Volume 16, Number 10 November 2000

in th

e
a newsletter for MineSight users

Texturing Surfaces in MineSight

Figure 2 (surface without texture) Figure 1 (surface with texture) A very cool new tool has been added to MineSight that enables you to drape a .jpg picture image onto a surface, adding a sense of realism. This means you could drape an aerial photograph or a geologic map onto your projects topography (Figures 1 & 2)! Images can be attached to a surface, much like wallpaper on your wall. This new feature can only be used for display purposes. Since it is not a MineSight object, it cannot be used to determine cut/fill volumes, etc. The Texture Surface Tool is found on the TOOLS menu in MineSight. To use this new tool in your MineSight session, you must have a .jpg file with dimensions similar to the surface on which you want
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IN THIS ISSUE
2000 Training Schedule Chile..................................................9 Tucson............................................9 Current Affairs Removing Duplicate Faces from MS2 Geometry Objects...............................5 D i re c t o r y. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Texturing Surfaces in MineSight.....................1 Tips................................................................................6 Tips from Tech Support A Quick Way to Code Your Model Below a DTM Surface..................................7 Trade Shows..............................................................10 Training Spotlight......................................8

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to drape it. You need to know the dimensions of your image, as well as the area that image is supposed to cover. Of course, the closer the image lines up with your surface, the more believable the result will be! Start with a surface, topography, for example (Figure 2, front page). Scan your aerial photo or geologic map, and save it in jpeg (.jpg) file format. Figure 3 illustrates your .jpg file as the flat picture image it is.

Figure 3 Using this new tool, the flat picture can be draped onto a 3-D surface. (Beware! Figure 3 is for illustrative purposes only since the image is not a MineSight object.) To use the new Texture Surface Tool, you must first Add the jpg file to make it available. Use the Add button to add your .jpg image to the list (Figure 4). If youve added one or more that youd like deleted from the list, highlight that .jpg image and click the Remove button. To properly place the .jpg image on your surface you will need to supply dimension information. Be sure the .jpg you want to drape onto the surface is selected (highlighted). To match the picture as closely as possible to your 3-D surface, you will need to figure out the location and coordinates of the origin

Figure 4 of your surface as well as that of the .jpg image. If your surface (e.g., topography) is oriented NorthSouth, the origin is typically the southwest corner. In MineSight, click on the lower left hand corner and the Easting and Northing coordinates will be listed along the bottom of the viewer screen. Next, you will need to know the pixel size in both the east-west and north-south directions. That is, the number of pixels in the east-west direction relative to the east-west distance along your surface, and the same information in the north-south direction. The pixel information is generally available in whatever software you are using to view your .jpg files. For example, if you are viewing the .jpg in Netscape Navigator, that information is listed across both the window Title bar and can also be found under Go, JPEG image 1084x834 pixels. Divide the distance by the number of pixels in each of the orthogonal directions.
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November 2000

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This results in the X and Y Pixel Size. This is at least a place to start the placement of the image on your surface. Use an azimuth if the surface is skewed, rotated, or if the origin is not in the lower left hand (southwest) corner. For example, you might use 90 for azimuth if the origin is located in the upper left hand corner (northwest corner). Then, click the Texture Surface button, select the surface you want to texture, and Voil! (Figure 5). Remember, texturing is transient. You must reattach the image after you have closed and then reopened

the surface. When images are read in, they are kept in memory until you exit MineSight. If you update the .jpg image file in your project directory, MineSight will not automatically update the texture map. You must remove the image from the Texture Surface Tool list and add it again. Data that was imported first will not change until it is re-imported. This new tool makes for a very effective presentation! Many thanks to Penny Hobbie at AngloGold for generously allowing us to use their data in this article.

Figure 5

November 2000