Tutorial: Append Stratigraphic Surfaces

Estimated time: 3 minutes.

In this section, you will append stratigraphic surfaces to the 3D strip logs, and adjust their settings.

1. Before continuing, be sure you have completed the previous lesson.
    
2. Open the stratigraphy image:
   1. Click on the RockPlot3D File menu and choose the Append option.
   2. If you are prompted whether you wish to save changes made to the log image, click Yes.
   3. In the Open File window, locate the existing RockPlot3D image named rp3dt_surfaces.Rw3D and click the Open button.
   4. You will see some stratigraphic surfaces displayed in the image pane, with the logs.
   5. Note, also, a new item now listed in the data pane: "Stratigraphic Contacts."
       
3. Take a minute to rotate the image to see different views. Remember to use the View | Above | South-East menu command as necessary to re-orient the image (this is handy if the image gets turned upside down).
    
4. Expand the "Stratigraphic Contacts" group heading in the data pane. Note the individual surface groups listed.
    
5. Modify the Spergen surface settings:
   1. Expand the Spergen surface group.
   2. Double-click on its Elevation Grid. You’ll see its grid options.
   3. Draw Style: Find this section, where it shows that the current style is Wire Frame. Click on the down-arrow and select Solid. Click the Apply button at the bottom of the window. Look in the image pane in the background, and you should see one of the middle surfaces change from a wire-frame diagram to a solid surface. (You can uncheck the A-Horizon surface group, back at the main plot window, to see the Spergen surface if necessary.)
   4. Opacity: Change this setting (to the right of the Draw Style section) to 60 by typing that value into the prompt box or by clicking the down arrow button. Click Apply. You should see the surface displayed with some transparency.
       
6. Modify the Leadville Limestone surface settings: 
   1. Leaving the other grid options window open, click back in the data pane and expand the Leadville Ls group.
   2. Double-click on its Elevation Grid in the data pane. (You may need to move the Options window aside.) These grid options will now be docked in the same window as the previous.
   3. Color Scheme: Find this section, and click the drop-down box to select Continuous. Click on the large Min-Max (1) button to the right and choose a min-to-max value color ramp. You can do this either by selecting the individual minimum and maximum colors shown there, or click on the long rainbow button itself to choose a scheme. Click the Apply button to apply the color change.
   4. Draw Style: Find this section (below the color scheme), and set the wire frame thickness (in the prompt to the right of Wire Frame) to 2.0. Click Apply.
   5. Rotate the image if you need to see the changes that have taken place. You do not need to close the Options windows to apply changes, to change views, or to access other diagram settings.
       
7. Remove the check-mark from the A-Horizon group, the uppermost formation. It will be removed from the image pane.
    
8. Modify the Potosi surface settings:
   1. Leaving the existing grid options window open, expand the Potosi Fm group.
   2. Double-click its Elevation Grid in the data pane. (You may need to move the Options window aside.) This options window will now be docked with the previous ones.
   3. Un-dock this Options window by grabbing the top-most stick-up tab labeled Grid Options – Elevation Grid and dragging it away from the other windows. Although this takes up more screen space, this can be a handy way to see multiple Options windows simultaneously.
   4. Re-dock this Options window by grabbing its title bar and dragging it back over the other options windows.
       
9. Feel free to double-click on other surfaces in the data pane to access and adjust their settings.
    
10. When you are ready to continue, close all of the Options windows by clicking their Close buttons. Any changes that you have made but not applied (by clicking the Apply button) are discarded when you click the Close button.
     
11. Save this new combined image by choosing the File | Save As command. In the File Name prompt, type in: rp3dt_logs+strat and click the Save button.

The program will save this new, combined image under a new file name, with an ".Rw3D" file name extension.
 

RockPlot3D Surface Settings
 

See also: Borehole Manager tutorial for many lessons on generating the 3D log images and stratigraphic surfaces.
 

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