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Main Page

The Main Page is divided into the main graphics area on the left, the pages area on the right, and the toolbar along the top.

Main Screen Overview
Image 1: Main screen overview of the dBSea interface.

Graphics Area

The main graphics area shows the current project environment, either in 3D view or cross-section. Noise sources, probe locations, and calculated sound levels are displayed over the project bathymetry. For more information on controlling the graphics display, see the page Controlling view and display.

OpenGL is used to display the graphics. The OpenGL version provided by Windows 7 and 8 (glu32.dll) is typically sufficient, but users who experience problems with the graphics display may benefit from obtaining updated OpenGL drivers from their graphics card vendor.

Pages Area

Scenarios, sources, seabed, and other input properties of the current project are edited and controlled by the individual pages that show in the pages area. These pages are accessed via the buttons in the toolbar.

Toolbar

The buttons in the toolbar control creating new projects, opening, saving, changing the view, accessing specific pages, and solving the current project. Hovering over each button displays the function of that button as tooltip text.

View Menu

The visibility of individual components (source, probes, bathymetry, sound levels) is controlled by checking or unchecking the items in this menu.

Cross-sections can be saved, recalled, and named from this menu.

Tools Menu

  • Load bathymetry CSV - See the page Importing CSV data.
  • Swap heights and depths - dBSea accepts input bathymetry with depths as positive numbers and land heights as negative numbers. Many GIS tools use the reverse definition, and if this is the case with imported bathymetry, this option will reverse the imported heights and depths.
  • Launch CSV Editor - This option will start the bundled CSV Editor, which is used to import and edit bathymetry files from different formats. See the page CSV editor.
  • Export current scene - An image file containing the current scene may be exported by choosing the Export the current scene as button from the Tools menu. BMP, JPG, PNG, and PDF file types may be exported. If the current scene includes calculated sound levels, the exported image will include a scale bar showing the colour scale for levels.
  • Export all levels/cross-section levels - Calculated sound level data may be exported in text format, with tab-separated fields. The data can be opened or copied directly into a spreadsheet. Data may be exported as the overall levels at each point, or the overall levels plus full spectra for each point.
  • Export currently visible levels/bathymetry in ESRI Ascii grid format - This option will write an output file containing the currently visible sound levels or project bathymetry in the widely supported ESRI Ascii grid format, for import into GIS packages. When exporting levels, if the solution grid dx/dy aspect ratio is close to 1, dBSea will use the standard CELLSIZE parameter. If the aspect ratio is too high, then the non-standard DX and DY parameters will be used, which may not be fully supported by all GIS software. To use a square or close-to-square grid aspect ratio, click on the Square aspect ratio button on the page Setup project.