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Viz World User Guide

Version 17.0 | Published January 24, 2018 ©

Label Manager Plugin

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The plugin can be found in the folder: Viz Artist 3: Built Ins -> Scene Plugins -> Maps.

The LabelManager plugin is a scene plugin, used for retrieving label information from Viz World Server and control the label’s appearance when working in an automatic label mode. The LabelManager generates labels, based on the defined label designs, according to parameters defined in the Navigator plugin, Label It objects and 2D Label objects in the label designs.

In order for the Label Manager to resolve conflicts it needs different presets to work with. The more presets and the bigger difference between them the better chance overlaps are resolved. When working with Label Manager please pay attention to and check all presets it uses to make sure that they are acceptable for the plugin. Do not create a preset where the label is under the marker if you do not want to see it. Labels without markers (e.g. country) can have presets as-well which means their position can change slightly.

Label Manger basically has two ways of detecting conflicts:

  1. Based on the marker (zero size) labels (bounding box) and the line between them. You set this for the 2D Label (see Special, Collision Mode = Tip Based) and when used with good and different presets it will solve almost any problem, but if a you have a big marker there is always a chance of a marker overlap.

  2. Based on the bounding box, the entire (square) bounding box is calculated and used. In this case there is less chance of resolving conflicts but you will have no overlaps.
    This section contains information on the LabelManager plugin properties:

Map Data

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The Map Data tab defines settings for the label types received from the Viz World Server (WoS). These settings will be used when calculating label appearance in automatic mode. For every type of label selected in the list, set the required parameters.

  • Type: Sets the type of labels data to display.

  • Start View: Defines the map size from which the labels of the selected type will appear during the Navigator animation. Parameter units are defined in the Definitions tab’s Units parameter.

  • Life Span: Defines the duration of the label appearance on screen. Note that this setting is most useful for country and region types.

    • Full: The label appears at the defined Start View and remains on screen throughout the entire animation.

    • Long: The label remains on screen for a long period of time.

    • Regular: The label remains on screen for a medium period of time.

    • Short: The label remains on screen for a short period of time.

    • Manual: The label remains on screen until the defined End View value is reached.

  • End View: Defines the map size at which the labels of the selected type will disappear. This parameter is only enabled if the Life Span is set to Manual. Parameter units are defined in the Definitions tab’s Units parameter.

    Note: The Label Manager Plugin plugin controls and manages the automatic labels appearance, using various parameters from different plugins. The Life span and Auto Label parameters will vary between labels during the animation (hop), to optimize labels display.

Auto Labels

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The Auto Labels tab defines whether automatic labelling will be enabled and the label designs used for automatic labelling.

Auto Labels can be limited to specified countries and/or regions. The format of valid input is:

  • ‘;’ between locations.

  • ‘/’ or ‘\’ to specify the path to the regions.

    Note: Abbreviations can be used (after defining such list in the WoS)

    Some examples:

  • USA;Mexico

  • USA\TX;Mexico;Canada

  • United States of America\Florida;United States of America\Georgia;USA\NY

Properties

  • Auto Labels: Sets the auto labels mode to disabled, enabled or interactive.

    • Disabled: No automatic labelling will be used in the scene.

    • Enabled: The scene will use automatic labelling based on the defined designs and labels holder container.

    • Interactive: Enables the Auto Labels Quantity.

  • Auto Labels Quantity: Allows you to set the amount of labels that should be shown. Few will show approximately 75 labels (or less), Average 100 labels (or less) and Many 150 labels (or less). Manual sets the distance where the labels should appear (see Start View under Map Data) providing a consistent behavior (e.g. Town 1K will always appear/disappear at the same distance).

  • Manual Labels: Defines whether manual labels, defined for the map, will be displayed with the auto labels. When Enabled is set, the Select Manual Labels button will appear at the bottom of the editor. When clicked, WME will open, enabling the user to set manual labels.

  • Road Labels: Defines the level (number) of road labels that will be displayed. Select the required option, ranging from 0-None to 5-All.

  • Street Labels Style: Defines the label style of the scene. Options are Viz Design and Internal (Open GL) labels.

    • Viz Design: If set to Viz Designs you can define your own Viz labels. Note that this limits the number of labels that can be used before Viz. Depending on your system 300-500 labels may cause Viz Engine to not render in real time. Using Viz Design will also give you the option to set other parameters such as the visibility of the label and local and global placeholders for your label design (see 3D Designs & Holder).

