mapping window will affect all files displayed. Interactive Mosaic Editing Mosaic Tool Training Guide 19

22 Viewing and Selection Options 3. Click in the Red, Green, and Blue columns next to the image channel to which you want to apply the filter. 4. Click Apply to display the changes in the View Pane. 5. Click OK to accept the new mapping and close the RGB Mapping window, or click Cancel to reject the changes. 3.4 Enhancements The enhancements you choose will be calculated depending on data that is displayed in the viewer. The same enhancement filter applies to all the images displayed. To apply an enhancement filter to an image: 1. From the Tools menu, select one of the following: Enhance: None, Linear, Root, Adaptive, Equalize, Infrequency Normalize: None, Hot Spot, Adaptive Filter Brightness: Increase, Decrease, Reset Contrast: Increase, Decrease, Reset 2. Alternatively, click the Enhancements, Normalize, Brightness, or Contrast buttons on the toolbar. Enhancements are applied to all selected layers. Enhancement None Description Does not apply an enhancement to 8U data types. This setting does, however, apply a linear stretch or a linear enhancement to other data types using their pixel values. The stretch is applied using only those pixels displayed in the viewer. At a zoomed-out level, the pixel values are decimated before they are displayed in the viewer. Therefore, the range of pixels used for the linear stretch may be narrower than the actual range of pixels in the image file. This means that the actual minimum and maximum values in the image file may not be included in the calculation of the linear stretch. Tail Trim and Exclude Min/Max settings are ignored for all data types. Linear Root Adaptive Equalize Uniformly stretches the minimum and maximum values in the image over the entire available output-display range to enhance the overall differences in gray levels in the image. Compresses the range of higher values (brightness) and expands the range of lower values (darkness), so you can distinguish more detail in darker areas of an image while still retaining some detail in the brighter areas. Combines the benefits of Equalization and Linear enhancements for a more natural display than Equalization while effectively compensating for outliers. Distributes the values equally over the entire output-display range resulting in an almost uniform histogram. This enhancement is effective in exposing details in the higher values (brightness) and lower values (darkness), but causes less contrast in the middle values. Interactive Mosaic Editing Mosaic Tool Training Guide 20

23 Viewing and Selection Options Enhancement Infrequency Tail Trim (toggle) Exclude Min/Max (toggle) Set Trim % Description Assigns the values that occur least frequently in the image to the range of higher values (brightness) in the histogram, so finer details become brighter. Omits the upper and lower two percent of the image histogram to remove outliers in the upper and lower part of the pixel range. Tail Trim uses a two percent margin by default, but you can adjust the amount of tail trim from one to five percent. Disregards the lowest and the highest value in the image histogram before applying the tail trim. Allows you to specify the percentage (from one to five) to remove from both the high and low end of the histogram before computing an enhancement. By default, two percent is removed. 3.5 Panning and Zooming Best Practices It is important that you use a mouse that comes with a mouse wheel. The mouse wheel is capable of dynamically entering panning mode and zooming mode. Rolling the mouse wheel up will zoom in Rolling the mouse wheel down will zoom out Clicking the mouse wheel button in will enter panning mode Interactive Mosaic Editing Mosaic Tool Training Guide 21

24 Image Sorting (Z-Order) 4. Image Sorting (Z-Order) Image sorting is an important mosaicking concept, as it allows the user to adjust which images are on top in a mosaic. This feature gives users the ability to ensure that the best images make up most of the visible pixels in the mosaic (i.e. low cloud cover and haze, common seasonality, etc.) and that lower quality images are only used where required (e.g. to fill a hole) Note: Changing the Z-order of an image or its neighbors can change the result of an automatic color balancing algorithm being applied to the selected image. 4.1 Changing Z-Order from Image Properties 1. Zoom to overview (make sure the entire mosaic is rendered in the viewer 2. In Mosaic Tool s Image Tree-list pane, right click on image T193706*.pix Image T193706*.pix is highlighted in cyan on the viewer Interactive Mosaic Editing Mosaic Tool Training Guide 22

25 Image Sorting (Z-Order) 3. In the context menu for that image, select Properties 4. The Layer Properties window for that image opens 5. Locate the Z-order parameter 6. Change the Z-order to 4 7. Click Apply The location of image T193706*.pix in the Image Tree-list has changed (closer to the bottom) and the mosaic in the viewer has changed. Image T193706*.pix is now underneath its neighboring image. Interactive Mosaic Editing Mosaic Tool Training Guide 23

