I made significant coding changes to Version 1.8.3.2 and decided to leave the expiry date for 1 July 2020, to ensure stability before changing the expiry date to the start of 2021. If your IT Department is installing your software, then maybe worthwhile to wait for the next update.
The GEM4D Splash Screen now has an addition that could be misinterpreted ... :) This version extends the calculation of the shortest distance between Marker-data to mesh objects, add support for very large coordinate systems and the ability to rotate Marker-data, and made improvements to the clipping widget for displaying scalar contours.
New functionality
Very large coordinate systems caused mesh deformations in previous GEM4D-versions. Although this was a known problem, it affected a very small number of cases and required significant changes to the code. From Version 1.8.3.2, large coordinate systems are correctly managed for the most common file types; such as AutoCAD (DXF), Surpac (STR/DTM), Datamine (DM), Virtual Reality Machine Language (VRML) and Open Inventor (IV) - see Discussion 3.
"Right panel => Rotate => Marker data and rotate center => Rotate data and save CSV" adds the ability to rotate visible Marker-data around a selected centre coordinate. The rotation function was previously only available for mesh rotations.
The "Ribbon => Marker=> Marker actions => Distance=> Add grid distance column(s)" option has been available for some time and the functionality was extended. This function calculates the shortest distance between each visible Marker-coordinate and visible meshes and adds the results as columns to the Markers data grid - see Discussion 2.
Improve the Clipping Widget functionality and integration when displaying scalar contours - see Discussion 1.
Changes
Drillhole ID's used in "Ribbon => Drillhole" could previously only consist of letters or a combination of letters and numbers, and numbers alone were not accepted. Some mines do number their drill holes by numbers alone, which is now also allowed.
Bug fixes
Unexpected results were generated when an iso-surface was drawn from a single row of data on a plane - fixed.
When loading a CSV-file with an unexpected format with "Ribbon => Drillhole => Geotech lines => Create geotech" caused a crash - fixed.
Occasional instabilities when using "Right panel => Clipping => Clipping widget" - fixed.
Discussion 1: Display data contours
Visualise contours on a flat plane by the procedure below. The Clipping Widget can be "grabbed" by picking on the relevant widget-object with the left mouse button, keep the button depressed, and moving the mouse.
Step 1: Create an iso-surface or colour the mesh to calculate the interpolation scalar values by checking "Left panel => Marker => Iso-surface and Colour mapping => Iso-surface OR Colour meshes".
Step 2: Activate the clipping widget with "Right panel => Clipping => Clipping Widget => Show clipping widget".
Step 3: Drag the clipping widget with the mouse by grabbing onto the red perimeter outline to move the plane, or rotate the plane with the arrow by grabbing the tail of arrow point. The arrow can be moved by grabbing the arrow sphere on the contour plane.
Discussion 2: Add the shortest distance(s) to meshes as Marker columns
"Ribbon => Marker=> Marker actions => Distance=> Add grid distance column(s)" calculates the shortest distance between each visible Marker-coordinate and visible meshes, and then add the distances as columns to the Markers data grid. A pop-up form appears when the function is selected, click on:
"Yes" to combine all visible meshes into a single mesh and add three columns to the data grid; the full 3D XYZ, the plan view XY, and vertical Z distances between each Marker coordinate and the closest point to the combined mesh. Note that the XY and Z columns are the plan view and vertical components of the complete XYZ distance.
"No" to add a column with the shortest XYZ distance to each individual mesh object, with the mesh object name as the column header.
Discussion 3: Large coordinate system mesh deformations in previous versions
The images on the left indicate the mesh rounding errors with very large coordinate systems in previous versions of GEM4D, and the images on the right show the correct display in Version 1.8.3.2.
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