Intelligent Mining Software “Solutions” IMS- Snap Options

Copyright © 2013 by William Seldon Mart and Geoff Markey. All rights reserved.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Menu ITEMs

<Tools<Snap<To a Point>

<Tools<Snap<To a String>

<Tools<Snap<To a Triangle Face>

<Tools<Snap<To a Drillhole>

<Tools<Snap<To a Lithology>

<Tools<Snap<To the Screen Grid>

<Tools<Snap<Tolerance...>

Introduction

IMS provides six types of snap options which can be used to control the behaviour of CAD functions such as:

Points<New...

Strings<New>

Regions<New

Text<New...

Each snap optioncan be toggled via a menu item, the Toggles toolbar (Figure 1)or, in some cases, a shortcut key.

Figure 1: IMS toggles toolbar

The shortcut keys make it easy to digitise ore outlines from drillholes by changing the status of a toggle while maintaining natural movement with the mouse.

When a toggle is active,and is not pre-empted by another snap option, the cursor changes to reflect that toggle.

See Table 1 for a list of the snap options and their associated icons, cursors and shortcut keys.

Table 1: Snap options

Snap Option / Toolbar Icon / Shortcut Key / Cursor
To a point / / F3 /
To a string / / Ctrl+F3 /
To a triangle surface / /
To a lithology / /
To a drillhole / / F4 /
To the screen grid / /

Menu ITEMs

ToolsSnap<To a Point>

OBJECT SELECTED

The point that is closest to the mouse and within the current tolerance. Otherwise no point is selected.

NOTES

Points often need to be used in more than one string and this snap option enables you to achieve this goal with precision.

ToolsSnap<To a String>

OBJECT SELECTED

The line segment that is closest to the mouse and within the current tolerance. Otherwise no line segment is selected.

NOTES

  1. New points that are created with this snap option active are not inserted into the existing string. They are only inserted into the one you are creating.
  1. To tie a point into an existing string use <Points<Snap into String> to create a point on the existing string, then use <Points<Merge Two> to merge the point in the existing string to the point in the new string.

ToolsSnap<To a Triangle Face>

OBJECT SELECTED

The triangle face that is closest to the mouse. This triangle is part of a selected solid.

NOTES

  1. Unlike the other snap options, ‘Snap to a Triangle Face’ moves the point into or out of the screen to place it on a triangle face, if one exists. This action does not move the plane of the 3D View Pane.
  1. The snap tolerance is not used when snapping to a triangle face.

ToolsSnap<To a Drillhole

OBJECT SELECTED

The end of drillhole sample that is closest to the mouse and within the current tolerance. Otherwise no sample is selected.

NOTES

This snap option allows quick and precise digitising of ore pods.

ToolsSnap<To a Lithology>

OBJECT SELECTED

The end of a drillhole lithology segment that is closest to the mouse and within the current tolerance. Otherwise no lithology is selected.

NOTES

This snap option allows quick and precise digitising of ore pods.

ToolsSnap<To the Screen Grid>

OBJECT SELECTED

The grid intersection that is closest to the mouse and within the current tolerance. Otherwise no intersction is selected.

NOTES

See the CAD - View Optionsmanual for details on setting the screen grid.

ToolsSnap<Tolerance...>

This menu item is used to set the tolerance used to determine the closest object to a given location.

To edit the tolerance:

  1. Select this menu item to display the Snap Tolerance dialog box (Figure 2).

Figure 2: Setting the snap tolerance

  1. Enter the tolerance in pixels.
  1. Press the <OK> button to save the snap tolerance.

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