26 Image Sorting (Z-Order) 8. Click OK to close the Layer Properties window 4.2 Changing Z-Order from Image Tree-list 1. Use the left mouse button to click on image T193706*.pix and hold down the button 2. With the left mouse button held down, drag the image layer to the top of the images in the Image Tree-list The corresponding image in the viewer changes back to being on top of its neighbor Interactive Mosaic Editing Mosaic Tool Training Guide 24

27 Cutlines 5. Cutlines When you create a mosaic, you want to crop the images so the best portions of the images are seamlessly joined together. A cutline is a polygon that outlines the portion of an image that will be used in the mosaic. As the cropped images are added to the Mosaic Area, the data in overlapping areas is covered by the most recent addition. Areas where several images overlap provide you with more opportunities to find the best location for the cutlines. When you save the project, the cutlines are saved with their corresponding images. To make the seams between images less visible, select features that are consistent in tone and texture, low to the ground, uniform in appearance, and conspicuous, such as roadways and river edges. Features that display clear boundaries provide a natural camouflage for the seam. To achieve a seamless look in the mosaic, select images or portions of images that are not radically different in color, and ensure that the seams are placed where they are least noticeable. Cutlines should avoid: buildings or man-made features, since they may lean in different directions in the imagery large bodies of water, because waves may look different in different images, and water tends to have different color in different images areas that are significantly different in color and texture, such as forests and cultivated land, since they may look different from image to image 5.1 Selecting a Cutline to Edit 1. Select the vector editing toolbar icon. 2. Select the find icon 3. Click on a cutline. Two different representations for cutlines are shown a solid line and a dotted line. o A solid cutline represents a cutline on the top of the image. o A dotted cutline represents a cutline underneath an image. Interactive Mosaic Editing Mosaic Tool Training Guide 25

28 Cutlines You can now use the vector editing tools on the Vector Editing toolbar to modify or delete the selected cutline 5.2 Quick Cutline Editing 1. To quickly edit a cutline in the Mosaic Tool use the find icon from the Vector Editing toolbar to select the cutline you wish to edit. 2. Pan and zoom to the location of the cutline you want to modify. The image below shows cloud cover over the edge of the land mass. We can edit the cutline around the cloud to exclude it from the final mosaic. The cutline can be edited using the reshape tool or adding new vertices Reshape Tool 1. Select the Reshape tool from the Vector Editing Toolbar 2. Click on the image near a cutline where you want the new reshaped cutline to be placed. 3. Continue to click along the feature in the image where the cutline should be located. You can PAN and zoom using the mouse wheel. 4. When finished, hit ENTER. This will exit the reshape tool. Interactive Mosaic Editing Mosaic Tool Training Guide 26

29 Cutlines Adding Vertices to a Cutline 1. Select the find icon from the Vector Editing toolbar to select the cutline you wish to edit. 2. Select the show vertices tool to view the vertices currently making up the cutline. 3. Select the add vertices tool 4. Add vertices to the cutline navigating around the cloud. 5. You will notice the edge of the underlying image. Edit the cutline to cover the hole. Interactive Mosaic Editing Mosaic Tool Training Guide 27

30 Cutlines 6. Click on the furthest vertices. With your mouse, click and drag the vertices to the position you desire in order to make the cutline smooth and remove as much of the cloud as possible. 5.3 Deleting Cutlines 1. In the Mosaic Tool zoom to the island found on the far left of the image. 2. Select and expand a layer in the Layer List of the Mosaic Tool window by clicking the expand button to the left of the layer. Interactive Mosaic Editing Mosaic Tool Training Guide 28

