MineSight® in the Foreground

The Display of Model Blocks in MineSight® 3-D

A number of inquiries have recently been made
regarding the various options available for the dis-
play of Model View blocks in MineSight® 3-D. This
article is intended to address the available display
options in a comprehensive manner, detailing the
techniques for the various display styles.
The MineSight® 3-D Model View Editor
The MineSight® 3-D Model View Properties
dialog, or Model View Editor, can be accessed
through the Data Manager File menu Properties
option, by double-clicking on the Model View name
in the Data Manager, or by using the Element |
Properties function from the main MineSight® 3-D
menu. The default settings of the MineSight® 3-D
Model View Editor and the resulting display for a
3-D Viewer are illustrated here.
Note that the
Model View
Editor provides
independent
fields for the
definition of
display options
for both sectional
(2-D) views and
3-D views. The
number of blocks
displayed is con-
trolled through
the Model View
Editor Range
tab, shown here
in its default
status. Note that
independent control of the range is also provided for
2-D and 3-D viewing modes. This is the most funda-
mental method of limiting the number of blocks dis-
played; however, additional options exist for further
limiting of the blocks being displayed.
(continued on page 8)

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(The Display of Model Blocks in MineSight® 3-D continued from page 7) than zero are being displayed). As can be seen, the
resulting display may not be adequate to convey the
Model Block Display in 3-D Views desired information.
The control of model block display in 3-D views
is defined through two fields, the 3D display type
and the Style. There are four 3D display types, and
five Style options, as shown here. For the majority of
situations, the default display type (Standard View)
is appropriate. The remaining three types (Levels, ES
Sections, NS Sections) are used in conjunction with
the Filled Polygons Style option to orient the dis-
play of the model block faces—these options will be
discussed a bit further on in this article.

Closely related to the Surface/Slab Style, the

Contours and Smooth contours styles also dis-
play only the outside surfaces of the volume defined
on the Model View Editor Range tab. However,
this display does not honor item limiting from the
Options tab, so no blocks are suppressed with this
option, as shown here.

The Style options available are Filled polygons,

Contours, Smooth contours, 3D blocks, and
Surface/Slab (the default Style option). Each of these
options has distinct features and together, they pro-
vide the greatest flexibility for the adjustment of the
visual properties of the Model View blocks.
The default Style setting, Surface/Slab, is intended
to have the least impact on video memory usage,
thus providing a quick and easy to manipulate model
display. In essence, the Surface/Slab display reads
the 3D Range settings and displays the outside
surface of the volume defined. Note that additional
limiting, such as through the Model View Properties
Options tab, can result in the suppression of por-
tions of these outside
surfaces, as shown
here. In this view,
the Surface/Slab
option is displaying
the complete model
volume, but a large
number of blocks have
been suppressed from
the view by limiting
the display based on
the TOPO value (only
those blocks with a
TOPO value greater
(continued on page 9)

