Viewing Block Models in the 3D Window

Your application is capable of displaying all standard geometry types, including block model data. Some of the functionality on offer includes being able to:

import block model data from a wide variety of sources, using Datamine's renowned Data Source Drivers functionality.
display block model data as blocks, strings, points or as a sectional plane through the data.
animate block model data in a fashion already popular with Datamine application users; by building up a model set according to a nominated field held within the object's underlying database. You can set any existing object field as a sequencing field for the purposes of animation.
interactively and dynamically view cross-sectional data, with graphical output displayed according to whichever legend you require.
exaggerate block model data.
access object information using the information mode function, as with other object types (see Related Topics for more information).

Block Models Overview

A model is a small-scale representation of a real situation. Models are usually designed and made to be manipulated or processed in such a way as to enhance the understanding of the modeled situation.

Block models represent three-dimensional shapes, volumes, tonnages and grades of solids such as ore zones, waste zones and other volumes of geological or mineralogical interest. Block models consist of blocks, which are cubes or cuboids, stacked together to fill the defined volume as closely as the block sizing criteria will allow.

Block models visualizations can be enhanced in3Das any other scene, including reacting to changes in the environmental settings such as the ambient or direction light, adding fog, applying clipping and so on.

Viewing Options

Several options are available to you when viewing 3D representations of block model. You can choose to represent your block model as:

Points: show the current model as a series of points, with each point representing the volumetric centre of each block cell.
Lines: view as a series of lines.
Blocks: show shaded model cells.
Quick Section: show the model as a section along either the IJ, JK or IK planes (or, by loading the model more than once, several sections simultaneously). Note that this option will display full cells only, and does not rely on a previously defined section plane in memory.
Intersection: if selected, you can access one of the previously defined VR sections in order to display a detailed cross-sectional view of your geological model, including sub-celling.

You can also view your model with a mixture of formats...

Viewing Block Models as Points

It is also possible to view block model data as a cloud of points. These points, as will all viewing formats, are subject to coloring via an applied legend (or fixed color).

Point views of block model data can also be animated according to a sequencing field (see 'Block Model Sequencing Animations', below, for more information.

Viewing Block Models as Strings

Another viewing option is to view your block model as a set of independent strings (lines). Viewing a block model as lines helps to portray more of the geometry of a block model data set with less effect on system resources.

Line views of block model data can also be animated according to a sequencing field (see 'Block Model Sequencing Animations', below, for more information.

Viewing Block Models as Blocks

You can also view your block model as cuboid blocks, with each block representing the total area of a block model cell. This is the most memory-intensive option, which may affect system performance adversely when viewing high-density block model data in conjunction with a restricted system hardware specification.

Each block model 'block' can be colored according to a legend key, as with all other block model view formats. Block views can also be animated according to a sequencing field (see 'Block Model Sequencing Animations', below, for more information.

Viewing Block Models as 'Quick Sections'

Block model display options are set using an object-sensitive Block Model Properties dialog, accessed from the Project Files control bar (all objects of this type are held in the Block Models sub-folder). Once data is imported, it is viewed by default as a single section through the data, e.g.:

You can adjust the position and orientation of this section by right-clicking the block model object in the Sheets control bar and selecting the Quick Section Controls option (note that this option is only available when an object is currently viewed as a quick section). This displays the Quick Section Control dialog, which will allow you to reposition and reorient your section view.

This display option does not rely on a previously defined section plane in memory.

Viewing Multiple 'Quick Sections' Simultaneously

View multiple block model sections simultaneously by loading more than one instance of the same data set, and selecting theQuick Section Controlsoption for each. This allows you to control more than one section of the same block model independently:

You cannot view block model section data in conjunction with a sequencing animation.

Find out more about Intersections and Quick Sections...

Viewing Block Models as Intersections

Similar to sections, you can also view a slice of your block model in any direction using the Intersection option. This technique relies on a3Dsection being defined beforehand, using theSectionarea of theSheetscontrol bar.

All available3Dsections are shown in theIntersection Sectiondrop-down list of theBlock Model Propertiesdialog. A slice through your model will then be shown, honouring any selected legend and color fields.

Note that, as with the standard Section display option (see previous section), you can display multiple intersections by loading the same block model data twice, and setting up independent intersections for each model. Multiple intersections can then be shown in the same scene (as represented by the image above). Find out more about Intersections and Quick Sections...

Viewing a Mixture of Formats

It has already been described how to show more than one section of the same block model on screen simultaneously (see "Viewing Multiple Sections Simultaneously"). You can extend this functionality to show each loaded instance of a data object in a different way. To do this:

Load a block model file and view it in format A (e.g as a section view).
Load the same block model file again and view it in format B (e.g as filled blocks).

As each object is independent, you could even filter one object to show a particular type of data only (for example, areas where grade values are above a certain cutoff), and superimpose, say, a points view to give an indication of the full orebody geometry.

Block Model Sequencing Animations

When viewed as blocks, points or strings, it is possible to apply a sequence animation. This animation can be configured and played back entirely from within your Studio 3 application. You can even record the results to an AVI or WMV video file using the standard simulation recording functions (see Related Topics for more information).

The Block Model Properties dialog for a data set viewed in this way allows you to select any numeric field, held within the block model database, that can be used to define how the view of the model is built up on screen. For example, if you were to select the IJK field to represent the sequencing order, you could then use the Sequence Control dialog (right-click the block model in the Project Files control bar and select the Sequence Control option - note that this option is only available if a sequencing field has already been defined for the selected object).

This dialog is used to set up the start and end points of the animation, and to control playback on screen. once an animation is setup, you can record the final screen activity to an external AVI or WMV file using the Simulation toolbar controls (for more information, see Recording a Simulation).

It is not possible to define more than one sequencing field for a loaded object.
You can also drag and drop any Datamine (.dm), DirectX (.x) and visualizer replay (.gvp, .gvz) files from your Windows environment directly into the viewing area to initiate the relevant import process.

	Related Topics
	Blo ck Model Properties Dialog Block Models - Intersections and Quick Sections Block Model Section Control Dialog Linking objects to other files Recording a Simulation