This is still kind of sketchy in places. I'll add more detail when I have time.

Converting *KAP Chart images to MapCruncher files

The current version of MapCruncher will not open large TIFF files. It runs out of memory. The workaround I use is to convert to TIFF files and then to PDF, and then use the PDF to make the crunched tiles.  The MapCruncher team hopes to fix this problem in the next release.

First, close all unnessary programs. This process takes a lot of CPU and memory.

Convert Chart  *KAP file to TIFF

1. Open NOAA Chart Reprojector
2. File Format: TIFF
3. Projection: Mercator
4. Paste input file path to *.KAP file Paste same path to Output file - confirm extension changes to *.tif
5. Click Run, wait for progress bar, click OK on popup

Convert TIFF to PDF

1. Copy the TIFF file to the Omniformat watch folder
2. Note: Setting up Opmniformat took some time. There are a couple of installs, and the TIFF-to-PDF settings were unclear. I tried multiple ones until the PDFs looked good. To-do: document process
3. Wait for conversion to pdf (tif file goes away)
4. Move Pdf file back to original folder

Mapcruncher

1. Open Mapcruncher
2. File ==> Add Source Map
3. Browse to PDF
4. Change 'New Layer' upper left to the file number
5. File ==> Save to original folder.
6. Name mashup same as chart number
7. If the map page is wider than the chart, remove the white space by selecting the border and dragging the edges in. Make the edges nice and straight.
8. Starting in one corner, add points from different places around the chart. About 8
9. Click 'Lock'. The maps will link together so when you drag one, the other one moves also
10. The box of points will be sorted with the most incorrect points at the top.
    1. double-click the worst one and look at the results
    2. if it's really off, click 'unlock' and delete (and re-add if necessary) the point
    3. lock again
    4. repeat until the maps are nicely lined up at all points
11. When the maps look good, click the 'source info' tab
12. Save
13. At the bottom, adjust the 'zoom' control until the chart looks good - this is the maximum zoom. Usually between 12 and 15.
14. Click the 'render' tab and paste in the same path as to the files. Mapcruncher will generate a folder with the tiles here.
15. Check 'Copy source maps ....
16. Uncheck 'Permit composition'
17. Save
18. Click 'Start estimate' button
19. Files should be 100 - 500 MB depending on original file size
20. Save
21. Click 'Start Render'
22. Computer will be unresponsive until done - 1/2 to 1 hour 
23. Wait for 'Rendering...' to complete
24. Click the 'Open sample page button at the bottom. Confirm map looks OK