Problem Creating New Element
Posted January 25th, 2010 by v-hamm
I've been following the instructions at http://www.depiction.com/blog/add-new-depiction-icons-2 on icon creation and creating new elements. I've successfully used the steps here to make new Icons.
However, I had a problem when I tried to save something as a new type of element called "Landslide Risk Areas." I received the message "Cannot copy to library an element whose shape has been manually edited." I tried importing the original data as a couple of different kinds of elements (I first tried fluid flows, then floods), and both times got the same message. Does anyone know what the problem might be? Thank you!
-Brian
Comments
Creating a new Landslide Risk element
Brian,
When you save an element to your library for use in future depictions, what is being saved is the element "definition" - not the actual element location. And for 2d or 3d elements, that definition includes parameters that allow the shape of the element to be redrawn wherever you locate it in a new depiction. So if you have taken an existing element (like a shape-user drawn) and modified its shape by clicking or dragging its edges/vertices, the shape you see on your screen is no longer based on the element's parameters, but on the specific geographic location (lat/long) of the vertices of the element - not on the location of the vertices relative to some part of the element.
A user drawn shape element for which you change the Length/Width parameters might serve your purpose well.
Alternatively, if you have some specific known landslide risk areas that you want to use in other depictions, you can export them to a GML file that you can then import later into a new depiction or send to someone else to import. In the newest update to depiction software, you'll actually be able to email edited shapes directly from you running copy of depiction to other depiction users: see the YouTube video on this webpage for a demonstration: www.depiction.com/common-operating-picture.
Kim