31 Cutlines 3. Right-click the cutline layer. The following editing tool are available: o Load Cutline to load an existing vector cutline layer o Delete Cutline to remove the cutlines created for that particular layer o Line Solid #1 Color o Select Styles o Set Blend Width to specify the blend width for the image and the neighboring images 4. Select the Delete Cutlines option to delete the cutline around the island 5. Alternately a cutline can be deleted by selecting it using the Find tool from the Vector Editing Toolbar and hitting the DELETE button on your keyboard. 6. The selected cutline is deleted and the full extents of the image is now displayed in the viewer 5.4 Quickly Creating New Cutlines 1. New cutlines can be created in the Mosaic Tool using the New Cutline tool. Once clicked, the New Cutline toolbar button activates, allowing you to collect Polygon, Rectangle, or Ellipse shapes to the selected image. 2. Click a Zoom icon to zoom to an appropriate image detail level. 3. Position the cursor where you want to begin collecting the cutline. 4. Click to outline a polygon around the area that you want, making sure to include some overlap between the images. Interactive Mosaic Editing Mosaic Tool Training Guide 29

32 Cutlines The images below show an area with clouds. A polygon was drawn around this area to exclude it from the output mosaic. The image on the right shows the newly created cutline along with the previous ones for the images. The clouds have been removed from the area. 5. Click once to anchor the polygon when you want to change directions. 6. Double-click to finish and close the polygon. Note: The vertices that you collected to form the cutline appear in the Control pane as a cutline layer for the active image. 5.5 Advanced Cutline Editing and Creation The Mosaic Tool comes with an advanced Cutline editing and creation mode, called the Collection Viewer. This window includes a number of useful tools and viewing options that can make it easier to collect cutlines in challenging areas About the Collection Viewer Editing the mosaic can be done in the Mosaic Tool or in the Collection window. The Collection Viewer window in the Mosaic Tool provides a full-resolution, close-up view of the active (working) image, allowing you to generate or refine cutlines and match areas in the entire image, using a 1:1 resolution view. In this window, cutlines are drawn on top of the image, with the entire image being displayed by default. The extents of this window are defined by the active image. All neighboring images are displayed, but you can toggle their display on or off using the toolbar buttons. You can also change the layering order the displayed images by changing their order in the Image Tree List. The Collection Viewer can be accessed by clicking on the Collection Viewer button located on the Mosaic Tool toolbar The following table describes the buttons available on the Collection Viewer toolbar. Interactive Mosaic Editing Mosaic Tool Training Guide 30

33 Cutlines Button Label Description Load Cutline Display Underneath Neighbors Display Working Image Display On-Top Neighbors Enable Cutline Clipping Visualization Mode Opens the Import Cutline window, allowing you to load vector cutlines from an existing vector file. Imported cutlines apply to the active file displayed in the Collection Viewer. Toggles the display of neighboring images that are positioned below the active image. The default view is on. Toggles the display of the active layer. By default, this display is on. Toggles the display of neighboring images that are positioned on top of the active image. By default, this display is off. Toggles the activation of cutline clipping for the active image. When this button is toggled on, only the data that is within the cutline is displayed. When it is toggled off, the entire active image is displayed. The default is off. Determines the way in which the active image is displayed. Options include: Standard, Overlay Red, Overlay Green, Overlay Blue, Interleave. For more information, see Visualization mode options. Undo / Redo Cancels or restores the last action. Zoom To Overview Zoom Interactive Zoom In / Out Zooms to display the entire image in the View pane. Zooms in on the user-defined area of the image. Click and drag an area of the screen to define the zoom area. Zooms in or out of an image. Zoom 1:1 Zooms to a 1:1 resolution of the current image. Pan Enhancements Enters pan mode, allowing you to dynamically move the image around the View pane. Click and drag to move the image. Applies enhancement options to all displayed images. Options include: None, Linear, Root, Adaptive, Equalize, Infrequency, Tail Trim, Exclude Min/Max, Set Trim % For more information, see Enhancement options. Contrast Brightness Controls the difference between the light and dark extremes in all displayed images. Controls the overall luminosity (amount of light) for all displayed images. Interactive Mosaic Editing Mosaic Tool Training Guide 31

34 Cutlines Button Label Description Vector Editing Displays the Vector Editing toolbar, allowing you to modify existing cutlines and match areas in the pixmap. Options include: Find, Reverse Vertices, Add Vertices, Start Vertex, Previous Vertex, Midpoint, Next Vertex, End Vertex, Show Vertices, Vertices Info. New Cutline Enters Vector Editing mode, allowing you to define new cutlines. Applies to the currently selected or active image. Options include: Polygon, Rectangle, Ellipse New Match Area Set Blend Width Lets you collect polygons for the active image that will be used to compute a Lookup Table (LUT) for color balancing. Draw Match Area polygons only in areas where images overlap. Opens the Set Blend Width window, allowing you to change the pixel value of seam blends for the cutline Manual Cutline Editing with the Collection Viewer From the Image Tree List, select the 2 images that make up the lake to the bottom right of the image. A cutline goes right through the middle of the lake. 1. From the toolbar select the collection viewer icon. 2. Toggle on and off the display underneath neighbours and display working image Interactive Mosaic Editing Mosaic Tool Training Guide 32

