RockWorks/2004 Revision History

2004/Q3 (07/01/04-09/31/04)
 

(95) New Feature (09/30/04:JPR):  A new option titled "Skirt" has been added to the grid surface menus.

This option is used to add additional embellishments to the perimeter of a three-dimensional surface diagram. 

The various skirt options are described as follows;

Note:  The Skirt option has no effect within the following operations;

(94) Cosmetic (09/22/04:JPR):  The current revision number is now listed at the top of the RockWorks menu.

(93) Cosmetic (09/22/04:JPR):  The currently "active" ATD file name is now shown within the main body of the Geological Utilities sub-window rather than at the top of the main RockWorks menu.

(92) Cosmetic (09/22/04:JPR):  The currently "active" log name is now shown within the main body of the Borehole Manager sub-window rather than at the top of the main RockWorks menu.

(91) Cosmetic (09/22/04:JPR):  The index tabs along the left side of the main menu now "highlight" to show the currently-selected option.

(90) Bug Fix (09/22/04:JPR):  The Borehole-Manager / Map program correctly computes the minimum-z and maximum-z values when computing the contour interval.

(89) Bug Fix (09/22/04:JPR):  The RockPlot/3D program now allows the user to use real numbers when specifying the legend scaler.  The previous version would only accept whole numbers.

(88) Bug Fix (09/22/04:JPR):  The RockPlot/3D program now allows the user to use real numbers when specifying the offsets for the legend offset.  The previous version would only accept whole numbers.

(87) Bug Fix (09/22/04:JPR):  The Geological-Utilities / Grid / Grid -> Profile program now works correctly (the previous version required that borehole files exist).

(86) Bug Fix (09/22/04:MIW):  The RockPlot/3D program now bases the color scheme on the user-defined color scheme rather than the min/max values of the first model.

(85) Bug Fix (09/22/04:MIW):  The RockPlot/3D program now generates the correct number of frames when morphing transitional models.

(84) Bug Fix (09/22/04:JPR):  The Geological-Utilities / Grid / Grid -> Fence program now works correctly (the previous version required that borehole files exist).

(83) Bug Fix (09/09/04:MIW):  The inclusion of raster logs (bitmaps) within the striplogs now works correctly.  The previous version contains an "uninitialized variable" that would cause the program to behave erratically (i.e. sometimes the bitmaps would appear and sometimes they wouldn't).

(82) New Feature (09/08/04:JPR):  A new program titled "Histogram" has been added to the Borehole Manager / P-Data menu.  This program will create a histogram for the user-defined p-data track based on all of the enabled boreholes.

For more information, please refer to item #79 (below).

(81) New Feature (09/08/04:JPR):  A new program titled "Statistics" has been added to the Borehole Manager / P-Data menu.  This program will compute the univariate statistics for the user-defined p-data track based on all of the boreholes.

For more information, please refer to item #78 (below).

(80) New Feature (09/03/04:JPR):  The grid contour menu now includes an option for omitting segments of contours that are adjacent to faults (assuming that you are contouring a faulted grid). 

This is default setting for this option has been set to "Activated" because it's a safer geological supposition.

(79) New Feature (08/31/04:JPR):  The Borehole-Manager / I-Data menu now includes a program called "Histogram" that will generate a histogram for all of the boreholes given a user-specified track.  This report is identical to that which is generated by the Geological-Utilities / Stats / Histogram program.

(78) New Feature (08/31/04:JPR):  The Borehole-Manager / I-Data menu now includes a program called "Statistics" that will generate a statistical report for all of the boreholes given a user-specified track.  This report is identical to that which is generated by the Geological-Utilities / Stats / Univariate program (see items #77 below).

(77) New Feature (08/31/04:JPR):  The Geological-Utilities / Stats / Univariate program now includes statistical cutoff data such as the mean plus three standard deviations (the "strongly anomalous" threshold).within the summary report..

(76) Cosmetic (08/31/04:JPR):  The titles for histograms are now positioned at the top of the menu and expanded to show the default titles.

(75) New Feature (08/30/04:JPR):  The grid contouring subroutine now erases contour line segments that are within one cell width of a given fault segment.  This eliminates the ugly contour overlap/convergence at the fault boundaries (see diagram below).  Unlike the solid-fill color contouring, this means that there will be a blank region around the fault segments that is devoid of contour lines.  Since the fault information is embedded within the grid model, there is no need to "tell" the contour program to apply special fault handling - it's automatic.

