FAQ (Frequently Asked and Answered Questions)

Table of Contents

Font

I cannot read some fonts because they are too small.

Pasteup determines font sizes automatically by referring the DPI of your X server. If your X server does not tell you a correct DPI, some fonts become too small/big. This is the case often reported on the X server of Mac OS X.

To avoid this trouble, set correct DPI by a command line option --Xdpi. See the following example.

 $ pasteup --Xdpi 96
      

Plotting

Shot time seems to be incorrect. I use SU or/and SEG-Y.

In Pasteup, lag time between the first sample and the shot time is defined by

      delrt + tstat + lagb - laga
      

Check your data.

In the standard SEG-Y and SU format, the delrt is defined as signed short. However, delrt is declared as unsigned short in the Pasteup. If you don't like this declaration, give "-DUNSIGNED_DELRT" flags to the CFLAGS while compiling the Pasteup.

How to determine scale factor?

The appropriate scale factor depends on plottining styles in addition to the data itself. Try to use "set scaling factor automatically" function; type M-s or invoke from the "Exec" menu in the console window.

A criteria to determine automatically scale factor is propotinal to the maximum amplitude of the waveform data (after applying amplitude corrections). This criteria can be customized in the Preferences window.

The second plotting is faster than the first time. Why?

Because Pasteup uses cache system. See the below Cache system FAQ.

Waveforms are a little different between Vector mode and Image mode.

This is because of a sort of rounding error.

When I change the plotting style, drawing styles are also automatically changed.

Each plotting style has the default drawing style. When you change the plotting style, the drawing style is automatically set to the default style. These default styles can be customized in the Preferences window.

Too sloooooooooooooooow to plot.

Comparing with other plotting software like suximage, Pasteup is (much) slower to draw a section. One of the principal factors is the versatility of Pasteup. In the Pasteup,

These versatility require a lot of computaions and make Pasteup slow.
Another factor is Tcl/Tk. In the Tcl/Tk, at first, all the objects are stored in RAM area as vector data, and then rasterized to the graphic display.

To speed up, try the followings.

Suddenly, Pasteup does not work correctly (I cannot invoke Pasteup)

Probably you gave invalid values to some parameters; e.g., gave "alphabet" to the distance range or so.

If you have parameter files, try to use them.

 $ pasteup -f parameter.dat
      

However, the easiest way is "to reset" all the parameters to default values. Try,

 $ pasteup --noparam
      

or

 $ pasteup --vanilla
     

Cache system

What is cache system?

Reading large seismic data from a hard disk takes long time. In addition, filtering (including SU filter) process needs more time. To avoid repeating reading and filtering, Pasteup preserves seismic data (after applying filters) in RAM. The preserved seismic data are called cache data.

Does Pasteup reserve whole waveform data in the cache?

No, trace length is limited. The trace length in the cache is determined by the parameter extra read length in the Preferences window. When the drawing range is t1 from t2, and the extra read length is dt, the cache range is from t1 - dt to t1 + dt.

When the cache cleared? (how to clear the cache?)

The cache system uses the cache data wherever possible.
The cache will be cleared when,

Is there a limitation of cache size?

Yes. Seismic data sometimes can be too large to store in the RAM. That is why the Pasteup limit the cache size. The default cache size is 4000 samples/trace and 10000 traces. This limitation indicates the cache system requires 152MB RAM area. If you have enough memory, you can extend these limitations; the cache size is determined when you invoke the Pasteup and cannot be changed on the fly.

 # 6000 samples/trace, up to 20000 traces
 $ pasteup --maxsample 6000 --maxtrace 20000
      

What will happen if the data size is larger than the cache size?

Plotting becomes slower, and that's all.
When the required data size is larger than the cache size, pasteup will give up using cache system.

Can I stop the cache system?

Yes. invoke Pasteup with --maxtrace 0 option;

 $ pasteup --maxtrace 0
      

File formats

Which file format is recommended for pick data?

If you don't have special reasons, use "Pasteup" format because it is most informative format and we can easily convert it into another formats.

I cannot understand the "Pasteup" pick format.

See Formats section.

Which file format is recommended for waveform data?

SU. The developer uses only SU format, therefore more bugs might exist when you use the other formats.

Pasteup cannot read my SEG-Y data correctly.

Because SEG-Y format have many dialects, Pasteup probably does not support your SEG-Y dialects. In such a case, convert your SEG-Y data into SU. Probably segyread command in SU is enough.

Does Pasteup supports SUXDR formats?

No, not yet. Use little endian, or big endian SU format even if you use 64bit systems.

External programs.

I cannot use "SU filter" at all.

To use SU filter, you have to install SU. In addition, you have to set environmental variable CWPROOT.
You can set the CWPROOT in either of the following:

SU filter ends "Error occurred during SUFILTER".

Possible reasons are,

I cannot apply "Position Fix".

Position fix and auto picking uses external commands written by FUJIE or Kimihiro Mochizuki.

I cannot use "RayTrace" in the analysis window.

To use Ray-tracing function, you need an external seismic application "HAMEN" developed by FUJIE.

I cannot use "Mapping" in the analysis window.

To use traveltime mapping function, you need an external seismic application "TMM" developed by FUJIE.

I cannot use "RayTrace"/"Mapping", despite my having installed them.

Set the install path of these application in the Pasteup. There is two way.

If you are system administrator, choose the former way. Otherwise, choose the latter.

Theme

What is theme?

Theme in the pasteup is a set of color and font configurations for GUI. You can change the window colors, button colors, font sizes and font faces. Theme does not affect the plotting at all.

How do I change the theme?

There is a "look & feel" tab in the Preferences. A new theme will apply after restarting Pasteup.

Install

Something wrong with the "Graph" canvas.

Graph canvas is used the graph widget of BLT. Thus, check the graph widget of the BLT.

BLT has many demo script. Run these demos and check behaviors.