35 Cutlines 3. From the toolbar, click the Vector Editing icon. The Vector Editing Tools panel opens. The Vector Editing tools are used to move, delete, add new vertices, and reshape a cutline. 4. Click on the find tool to select the cutline to modify. 5. Click on the reshape tool 6. Click on the image near a cutline where you want the new reshaped cutline to be placed. 7. Continue to click along the feature in the image where the cutline should be located. You can PAN and zoom using the mouse wheel. 8. When finished, hit ENTER. This will exit the reshape tool. Interactive Mosaic Editing Mosaic Tool Training Guide 33

36 Cutlines 9. To add, move, or select vertices, you may also use the Vertices window. 10. Select vertices on your cutline, click Show Vertices on the toolbar, then click Vertices (X,Y). 11. Select a vertex from the table; this vertex will also appear selected in the Mosaic Area display. Selecting a vertex on the cutline also selects it in the Vertices table. 12. From the Vertices window, click the + button. A new vertex is added to the cutline. Add a few more vertices to correct your cutline. 13. Select a vertex and click the - button to delete it. At any time the undo and redo icons can be selected to undo or redo a previous step Creating New Cutlines with the Collection Viewer 1. From the toolbar select the collection viewer icon. 2. Toggle on and off the Display Working Image icon Notice the island is not covered by clouds in the underlying image. To include this in our mosaic we will create a new cutline. 3. From the toolbar expand the New Cutline icon and select Polygon. 14. A crosshair with a polygon appears when the mouse is placed over the corresponding image. Interactive Mosaic Editing Mosaic Tool Training Guide 34

37 Cutlines 4. Using the zoom tools, zoom to the area that runs through the area of overlap. 5. Using your mouse, create a cutline for the area of the image that you wish to include in the mosaic. 6. Clicking with the mouse will add a vertex to the polygon. 7. Double-click to complete the cutline. 15. The collected cutlines appear as vector layers under the corresponding image label in the Image Tree List. The changes resulting from cutline collection are shown in the Mosaic Tool view area as the changes take place. Interactive Mosaic Editing Mosaic Tool Training Guide 35

38 Color Balancing and Dodging 6. Color Balancing and Dodging One of the key requirements with mosaicking is ensuring that the colors of adjacent images on either-side of a cutline are as similar as possible, while maintaining color fidelity. The figure below provides an image with poor color balancing on the right and very good color balancing on the left. Most of the time, the automatic algorithms produce outputs that require little to no editing (touch ups). However, some mosaicking projects are more challenging, where the input images have very different radiometric properties. The Mosaic Tool contains a variety of color balancing and editing tools that make it quick and easy to perform minor touch ups, but also provides the power to address much more challenging projects and problems. As of GXL and Geomatica v2015, three (3) new color editing features have been added to the Mosaic Tool: Edge dodging points: Edge dodging points can only be placed along a cutline (seamline). They make it possible to change the brightness or color hue along a particular edge of two abutting images. The alteration to the image along the edge is then blended back to the unaltered color as you move away from the edge. Edge dodging points are extremely helpful for matching images along edges that don t match without negatively affecting other edges of that image Interactive Mosaic Editing Mosaic Tool Training Guide 36

