2
surface. The projector uses a wide angle lens, typically
of six inch focal length. The elevation corrections
are introduced by moving the entire table up and
down, while the scanning is accomplished by a slit
traveling back and forth. The slit intercepts a
small element of the large cone of illumination,
while the balance of the area is masked.
The Off-Line Printer is essentially an analytical
printer desianed in the concept of the analytical
plotter. The ootical system is fixed and has a narrow
field of view. The bundle of light rays does not
suffer from high refractive ancles. The illumination
is a thin slit of light created by projection of
the actual filament of the illuminating lamp upon
the input photo (Figure 1). Line elements of the
imagery are transformed by a zoom lens and a dove
prism and reimaged upon the output film. This trans
formation also involves the computation of the proper
photo coordinates on the input photo corresponding
to the required model coordinates on the output film.
In the scanning/printing process the control computer
generates the appropriate signals to control the
X and Y input photo position, zoom setting, filament
and dove rotation, and X and Y positions of the output
drum, referred to as model coordinates. Thus the
model coordinates are the orthophoto coordinates.
MODES OF OPERATION
There are two basic modes of operation - ortho
rectification and plane rectification. The orthorecti
fication process, a differential rectification, is
the most complex of the two and results in properly
relocating image points from their displaced positions
in the original photograph - based upon photo geometry
and relief. The result is essentially a photomap,
if the appropriate reference grids are annotated
on the record. (Figures 7, 8, 10.)
The rectification process is a special case
of orthorectification and is accomplished in the
same manner on the printer, with the elevation being
held constant. (Figures 12, 14)
A second special case of image transformation
has been accomplished with the Off-Line Printer by
an additional software package. This product is
a stereomate (Figures 9, 11) conceived and developed