(74) New Feature (08/29/04:JPR):  The grid smoothing subroutine now "respects" fault boundaries, meaning that nodes of the opposite of a fault will not be used when computing the weighted averages for any given point.  The net result is a surface that is smooth except at the fault discontinuities.  Since the fault information is embedded within the grid model, there is no need to "tell" the grid smoothing program to apply special fault handling - it's automatic.


(Left) New grid smoothing with special provisions for faulted grid models.
(Right) Former grid-smoothing without special handling of faulted grid models.

(73) New Feature (08/29/04:JPR):  The colored interval contouring now "honors" fault boundaries within faulted grid models such that the contours are projected directly into the fault polylines.  The net result are maps that do not contain implicit smoothing along the faults.  Since the fault information is embedded within the grid model, there is no need to "tell" the colored contouring program to apply special fault handling - it's automatic.


 (Left) New color-filled contouring with special provisions for faulted grid models.
(Right) Former color-filled contouring without special handling of faulted grid models.

(72) New Feature (08/29/04:JPR):  The grid file format now supports an optional block of data that contains fault segment information.  This fault "block" consists of a header, a list of fault segment endpoints, and a terminator. 

This block is automatically appended to grid models by gridding algorithms that support faulting (e.g. inverse-distance).  This information is then used by programs that process grid models, including grid-smoothing, solid-fill color contouring, grid contouring, and fault plotting.

Note: The fault block must be positioned after the normal grid data.

(71) New Feature (08/29/04:JPR):  The Inverse Distance gridding algorithm now includes an option titled "Faulted" that can be used to bias the gridding process as follows;  When interpolating a grid node, the program looks at the surrounding control points.  If a fault segment lies between the grid node and the control point, the control point's distance is multiplied by the "Distance Multiplier".  By setting the Distance Multiplier to a very high number, the point's influence upon the node value becomes very small.  The net result is that sharp discontinuities will be created along the fault segments.

Faults are defined as "polylines" within ASCII files.  The following example shows a polyline file with three fault traces;

Fault polylines may have an infinite number of vertices (i.e. the can be curvilinear) and there is no limit to the number of fault polylines.  There is, however, a decrease in processing speed based on the number of polyline segments.


 Complex Faulting (2-Dimensional)


 Complex Faulting (3-Dimensional)

A fault polyline file can be created in several ways;

Step-by-Step Fault Example;


 Unfaulted grid model and diagram displayed within the RockPlot/2D program.


 Polylines drawn on-screen using the Draw / Polyline tool within the RockPlot/2D program.


 Gridding menu configured for faulting.


Faulted grid model.

Notice how the distance multiplier can be used to adjust the "transparency" of the faults.  This can be a useful too when simulating drag along a fault.

NOTE:  This new faulting capability can also be used to simulate non-fault discontinuities such as erosional and excavation escarpments.


 Topographic Model Using Fault Capability To Depict Excavation Breakpoints

(70) Bug Fix (08/29/04:JPR):  The x, y, and z columns menus that are used by the EZ-Map and Grid-Based Map programs are now shared.  This solves some problems whereby the control point symbols within grid-based maps were not being plotted if the EZ-Map column settings were different.

(69) New Feature (08/19/04/MIW):  The RockPlot/2D program now includes a "Magnifier" button that will create a movable window that magnifies or portion of the underlying diagram.  The magnification may be changed by right-clicking on the magnification window.  The magnification window may also be resized by positioning the cursor along the edge of the window and dragging the margin.  You can also activate the magnification window by selecting the Ctrl-M buttons.  The magnification window may be deactivated by pressing the Magnifier button or by pressing Ctrl-M.

(68) Improvement (08/19/04/MIW):  The profile and section location selection menus will now automatically remove duplicate points.

(67) Improvement (08/19/04/MIW):  The appropriate number of decimal places within the RockPlot/3D IsoSurface and Voxel slice selection menus.

(66) Improvement (08/19/04/MIW):  The number of decimal places within the striplog depth bar is now computed automatically, based on the labeling interval.

(65) Improvement (08/19/04/MIW):  Contours lines within grid models that have large blocks of contiguous nodes with the same z-values now look much better.

(64) Bug Fix (08/18/04/MIW):  Perfectly diagonal lines now plot correctly.

(63) Bug Fix (08/18/04/MIW):  The Undo command within the fence-diagram selection menu now works correctly.

(62) Improvement (08/18/04/MIW):  The appropriate number of decimal places that is used throughout the program now does a better job when the data has a negative range.

(61) New Feature (08/17/04/MIW):  The pattern editor now shows the total number of segments as a pattern is being designed.

(60) Improvement (08/17/04/MIW):  The symbol editor now warns the user if the maximum number of segments has been exceeded.

