I think Notepad does work, although I personally use Notepad++. To save it as .rot, at least in Notepad++, you can choose from the "save as" list the option "All types" and then just type in ".rot" manually after the filename. Oh, and you need to leave an empty line at the bottom of the text file, otherwise it won't work for some reason.Originally Posted by kacey
Btw, there are also some GPlates tutorials on youtube, if you type "GPlate tutorial" in search. Those might be useful as well.
Last edited by Charerg; 10-03-2017 at 05:01 AM.
My fiancé suggested notepad➕➕ before I had a complete mental break down last night and it definitely works. Luckily I accidentally put a blank line in at the end not knowing I needed it and I was able to get the continents moved and save the new rotation file and worked through to the part of the tutorial where I need to download qgis.
AWESOME! Thanks for that tip Charerg. I don't recall Astrographer mentioning that in the tutorial. actually, just re-read and it and i can confirm that he DOESN'T mention that.
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Hey Charerg.
A couple of questions re: GPlates (if you don't mind)
1) instead of starting with the present configuration of the continents and then setting the next "stop" to be 150 mya did you just work forwards from Ur-Aduhr in say 5 mya blocks (saving each "stop" to the .rot file) until you reach the current positioning of your continents?
1) how did you clip/bind your landmasses to the polygons in GPlates?
Thanks Charerg.
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1) In essence, yes, I started from the present day layout, and made my way backwards (however, there's nothing wrong with the opposite approach of beginning with a supercontinent). Although I'd say 5 mya interval is way too short. Ideally you want to minimize the amount of intervals in order for the continents to move more smoothly (if you have many intervals, the movement becomes a bit clunky). Generally speaking, only put intervals in the movements if they're necessary.
As a small tip I found it helpful to first sketch out the process from supercontinent to present day on pen and paper before modelling the stuff with GPlates. Doesn't have to look pretty, as long as you have some kind of plan. It can also be helpful to first pick a single continent as a "centerpiece" and get its movements right, then move on to the rest and adjust them accordingly.
2) As to how to clip the raster image: here's an old post of mine where I explained it. The thread itself might be worth a read since it's full of tectonics-related stuff (Pixie especially made some very informative posts there).
Last edited by Charerg; 10-04-2017 at 06:02 AM. Reason: Typos and small additions
That's great, thanks Charerg. I hadn't seen that other thread before, super helpful and thanks for the tip about the interval spacing. Given your advice i'll probably revise that up to every 20-25 million year increments then (which seems much more doable)
I'm planning to have my working Gplates animation done and dusted in about a week. Going to be interesting seeing what Aerlaan ends up like at the end of this for sure. Thanks again for your help.
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Okay, so.
I think i must be OCD because, to help with the GPlates animation for Aerlaan (or more truthfully because I wanted something better to visualise whilst creating the animation) I redid the continental plates for Aerlaan so that i could load them as TIFF Raster objects into GPlates but also play around and visualise where i wanted the continents to be before i got to the actual animation so that I kind of know what i'm aiming for instead of just letting the landmasses gor for a grand ol' geological demolition derby.
I am now currently in the process of importing the rasters into GPlates and getting my record keeping in order before i run with the animation.
So:
Here are the plates separated out so that you have an idea of what Aerlaan is going to be made of. NOTE: I know that the details on the plates are NOT static and that ranges that exist 150 mya will most likely be eroded SIGNIFICANTLY by the time the world gets to the present day. Also, the gradient used is just an indication of height NOT climate. Also Also there are no rivers, lakes etc...
THE PLATES:
Aerlaan Seperated Plates.jpg
THE SUPERCONTINENT "SHEN-DAKA" (circa 150 mya):
Aerlaan Ancient Plate Positions.jpg
AERLAAN PRESENT DAY:
Aerlaan Modern Plate Positions.jpg
Just wanted to give an update as i feel like i have disappeared down a bit of a tectonic hole (rift???) for the last few days but it's all good.
Charerg: Sorry, but I have another question for you. for the life of me i can't figure out how to get GPlates to "animate" the spreading oceanic rift as the animation progresses. What i mean by that is when you see the previous outlines of the plates as they move away from each other which is also an indicator of the where the oceanic ridge is.
I have messed around with changing the "feature type" of the plates and even adding properties to the features but no success.
I kind of feel that this feature is essential in order to "see" the ridges.
Any who. that's kind of where I'm at.
RIGHT! Back down the rabbit hole i go (once i check out Kacey's progress!!!)
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You can't automatically generate the outlines of the continents as far as I know. You'll have to pause the animation at certain intervals (20 million years, for example) and manually draw them if you want that.
However, it does have the flowlines feature, which allows you to find out the location of the ridge. I'll try to post something about using flowlines when I have a bit more time (it's been a while since I last used GPlates, so I need to refresh my memory a bit), but the GPlates tutorial on them is a good place to start.
Last edited by Charerg; 10-11-2017 at 05:59 AM.
Thanks for getting back to me Charerg.
When I saw the outlines on animations or screenshot I guess I assumed it was automated (facepalm). Okay, so the creation of additional features it is then. That's additional work but will pay off. Now that you mention flow lines I do recall you mentioning that in your thread.
Thanks again
PaGaN
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I like the present day setup, are you going to be adding any islands or smaller fragments? And how do you come up with these names? I wish I was good at naming, right now my best attempt at naming things is just giving them a number, I'm envious of people who can just crank them out like this.
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