    • Internal (Open GL): If set to internal you may use up to 100.000 labels; however, this will limit your design options to the font used and relative position and scale. When used with the Street Labels plugin this setting will only work for Navigator scenes.

  • Labels Visibility (%): Used when calculating size of street labels for the final map.

  • Gap for Same Street Name: Used when calculating the minimum distance between 2 street labels of the same name.

  • 3D Designs & Holder:

    • Designs (text field): Defines a path in Viz’s objects database that contains label designs. Automatic label designs are based on 2D Label and Label It plugins.

    • Designs (place holder): Displays the selected (drag&drop) top container holding the label designs.

    • Holder (place holder): Displays the selected (drag&drop) container that resides under the map. This container will be used by the Label Manager Plugin plugin to store the scene’s generated labels.

  • Limit Auto Labels: Defines whether the auto labels will be limited to a defined region/s or not. When enabled, the Limit To Region text field will be enabled.

  • Limit To Region: Defines the region to which the auto labels will be generated.

Definitions

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The Definitions tab is used to set general parameters for Label Manager Plugin behavior.

  • Intersection Mode:

    • Full: The best preset for each label will be selected and when labels intersect one of them will be turned off.

    • Offsets: The best preset for each label will be selected.

    • None: The plugin is only used to create auto labels. No intersections are calculated.

  • Screen Culling Mode: Defines whether a label will be drawn when it is outside the Viz renderer’s scope/view.

    • Center: The label object fades out when the center of the object is outside the Viz renderer’s scope/view.

    • Anything: The label object fades out when any part of the object is outside the Viz renderer’s scope/view.

    • Complete: The label object fades out when the entire object is outside the Viz renderer’s scope/view.

    • None: No culling will be used. The labels will be drawn according to the map data parameters only.

  • Map Culling Mode: Defines whether a label will be drawn when it is outside the map area but inside Viz renderer’s scope/view.

  • User Labels Ignore Distance Rules: When Enabled labels that are associated with a hop will ignore the distance rules that apply to their type.

  • Intersection Distance: The distance to be used when calculating the best label setup to be used to avoid collision:

    • Max distance: labels will be calculated at the max distance defined for the label type.

    • Distance: Use the final hop position.

    • 2/4/8* Distance: Use the hop position area times 2/4/8.

  • Scene Type: Label Manager uses different algorithms for an interactive scene or a regular one. User should declare the scene type to get best results.

  • Units: Defines the units used to calculate map size for the Start View and End View parameters. Available options are Degrees, Kilometers, Miles and Nautical Miles, where the default measurement unit is Kilometer. Note that this setting is also affected by the Units option in the 3D Map Setting plugin (see General).

  • Fade Time (in fields): Defines the label’s fade duration in fields.

  • Labels Draw Style: Determines where labels will be drawn.

    • On map: Drawn in the map layer

    • Overlay: Drawn in a different layer (dynamic image/layer).

    • On map scaling: Drawn in the map layer but will keep the same size (avoid NavScale plugin).

  • Label Camera: Defines the camera that will be used to draw the labels (normally camera 2).

  • Debug Info Mode: Shows different levels of debug information regarding the auto layout.

Shadows

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  • Cast Shadows: Turns option to cast label shadows on/off.

  • Light Type: Simulates different light types to cast the shadows.

  • Horizontal Angel: Defines the horizontal angle position of the light.

  • Vertical Angel: Defines the vertical angle position of the light.

  • Distance: Defines light distance.

  • Shadow Plane: Casts planar shadows on an imaginary plane and this option defines the spatial rotation of such a plane. Select one of the options:

    • Straight: The casted plane is parallel to the screen.

    • Up Tilt: The casted plane is tilted 45 degrees up from the screen.

    • Down Tilt: The casted plane is tilted 45 degrees down from the screen.

    • Manual: Manually set the pan and tilt values of the casted plane.

    • World: The casted plane is tangent to the world.

  • Tangent Point: Pivot point for connection shadow to object.

  • Shadow Pan: Manual Shadow Pan.

  • Shadow Tilt: Manual Shadow Tilt.

  • Shadow Distance: Distance of the shadow plane from the object.

  • Shadows Camera: Select a camera for rendering the shadows. Since shadows are done by first rendering objects in a distant place and then overlaying their black silhouettes on the screen, this option defines the camera that will look at such distant place where objects are rendered. (Actually this camera is used for overlay).

  • Show Light Direction: Visualize light direction on screen or not. The light direction is visualized by showing a lit ball or an arrow.