8 December 2005

(The Display of Model Blocks in MineSight® 3-D continued from page 8)
There are a couple of considerations to keep in
mind when using the Contour or Smooth contour
display styles. First, there is a contouring calculation
that is utilized with these style options; this means
that these displays are excellent for the display of con-
tinuous data, such as TOPO percent or grade values.
Non-contiguous code values, however, will often
provide a contoured display that does not match the
values coded to the model, as the contouring algo-
rithm inserts intermediate values to the display. This
results in the so-called ‘fringing’ of the codes being
displayed. This effect is illustrated below for clarity.
The view shown is using an integer code item (ORE)
with values of 1 – 5.
December 2005
MineSight® in the Foreground
Note that in areas where blocks with value 1 are
adjacent to blocks with value 4, the contour display
will generate narrow strips of color representing the
contoured values of 2 and 3.
The Filled polygons display style is one of the
most flexible styles available in MineSight® 3-D, pro-
viding a display of one face of each block defined for
viewing. In 3-D viewing mode, the specific face for
this display style can be changed using the 3-D dis-
play type; horizontal faces, vertical North-South faces,
or vertical East-West faces can be specified.
The appearance of the displayed face is a func-
tion of the properties of the Color Cutoff item being
displayed, and can be altered using the Cutoff face
colors dialog. To gain access to these visual settings,
select the desired cutoff bin(s) to be adjusted, and
then click the Properties button. If you select Proper-
ties for more than one color cutoff bin, the Properties
dialog will be applied to all of the selected bins.
There are two elements available for visual adjust-
ment when working with filled polygons—the lines,
or boundary of the block, and the face of the block.
The tab location for these adjustments depends on
whether the blocks are viewed in 2-D or 3-D views
and if in 2-D, whether the blocks are viewed on
model benches or not. If working in a 3-D viewer or
in a 2-D viewer that is not set on the model benches,
the adjustments are made on the Polylines tab; if
working in a 2-D viewer directly on model bench
elevations, the Surfaces tab is used. The following
figures illustrate the available options for the filled
polygons display.
The default 3D Filled polygons display is to
show the bottom face of each block as a filled poly-
gon face. Shown below is the Polylines tab of the
selected Properties dialog. Note that the Show lines
and Polygon fill boxes are checked. The options
described here are also applicable to 2-D displays
that are not exactly on the model bench/section,
since in this situation, a sliced polyline is actually the
element being displayed.
(continued on page 10)
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(The Display of Model Blocks in MineSight® 3-D continued from page 9)
If you wish to display these faces as unfilled poly-
gons, simply uncheck the Polygon fill box. Note that
if you select Properties for multiple bins, it will be
necessary to check, and then uncheck the Polygon
fill box to accomplish this change. Shown below is
the Properties dialog for all of the bins, and the
resulting display.
Check and uncheck this box
when working with multiple bins.
If a different face is desired for display, this change
can be made in the Model View Editor on the Display
tab. The available 3-D display types are Standard
View, Levels, EW Sections, and NS Sections. The
Standard View and Levels options will result in the
same display, showing the bottom face of each model
block defined for display. The other two display
options and the resulting displays are shown below.
10
2-D Model Block Display
Using the Filled Polygons display style in 2-D
mode provides the same options, but in this case, the
options are accessed through the Surfaces tab of the
Properties dialog. Note also that the display Style for
sectional views must also be changed to Filled poly-
gons in order for these options to be available in 2-D
viewers. The following illustrations show the default
(filled) display and the adjusted (open block) display,
along with the required settings changes on the Prop-
erties dialog Surfaces tab.
Check and uncheck this box
when working with multiple bins.
Model Block Labels
An additional option available in 2-D viewers is the
addition of labels to the Model Block display. Model
items to be labeled and the position of the
(continued on page 11)
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(The Display of Model Blocks in MineSight® 3-D continued from page 10)
labels are controlled through the Model View Editor
Labels tab. The size and default color of the labels are
controlled by the Labels tab of the Model Properties
dialog, which is opened on the Display tab as well.
To add labels to a Model View, use the Labels tab.
In MineSight® 3.50, the Labels tab offers the insertion
of up to five item labels per block. To add a label to
the Model View, choose the item to be displayed from
the list icon and check the box next to the item field. If
you wish to color the labels by cutoff, check the box to
the right of the Label item line.

In general, label display is limited to planar views,

but this does mean that labels can be displayed in
a 3-D view using the Plane Filter option. To use
this ‘hybrid’ view, make the following changes in
the Viewer Properties dialog for the viewer being
used. In 3-D mode, check on the Plane Filter box,
and uncheck the box marked Hide 3d data when
plane filter active. These changes in the viewer, plus
a change to 3-D blocks as the Model View Style, will
result in a view like that shown below.

The initial display of labels uses a default height

of 1, so generally the labels will be difficult to see
until the label size is increased. This is accomplished
through the Model Properties dialog, accessed
through the Model View Properties Display tab. Set
the desired size (generally about 1/5 of your model
block size – these are 20m blocks, so a display size of
4m should be satisfactory).

This article has presented a comprehensive

review of the various display options for blocks in
the MineSight® Model View Properties dialog. It is
impossible to anticipate every unique display possi-
bility, so there may be a display option that you wish
to use that wasn’t covered here. In that case, don’t
hesitate to call or E-mail to ts@mintec.com. We look
forward to assisting you with any MineSight® ques-
tions that you might encounter.
To position the labels within the blocks, use the
Horiz. and Vert. Offset fields on the Model View
Properties Label tab. These fields are cumulative in
effect, so subsequent labels will generally require a
smaller offset value.

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