Sylvain Carette <sylvainc@total.net> writes:Story of my life; always been in the 0.001% group.....
> Give me an open file to work with, and I know what to do after. I sell my
> piano to buy IDL naively thinking that it was handling large file ( well,
> RSI claim they have "industrial strenght" tool to handle very large stuff ).
> Where are those functionality?
> Do I need to write my own image manager? Should I have buy ErMapper instead?Your demands place you in the 0.1% group. The other 99.9% people
don't need the features. IDL itself is pretty general purpose. I
believe that ENVI is designed to do exactly what you want.
I think its kind of natural to think that a langage that is used to produce a software like ENVI, will probably include functionality to handle the management of memory for large file. Hence the deception; from what I've read in this group it seem there is no such functionnality. So thats mean I'll have to implement one and it also mean I'm a step back instead of a step forward, nothing to make you feel like dancing samba...
I disagree though on your comment about "industrial price"; I've seen too many expensive application that reveal to be dog... while finding freeware outperforming high end software in the functionality they implement. So industrial strenght is really not a matter of price but capability while industrial price is a matter of marketing. Bentley system cost ave. 35k fully equip and cannot match a $35 bucks japanese program to extract 3d from photograph ( Photo3D: 3D modeling from photo. - this one is really amazing; I show it to an architect and his jaw simply drop on the floor - I was doing in 5min what he use to take hours of tedious work on a $3000 software). Bentley's peoples didnt even look at it... If Bentley system would build a module implementing this, they will make you pay "industrial" price although it will probably be more slow and less intuitive to use. So I dont beleive in marketing and industrial price. About ENVI, there is a freeware application Purdue/LARS MultiSpec which duplicate all of ENVI multispectral capability and have documentation that cover in depth multispectral theory with numerous examples. ENVI industrial circular documentation dont give you that much for your bucks....
Actually, the tool that is the most appropriate for my need (integration
of images and data to produce 3d VRML) is TNT Mips MicroImages,
Inc.but I cant afford it yet. It handle (yes, very large file)
and edit raster, cad and vector to produce elaborated tin or gridded surfaces.
It have all the capability of ENVI plus cad, vector and 3D modeling and
it deliver it. Plus you can scan and digitize either raster and cad/vector
data and, ah yes, it have also a scripting langage that use "standard"
c syntax so here you dont loose anytime deciphering criptic and non-consistent
syntax and use that time to work.
And it even run from a x server so you can have the illusion of
working on something better than a PC...
Now you might think I hate idl; well admittedly, this is a very
bad langage: it doesnt have any design, just a pile of function added over
the years. Seem they have combined the worst feature of all langages to
implement idl... (well, what can you say about a langage that still have
GOTO statement and object with keyword......) But it work... So fine, I
want to *love* idl and if I came to idl (beside little deception for large
file) its for it power to manipulate array which I think is a unique feature
and is what someone could call "industrial strenght" feature.
So help me to take advantage of the power of idl array manipulation
and maybe I'll become an idl advocate. I'll begin right now thanks for
your reply and maybe later this night I'll begin to like idl...
Sorry for all that bla bla but I dont like to be tell I was not
willing to sell another piano... ;-)
And just to make sure it isnt have been buried in all those words,
thank you for your help. I'm grateful. It is just what I needed at this
time, really.
Sylvain Carette
VRML designer-composer
If you want industrial strength professional tools to work on
industrial sized images doing industrial tasks, and you *aren't*
willing to pay industrial prices, well what can I say?Craig
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Craig B. Markwardt, Ph.D. EMAIL: craigmnet@cow.physics.wisc.edu
Astrophysics, IDL, Finance, Derivatives | Remove "net" for better response
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