MINESIGHT® TUTORIALS

MineSight® is a powerful visual tool for all facets of mine design and planning. Most of the functions in
MineSight® are easy to implement, but some guidance may be desired, especially when first getting
comfortable with MineSight®. This section presents a number of tutorials that address some of the more
common questions and procedures that arise in the use of MineSight®.

GOING INTO 2D MODE

Using the 2D Mode including setup and Strips and Histograms

CREATING AND MANIPULATING DRILLHOLE VIEWS

Creating Drillhole Views, Editing Drillholes, Compositing and Viewer Properties.

USING THE BLAST PATTER EDITOR

How to create blast patterns using the Blast Pattern Editor.

CREATING LABELS

Adding text to your MineSight® project.

CREATING MODEL VIEWS

Creating and manipulating Model Views and GradeShells.

INTRODUCTION TO MODEL ROTATION

Rotate the project model within project boundaries.

MODEL VIEW BROWSE-EDIT

Viewing and editing model item values in MineSight 3-D.

SETTING UP COLOR CUTOFFS

Setting Color Cutoffs of Materials based on grade or code values.

SETTING UP PLOT LAYOUTS

Setting up Plot Layouts, including creation of Title Blocks and Manipulation of Areas in the Plot Layout.

USING THE MINESIGHT® LINKER

Building solids using the Linker, including basic links, partial links, multifurcation and data preparation.

WRITING PYTHON SCRIPTS

Introduction to Python script structure and reserve scripts vs model scripts.

GOING INTO 2D MODE
The MineSight® default Viewer is 3D. All display and editing within this Viewer is done in 3D mode and you
should make use of Edit Grids and/or Snap Modes to properly enter new data into a project.
However, you can also put MineSight® into a 2D mode, which makes it easier to do certain editing tasks. It
also allows you to step through the data in the Viewer using a set of controlling planes, and visualize drillhole
and model data with unique 2D display attributes.

Setting Up 2D Mode
In order to use the 2D mode of the MineSight Viewer, it is first necessary to attach a Grid Set to the Viewer,
which is accomplished through the View Options tab of the Viewer Properties dialog.

This tells MineSight which way to clip the data. Attach the Grid Set by clicking on the icon to the right of the
Installed Grid Set box. Choose a grid set and click OK. Now, click the Change to 2D Mode button. The 2D
mode always begins with the first grid in the grid set, so you may not see any data. Use the dropdown list in
the Viewer Properties window to choose an appropriate plane. Another dropdown list with convenient
stepping arrows is located along the top of the Viewer window. Going into 2D Mode locks the azimuth and
dip of the view; both are locked normal to the attached Grid Set. By default, Plane Filter is toggled on upon
entering 2D Mode. Once the Grid Set has been attached to the Viewer, you can toggle between 2D and 3D
modes using the icons on the Viewer Icon Strip.

2D icon 3D icon

Properties of 2D Mode
When in 2D Mode, editing and display are limited to the selected plane, and there are certain features that
are available only in 2D Mode. In the Viewer Properties window, the Viewer Options tab has checkboxes for
Rotate view 180° and Snap Edit Grid to Current Plane. The Rotate view 180° option rotates the azimuth of
the view from 0° to 180°, while the Snap Edit Grid to current Plane selection will select an Edit Grid at the
current plane location. Note: In 2D Mode, it is sometimes necessary to switch to a different plane before
changes are reflected in the viewer.
 In the Drillhole View Properties window, there are also a number of 2D Mode options. On the Intevals Tab,
there is a checkbox to toggle Label visibility on and off in 2D Mode. On the Display Tab, both the Trace and
ID Label options have toggles for 2D Mode. in addition, the 2D Options area allows the specification of the
Projection volume, Piercement angle, and Piercement marker size, and provides a checkbox to Invert the
view. The projection volume specifies the distance from the current plane from which data will be shown in
the Viewer. The piercement angle is a tolerance for drillholes that are somewhat perpendicular to the current
plane. If the drillhole is within this tolerance (default value is 10 degrees) with respect to the current plane,
the drillhole will be rendered as a square piercement marker rather than a trace. The Piercement marker size
option allows the specification of the size of this marker. Finally, the Invert view checkbox is used in
conjunction with the Rotate view 180° option; when this is selected in the Viewer Properties, the entire data
set, incuding labels, is rotated, resulting in reversed labels. The Invert view checkbox will restore the labels'
readability without changing the position of the data in the viewer.

Strips/Histograms
The display of drillhole strips and histogram information for plotting is another feature available only in 2D
Mode. The display of strips and histograms is controlled in the Strips/Histograms tab of the Drillhole View
Editor.

