Grib Enhancements

[seandepagnier]

I have been working on the grib plugin to greatly enhance its features. I am not quite done, and am open to requests, but so far I have something working and I need people to test it. The improvements are the timeline ability (interpolation between gribs and movie like playback), and the ability to use any plot type for any data type (isobars for wave height, or color overlay map for wind speed possible examples)

The repository is a fork of the main opencpn on git hub:
https://github.com/seandepagnier/OpenCPN

you will have to checkout the grib_enhancements branch.

I imagine this will break for some people, so please inform me of your build errors. I am using linux so it is unlikely to compile without issues on windows.

[Hakan]

boat a....
Hello. Nice feature.
I can't be much of a help since I'm on Win XP and have very limited compiling experience. But this info may be useful since you're in the code and maybe not aware of this before.
So, running XP on ~2 GHz, ~2 Mb RAM and 1680x1050@128 Mb, today's grib plugin can be very system consuming. Of course the bigger area the worse. But say if I've a grib covering 400 square Nm, 0.5 Degr dense isobars and wind arrows the system is remarkably slow. Closing isobars has a huge positive effect so normally I'm not viewing them.
My aim with this note is if you happens to run in to anything in the code that seems to steel resources it may be possible for you to rearrange?
And of course if I can help testing what ever in Windows I'll be glad to. Still with my limited skills though.
Thanks.

[nohal]

Those interested in testing this new functionality on Windows, download the attached file, remove the .doc extension and copy to the plugins folder in your OpenCPN installation.
OpenCPN 3.1.x needed.

Pavel

[Hakan]

Hello
Very nice. After just a quick view some initial comments.
The slider and play function are great and strongly missed before.
Short notes:
1)
The system download, see above #2, is still the same. I've to switchthe isobars off to be able to use the PC. Nearly all system resources are consumed and I can for example hardly move a small options window. It takes seconds to move it a centimetre.
2)
The barbed and direction arrows are pointing in different directions. See pic. Southerly wind heading north is correct but everything else is displaced. "+"/"-" sign somewhere?

I'll test more but not tonight. Great job. This will be very nice!

Håkan

[Hakan]

Ehhh. yes - this was my grib used as of post #4. (skip ".doc")

[seandepagnier]

Originally Posted by Hakan

Hello
Very nice. After just a quick view some initial comments.
The slider and play function are great and strongly missed before.
Short notes:
1)
The system download, see above #2, is still the same. I've to switchthe isobars off to be able to use the PC. Nearly all system resources are consumed and I can for example hardly move a small options window. It takes seconds to move it a centimetre.

Although the isobars are very slow and inefficiently generated, I am still able to get playback at 4 frames a second over the entire area of your grib on my netbook.

Is it slow when animated, or just slow when paused on a single frame? Was it this slow before the updated grib plugin? Is opengl enabled or not? Is it the same for both?

Originally Posted by Hakan

Hello
2)
The barbed and direction arrows are pointing in different directions. See pic. Southerly wind heading north is correct but everything else is displaced. "+"/"-" sign somewhere?

Are the barbs actually correct? check other sources. Yes there is a minor bug here, the next version will fix this.



On another note. Could someone please direct me to a source of grib files which have sea temperature currents, and swell or wave (preferably with direction)? More fields are better, we really need to be able to do everything zygrib can.

[Hakan]

Originally Posted by boat_alexandra

Is it slow when animated, or just slow when paused on a single frame? Was it this slow before the updated grib plugin? Is opengl enabled or not? Is it the same for both?

1) Yes it was slow before this plugin version. See post 2 above. I can't use the isobars at all so consequently I havn't tried them animated.
2) No opengl.

Håkan

[Hakan]

boat_A...
A elucidation... When I previously refer to isobars it's all about pressure isobars. Not the new one connecting equal wind speed.
>> Added 15 min later: With this new pgm version it's handy to control the pressure isobars dense. If I set the dense to > ~4 mbar it actually works without extremely system load for the relatively small area in my earlier attached grib file.

And...
Running animation using the new wind isobars works fine. No system slow down to mention.

[Hakan]

boat_a....
Hello again(3)
Some more runs with this nice plugin. I may have a revised experience with the pressure isobar concerns. Now when I have the opportunity to change dense of the lines the system load is very reasonable. So if you won't happens to run into any obsolete code I think we can skip my task.

