These files are used to build a 3D network of triangles between fault polylines, for display as a filled and/or mesh surface in RockPlot3D, via the Utilities | Grafix | 3D Utilities | Fault Contours -> Fault Surface option. These files contain a listing of XYZ triplets representing polyline vertices, with separate polylines assumed at each elevation change.
Example
Column Summary
- Easting, Northing: Required. The X and Y coordinates for each polyline vertex. These can be in meters or feet, using any supported coordinate system. See Defining your Datasheet Coordinates for more information.
- Elevation: Required. The elevation for the vertex is listed here. Be sure to specify the units.
As mentioned in the Note below, each polyline is assumed to be at the same elevation.
Notes
- Multiple polylines along the same fault surface can be listed.
- The program assumes that each polyline is, indeed, a "contour" at the same elevation. It recognizes a new polyline by the elevation change.
- The polyline data must be listed in the same order for each polyline. For example, if a north/south polyline was digitized from south to north, the other polylines must be digitized in the same order.
- The columns can be in any order - you can define the specific source columns in the Fault Surface program window.
Sample file: Fault_Contours_01.rwDat
See also: Creating a 3D Triangulated Fault Surface
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