(59) New Feature (08/17/04/MIW):  The symbol editor now shows the total number of segments as a symbol is being designed.

(58) New Feature (08/17/04/MIW):  The pattern table now includes an option for printing or creating a WMF (Windows MetaFile) index to all patterns.

(57) Improvement (08/17/04/MIW):  The vestigal IJL15.DLL file (JPEG export) is no longer added during the installation process.

(56) New Feature (08/17/04/MIW):  The pattern editor now includes a utility for importing a block of patterns from another pattern file.

(55) Improvement (08/17/04/MIW):  The pattern editor will now warn the user if an attempt is made to import a pattern from the same file.

(54) Improvement (08/17/04/MIW): The symbol editor and symbol library have been redesigned to be compatible with LogPlot/2003 symbol files and symbol editor.

(53) Bug Fix (08/16/04/MIW): The "Close" button within the Igneous rock identification program now works correctly.

(52) New Feature (08/15/04:JPR):  The quadrant-based searching option that is used by the inverse-distance gridding algorithm has been replaced by an improved scheme whereby the user may select the number of sectors to be searched as well as the number of points to use within each sector.

The net result are maps the more effectively deal with irregular data distributions.

(51) New Feature (08/09/04:JPR):  Real numbers that are entered within the menu "trees" are now more tolerant of non-US numeric formats.

(50) New Feature (08/09/04:JPR):  A new program called "Residuals" has been added to the Geological-Utilities / Solid / Statistics menu.

Given a list of XYZG points, this program computes the "predicted" node value ("predicted_g") based on a solid model and the difference ("residual") between the observed g-value (based on the xyzg points) and the value interpolated by the solid-modeling algorithm.

A histogram of the residuals (via the Stats / Histogram program) can tell much about the relative accuracy of the model.

(49) New Feature (08/09/04:JPR):  The Geological-Utilities / Grid / Statistics program now includes the g-predicted value (the solid model node value at the observation point) within the output.  The previous version only computed/stored the residual value.

(48) New Feature (08/09/04:JPR):  A file called "A3DGL_01.txt" is now included within the RockWorks "Sample" folder.  This file is used as a demonstration for the new Grafix / 3D-Utilities / Surface Objects program.

(47) New Feature (08/06/04:JPR):  A new option called "Cumulative" has been added to the list of gridding methods that is used by a variety of programs within RockWorks.  This algorithm assigns grid node values by adding the z-values for all control points that reside with the corresponding grid cell. 

This technique is useful when mapping weighted occurrence data.  For example, let's say that we wanted to create a contoured  crime map.  We would begin by creating an xyz table of individual occurrence data in which the z-value represents the severity of a crime (e.g. parking violation = 0.1, shoplifting = 0.2, violent assault = 0.8, rape = 0.9, homicide = 1.0).  The data would then be gridded in such a way that the grid nodes represent the sum of all control point weights within each cell.


Control points, labeled cells, and contours for grid model based on
new "cumulative" algorithm.


 Same map as above with grid smoothing and solid-fill color contours.

Note:  This algorithm is NOT intended for modeling structural surfaces or thickness values.

Note:  Do not use the "Declustering" option in conjunction with this algorithm.  Duplicate points must be considered for the applications that we had in mind when designing this program (i.e. multiple occurrences at the same location).

(46) New Feature (08/05/04:JPR):  A new option called "Sample Density" has been added to the list of gridding methods.  This algorithm assigns grid node values by simply counting the number of occurrences of control points within the corresponding grid cells. 

This technique is useful when contouring relative frequencies.  Examples include well density and population distributions.


 Control points, labeled cells, and contours for grid model based on
new "sample density" algorithm.


Same map as above with grid smoothing and solid-fill color contours.

Note:  The actual control point z-values are ignored by this program.

Note:  This algorithm is NOT intended for modeling structural surfaces or thickness values.

Note:  Do not use the "Declustering" option in conjunction with this algorithm.  Duplicate points must be considered for the applications that we had in mind when designing this program (i.e. multiple occurrences at the same location).

(45) Cosmetic (08/05/04:JPR):  The Geological-Utilities / Grid / Edit program menu is no longer partially obscured by the Windows task bar if it is positioned along the right side of the screen.

(44) Cosmetic (08/05/04:JPR):  The button-bar that appears at the base of the map menu that is used for selecting the location of profiles, sections, and fence diagrams is no longer partially obscured by the Windows taskbar (assuming that it's positioned at the base of the screen).

(43) Improvement (08/04/04:MIW):  The contour labeling no longer skips contour labels for segments that straddle due North.

