Including Data Preparation, Partial Links, and Substrings and Multifurcations. Preparing Polylines for Linking:
In order to ensure quick and easy linking, all the polyline endpoints should be in the same relative position, and the polyline directions should match.
The nodes on each polyline should be evenly spaced, with a spacing relatively equivalent to that of the spacing between sections. Ideally, the triangles created by linking should be pseudo-equilateral. Very long and thin triangles may cause the problems with Intersect Solids, and self-intersecting triangles may be created due to precision limitations.
Nodes too sparse. Use Polyline Densify.
Nodes too dense. Use Polyline Thin.
Nodes well-spaced.
Basic Link
Basic link operation showing: • previously linked polylines
• strong nodes to guide the new link • selected polylines to be linked next
To perform Basic Linking, select the strings you wish to link into a solid and choose the Linker from the Tools menu or with the icon on the menu bar. The Open a Geometry File dialog appears, where you must specify the geometry object that will contain the linked solid. Once you have selected the desired Geometry Object, the Linker dialog will appear.
Linking is performed by first choosing the desired Link operation - either Link, Quick Link, or Auto Link. Using the Link option requires that you choose each string to be linked and then link them individually, Quick Link allows you to choose a number of strings sequentially before linking, and Auto Link allows you to use the mouse to sweep across a number of strings, which are then automatically linked when you right-click the mouse.
• Link - To create a surface between two complete polylines:
o Select the first polyline to link, then select the second polyline.
o Add strong nodes by clicking left on a node of the first polyline, then a corresponding node of the second polyline; the strong nodes will be highlighted.
o To redefine a strong node pair, click on the first node and the strong link will be removed; then choose the new strong node pair.
o Click right or choose Preview to view the link, then select Apply to complete the link. • Partial Link - To create a surface between two partial polylines:
o Select two nodes on the first polyline.
o If the polylines are closed polylines, you are asked which side of the polylines to use. o Repeat for the second polyline.
o Define strong node pairs as in the Link operation.
o Choose Preview to view the partial link, then choose Apply to to complete the partial link. • Quick Link - To create links without choosing extra strong nodes:
o Select each polyline in the order you wish to link them. o Only the endpoints of the polylines are used as strong nodes. o Surface segments will be updated as the polylines are chosen.
o Click right to preview the linked surface; choose Apply to complete the link. • Auto Link - To create links without choosing extra strong nodes:
o Select each polyline in the order you wish to link them. You can pick each polyline individually, or drag the cursor to "draw" a box around the group of polylines you wish to select.
o The endpoints of the polylines are used as the strong nodes.
o Click right to preview the linked surface; choose Apply to complete the link.
o Auto Link compares the planes on which the polylines lie. This operation may give unexpected results if the planes are not parallel to each other.
o Auto Link performs only simple links, so if there is more than one polyline on the same plane, the additional polyline(s) will be skipped. Auto Link will highlight the skipped polylines and issue a warning. You can later erase the highlights using Clear All Highlights.
• Merge Links - to merge the created links into a surface or solid.
o Once you have created the desired links between polylines, simply click the Merge Links button.
Partial Links
Partial linking is useful when you need to link a portion of one polyline with another. An example might be linking a structure that branches into two sections.
To begin this example, we have selected a number of polylines - the lower polyline will be split to form partial links with the polylines above. With the linker open, choose Partial Link. The MineSight® message window opens, instructing you to select the start and end nodes of the 1st contour, then the same for the second contour. The chosen polyline segments are highlighted, as shown below.
The strong node pairs between the segment endpoints are created by default, and you are asked to add extra strong node pairs. To do this, click on the first contour, then click on a corresponding location on the second contour. For more complicated polyline linking, it is recommended that you insert sufficient strong node pairs to ensure a smooth linking segment. When you are satisfied with the strong node pairs, click right to preview the link.
To save the link, choose Apply. In the example on the left, we linked the remaining segments on the left side with the Link operation, and then repeated the partial Link operation to continue linking segments on the right side.
Substrings and Multifurcation
Substrings are used to split existing polylines into smaller segments. This allows you to create complex shapes for linking without predefining the polylines. Substrings can in turn be split, so a multifurcated link can be done
1. The original string
(highlighted) is chosen after clicking the
Subdivide Polygon button. Then the subdividing string is digitized across the original string.
2. The subdivided string can now be used for linking.
3. Here the subdivided string
has been linked to two neighboring strings.
4. The linking of the split solid.
Self-Intersecting Faces caused by Linking
Always check for self-intersections after creating a solid. To do this, click on Surface=>Check for Self- intersection. Self-intersecting faces may be caused by:
• the original polylines having either too few, or too many nodes, as outlined in the polyline preparation section.
• complex geometry on one polyline linking to less complex geometry on the other
It can be very helpful to create intermediate polylines when trying to perform a difficult link. The procedure for this is outlined below.
3. Create a set of intermediate grids that can be used
to slice the solid. 4. polylines from slicing, which are then edited before being linked New