Strings Properties Dialog - Lines Tab

Controlling the display of lines in 3D.

Strings Properties Dialog - Lines Tab

To access this dialog:

In the Strings folder in the Sheets Control Bar (active 3D window Sub-Folder), right-click a strings file and select Properties.
In the Strings Properties dialog, select the Lines tab.

The Lines tab is used to control how the lines (edges) between points are drawn to the screen in the active 3D window. The following fields are available.

The settings described here apply to the currently active 3D window and all linked external windows. Independent windows will be unaffected.

Field details:

Display lines: if selected, then lines are displayed in the active 3D window and the controls on the Lines tab are activated. Otherwise, lines are hidden from view and the controls are grayed out.

Type: choose between 2D or 3D lines. Depending on your choice, differentoptions are displayed in the adjacentStylegroup box.

2D: thewidth of lines remains the same, regardless of the viewing distance.

3D: lines have a three-dimensional appearance, and their size may vary depending on the viewing distance and direction.

Style: allows you to specify the style attributes associated with either 2D or 3D lines. If required, a legend/column pair must be specified individually for both line style and width.

For objects loaded in the 3D view that contain the LSTYLE column, the default formatting in both the Style and Size groups is as follows:

LSTYLE is selected in the Column dropdown list.
Standard Datamine LSTYLE fields is selected in the Legend dropdown list.

If the LSTYLE column is not present, then a fixed, solid 2D line style with a width of one pixel is used by default.

If2D is selected in the Type group, then the following options are shown:

Fixed: select this option to specify a fixed line style for all lines in the object. Select the style from the adjacent dropdown list.

Legend: allows you to select a legend and column from the adjacent dropdown lists. This allows you to specify the line style for each edge or string in the object.

Column: select a column from the dropdown list that contains the values to be matched to the selected legend. As with all legend dropdown lists, once a legend has been selected, it can then be displayed or edited. A default legend can also be created automatically for any selected field.

	Show the currently-selected legend intervals and display properties.
	Edit the currently-selected legend using the Legends Manager dialog.
	Select a default legend for the selected data column if one already exists, or if no default legend is available, the Create New Legend wizard will appear to let you create a new legend.

The line style selected in the Fixed dropdown list is used whenever a value cannot be found for a selected legend and column.

If 3D is selected in the Type group, then the following options are shown:

Default Cylinder: the default 3D line style is used, which is a cylinder.

Imported Model: allows you to specify any 3D object by browsing to an external DirectX (.X) file. This is scaled to fit into each edge.

Guideline: displays a single-pixel line to show the position of a string line.

String lines, such as drillholes, can be displayed with varying thickness in relation to a specified field such as grade; the greater the grade value, the greater the diameter of the string line. If this causes the string line to disappear, then guidelines can be used to make them visible. Selecting this option also allows geometry-based strings, that may not be visible when viewed from a large virtual distance, to be seen more clearly.

Transparent Textures: only available if Imported Model is selected. The color keying process is used to make a specified color transparent; in this case, black (0,0,0). When this option is selected, black areas of the imported model are made completely transparent.

Size: Both 2D and 3D line styles can be sized and scaled by either a fixed amount, or based on their associated data attributes. For 2D lines, these control the width of the line in pixels on the screen. For 3D lines, they control the amount that the underlying 3D object is expanded by in world space.

The width of strings in a 3D window is limited by your graphics hardware. You can find out more about this here.

Legend: for the relevant strings and edges, specify a legend from the dropdown list that contains values for line width.

Column: select a column from the dropdown list that contains the numeric data attribute for line width.

Constraints: after selecting a column in theColumndropdown list, constraints can optionally be set for the base value by specifying a minimum and maximum size.The constrained values are then multiplied by the value in theScalebox to produce a final line width (2D) or scaling factor (3D).

Minimum: the minimum allowable line width. Any base value that is less than this width is treated as '0', and is not displayed. If required, the Guideline option can be used in this case to make the line visible.

Maximum: if selected, then any lines with a greater width than the value specified in the adjacent box are displayed using this specified maximum value.

For 2D lines, the maximum width and resolution depend on your computer's graphics card. This can be interrogated as follows:

In the main menu, select Help | About ...
In the About dialog, click OpenGL info.
Expand the Implementation Specifics object to display the Line width range value. Any line width requests that are greater than this value are usually displayed at the maximum supported line width.

Scale: allows you to optionally specify a scale factor. Size values are multiplied by this value to produce the final width of the line, taking account of any specified constraints.

Specify size and scale values as follows:

Create a base value by setting one of the following options in theSizegroup:

Neither column nor legends: the base value is assumed to be 1.0. Use the Scale box to set a fixed line width.
Legend only: only allowed if the legend is a filter legend. The base value is the line width value of the relevant item in the legend.
Column only: the base value is the numeric data attribute in the specified column for the relevant string or edge.
Column and Legend: the base value is the line width value of the relevant item in the legend. This is looked up using the data attribute of the relevant string or edge for the specified column (legacy functionality).

Optionally specify minimum and maximum constraints in the Constraints group.
Optionally specify a scale factor In the Scale group. Size values are multiplied by the scale value to produce the final width of the line, which takes account of any specified constraints.

Color: allows you to define the color of lines using a standard fixed color, or a display legend that references their associated data attributes.

Fixed: set this option to select a standard fixed color from the adjacent dropdown list for all lines in the object. If the Legend option is selected, then this color is also used to color data that cannot be matched to a legend interval.

Legend: allows you to select a predefined, system standard or user-created legend. Any data that cannot be matched to a legend interval is colored using the color shown in the Fixed dropdown list.

Column: after selecting a legend, use theColumndrop-down list to select a data field containing color values to be matched to the legend. Only fields relevant to the currently-selected legend are shown. Common to all legend dropdown lists, once a legend has been selected, it can then be displayed or edited. A default legend can also be created automatically for any selected field.

	Show the currently-selected legend intervals and display properties.
	Edit the currently-selected legend using the Legends Manager dialog.
	Select a default legend for the selected data column if one already exists, or if no default legend is available, the Create New Legend wizard will appear to let you create a new legend.

The color selected in the Fixed dropdown list is used whenever a value cannot be found for a selected legend and column.

Filled: if selected, then any closed strings are triangulated in 3D, and colored using the specified color options. If a color legend is specified, then the value in the legend for Fill Color is used, rather than the value for Line Color. Texture fills are not currently supported.

Opacity: allows you to increase the opacity of the filled objects by dragging the slider to the right.

Color by edge: by default, the single String attribute is used for coloring, size and line style, unless the Color by Edge option is selected. This option specifies that the color, size and line style of each edge is based on their individual data attributes.

RGB: if your data object contains attribute reflecting RGB color information, select them here to color your data using this in-object information. Only numeric fields will be available.

Any color depth is supported; define the Maximum Value for the color attributes. For example:

4-bit color depth is described a Maximum Value of 15 (0-15 = 16 per color channel)
8-bit color depth is described using a Maximum Value of 255 (0-255 = 256 per color channel)
12-bit color depth is described using a Maximum Value of 4095 (0-4095 = 4096 per color channel)
16-bit color depth is described using a Maximum Value of 65535 (0-65535 = 65536 per color channel)
24-bit color depth is described using a Maximum Value of 16,777,215 (0-16,777,215 = 16,777,216 per color channel)

	Related Topics
	String Properties Dialog - General Tab String Properties Dialog - SymbolsTab Strings Property Dialog - Labels Tab Associated files dialog Info Mode List Dialog 3D Window OpenGL Constraints