(42) Improvement (08/03/04:MIW):  The Surfer 7/8 grid export now works correctly.  The previous version used the wrong file format.

(41) Improvement (08/01/04:MIW):  Programs that generate contour lines no longer plot occasional contours twice.

(40) Improvement (08/01/04:MIW):  The variable-symbol sizing that is used when plotting control-point maps now skips points without any scalable data.

(39) New Feature (07/21/04:MIW):  A variety of programs that plot text on 2D maps (e.g. land-grids, contours, and cell maps) now include options for plotting transparent and opaque backgrounds for the text.

(38) New Feature (07/21/04:MIW):  RockPlot3D:  The program no longer terminates when attempting to plot fence diagrams based on fracture models (i.e. negative ranges within panel nodes).

(37) Improvement (07/20/04:MIW):  The program now compares grids and solids when performing operations that assume identical dimensions.  If there is a discrepancy, the users is notified and the operation is aborted.

(36) Improvement (07/20/04:MIW):  The stratabound solid modeling operations now check to make sure that the referenced surface models have the same dimensions as the solid model.  If they don't have the same dimensions (or don't exist), the user is warned and the operations will proceed without the benefit of the clipping for the offending surface model.

(35) New Feature (07/18/04:MIW):  RockPlot3D:  The program now includes color-scheme options when plotting vertical grids (i.e. fence-panel slices through solid models).

(34) Bug Fix (07/20/04:MIW):  RockPlot3D:  Previous version would occasionally omit the last column of cells when plotting vertical grids (i.e. fence-panel slices through solid models).  This has been fixed.

(33) Improvement (07/20/04:MIW):  Dots within patterns are now more visible when plotted on high-resolution output devices.

(32) Improvement (07/19/04:MIW):  The Excel import options now skips orientation records with missing depths, bearings, or inclinations.

(31) Improvement (07/19/04:MIW):  The Geological-Utilities->Borehole-Manager stratigraphic data transfer program has been redesigned to be more forgiving.

(30) Bug Fix (07/15/04:MIW):  RockPlot3D:  The program no longer terminates when attempting to plot fence diagrams based on fracture models (i.e. negative ranges within panel nodes).

(29) New Feature (07/15/04:MIW):  RockPlot3D:  Grids and grid-based fence diagrams now include options for specifying the stratigraphy and lithology tables.

(28) New Feature (07/15/04:MIW):  RockPlot3D:  The program can now save diagrams as TIFF files.

(27) New Feature (07/15/04:MIW):  RockPlot3D:  The program can now save diagrams as PNF files.

(26) New Feature (07/15/04:MIW):  RockPlot3D:  The BMP export program now includes options for other pixel formats.

(25) Improvement (07/15/04:MIW):  RockPlot3D:  The raster image export program now saves the export settings.

(24) Improvement (07/15/04:MIW):  When plotting variable-sized symbols, the program now skips points that contain blank or non-numeric values.

(23) Improvement (07/14/04:JPR):  The fence-diagram panel selection menu that is used by a variety of programs will now truncate segments that extend beyond the horizontal project dimensions.

In the default state, the program will not inform the user if this truncation has taken place.  A warning may be enabled by checking a new option within the Options menu titled "Warn If Outside Project".

(22) Improvement (07/14/04:JPR):  The section selection menu that is used by a variety of programs will now truncate segments that extend beyond the horizontal project dimensions.

In the default state, the program will not inform the user if this truncation has taken place.  A warning may be enabled by checking a new option within the Options menu titled "Warn If Outside Project".

(21) Improvement (07/14/04:JPR):  The profile location selection menu that is used by a variety of programs will now truncate line segments that extend beyond the horizontal project dimensions.

In the default state, the program will not inform the user if this truncation has taken place.  A warning may be enabled by checking a new option within the Options menu titled "Warn If Outside Project".

(20) New Feature (07/13/04:JPR):  A new suite of menu options titled "Plot Surface Profile" have been added to all of the programs that create fence diagrams. 

These new options will plot a profile, based on the specified grid model, within the following fence panels;.

(19) New Feature (07/13/04:JPR):  A new program titled "Grid -> Fence" has been added to the Geological-Utilities / Grid menu.  This program will plot  three-dimensional profiles depicting profiles based on an existing grid model (i.e. the intersection between the ground surface and the fence panels).  In order to improve the appearance of these profiles, they are plotted as three-dimensional tubes.

Menu Options;

(18) New Feature (07/12/04:JPR):  A new suite of menu options titled "Plot Surface Profile" have been added to all of the programs that create profiles and sections. 

These new options will plot a profile, based on the specified grid model, within the following profiles and sections.

