New in 7.3 - quick 3D view orientation buttons in the 3D Viewer
Use these buttons to quickly view the 3D model from a cardinal direction, above or below, OR set your own inclination and declination viewing angle.
When you import your data into a Target project, you will notice that all of the output Geosoft databases (*.gdb files), except for the survey database have a Mask channel.
A Mask channel generally holds binary data and is usually of data type byte. Mask channels will either contain the value (usually 1) or dummy (*). The Class for mask channels is indicated by MASK in the Edit Channel dialog.
If a row is populated with the value 1 for the Mask channel, that data is not being masked. When the row has a * in the mask, it is only masked if the user selects the mask option.
Collar database
The Mask channel in the collar database works differently than the Mask channel in other drillhole databases. In drillhole projects, the Mask channel in the collar database indicates which holes are selected. Selected holes will have a value of 1 for the Mask channel and unselected holes will have a dummy (*). There are several different ways to select and unselect drillholes. These options are found under:
Target Standalone (and Oasis montaj with Drillhole Plotting extension)
Target for ArcGIS
Only drillholes that are selected will be included in output plots. Additionally, processing like 3D gridding and Channel Math will only be performed on selected holes.
From-to or Point Databases
The Mask channel in from-to or point drillhole databases works differently than the mask channel in the collar database. In these types of databases, the Mask channel can be used to mask data that is being plotted. You first have to indicate that you want to use the Mask channel for plotting/export. This is done through:
Target Standalone (and Oasis montaj with Drillhole Plotting extension)
Target for ArcGIS
If this parameter is set to Yes, you can mask data that is displayed in plots. For example, the below plan map was created showing a single drillhole trace and the rock patterns along the trace. No data is being masked in the geology from-to database.
You can adjust the values in the Mask channel for all the holes in the project using some of the other selection tools. Let’s say that you only want to plot the rock types “Ca” and “Sif” on your output map.
Target Standalone (and Oasis montaj with Drillhole Plotting extension)
Target for ArcGIS
Result of the “Select Data by Code” in the database...
Now if the plan map is recreated, it looks like this...
Other selection tools that can be used for from-to and point databases are:
The Mask Channel can quickly be reset to all 1’s or dummies:
Recently, some of us here at collaborated on a workflow to export topography contours to a 3D vector format. We thought it'd be a useful one to share with our customers. Here's how you go about it.
When creating the contours for the grid, modify the Options:
Oasis montaj and Target
In Oasis montaj and Target, the contour option is found under Map Tools > Contour > Contour. Once the contours are added to the map, select the contour group in the View/Group Manager Tool and export the selection to a 3D Shapefile through Map > Export > ArcView Shapefile.
MapInfo users can export the contour group to a TAB file and the Z value will be the value of the contour level.
Extensions for ArcGIS
In Target for ArcGIS, the contour option is found on the Target Surface toolbar. In Geochemistry for ArcGIS, the contour option is found in the Gridding menu. Both Target for ArcGIS and Geochemistry for ArcGIS allow you to create the contours directly in Shapefile format.
Geosoft 3D Viewer and 3D DXF export
The 3D Shapefile can be added to the Geosoft 3D Viewer (Add to 3D menu > Imports). The 3D Shapefile displayed in the 3D Viewer can be exported to a 3D DXF (Export menu > AutoCAD DXF File).
When I receive a new point or line-based dataset, often my first action is to use Oasis montaj or Target to look at the channel profiles in a Geosoft database (after importing the data into a Geosoft database, if required). This is a valuable way to check the data quality and get familiar with the data.
Profiles of the coordinate channels (x,y) help to quickly identify location errors from missing values, reversed x and y coordinates, or simple typos. Line data coordinates usually have smooth and consistently increasing (or decreasing) profiles.
Profiles of the data can be used to look for strange values and noise. Selecting any suspicious locations in the profile window will jump to that location in the database table.
I often select the line header cell and use the Page Up and Page Down keys to scroll between adjacent lines in the database for a quick way to review the data.
If this data format is being collected regularly, then saving the database view (Database > Save Working View...) makes the review of data channels more efficient next time.
A question of how to georeference a raster image was recently raised in our Geonet forum. There's an FAQ on How To: Warp or Georeference a Grid or a Database that provides some basic information on georeferencing.
This question also reminded me of a related topic: Using numeric channel formats in Geosoft databases (*.GDB) to convert from geographic number formats (DD.MM.SS.ssss) to decimal degrees (DD.dddd) or vice versa.
Here's how you can simply convert coordinates between these two common formats:
1. Create a new channel and set the display format to Geographic.
2. Enter the Long and Lat coordinates of your point(s).
2. Right click on the channel header and select Edit...
3. Change the format to Normal and set Decimals to 6, then click OK. Do the same for the other coordinate channel. The coordinates are now in decimal degrees.
