Canvases

Introduction

Choose the Canvases command from the Course Setting menu to export courses and classes of the same course setting project as pdfs in different scales and layouts.

Think of a canvas as a neutral base map on which you can display data. The canvas shows a portion of the map defined by the current extent of the canvas, along with the assigned symbols and background maps.

See also our Example of use at the end of this page.

See also our Video on YouTube about the Canvas function.

Canvases

In this section you create canvases, define their extents, and assign courses/classes to each extent.

At the beginning, specify in the Settings whether you want to export courses or classes, as the inputs will be lost if you switch later.

Canvas name

Press New to add a new canvas, Rename to rename an existing canvas or Delete to delete an existing canvas.

Select a canvas in the canvas name box. The following settings will apply to the chosen canvas.

Export scale

Choose the export scale, in which the chosen extent shall be exported.

Extent

Choose an extent from the list. If there is no extent available, click on Define. Load the background map to define the extent.

The dimensions of width and height are in the map scale and not export scale!

Name: Existing extents will be shown here.
Scale: Set scale to get correct extent when choosing from paper format.
Set from paper format: Choose a paper format, e.g. A4 Portrait.
Set to entire map: The entire map will be set as extent.
Width/ Height: Enter width and height in mm.
Overwrite / Create new extent: If there is no extent defined so far, you need to create a new extent. Enter a name and press Save. If there are already extents available, you can still create a new extent (enter a different name as the current extent that is shown) or overwrite the currently shown extent (enter the same name as the current extent that is shown).

Control description box size

Enter the box size of the control description in the export scale and its maximum length.

Use for Courses

Select the Courses/Classes that shall be assigned to the chosen canvas in the Canvas name box.
If a Course/Class contains one (or several) Map flip or Map exchange, you can assign each map extract to a canvas.

Yellow color: Course/Class not yet used in any canvas
Light green color: Course/Class used in one canvas (currently not selected)
Dark green color: Course/Class used in one canvas (currently selected)
Red color: Course/Class used in more than one canvas

Usage

This section is a pre-selection of symbols and background maps, that will later on be used in the Visibility section.

Symbols

Used symbols List with symbols, that can be used afterwards in the Visibility section.

Drag and drop Available, but not used symbols here.

Available, but not used symbols List of all symbols, that the symbol box of your course setting project contains.

Background maps

Used background maps List with symbols, that can be afterwards in the Visibility section.

Drag and drop Available, but not used background maps here.

Available, but not used background maps List of all background maps, which your course setting project contains.

Visibility

Define which symbols and background maps shall be visible for which canvas.

Canvas name

Select a canvas. If there is no canvas available, define a canvas in the Canvases section.

Symbols

Double click on a symbol to make it visible or not. If you miss a symbol, check the Usage section.

Background maps

Double click on a symbol to make it visible or not. If you miss a background map, check the Usage section.

PDF Export

Click Export to export all courses/classes to the specified export folder.

If the map contains raster layout objects then OCAD takes the dpi resolution from the export setings.

XML Script

Load from XML: Load settings from an XML file.

Save as XML: Save current settings as an XML file.

Settings

Activate canvases in course preview and export: If activated, the preview of your courses will load the corresponding canvas.

Export: Choose if you like to export courses or classes.

Example of use

You can download the data for these examples here.

Example Map Scale

Initial Situation

Given the following example:

For a long distance orienteering race, the following courses and classes are offered.

- Long Course, Class WE, Scale 15’000
- Medium Course, Class W18, Scale 10’000
- Medium Course, Class M60, Scale 7’500
- Short Course, Class M80, Scale 7’500

Purpose of the Canvas Function

With the canvas function, we can manage the different map scales and export extents in one single course setting file and export the print PDFs in one single click.
This reduces the time required and potential sources of error, especially if you need to make last-minute changes to your map and courses.

Organisation

It is recommended to save all the files listed below in the same folder. This makes it easier, if data is shared with other people, e.g. via Dropbox or OneDrive.

Preparation

For our example we work with the following files.

• [Map] Bürenflue.ocd
  

The map file.
Scale 1:10'000
The map file is what you call orienteering map. You get it from the map maker or from the mapping responsible person of your club.
Make sure that the map file does not contain any layout object. So, it should not contain any logos, texts, ...
If any map corrections need to be done, you must make them in this file only.

• [Layout_A4_Portrait_10000] Bürenflue.ocd

[Layout_A3_Landscape_7500] Bürenflue.ocd

[Layout_A4_Landscape_15000] Bürenflue.ocd

The three different layout files.
Scale 1:10'000 for all three files!
See the Create a Layout page for more information how to create a laoyut.
In each layout file, we created a layout according to its export scale and page orientation (add logos, draw a frame, indicate the scale, ...)

We can load the [Map] Bürenflue.ocd as background map to see where the layout needs to be placed (as in the image below), but make sure to remove all background maps again once the layout is created!
Note: The layout files do not contain any course setting objects!

• [Course Setting] Bürenflue.ocd
  

Scale is also 1:10'000.
The course setting file has loaded all three layout files and the map file as background map. Make sure the map file is below the layout files in the list.
If you get a new map file from the map maker, you can load the new map file and remove the old one in the Manage Background Maps dialog.

Canvases settings

We defined the canvases 7500, 10000 and 15000.

We defined the Extent 7500, Extent 10000 and Extent 15000. The export scales and extents fits to the layout files.

We assigned each class to a canvas:
- Class WE used for Canvas 15000
- Class W18 used for Canvas 10000
- Class M60 used for Canvas 7500
- Class M80 used for Canvas 7500

See also the Canvases settings in the screenshot above.

Usage settings

We duplicated some symbols in the symbol box of the course setting project, e.g. symbol for control description or symbol for course title.
We can also change the settings of the duplicated symbols if needed (e.g. text and symbol control description type, different font sizes for course titles).
It's good practice to give the duplicated symbols a new and meaningful name (e.g. CD 10000 Text, CD 15000 Symbol). This makes it easier in the Usage settings to assign the symbols to the corresponding canvases.

See also the Usage settings in the screenshot above.

Visibility settings

We set the Visibility settings as in the screenshot above.

PDF Export

We get the following output files:

Class WE, Long Course, Scale 15’000, A4 Landscape
Class W18, Medium Course, Scale 10’000m A4 Portrait
Class M60, Medium Course, Scale 7’500, A3 Landscape
Class M80, Short Course, Scale 7’500, A3 Landscape

Example Control Description

At a local orienteering event, a symbol or text control description was printed on the map depending on the course. For the beginner course, a transparent red line also indicated the ideal running route. In this example, it was not necessary to separate the map file and the layout file, as the canvas function was only used to control the placement of the control description and the visibility of the red line.

Example Map Exchange

When a map is changed (map exchange or map flip), the course is continued on a different map extract.

Conclusion

It needs some effort to prepare the layout files and set up the canvases for a course setting project. For sure, this is something that should/can be done many weeks before a competition and should be tested properly beforehand.

Once the canvases are set, the function is very useful. If there are last-minute changes to courses and maps (as it often happens), these changes only have to be done in the map file or in the course setting file. This reduces potential errors.