39 Color Balancing and Dodging Edge dodging points used to increase brightness for red, green and blue colors along three different edges (for explanation purposes only). Floating Dodging Points: Similar to edge dodging points, but floating dodging points can be placed anywhere on an image. The alterations in brightness and color hue are applied to the local area around the floating dodging point Independent color editing: change the brightness or contrast level for an image, or a specific image band (color). 6.1 Tips & Best Practice It is easiest to try editing the cutlines before trying to edit the colors. It may be possible that there is a better route for the cutlines to take, which may eliminate the need or significantly simplify the color editing process. Editing an area may require the use of all or multiple tools in combination with each other and multiple edits may be required. When adjusting dodging points, image brightness and or image contrast, it is best to use the slider bar first to approximate on where the color looks best and then use the small up and down arrows to narrow in the best setting You can modify dodging points, brightness and contrast for all image bands at once or for each band independently. Modifying the image brightness or dodging points for all bands at once will affect the overall brightness of the image or dodging area(s). Modifying the image brightness or dodging points for each band separately, will adjust the overall hue of the image or dodging area(s) Interactive Mosaic Editing Mosaic Tool Training Guide 37

40 Color Balancing and Dodging If only a few edges of the selected image do not match well and you are happy with the color of the image overall, then it is best to skip the general image editing tools and focus on touching up the edges with the edge dodging points If the colors and brightness of the selected image are completely different from the surrounding images, you should first use the general image editing tools (I.e. color balancing, overall image brightness and or contrast) to get the image closer in appearance to the surrounding images. Once you have improved the image, touch up the edges with the dodging points Really challenging edges may require many dodging points with various settings along the same edge Be methodical. A bit of time spent reviewing and assessing the mosaic at the beginning, can save hours of editing time later on. o When reviewing the mosaic, try to identify and highlight images and edges that need editing and use the QA layer to make notes about what needs to be done (See section 7) 6.2 Minor Touch Ups (Simple) This section will teach you how to approach an image that requires only minor touch ups. The work in this section will be performed on image T192809*.pix (See image below) 1. In the Image Tree-list, right click on image T192809*.pix 2. In the context menu, select Overview of Layer Interactive Mosaic Editing Mosaic Tool Training Guide 38

41 Color Balancing and Dodging There are visible seams along the edges of this image. The following figure highlights, in yellow, 2 edges that can be improved with only minor touch ups. The area highlighted in red will be edited in the next section (Challenging Color Edits). Start by editing the northern (top edge) 3. Use the mouse-wheel to pan and zoom to the center of the north (top) edge 4. In the toolbar, click on the Image Selection button to enter image selection mode Interactive Mosaic Editing Mosaic Tool Training Guide 39

42 Color Balancing and Dodging 5. Click on the bottom image ( T192809*.pix) to select it. It will blink a cyan color 6. Locate the Edge dodging point for the north (top) edge of that image 7. Select it by clicking on the dodging point (outlined in yellow below). A cyan outline will appear on the point 8. Use the mouse-wheel to pan and zoom to the area circled in red (above) 9. Set a linear enhancement 10. On the toolbar, click the Display All Cutlines button to toggle it off. You should see a visible difference in color and brightness at the edge. Interactive Mosaic Editing Mosaic Tool Training Guide 40

43 Color Balancing and Dodging 11. On the toolbar, click on the Decrease Dodging Brightness button. Continue to push it until the seams have almost disappeared, about 6 to 12 times. a. Be careful, it looks similar to the Decrease Image Brightness button b. If you need to increase the brightness of the dodging edge, click the Increase Dodging Brightness button Next we need to lower the redness (hue) of the image 12. On the toolbar, click on the Channel Selection button 13. Select Red from the dropdown Interactive Mosaic Editing Mosaic Tool Training Guide 41

44 Color Balancing and Dodging 14. On the toolbar, click on the Decrease Dodging Brightness button about two or three times. This will remove the reddish tint and make the seam virtually invisible 15. Click on the Display All Cutlines button again to toggle it back on 16. Use the mouse wheel to pan and zoom to the area outlined in yellow Interactive Mosaic Editing Mosaic Tool Training Guide 42

45 Color Balancing and Dodging 17. Click on the Display All Cutlines button again to toggle the cutlines off again 18. You should notice that you still have a visible seam there Interactive Mosaic Editing Mosaic Tool Training Guide 43

46 Color Balancing and Dodging 19. On the toolbar, click on the Edge Dodge Point button, to enter a mode where you can add dodging points onto a cutline 20. Put three edge dodging points in approximate the same location as in the image below. Single click the right mouse button to add a new dodging point The center point is the dodging point that we will use to adjust the edge. The two dodging points placed at opposite ends, define how far along a cutline the color edits should be applied. This is required because in this case, we only want to change the color of the bottom image in the vegetated area 21. On the toolbar, click on the image selection button again 22. Click on the bottom image again to make sure it is selected (it will blink cyan) 23. Select the middle dodging point 24. Click on the Decrease Dodging Brightness button until the area is seamless (about 5-8 times) Interactive Mosaic Editing Mosaic Tool Training Guide 44

