The Transformation Panel

The Transform panel contains three functions that allow for minor adjustments to be made to the selection set if required:

Transform will display the Transform Cloud window.

Initially, the dialog will have no transformations specified. To add a transformation, press the Green Plus button. which will open the New Transformation window.
Use the Type drop-down menu to select one of the four Transformation types:

Translate allows the user to define a translation of the current data set by specifying offsets in X, Y and Z.
Rotations allow the user to rotate the current selection set by specifying rotations around the X Y and Z axis.
Scaling allows the user to scale the current selection by a set Factor in the X, Y and Z axis.
Advanced allows the user to specify a transformation matrix to be applied to the data.

After clicking the check button you should be taken back to the Transform Cloud window. From here you can add more transformations, modify the currently selected one by pressing the Green i button, delete them by pressing the Red X button, or change their order of application to the data using the Green arrow buttons. Press the Green Tick button in the Transform Cloud window to apply the transformations to the selected data.
The transformation will be applied and, if  Create New Cloud was selected, a new Cloud created in the Project Tree - the original Cloud will be unaffected. If Edit Existing Points was selected, then the cloud selected will be transformed.

Scale allows the user to Use Custom Scaling Factor or to convert between Meters, US Feet and International Feet.

Align/Register performs either a Least Squares Best-Fit or Align by Two Pairs of Points

Least Squares Best-Fit is used when there are more than two pairs for translation points. Since two pairs of points are sufficient to define the translation and rotation, more than two pairs of points provides more than enough information. A Rigid Body transformation is used for the horizontal aspect.



The Transformation Type chooses between doing a 2D transformation and 3D transformation. For the 3D transformation, the program transforms the x/y using the same method as the 2D transformation, and the Z is transformed using an elevation difference model that is modeled by either a best-fit level plane or tilted plane as set by the Vertical Transformation setting.

The Add button is used to define the source and destination coordinates for the points that define the transformation. Pressing this button brings up the following dialog box.

The Edit button is used to edit existing data.

The Delete button removes the source and destination pairing from the transformation setup.

The Process On/Off button allows source and destination pairings to be turned on and off. This is useful when wanting to inspect different results using different pairings.

The Optimize option chooses which point pairings would yield the best transformation results by turning off the processing of pairings with higher residuals. This minimizes the average residual for the control points.

The Report option displays a report of the transformation point pairings, their residuals, processing status, transformation scale and avg. residual.

The Load and Save options allow for saving and recalling local coordinate transformation pairings and settings.

Align by Two Pairs of Points option uses two pairs of source and destination coordinates. 

A new cloud can be created via Create New Cloud or the existing cloud can be modified using Edit Existing Cloud.

Snap Type sets the type of snap to be used when using the Screen Pick option.

The first pair defines the translation as the difference between the source and destination northing and easting. This destination point is also the pivot point for rotation. Rotation can be entered directly or defined by a second pair of points where the bearing between the first and second source points is rotated to align with the bearing from the first and second destination points. There is an option to also apply scaling. The scaling holds the angle between points and adjusts the distances by the scale factor. The scale factor is calculated for each point as the elevation factor at the first source point times the grid factor at the first destination point averaged with the elevation factor at the transform point times the grid factor at the transform point.