Shading depth contours with Reefmaster trail?

[piketroller]

I finally got around to playing with the Reefmaster trail version and have been pleased with it so far, al least with the application. The trial even lets you export contour line maps, but with limited formats available. What I have not managed to figure out is if with the limited trial formats, I'm not setting up the file correctly to shade different depth contours different colors, or if this feature is only available with the full version. For a couple hours hacking through it last night for the first time, I thought just getting the contours was good progress. I can get contours colored in a pallet to my liking in the Reefmaster application, but when my Carbons pull up the AT5 map file, everything is the same color, and there aren't many menu options that aren't grayed out to points towards a setting issue on my units.

I'm stuck right now, because if I can't do custom shading with Reefmaster, then it's probably not worth the $200, and if I can't figure why it's not working with the trial, I don't want to waste $200 to find out it still won't do it.

[piketroller]

To be more specific, I my first post was about using the isobath layer to apply shading. I'm now playing with the shaded relief layer to see if that will get me where I want to go. If anyone knows how to display the isobath layer on an HDS Carbon running 18.3, I'm all ears.

[Team Colibri]

The trial-version has very limited export-options, so what you see is what yoy get untill you pay. :)

[piketroller]

I finally figured it out enough to get colored isobaths to display on my HDS units. The only layer it lets me turn on and off in the boat is the countour lines layer. I'm hoping the bottom hardness layers become available with the full version. Form what I've seen so far, I probably will purchase the software.

I've also run into another unintended potential issue. My HDS at the helm has a decent built in base map for navigation on the Great Lakes, including my home waters the St Clair River. The depth contours basically show the edges of the drop-offs, but it has things like navigation buoys and the international boarder line between U.S. and Canada. When I put the exported map on a card into my unit, the map shows up as the "Lowrance" source, and everything on my base map is gone. The only way I've found to get back to my base map is to take the card out of the unit and cycle the power. If one of the export options with the full version lets me retain this base elements on top of my created chart, that would be perfect. If not, the next best thing would be an easy way to toggle between the two maps without having to pull the card out of the unit. Any help here would be appreciated.

[Team Colibri]

I don`t have any US-units so I have not tested this myself, but here are two things you could try:

1. If you use "Project based export" as a setting in Insight Map Creator, you can get around the issue. If that setting is used your RM-map will not be "Lowrance" but get its own name and you can change between that and Lowrance in the menus. This requires you to export from RM as the advanced export, where you can tick of a box in the settings, not the "quick exports".

2. Run RM and the export like you have done. But on your memorycard, create a folder named after the lake you have mapped. Use only english letters and no symbols or digits. If this works like I hope, your unit will now give you the same options as above where you have Lowrance and Lake XXX as choices for mapping and can switch between them and maybe even use them at the same time in splitt-screen with chart+chart created as a custom layout.

Please keep in mindt that those two options can not be combined. It is one or the other.

[piketroller]

I don`t have any US-units so I have not tested this myself, but here are two things you could try:

1. If you use "Project based export" as a setting in Insight Map Creator, you can get around the issue. If that setting is used your RM-map will not be "Lowrance" but get its own name and you can change between that and Lowrance in the menus. This requires you to export from RM as the advanced export, where you can tick of a box in the settings, not the "quick exports".

2. Run RM and the export like you have done. But on your memorycard, create a folder named after the lake you have mapped. Use only english letters and no symbols or digits. If this works like I hope, your unit will now give you the same options as above where you have Lowrance and Lake XXX as choices for mapping and can switch between them and maybe even use them at the same time in splitt-screen with chart+chart created as a custom layout.

Please keep in mindt that those two options can not be combined. It is one or the other.

I tried option 2, but the unit still reads the map as the Lowrance option. My folder title was "NorthChannel" for what it's worth. Within this folder are the files at5 (xml file), Large.at5 and a folder titled ShadedRelief that contains a number of at5 files. Without this folder, I couldn't get the isobath coloring scheme to display.

For option 1, I'm going to have to purchase the software to get that export option it seems.

[piketroller]

Tomorrow I'm going to try to put two different maps on the same card and see how that works. I'm hoping it gives me an option to pick which one I want, but I'm going to guess that it will just automatically load the the first at5 file it finds scanning the card.

An interesting observation today was that all units hooked together by ethernet will display the map if it is on a single card in a single unit. It doesn't matter if the card is in the unit at the helm or bow, the one with C-map gives me the option to toggle between it, Navionics, and the Lowrance option that is the map on the card, and the other unit still has the custom map overriding the base Lowrance map, or I can switch to the near zero detail Navionics option. I didn't think ethernet was supposed to be able to share maps, but it is doing it with these.

[Team Colibri]

Ethernet shares mapping coming from memorycards, just not live-mapping.