Instead I may raise another task? When viewing waves as numbers there are some areas in the grib without data. I don't know if they are marked with zeros or null. However are these fields not blank but filled with probably the negative end of "int". The negative fills are not there all the times but every 6th update in the animation. Sometimes are the entire number square instead not drawn. This is great and may also be your intention? Run the animation using my grib and see if you get the same result.
See attached dump and the corresponding grib.

Thanks.
Håkan

[cagney]

boat_alexandra

I compiled on kubuntu 64 bits 12.10 without problems. The plugin generally works well, but I get a crash (sometimes) in one situation.
In Toolbar->Options-> Plugins-> Gribs -> Preferences. Ticking the option of color blending and then pressing OK, creates repeatable crashes.
Running ddd to catch this crash, I find that sometimes the plugin crashes, and sometimes the plugin just proceeds, with color blending working.
Here is a screen-dump from a crash.



Thomas

[seandepagnier]

Originally Posted by Hakan

boat_a....
Hello again(3)
Some more runs with this nice plugin. I may have a revised experience with the pressure isobar concerns. Now when I have the opportunity to change dense of the lines the system load is very reasonable. So if you won't happens to run into any obsolete code I think we can skip my task.

Instead I may raise another task? When viewing waves as numbers there are some areas in the grib without data. I don't know if they are marked with zeros or null. However are these fields not blank but filled with probably the negative end of "int". The negative fills are not there all the times but every 6th update in the animation. Sometimes are the entire number square instead not drawn. This is great and may also be your intention? Run the animation using my grib and see if you get the same result.
See attached dump and the corresponding grib.

Thanks.
Håkan

Are you sure it is the same grib? For this grib file I get no wave data, only pressure, and one axis of wind (which caused a crash for me, but fixed it) Anyway, I cannot seem to get your numbers, what exact settings did you use to get that display?

Originally Posted by cagney

boat_alexandra

I compiled on kubuntu 64 bits 12.10 without problems. The plugin generally works well, but I get a crash (sometimes) in one situation.
In Toolbar->Options-> Plugins-> Gribs -> Preferences. Ticking the option of color blending and then pressing OK, creates repeatable crashes.
Running ddd to catch this crash, I find that sometimes the plugin crashes, and sometimes the plugin just proceeds, with color blending working.
Here is a screen-dump from a crash.

Attachment 54757

Thomas

Thank you for the very useful info related to the crash. The problem should happen only if you access the preferences before loading the grib dialog, but it will be fixed in my next update.

[Hakan]

Originally Posted by boat_alexandra

Are you sure it is the same grib? For this grib file I get no wave data, only pressure, and one axis of wind (which caused a crash for me, but fixed it) Anyway, I cannot seem to get your numbers, what exact settings did you use to get that display?

boat_al....
1) First I'll confirm that Thomas' crash report is valid also for WinXp.

2) Wave numbers
Maybe not but lets make it again.
Accordingly:
Win Xp
No OpenGL
grib file attached
Screen dumps of main window and preferences printed in attached PDF.

If you need more please let know.

Håkan

[Hakan]

boat_a...
Ruler restore.
A new comment if my limited English can explain this. I'll make a try. Please ask if I'm unclear.

1)
Scenario:
View a grib using animation play.
Stop using grib plugin by clicking the toolbar's icon.
Start using grib plugin by clicking the toolbar's icon.
The animation continues from its last position.
>>Maybe your intention but a little surprising in my mind. My expectations was a ruler in home position and no play until I start it. Comments?

2)
Scenario:
View a grib using animation play.
Shut down OpenCPN.
Open OCPN
Start using grib plugin by clicking the toolbar's icon.
The ruler is located in the position from last session but no grib file marked.
>>Expectations: The ruler located in home position.

3)
If I try to start animation without a marked grib file the playing actually starts but, naturally, without showing any data.
>> Expectations: No playing if no grib file is marked.

Håkan

[rgleason]

I have been trying Nohal's grib_pi.dll in Openpn 3.1.1224 and 3.1.1405
by placing the file in the plugins directory. For some reason this Plugin does not appear under settings > plugins. What am I not going properly?

[nohal]

Your log? Sure you have the name right (=ending with _pi.dll)? Anyway, I should finally have normal internet access during the weekend, so expect new build with the latest changes...

Pavel