RasterBandAdder

In this example, we will clip an RGB orthoimage to the irregular shape of a park polygon. Note the shape of the park, and that the raster to be clipped has three bands - RED8, GREEN8, and BLUE8.

Clipping without adding an alpha band

When the raster is clipped, cells that fall outside the clip boundary but are inside the rectangular bounds of the raster extent are set to zero (0) in all bands. Without an alpha band, these appear as black in the FME Data Inspector.

We want those black areas to be transparent, and so will add an alpha band prior to clipping.

Clipping with an added alpha band

The park polygon is routed into the Clipper input port of a Clipper transformer. The orthoimage is routed first into a RasterBandAdder, and then on to the Clipper’s Clippee input port.

In the parameters dialog, Interpretation Type is to Alpha8. Note that both Alpha8 and Alpha16 are available. Since the Red, Green, and Blue bands are all 8-bit, the alpha band bit depth should match.

For cell value, we enter 255 - the maximum possible value in an 8-bit band. The possible values range from 0 to 255, where 0 is fully transparent, and 255 is fully opaque. At this point, we want the entire image to be visible (fully opaque).

Once the raster with the new alpha band is clipped to the irregular park polygon, cells outside the park boundary have a value of 0 on all four bands. Because the newly added alpha band is also 0, that part of the image becomes transparent.

Cells inside the park boundary retain their original values, and the alpha values remain 255 - fully opaque.

Working with Rasters

These transformers generally apply to whole rasters.

RasterCellOriginSetter	Sets the cell origin point within cells in a raster.
RasterConvolver	Applies a convolution filter (sometimes called a kernel or lens) to raster features and outputs the results.
RasterExpressionEvaluator	Evaluates expressions on each cell in a raster or pair of rasters, including algebraic operations and conditional statements.
RasterExtentsCoercer	Replaces the geometry of input raster features with a polygon covering either the extents of a raster or the extent of data within a raster.
RasterGCPExtractor	Extracts Ground Control Point (GCP) coordinate system and point values from a raster feature and exposes them as attributes.
RasterGCPSetter	Sets Ground Control Points (GCPs) on a raster, pairing cell positions with known coordinates.
RasterGeoreferencer	Georeferences a raster by either known corner coordinates or origin, cell size, and rotation.
RasterHillshader	Generates a grayscale shaded relief representation of terrain, based on elevation values.
RasterInterpretationCoercer	Alters the interpretation type of rasters, including all bands, and converts cell values if necessary.
RasterMosaicker	Merges multiple raster features into a single raster feature.
RasterPropertyExtractor	Extracts the geometry properties of a raster feature and exposes them as attributes.
RasterPyramider	Resamples rasters to multiple resolutions, based on either number of levels or dimensions of the smallest output raster.
RasterRegisterer	Transforms an image to minimize its difference with another.
RasterResampler	Resamples rasters, based on specified output dimensions, cell size in ground units, or percentage of original, and interpolates new cell values.
RasterRotationApplier	Rotates a raster feature according to its rotation angle property, interpolating new cell values, updating all other affected raster properties, and producing an output raster feature with a rotation angle of zero.
RasterSharpener	Enhances the features of a raster image. The RasterSharpener enhances the borders, lines, and curves while reducing noise in the flat areas of the raster image.
RasterSubsetter	Clips raster features using pixel bounds instead of ground coordinates, and optionally adds cells around the perimeter.
RasterTiler	Splits each input raster into a series of tiles by specifying either a tile size in cells/pixels or the number of tiles.
RasterToPolygonCoercer	Creates polygons from input raster features. One polygon is output for each contiguous area of pixels with the same value in the input raster.
WebMapTiler	Creates a series of image tiles that can be utilized by web mapping applications such as Bing™ Maps, Google Maps™, or Web Map Tile Service. This is done by resampling rasters to various different resolutions and then splitting them into tiles.

Working with Bands

These transformers generally apply to bands.

RasterBandAdder	Adds a new band to a raster feature.
RasterBandCombiner	Merges coincidental raster features into a single output raster feature, preserving and appending all bands.
RasterBandInterpretationCoercer	Alters the interpretation type of individual raster bands, converting cell values if necessary.
RasterBandKeeper	Removes all unselected bands from a raster feature.
RasterBandMinMaxExtractor	Extracts the minimum and maximum band values, palette keys, and palette values from a raster feature, and adds them to a list attribute.
RasterBandNameSetter	Sets the band name of selected bands on a raster, making raster contents simpler to understand compared to band numbers.
RasterBandNodataRemover	Removes the existing Nodata identifier from selected bands of a raster feature. Any values previously equal to the Nodata value are considered valid data.
RasterBandNodataSetter	Sets a new Nodata value on selected bands of a raster feature.
RasterBandOrderer	Specifies the required order of bands in a raster. Bands are reordered according to the input band indices.
RasterBandPropertyExtractor	Extracts the band and palette properties of a raster feature and exposes them as attributes.
RasterBandRemover	Removes any selected bands from a raster feature.
RasterBandSeparator	Separates bands or unique band and palette combinations, and outputs either individual raster features or a single new raster feature containing all combinations.
RasterStatisticsCalculator	Calculates statistics on raster bands and adds the results as attributes.

Working with Cells

These transformers generally apply to individual cells.