47 Color Balancing and Dodging Use the concepts you learned in this section to fix the east (right) edge of image T192809*.pix (land only) 6.3 Challenging Color Edits This section will teach you how to approach an image that requires more effort to improve. The image in this section contains water and land pixels that can be improved. We will approach each separately. Note: Due to the clouds and haze in this image, it will not be possible to achieve a perfect seamless connection. For a perfect seamless connection, a better image is required to substitute for the cloud and haze pixels. However, we can dramatically improve the connection with the color editing tools. Interactive Mosaic Editing Mosaic Tool Training Guide 45

48 Color Balancing and Dodging Improving Water 1. In the Image Tree-list, right click on image T193706*.pix 2. In the context menu, select Overview of Layer There is an obvious color mismatch between this image and its two neighbors For this mosaic, we will need to first edit the 3. In the Image Tree-list, right click on image T193706*.pix 4. In the context menu, select Color Balance Edit The Color Balancing Editing window opens with dials for adjusting brightness and contrast Interactive Mosaic Editing Mosaic Tool Training Guide 46

49 Color Balancing and Dodging The user can adjust brightness or contrast for all bands at once or for individual color bands 5. Adjust the Contrast dial so that it increases to a value of about This will improve the washed out areas caused by the haze 6. Click Close to close the Color Balancing Editing panel 7. Now we are going to focus on improving the water. In particular, the part circled below 8. Use the mouse wheel to zoom to the area circled above 9. On the toolbar, click on the Edge Dodging Point 10. Place three points in about the same areas as in the image below Interactive Mosaic Editing Mosaic Tool Training Guide 47

50 Color Balancing and Dodging The two dodging points at the ends prevent the edits from affecting the land and the middle point is for editing the wat 11. On the toolbar, click on the Image Selection button 12. Select the right image, it will blink cyan 13. Select the middle dodging point 14. Click on the dropdown dodging point adjustment button to open the adjustment tool 15. Use the sliding bar to lower the brightness 16. Play with it until you find a reasonable brightness. Don t worry that it doesn t extend all the way across the water evenly Next we need to increase the blue (hue) of the area 25. On the toolbar, click on the Channel Selection button 26. Select Blue from the dropdown 17. Click on the dropdown dodging point adjustment button to open the adjustment tool Interactive Mosaic Editing Mosaic Tool Training Guide 48

51 Color Balancing and Dodging 18. Click on the increase by a big step button once or twice 19. Now click on the increase or decrease by a small step button to hone in on the final hue 20. Change the Channel Selection back to all channels 21. Add Edge Dodging Points to the following areas 22. Repeat steps for the new dodging points, until the seam has improved significantly. It will not be possible in this case to make it perfect, but the blending that is applied during the mosaic generation, will help further hide the cutline (seamline) Use the to switch which side of the cutline (image) you are applying the dodging point edits to Use the Compensate Pair Points button to adjust both sides simultaneously. One side will increase in brightness, while the other decreases Note: It is easier to make the water darker to hide seams. 23. Try to obtain a result similar to below Interactive Mosaic Editing Mosaic Tool Training Guide 49

52 Color Balancing and Dodging 24. Try on your own to improve the edge (below). Keep in mind you won t be able to make it perfect, but you can improve it dramatically Interactive Mosaic Editing Mosaic Tool Training Guide 50

53 Color Balancing and Dodging Improving Land Pixels 1. We will focus on the area outlined in yellow (below) 2. Use the mouse wheel to zoom and pan to the area of interest 3. There will already be one dodging point in this area (automatically created during Mosaic Preparation) 4. Create 5 more in the following positions (yellow is new, red is original): Interactive Mosaic Editing Mosaic Tool Training Guide 51

