Things were a bit busy at work lately with a role change, so did not get time for a Blog when Version 1.7.7.1 was uploaded, and the 2018 Quarter 1 Quarterly Newsletter is still outstanding.
The changes made to Versions 1.7.7.1 were bug fixes, and Version 1.7.7.2 largely contains various mouse picking improvements and refinements. Many thanks for the feedback from RT, BE, GS, RT, JP, NB, DC, EM, MB, AR, KY, FG, RH, AB, MT, RP, JD, TN, CS, ZT, AB, SW, IQ, CB, KB, TD, XN, AB, SW, GD, SON, AR, PB, TB, RM, AP and DG.
New functionality
After draping images onto meshes with "Ribbon => Image => Image actions => Drape image", the draped images can now be exported as a textured OBJ-file with "Ribbon => Image => Save and export files => Wavefront OBJ".
Add another PPV-formula to "Top toolbar => Blue colour palette icon => Colour on PPV from coordinate".
Add "Ribbon => Mesh => Save DXF-files => Other => Rocscience RS3 continuous lines" to save polylines for Rocscience RS3 in the anticipated format.
Add a warning before all images are deleted with "Ribbon => Image => Image actions => Delete all".
Add functionality to the Comments textbox to allow clipboard copy and file save in both TXT and CSV file formats. The TXT-format saved the information as displayed in the Comments textbox, and the CSV-format allows easy addition to Excel for statistical comparisons.
Changes
When importing CSV-data from files, 'NaN' (Not a Number) in the first row is now accepted as type 'Double' when determining the required file format.
When creating a file with ""Ribbon => Drillhole => Other => Marker points", the file format was changed to allow the processing of mapping data that can be loaded as Mapping directly afterwards.
Change the code behind picking the rotation point coordinate when in tablet mode, as the scene changed orientation in plan view due to delegate interactions.
Bug fixes
"Right toolbar => Scale" errors when selecting very small scale values - fixed.
Loading some Surpac STR-files causes errors - fixed.
Multiple small interface corrections - fixed.
Mouse picking in the scene did not always work as expected and occasionally caused errors, especially in Clipping Mode - fixed.
Snapping to the clipping plane "Right toolbar => Square icon" did not work as expected - fixed.
When inspecting "Ribbon => Drillhole => Geotech lines" data, the column names were not transferred to the legend - fixed.
When changing the coordinates system by right clicking in the left top listbox, erratic behaviour occurred afterwards - fixed.
Discussion: Draping images and save as OBJ
Draping images onto meshes is a powerful visualisation option, but seems seems few GEM4D users are aware of this functionality. This discussion will explain how to load an image, transform the image into the mine coordinate system, drape onto any mesh, and save as an OBJ texture file.
Step 1: Load a mesh
Load meshes of interest with "Ribbon => Mesh => Load DXF".
Step 2: Load an image
Load an image with "Ribbon => Image => Load and import files => Image file JPG, PNG". This will load the image and place it at the scene centre and slightly above the loaded meshes. An initial size is requested when loading the image, just select a rough estimate of the size the image will be covering.
Step 3: Transform the image
Transform the image into the mine coordinate system by using either:
- Right toolbar: Scale, Rotate and Move.
- Right toolbar: Transform
See the GEM4D Blog for 7 January 2018 for a discussion on mesh transformations. Image transformations are the same, except that the selected Z-values should be on the same elevation to ensure a horizontal image orientation. I will discuss this further in the next newsletter.
Step 4: Drape the image onto all visible mesh
Drape the image onto the visible mesh(es) by pressing "Ribbon => Image => Image actions => Drape image". The image will be draped vertically upwards and downwards onto the meshes, creating a 3D-image.
Step 5: Save the 3D-image as OBJ-file
Save the draped image as an OBJ texture file with "Ribbon => Image => Save and export files => Wavefront OBJ-file".
