Surface Conditioning in MineSight 3D

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n MineSight 3D (MS3D), it is critical to ensure that you are working with clean surfaces and solids at all times. Some of the most critical operations in MineSight, including reserves calculations and model coding, depend on the use of properly conditioned surfaces and solids. Surfaces and solids containing self-intersections, duplicate faces, or openings can produce erroneous coding and calculations. These errors could adversely affect the validity of all downstream processes such as geologic modeling or mine scheduling. MS3D provides several functions to condition and repair surfaces. The primary tool is the Verify function accessed via the Surface menu. Well also discuss other surface conditioning tools including the Explode, Decimate, and Delete Face functions.

YOU SHOULD CHECK YOUR SURFACE

OR SOLID INTEGRITY BEFORE: Volume calculations P PPartials generation PCoding

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HINT

PResource/reserve calculations PGenerating period maps PIntersecting with other surfaces

SURFACE | VERIFY FUNCTION

The Verify function checks for self-intersecting faces, duplicate faces, or openings in surfaces. After launching the Verify function, select the surface to condition. The function operates on any surface in the selection set (i.e. surfaces selected before the Verify function is activated using Selection | Make New) and can be checked using the Verify button or conditioned in-place using the Repair button. Alternatively, a surface not in the selection set can be checked (but not repaired) if Allow all surfaces in the viewer to be selected is toggled on (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1 The Verify function. Perform the operations in the order they appear on the dialog to condition surfaces. Use Allow all surfaces in the viewer to be selected to check surfaces that are not in the selection set.

Fig. 1

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To repair a surface, apply the options in the order shown in the Verify dialog:

1 2 3

Repair self-intersecting faces Repair duplicate faces Repair openings

These steps will repair most surfaces or solids. However, occasionally a surface may require an additional pass through the repair steps. After repairing, you should check the surface again and repeat steps 1-3, if necessary.

R E S O LV I N G S U R FAC E CO N D I T I O N I N G LO O P S
In most cases, utilizing the steps noted above in succession will repair the surface. However, sometimes you may enter a surface conditioning loop where these successive steps are not capable of repairing the surface (Fig. 2). If this happens, we have another option inside the Verify function, as well as several additional surface conditioning functions that can assist with the repair. First, try changing the method used to repair duplicate faces. While the All except one option works in most cases, sometimes for difficult surfaces it may not properly remove all problem faces. Try running the typical surface repair workflow using the Delete all option instead (Fig. 3). This resolves a large percentage of surface conditioning loops. The Explode function (Surface | Explode) can also be used to resolve surface conditioning loops. Explode will break a large surface into smaller surfaces that dont share common edges. Often exploding a large topographic surface with bad faces will produce one large surface with many single-face fragments that can be discarded. If you have a surface that explodes in this manner, then deleting the single-face fragments might resolve the conditioning loop.

Fig. 2

Fig. 2 Messages showing a surface conditioning loop for a particularly damaged solid. Notice that after applying the repair steps twice, there are still self-intersections. Fig. 3 Using Delete all for repairing duplicate faces may resolve a surface conditioning loop.

Fig. 3

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Exploding should be performed after repairing the self-intersecting faces in the Verify function. Use the following steps:

1 2 3 4 5

Make sure the Verify function is closed Select the surface (Selection | Make New) Explode the surface (Surface | Explode); you should have one large surface and some single-face fragments, all of which are still in the selection set Use Selection | Modify Selection and shift+click on the large surface to remove it from the selection set (Fig. 4) Use Selection | Delete to remove the single-face fragments

Fig. 4

The Decimate function (Surface | Decimate) can also be used to resolve conditioning loops by cleaning up cluttered areas of the surface. Decimate will reduce the number of faces in the surface by combining ones that are nearly co-planar. The co-planar tolerance is specified in the dialog (Fig. 5). The last resort is manual repair. Occasionally, a large concentration of twisted and self-intersecting faces may occur in an area of the surface that should be completely flat. If this occurs, try using Surface | Delete Face to remove the offending faces. Then patch the surface by repairing openings with the Verify function. If none of these options resolve your surface conditioning issues, please contact your local Technical Support group. We will be happy to examine your surface and advise the best way to repair it.
Fig. 5

Fig. 4 Modify Selection will color all selected elements with the secondary highlight color (Viewer| Preferences), in this case orange. When you shift+click on the large surface it will be removed from the selection set and displayed as an unselected element. Fig. 5 Use Decimate to combine nearly co-planar faces.

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