Roadway Design Question and Answer Forum
Geopak
Question:
Sometimes when I go into a file, the raster image (Mr. SID) file is displayed as referenced. However, there are no rasters
attached under Raster Manager. Other times, when the raster are displayed as attached, the rasters are displayed as locked
or "ghosted" out and can not be detached under Raster Manager. Is my design file corrupted? Can you offer some
explanation of this occurrence?
Answer:
Most of the time, the file is not corrupted. Raster images that are attached as part of the referenced DGN file, are controlled by the that
particular referenced DGN file via the References dialog box and not by Raster Manager.
To better explain why this is so, consider the following sketches.
1. A raster file is referenced by a DSN file.
2. The DSN file is referenced by the PSH (Plan Sheet) file with Display Raster References checked on (defined later on).
3. Because the raster file is attached with the referenced DSN file, Raster Manager will display it as locked. The raster file can not be detached
directly from Raster Manager.
4. To remove the "locked" raster file from the Raster Manager list, simply uncheck Display Raster References under the References dialog
box, Attachment Settings property. This can be performed before or after the referenced DGN file is attached to the active DGN file.
It is possible to turn off just the raster file only and not the referenced DGN (DSN) file with this option.
Display Raster References (Roadway's definition)
Option to also display the raster file attached (if attached) to the DGN file being referenced. The option to turn on or off
this feature is made available before and after attaching a referenced DGN file to the active DGN file under the
References dialog box (not Raster Manager). However, if this option is checked on under the References dialog box,
Attachment Settings, then Raster Manager will display the raster file as locked. If this option is not checked, then Raster
Manager will not display the raster file as part of the list. Note that this not the same as attaching a raster file directly by
using Raster Manager. This option pertains to ONLY referencing DGN files with a raster file attached to them.
Note that if the raster file is directly attached to the active DGN file by Raster Manager, then the raster file will appear as unlocked. Since all
raster images are attached as "Read-Only" with Raster Manager, modification to the images is limited to a certain degree. Controls such as the
image Contrast and Brightness can modified when the raster file appears unlocked under Raster Manager.
--- IMPORTANT ---
It is imperative that one understands the effect of Display Raster References has in referencing, displaying, and modifying raster images. It could
lead to a potential major problem when this option is used in conjunction with reference live nesting with a depth of more than one (we have
already encountered this situation). At this stage it may be difficult trying to locate which nested referenced DGN file(s) has the attached rasters
being displayed. It is our recommendation that this option is left unchecked for general purpose and usage. Our intent is to attach the rasters
directly with Raster Manager and not indirectly from a locked raster files from a referenced DGN file. On a few occasions and for some
Geopak processes, such as the Plan and Profile Sheets Layout Tool, this option is checked on (manually or automatically). We will look into
configuring this option to automatically, by default, to be unchecked. Option to have it checked is and will always be made available.