To add a strip or histogram, first click the Add Strip button; a default strip is created as shown above. The
Strip width is a global setting - it defines the width of a strip or the maximum width of a histogram. The Color
item defines the cutoff color item to be used for the color display of the strip or histogram. The Pattern item
defines the item to be used if patterns are desired in the strip display; patterns can be assigned to cutoff
color items using the Properties option in the Cutoff color dialog. The Histogram item defines the item to be
used for histogram display; the histogram will display the relative values of the selected item. Finally, the
Maximum value box allows a limit to be set for the histogram display. Either a Pattern item or a Histogram
item can be chosen for display, but not both.
To add another strip or histogram, simply click the Add Strip button and set the desired limits. The black bar
in the strip window represents the drillhole trace, and strips can be placed on either side of the trace, or on
both sides. The Move Strip buttons allow you to adjust the position of any of the strips or the drillhole trace;
select the strip you wish to move (or the drillhole trace) by clicking with the mouse and then use the Move
Strip arrows to position the strip as desired.
Finally, there are options for toggling the display of histogram scale lines and interval outlines. Histogram
scale lines give an indication of the magnitude of the histogram bars with respect to the value specified in the
Maximum Value window. The color of the histogram scale lines and interval outlines are the same, and can
be changed using the palette icon. The following examples will demonstrate the use of the different options
available in the Strips/Histogram display.
This figure shows a simple strip; the Strip width is 10 units, the Color Item is CU, and the Maximum value is
left at the default value of 10. A smaller value for the Strip width variable will result in a narrower strip, but in
this mode, the Maximum value has no effect.
The figure below shows the effect of adding a Pattern item to the strip display. The patterns shown were
entered into the cutoff color dialog using the Properties button. In this example, CU was also used as the
Pattern item, but another assay or composite item could be used. The blues and purples have patterns,
while no patterns were assigned to the greens or yellows in this particular color scheme.
Now let's examine the results if we choose the Histogram option instead of the Pattern option - recall that
these are exclusive operations; only one at a time may be used. We will choose CU as the Histogram item,
and check Histogram Scale Lines, which display a reference scale based on the value entered as the
Maximum Value. We will first choose a Maximum Value of 2 for this example (see figure below), since
previous examination of the data has indicated that the highest CU value is approximately 2.6. Note that the
intervals where the CU value is greater than the maximum are marked with a Break symbol. This is
automatically generated for any intervals whose value exceeds the Maximum. Adjusting the Maximum Value
to 3 in this case will eliminate the automatic Break symbols, as seen in the lower figure.
Other elements such as Labels can be added to the Drillhole view using the options on the Display tab of the
Drillhole View Properties window, and all elements are then available for plotting. Strips and histograms can
be a powerful tool for generating detailed and informative cross section plots as well as a flexible
visualization too.
CREATING AND MANIPULATING DRILLHOLE VIEWS
Drillhole Views are an interactive graphical tool for visualization and editing of assay, composite and/or
blasthole data. Creation and manipulation of Drillhole Views is very straightforward, provides a variety of
options for item specification, and allows a number of viewing options. This tutorial will guide you through the
creation of a Drillhole View, setup of the Viewer Properties and then allow you to explore many of these
options.
In order to create a Drillhole View, there must be a File 11 (for Assay Views) or a File 9 (for Composite or
Blasthole Views); a File 12 (survey file) is required for Assay Views, but is optional for either Blasthole or
Composite views if the survey information is in File 9.
Before creating a Drillhole View, a Folder should be created in which to store the Drillhole Views. In this
tutorial, it is assumed that a folder called "Assays" has already been created for this purpose.
Creating a Drillhole View
Creating a Standard MineSight Drillhole view:
In the Data Manager window, click on the Assays folder. Click right then click on
New=>DHView=>MineSight. We'll name this view CU.

The DHView Data Selection window will appear. Click on Select PCF and choose the file 10 (Project
Control File, or PCF) for the desired project. A list of all the assay and survey files in the PCF will appear.
The default is to create a view from assay files but composite and blasthole files are options as well. Click on
the desired File 11 for the assay file and its matching File 12 survey file. Click OK. Notice that the OK button
is not activated until both files are chosen.
If alphanumeric extra items occur in the survey file (file 12) selected, a window will be displayed asking if
they should be appended to the drillhole name. Only the MS3D drillhole names are changed with this option
and does not change the file 11/12 drillhole names. Up to two item values can be appended to the file 11/12
drillhole name to construct a longer drillhole name. You cannot change of remove the labels after the view
has been defined. If you choose Cancel on the dialog, then the drillhole view will still be created but without
the extra items appended to the drillhole name.

Creating a Drillhole View from a Composite/BH file where there is no

survey file:
In the MineSight system, the drillhole survey information is usually stored in file 12. However, this is not
mandatory. Drillhole survey information can be stored in the composite or blasthole file (file 9). To create a
DH View of a composite/BH file, in the Assays folder, from the right click menu in the data manager, select
New=>DHView=>MineSight. Give this new DH View a name, "Composites1".

As in the above example, the DHView Data Selection window will appear. Click on the "Select PCF.." button,
then choose the project PCF (Project Control File), and the composite file (file 9) to create the drillhole view
from. Since the drillhole survey information is contained within the composite file, be sure to toggle that
option. Then click on OK.
In the following window, you will need to select the items in the composite file which contain the drillhole
geometry. Specifically, you will need to supply MineSight with the composite items that represent the starting
and ending coordinates for each composite interval. In composite files, these are usually EAST, NORTH and
ELEV.
Next select where the Drillhole ID is stored. In the composite file (file 9), it can be stored in either the REF#
or in 2 DHID labels. In general, REF# is the default location for DHID.
DHID1 and DHID2 are special composite items which are accessed programmatically. To use them, the
composite file must have been initialized with them.

After either DH View case (assays and/or composites, with or without a survey file), the next window to be
displayed contains the option to limit the items available in the DHView. Clicking Yes brings up a list of items
in the assay or composite/BH file. Items can be selected or unselected. Clicking No allows access to all the
items in the assay file. Click No.

The drill hole view properties window will appear next, with the "Selection" tab dialog on top by default.
Select the drillholes to load, under the "Selection Method" section on the dialog or select the holes
individually from the list displayed along the left side of this dialog. Then click on "Load Selection".