animate.surface: Function to export animated scenes.

In coffeemuggler/RCHILD: Functions for flexible use of the landscape evolution model CHILD

Description

This function creates surfaces for each of the specified time steps and uses these as input data for an animation file. This file can be a gif-file, become embedded into a html-document or be a movie file.

Usage

animate.surface(dataset, filename, type = "wireframe", timesteps, 
    interval, resolution, projection, exaggeration, hillshade = FALSE, 
    contours = FALSE, theta, phi)

Arguments

dataset	(S4-object) CHILD model run output data set.
filename	(character scalar) Name of the output file. The extension determines the data type of the visualisation. "*.gif" - gif-animation, "*.html" - animation embedded in a HTML-document, "*.avi" - movie animation in avi-format. The filename must not contain any points, except for the introduction of the file extension. Default filename is "outfile.html".
type	(character scalar) Type of generated scene, one out of "map" and "wireframe", default is "wireframe".
timesteps	(numeric vector) Time steps to include to animation. If missing, all modelled time steps are used.
interval	(numeric scalar) Interval of animation frames in seconds, default is 1.
resolution	(numeric scalar) Resolution of the animated scene in metres. If missing, the mean node distance of the TIN is used.
projection	(character scalar) Geographic projection of the data set, necessary to allow hillshade computation. If no projection is specified a default one will be set ("+proj=lcc +lat_1=48 +lat_2=33 +lon_0=-100 +ellps=WGS84"). If you are unsure about this parameter see the documentation of package "raster" or skip displaying a hillshade. Also, see example for how to infer and set projections.
exaggeration	(numeric scalar) Vertical exaggeration of the z-values, default is 2.
hillshade	(logical scalar) Hillshade overlay option for type "map", default is FALSE.
contours	(logical scalar) Contours overlay option for type "map", default is FALSE.
theta	(numeric scalar) Azimut angle of the view in degree, for type "wireframe", default is 30.
phi	(numeric scalar) Colatitude of the view in degree, for type "wireframe", default is 30.

Details

To use animation via *.gif, ImageMagick must be installed on the computer (http://www.imagemagick.org/script/index.php). To use animation via *.avi, ffmpeg must be installed on the computer (http://ffmpeg.org/download.html). All files are created and stored in a temporary directory (see console output after function execution) but should be able to be "saved as" in a more convenvient directory.

Value

A series of images of modelled surfaces that are converted into an animated file.

Author(s)

Michael Dietze

References

CSDMS website. http://csdms.colorado.edu/wiki/Model:CHILD.
Tucker, GE. 2010. CHILD Users Guide for version R9.4.1. http://csdms.colorado.edu/mediawiki/images/Child_users_guide.pdf
Tucker, GE., Lancaster, ST., Gasparini, NM., Bras, RL. 2001. The Channel-Hillslope Integrated Landscape Development (CHILD) Model. In Harmon, RS., Doe, W.W. III (eds). Landscape Erosion and Evolution Modeling. Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, pp. 349-388.

See Also

read.CHILD, display.surface, write.raster

Examples

# uncomment code to run examples

# load example data set
data(hillslope1)

# generate a gif-animation, uncomment to run
animate.surface(dataset = hillslope1, 
               type = "map",
               filename = "animation.html", 
               interval = 0.1, 
               resolution = 1)

# example of how to assess and set the projection of a DEM
data(DEM500) # read example DEM
DEM <- DEM500

# show (that there is no) projection
projection(DEM) 

# set projection
projection(DEM)  <- "+proj=lcc +lat_1=48 +lat_2=33 +lon_0=-100 +ellps=WGS84"

# show updated projection
projection(DEM) 

coffeemuggler/RCHILD documentation built on Dec. 31, 2020, 10:05 p.m.