Feature Slices

Description

The feature slices panel is part of the feature properties dialog box. It is used to define how features will be sliced.
Slicing is the process of taking one or more 2-dimensional planar slices through features. Features that are 3-dimensional will be represented as polygons in the slice. Features that are 2-dimensional will be represented as lines in the slice. Features that are 1-dimensional will be represented as points in the slice.
The slice planes have a finite extent (strike and dip lengths). Any part of a feature not within this extent is removed. Any feature that the planes do not intersect at all is removed.
Any properties of the original features, such as colouring, are maintained by the sliced features.
The following image shows fractures being sliced by two planes. Since each fracture is 2-dimensional, it is shown as a line where it intersects a plane. The outlines of the slice planes are also shown.

Enabling

Planes

Show planes

If this check box is ticked then the images of the slice planes are displayed.
If this check box is unticked then the rest of the Planes sub-panel becomes disabled and the slice planes will not be displayed.

Fill planes

If this check box is ticked then the images of the slice planes will be filled in, otherwise they are shown as outlines.

Colour

Specifies the colour of the slice plane images. The colour is chosen by clicking the coloured box and selecting the colour from the colour browser.

Transparency

The transparency of the slice plane images can be set on a scale from 0% to 100% by using the slider or by entering the value directly into the text box. A value of 0% indicates a completely opaque slice plane and 100% indicates a completely transparent (invisible) slice plane.
This feature is useful when using filled planes to allow the sliced features to be seen more easily.

Slices

The Slices sub-panel defines the slice planes. Each row in the table represents the definition of a single slice plane.

The following buttons are available for adding and removing planes:

Add

The Add button adds a new plane to the table.
By default, new planes are defined to be vertical through the centre of the current features and equal in size to the largest dimension of the bounding box of the features.

Remove

The Remove button removes the selected planes from the table.
Shift or ctrl clicking can be used to select more than one plane.

Clear

The Clear button removes all planes from the table.

The following properties can be set for each plane:

Enabled

If this check box is ticked then the plane is enabled.
If this check box is unticked then the plane is disabled and will not slice any features.

Centre X

The X coordinate of the centre of the plane in metres.

Centre Y

The Y coordinate of the centre of the plane in metres.

Centre Z

The Z coordinate of the centre of the plane in metres.

Strike length

The length of the plane along the plane strike in metres.

Dip length

The length of the plane along the plane dip in metres.

Dip

The dip angle of the plane in degrees.
This is the angle of the plane below the horizontal.

Strike

The strike angle of the plane in degrees.
This is the angle of rotation of the plane around the Z axis. Zero degrees is along the positive Y axis.

Orientation

The orientation angle of the plane in degrees.
This is the angle of rotation of the plane around its own principal axis.

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Commercial Manager, Serco Assurance, Thomson House,
Birchwood Park, Risley, Warrington, Cheshire, WA3 6AT.