RasterAspectCalculator	Calculates the aspect (direction of slope) for each cell of a raster. Aspect is measured in degrees from 0 to 360, clockwise from north.
RasterCellCoercer	Creates individual points or polygons for each cell in a raster, optionally extracting band values as z coordinates or attributes.
RasterCellValueCalculator	Evaluates basic arithmetic , minimum, maximum or average operations on the cell values of a pair of rasters.
RasterCellValueReplacer	Replaces a range of band values in a raster with a new single value.
RasterCellValueRounder	Rounds off raster cell values.
RasterSegmenter	Partitions a raster image into arbitrarily sized groups of cells from the input image based on intensity differences in the input raster image cells.
RasterSingularCellValueCalculator	Performs basic arithmetic operations on the cell values of a raster against a numeric value.
RasterSlopeCalculator	Calculates the slope (maximum rate of change in z) for each cell of a raster.

Working with Palettes

These transformers generally apply to palettes.

RasterPaletteAdder	Creates a palette from an attribute, and adds this palette to all selected bands on a raster.
RasterPaletteExtractor	Creates a string representation of an existing palette on a raster and saves it to an attribute.
RasterPaletteGenerator	Generates a palette out of the selected band(s) of a raster. The output raster will have the selected band(s) replaced by a new band with a palette.
RasterPaletteInterpretationCoercer	Alters the interpretation type of raster palettes.
RasterPaletteNodataSetter	Identifies the palette key that matches a raster band’s Nodata value, and sets a value on it.
RasterPaletteRemover	Removes selected palette(s) from raster features.
RasterPaletteResolver	Resolves the palette(s) on a raster by replacing cell values with their corresponding palette values. Palette values with multiple components, such as RGB, are broken down and the individual values assigned to multiple, newly-added bands.

Workflow Control

These transformers generally control the flow of features in a workspace.

RasterCheckpointer	Forces accumulated raster operations to be processed, saving the state to disk and releasing resources to tune performance or assist with memory limitations.
RasterConsumer	Reads raster features for testing purposes, including any accumulated raster operations. No additional operations are performed, and nothing is done with the features.
RasterExtractor	Serializes the geometry of a raster feature into a Blob attribute, encoding the contents according to a choice of common binary raster formats.
RasterNumericCreator	Creates a numeric raster of specified size and resolution, with default cell values.
RasterReplacer	Decodes a binary attribute containing encoded rasters stored as Blobs, replacing the feature’s geometry with the decoded raster.
RasterRGBCreator	Creates a color raster feature of specified size, resolution, and interpretation type, with default cell values.
RasterSelector	Selects specific bands and palettes of a raster for subsequent transformer operations.

Vectors and Rasters

These transformers generally involve using rasters and vector data together.

ImageRasterizer	Creates a raster representation of vector or point cloud input features, using the fme_color attribute over a solid background fill for vector features. Point clouds may be rendered using their color or intensity components.
NumericRasterizer	Creates a numeric raster representation of vector or point cloud input features, where cell values are taken from the z coordinates of the input features and overlaid on a uniform background.
MapnikRasterizer	Generates a raster from input vector and raster features, with fine control over symbolization and labeling, using the Mapnik toolkit.
PointCloudOnRasterComponentSetter	Sets point cloud component values by overlaying a point cloud on a raster. The component values for each point are interpolated from band values at the point location.
PointOnRasterValueExtractor	Extracts the band and palette values from a raster at the location of one or more input points and sets them as attributes on the feature.
RasterDEMGenerator	Produces a raster digital elevation model (DEM) by uniformly sampling a Delaunay triangulation generated from input points and breaklines.
VectorOnRasterOverlayer	Rasterizes vector or point cloud features onto an existing raster. For vector features the fme_color attribute sets pixel color, and point clouds may be rendered using their color or intensity components.

This transformer accepts only raster features.

Raster features with a band added as specified.

Non-raster features will be routed to the <Rejected> port, as well as invalid rasters.

Rejected features will have an fme_rejection_code attribute with one of the following values:

INVALID_GEOMETRY_TYPE

Rejected Feature Handling: can be set to either terminate the translation or continue running when it encounters a rejected feature. This setting is available both as a default FME option and as a workspace parameter.

Defining Values

There are several ways to define a value for use in a Transformer. The simplest is to simply type in a value or string, which can include functions of various types such as attribute references, math and string functions, and workspace parameters.

Using the Text Editor

The Text Editor provides a convenient way to construct text strings (including regular expressions) from various data sources, such as attributes, parameters, and constants, where the result is used directly inside a parameter.

Text Editor

Using the Arithmetic Editor

The Arithmetic Editor provides a convenient way to construct math expressions from various data sources, such as attributes, parameters, and feature functions, where the result is used directly inside a parameter.

Arithmetic Editor

Conditional Values

Set values depending on one or more test conditions that either pass or fail.

Parameter Condition Definition Dialog

Content

Expressions and strings can include a number of functions, characters, parameters, and more.

When setting values - whether entered directly in a parameter or constructed using one of the editors - strings and expressions containing String, Math, Date/Time or FME Feature Functions will have those functions evaluated. Therefore, the names of these functions (in the form @<function_name>) should not be used as literal string values.

Content Types

String Functions	These functions manipulate and format strings.
Special Characters	A set of control characters is available in the Text Editor.
Math Functions	Math functions are available in both editors.
Date/Time Functions	Date and time functions are available in the Text Editor.
Math Operators	These operators are available in the Arithmetic Editor.
FME Feature Functions	These return primarily feature-specific values.
FME Parameters	FME and workspace-specific parameters may be used.
Creating and Modifying User Parameters	Create your own editable parameters.

Table Tools

Transformers with table-style parameters have additional tools for populating and manipulating values.

Note: Not all tools are available in all transformers.