54 Color Balancing and Dodging Point 1 and 6 (top and bottom) are to prevent the adjustments from expanding into other areas. 5. On the toolbar, click on the Image Selection button 6. Select the right image, it will blink cyan 7. Click on point 2 (see above) 8. Click on the dropdown dodging point adjustment button to open the adjustment tool 9. Use the slider bar and or the big arrows to increase the brightness for that dodging area until you get to the approximate brightness 10. Then use the small arrows to narrow in on the final value 11. Repeat steps 5 to 10 with dodging points 3,4 and 5 until the area is consistent and seamless Interactive Mosaic Editing Mosaic Tool Training Guide 52

55 Color Balancing and Dodging Improving Local Brightness In this section, we are going to use floating dodging points to improve an under-exposed area, without affecting the area around it 1. Use the mouse wheel to zoom and pan to the following area 2. On the toolbar, click on Floating Dodging Points button 3. Right click to place a floating dodging point in about the following location Interactive Mosaic Editing Mosaic Tool Training Guide 53

56 Color Balancing and Dodging 4. Click on the Increase Dodging Point Brightness button until the exposure of that area improves (about 3 or 4 times) 5. Place more floating points within the image and adjust the brightness and hue using the concepts taught in this section Interactive Mosaic Editing Mosaic Tool Training Guide 54

57 Quality Assurance and Verification Layers 7. Quality Assurance and Verification Layers The Mosaic Tool provides an easy solution for assessing the quality of your mosaic. Using a Quality Control layer, you can identify potential problem areas that should be resolved before generating the final output mosaic image. The Image Status layer then lets you assign a verified status to the images that have passed the quality assurance process for the particular project. 7.1 Quality Assurance Potential problems in the mosaic can be identified using the Quality Control layer along with reference vectors and the mosaic preview. These problems can be addressed before generating the final output mosaic. 1. From the Mosaic Tool main menu, select: File > New Quality Control Layer. Note: If the mosaic project already contains a Quality Control layer, this option is disabled. 2. The new Quality Control layer appears in the Mosaic Tool's Control pane. The Quality Control toolbar opens automatically. 3. To turn the Quality Control Layer on and off clear the check mark besides Quality Control Layer in the Image Tree List. The Mosaic Tool creates a new file within the mosaic project to store the new layer. The file is stored in the misc folder and is named <mosaic project>_qc_layer.pix. 4. In the Mosaic Tool view pane, zoom to an area that you want to flag for quality control purposes. 5. From the Quality Control toolbar, select Point New. 6. The New Point tool becomes active and the cursor over the view pane appears as a cross with a smaller cross beside it. 7. Position the cursor over the desired location in the view pane, and click to place the new point. 8. The new point is added to the Quality Control layer. 9. Modify the Type and Comment for the point. Interactive Mosaic Editing Mosaic Tool Training Guide 55

58 Quality Assurance and Verification Layers By default, the new point inherits the characteristics currently set in the Quality Control toolbar, including the point type and user comment. You can modify these settings while the point is selected, or modify several points at once at a later time. 10. In order to select multiple points in an area select the Circular Selection Tool from the Quality Control toolbar. 11. Draw a circle around points to select 12. Change the type and comment for all selected points 13. Once all of the Quality Control is complex, the vector layer can be exported for use in other applications. 14. Right click on the Quality Control Layer in the Image Tree List. 15. Select Export The Save As window opens Interactive Mosaic Editing Mosaic Tool Training Guide 56

59 Quality Assurance and Verification Layers 16. Under Output, in the File field, click the arrow to select from the list of available files, or click Browse to navigate to a different file. 17. From the Format list, select the format for the new mask file. 18. Click Options to define output GDB format options. This field is available only for some output formats. 19. In the Layer field, type the name of a new layer, or select from a list of available layers. Note: If you select an existing layer, the Mosaic Tool will overwrite that layer. 20. Click Save to complete the export operation. 7.2 Image Status Update Now that changes have been made to the image and the quality of the mosaic has been verified a status can be assigned to each of the images in the project. 1. In the Mosaic Tool window, click the Map Layer Selection tool 2. Select the image or images for which you want to change the status. 3. Click the Image Status button arrow and select Verified or Unverified. By default, verified images are displayed as green polygons. 4. To turn off the image status display, clear the check box beside Status layer in the Image Tree List. Interactive Mosaic Editing Mosaic Tool Training Guide 57

60 Quality Assurance and Verification Layers Interactive Mosaic Editing Mosaic Tool Training Guide 58