(17) New Feature (07/12/04:JPR):  A new program titled "Grid -> Profile" has been added to the Geological-Utilities / Grid menu.  This program will create a simple, two-dimensional profile based on an existing grid model.

Menu Options;

(16) New Feature (07/08/04:MIW):  Borehole-Manager / Striplogs / Multi-Log-Profile:  A new option titled "Plot Surface Profile" allows the user to include a profile from a pre-existing grid model within the diagram.

(15) Bug Fix (07/08/04:MIW):  The solid-modeling distance-to-point algorithm now stores the correct calculation.  The previous version would incorrectly store the square-root of the distance to the closest point.

(14) New Feature (07/07/04:JPR):  A new program called "Surface Objects" has been added to the Grafix / 3D-Utilities menu.

This program is used to create simple 3D entities such as buildings, roads, cylinders, and walls that may be plotted in conjunction with other three-dimensional diagrams in order to show the relative positions of surface items.

The objects may be either plotted at a uniform default elevation or automatically adjusted for elevation based upon a specified grid model (e.g. ground surface).  Objects that are positioned outside of the lateral extents of the designated grid model will be assigned a base elevation equal to the "default elevation".

When combined with other types of three-dimensional diagrams, these surface objects help to conceptually orient the viewer and evaluate the relations between surface and subsurface objects.

File Format:  The input for the Surface Objects program consists of an ASCII file that contains a series of simple commands.  An example file titled "SurfObj_01.txt" has been added to the RockWorks sample folder.  This file (used for generating the examples within this document) is designed to be used in conjunction with the other tutorial data files.

Command Summary:

BUILDING: Assembly Building
652,750.3 5,535,550.4
652,750.4 5,535,573.5
652,752.0 5,535,573.8
652,752.2 5,535,599.2
652,749.4 5,535,599.7
END:

CYLINDER_RADIUS:  Defines the radius of subsequent cylinders.  Optional command (default = 10.0).

  • Example:  CYLINDER_RADIUS: 10.0

CYLINDER_HEIGHT:  Defines the height of subsequent cylinders.  Optional command (default = 50.0).

  • Example:  CYLINDER_HEIGHT: 100.0

CYLINDER_COLOR:  Defines the height of subsequent cylinders.  Optional command (default = blue).

  • Example: CYLINDER_COLOR: DkGray

CYLINDER: Used to plot a vertical cylinder based on the preceding settings.  This command is followed by the xy coordinates at the basal midpoint and the name of the cylinder.

  • Example:  CYLINDER: 653,180.2 5,535,431.7 Thorium

These commands are used to organize objects into groups within the RockPlot3D data tree.

(13) Improvement (07/09/04:MIW):  Two-dimensional dotted lines are now automatically "thickened" in order to be more readily visible.

(12) Bug Fix (07/09/04:MIW):  Stratigraphic data in which the top of base depth data are missing are no longer ignored by the program.  Instead, the appropriate non-missing portions of the interval will be used (e.g. the stratigraphic block model will now use the top depth even if the base depth is missing).

(11) Improvement (07/09/04:MIW):  Fence diagrams that are based on solid models now plot all of the node values.  The previous version had some occasional problems with the last sequence of nodes along the edge of the profile.

(10) Improvement (07/09/04:MIW):  The plotting of cell maps from grid models is now much faster.

(9) Bug Fix (07/09/04:MIW):  When plotting cell maps of grid models (i.e. the cells are outlined and the node values are plotted inside the cells), the program now properly dimensions the node labels.

(8) Bug Fix (07/09/04:MIW):  RockPlot/3D:  The vertical exaggeration dialog box now accepts floating point values.

(7) Bug Fix (07/09/04:MIW):  The project dimensions menus now properly display international floating-point numbers

(6) Bug Fix (07/09/04:MIW):  The project dimensions menus now properly display international floating-point numbers

(5) Cosmetic (07/09/04:MIW):  The project dimensions menus now properly display the advanced options and help messages  for systems that are set up for non-standard DPI settings.

(4) Cosmetic (07/09/04:MIW):  The introductory scren is now sized correctly with systems that are set up for non-standard DPI settings.

(3) New Feature (07/09/04:MIW):  Grafix / Images / Digitize-From-Bitmap:  The program can now import the following file formats;

(2) Bug Fix (07/09/04:MIW):  Geological-Utilities / Map / Land-Grid / Section-Map:  The font size is no longer set to zero if the acreages are included within the diagram.

(1) Improvement (07/09/04:MIW):  Very small and very large fonts within two-dimensional diagrams now look better.