You may check Therion's system variables easy - write into Command line options field in Compiler window ”- -print-environment” and press Compile.
The result should look as:
therion 0.3.7 configuration file: perlovy.thconfig reading ... done INIT=/Caves/therion/lib SOURCE=/Users/martin/.therion:/usr/share/therion:/usr/local/share/therion METAPOST=mpost PDFTEX=pdfetex
The INIT path is a place where Therion looks for therion.ini and xtherion.ini. Example is from MacOS X.
set xth(gui,efont) {courier -12}
see also Therion by Examples Tips & Tricks
and Drawing Checklist Tips
To create a graphical list of all default map symbols for your current version of Therion,
EITHER open a command prompt window, navigate to a folder that is in Therions path, and type
Therion --print-symbols
OR enter –print-symbols in the compiler window options text box in XTherion, then click the Compile button.
This will produce a file 'symbols.xtml' in the current folder. See the Chapter 'Running Therion' in The Therion Book.
A wall does not need to be divided into small parts according to subtype. You can use one line of type wall and assign the appropriate subtypes to line points from beginning of line (where the small yellow tick is). The subtype bedrock
will return the line wall back to default (solid rock) type.
The symbol may have an attribute subtype. The subtype is very common for line symbol wall
. You may use these subtype for the wall: invisible, bedrock (default), sand, clay, pebbles, debris, blocks, ice, underlying, unsurveyed, presumed.
You change the subtype of the point in on the wall in the small black window in Line point control part of control panel. Simple write there subtype xxxx
(no dash). This changes the subtype of the wall from that point on, until the end of the line or the subtype of another point is changed.
Imagine you have part of the wall pressumed - there is a wide crawling and you are not able to recognize one of the walls. At first point of missing wall you assign subtype presumed
and at the end of missing wall you assign to the point of wall line the subtype bedrock
.
You may assign only one subtype for one line point.
For example, allowing sand or rocks under or above the water surface or within sump.
(My first cut at explaining this - if you can improve or correct it please do, or let me know and I'll change it - Bruce
Thanks to Martin Sluka for inspiration)
You can draw symbols above or below an area, or even one area above another, but controlling visibility of the underlying symbols requires some care and understanding of how Therion works.
Firstly, as you draw in XTherion;
(that's the same thing said three different ways I think)
Secondly, it's easier to have only one area, and place points or lines above or below it. You can deal with multiple areas in one place, but it gets confusing to sort out what is visible and by how much.
Thirdly, when resorting to moving area entities up and down in the th2 file with a text editor, always move the border defining the area with the area (helps if you draw a border specifically for each area or collection of areas, this way the defining border will usually appear directly below the area definition in the th2 file if you have drawn in the sequence; border then area.
Fourthly, the first point is a generalised simplification. Therion has three default 'layers' (NOT the layers that appear in the pdf files - these are different) that it places entities on (the drawing order still controls positions within each layer as described in the first point above).
As described in the Therion Book, How the map is put together, the layers are 'default-bottom', 'default' and 'default-top'. 'Default', as you might guess is in the middle. Areas go to the bottom, ceiling-step and chimney go to the top, everything else is somewhere in the middle.
Now if you find that you have not drawn an entity in exactly the right order to get that special effect you were after, there is an over-ride. There are two more 'layers', 'top', and 'bottom' and these are placed by Therion above 'default-top' and below 'default-bottom' respectively. To put an entity in either of these layers, add the option -place top or -place bottom. If using -place for an area it is probably a good idea to use -place for its defining border as well.
Fifthly, transparency and opacity settings might come into it - I'll need to ponder that one some more… perhaps those settings only affect visibility from scrap to scrap, and not within scraps
If all else fails you may need to put offending symbols or areas on another scrap and place it under or over the scrap you are working on. I sometimes define scraps without walls, most symbols will then need -clip off (Don't use break if your new scrap has no walls defined v5.3.3)
Over time the pdf outputs have become resilient to many drawing misdemeanour's, and so you can break many of the rules described in the Therion Book, and still get a pretty good (or even perfect) output. But the Loch model and Google Earth map outputs are not yet so versatile (June 2011 version 5.3.8), and often result in missing or miss-drawn pieces of cave passage.
Here are the usual culprits.
Misdemeanour | Symptom |
---|---|
* line wall with incorrect 'reverse' status (yellow tick should point inside passage void) | Invisible passage |
* line wall with interior passage that does not have '-outline in' option set. | Interior of loop is rendered and passage is invisible |
* An open passage end has one or more wall ends that curls back into the interior of the passage. | Invisible passage |
* A scrap has open space along it's length. ie openings left for side passages directly opposite each other break the scrap in half. | Only one of the parts of the scrap are rendered |
* Scrap is wider than it is long, or has long walls with '-subtype invisible', or very complicated scraps | These are not necessarily misdemeanours, but I think it might cause the passage to be invisible. |
* Passage wall has a loop in it, either because the bezier curve handles have been extended too far, or because the subsequent morphing when scraps join has encouraged a loop to form | probably invisible passage (not verified) Metapost gives a 'scrap outline intersects itself' warning |
* Therion cannot handle two consecutive wall:invisible lines joining each other (5.3.9 Nov 2011) Try making the two invisible lines into one long invisible line or make one of them -visibility off instead | Passages have gaps and strange artefacts emanating from them |
* A line with -outline out is connected to a line with -outline in | Passages have gaps and strange artefacts emanating from them |
Small spreadsheet to help create Atlas page layouts © Bruce Mutton 2008. On entering 7 input variables, (paper size, margins, navigator etc) you can copy and paste the required 12 variables into your Therion layout in a single operation.
Small spreadsheet as an example of one way to find out and record rgb parameters required to create colours in Therion © Bruce Mutton 2008.