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otherwise, does not form part of any contract. Changes may be made in products or services at
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responsibility for errors or omissions. Neither is any liability assumed for damage resulting from the
use of the information contained herein.
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International Inc. or its wholly-owned subsidiaries.
Contributors
Rowdy Bristol
Phil Jackson
John Hylton-Davies
Product
Gemcom Surpac V6.2
Table of Contents
Introduction 5
Overview 5
Requirements 5
Workflow 5
Set Up For This Tutorial 6
Setting the Work Directory 6
Task: Set the Work Directory (Windows XP) 6
Task: Set the Work Directory (Windows Vista) 7
Plotting with Autoplot 8
Workflow 8
Plan View Plotting 9
Task:Use Autoplot to Plot Data 9
Three Dimensional Plotting 14
Task: Create a Three Dimensional Plot 14
Task:Fix Quality of Images in Plot Preview window 15
Section Plotting 17
Task:Create a Simple Section Plot 17
Task:Create a Section Plot with a Plan Strip 24
Task:Create Multiple Section Plots 27
Task:Create a Title Block for Multiple Section Plots 32
Task:Create Multiple Section Plots 34
File-Based Plotting 41
Overview 41
Workflow 42
Creating Plan View Maps 42
Task:Create an Ore Block Plan 42
Task:View Data for Plotting 48
Task:Create a Bore Hole Location Plan 59
Importing/Exporting Maps and Entities 68
Task:Import Map and Entity Definitions 68
Task:Export Map and Entity Definitions 68
Task:Create a list of Map and Entity Definitions 69
Plan View Map of Drillhole Traces 71
Task:Create a Plan View Map of Drill Hole Data 71
Section View Map of Drillhole Data 73
Task:Create a Section View Map of Drillhole Data 73
Task: Create and Plot an Oblique Section of Drillhole Data 77
Creating Multi-Viewport Maps 85
Task: Create a Plot with Two Drawing Areas 85
Task: Modify an Existing Drawing Area 91
93
Task:Add a Third Drawing Area 94
Title Block Definitions 105
Task:Create a New Title Block 105
Introduction
Introduction
Overview
In Surpac you can create plots using:
l Autoplot
l File-based plotting
Autoplot is essentially What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG) plotting from the Surpac graphics
environment. It is simple and easy to use.
File-based plotting allows you to perform more complex plotting functions.
Requirements
This tutorial assumes that you have a basic knowledge of Surpac.
If you do not have this knowledge it is recommended that you work through the Introduction to
Surpac tutorial before attempting this tutorial.
You will also need to have:
Workflow
Note: This workflow demonstrates the steps in this tutorial. There are other ways to achieve a
result.
Page 5 of 110
Set Up For This Tutorial Task: Set the Work Directory (Windows XP)
The name of the work directory is displayed in the title bar of the Surpac window.
Page 6 of 110
Set Up For This Tutorial Task: Set the Work Directory (Windows Vista)
The name of the work directory is displayed in the title bar of the Surpac window.
Page 7 of 110
Plotting with Autoplot Task: Set the Work Directory (Windows Vista)
There are two mandatory steps to create a plot file with Autoplot:
String styles, colour, marker styles and text are all plotted as they are displayed in
graphics.
Page 8 of 110
Plotting with Autoplot Task:Use Autoplot to Plot Data
2. Run Autoplot and specify parameters such as sheet size, scale, etc.
Page 9 of 110
Plotting with Autoplot Task:Use Autoplot to Plot Data
Page 10 of 110
Plotting with Autoplot Task:Use Autoplot to Plot Data
The display is updated with the soil sample locations and grades displayed.
Page 11 of 110
Plotting with Autoplot Task:Use Autoplot to Plot Data
10. Click and drag to select a small area of the screen to plot.
The scale is calculated to fit the A3 paper size.
Page 12 of 110
Plotting with Autoplot Task:Use Autoplot to Plot Data
At this point the plot will be processed and the Navigator will be updated. In this case, the
layer name is soil1.str so the resultant plot file will be soil1_str.dwf.
Surpac starts the Plot Preview window with the file displayed as shown.
Page 13 of 110
Plotting with Autoplot Task: Create a Three Dimensional Plot
Note: The image is of poor quality. This will be corrected in the next task.
4. Choose File > Close to exit the Plot Preview window.
5. Click Reset graphics .
Note:To see all of the steps performed in this section, run _01a_autoplot_3d.tcl. You will need to
click Apply on any forms presented.
Page 14 of 110
Plotting with Autoplot Task:Fix Quality of Images in Plot Preview window
Page 15 of 110
Plotting with Autoplot Task:Fix Quality of Images in Plot Preview window
The plot is displayed in the Plot Preview window. Notice the improvement in the quality
of the image.
Page 16 of 110
Plotting with Autoplot Task:Create a Simple Section Plot
Section Plotting
Task:Create a Simple Section Plot
1. Open topo1.str.
2. Open ore_solid1.str.
3. Open surpac.ddb.
4. Choose Database > Display > Drillholes.
5. Enter the information as shown, and then click Apply.
Page 17 of 110
Plotting with Autoplot Task:Create a Simple Section Plot
The data in the two string files and the drillhole traces is displayed.
Page 18 of 110
Plotting with Autoplot Task:Create a Simple Section Plot
11. Enter the information as shown on the Labels tab, and then click Apply.
Note: Right click in the empty space below the first row and select Add to add a second
row to the table.
The data is displayed.
Page 19 of 110
Plotting with Autoplot Task:Create a Simple Section Plot
Notice that the section number is displayed in the Status bar at the bottom of the
window .
12. Choose Database > Sections > Next.
Page 20 of 110
Plotting with Autoplot Task:Create a Simple Section Plot
Note: If you have difficulty with these steps, click the Reset graphics icon , then
open section_7320_north.swa.
14. Click the Autoplot icon .
15. Enter the information as shown, and then click Apply.
Page 21 of 110
Plotting with Autoplot Task:Create a Simple Section Plot
18. Left click and drag in graphics to move the box as shown.
Page 22 of 110
Plotting with Autoplot Task:Create a Simple Section Plot
The file section.dwf is created and displayed in the Plot Preview window as shown.
21. Choose File > Close to close the Plot Preview window.
22. Click Reset graphics .
Note: To see all of the steps performed in this section, run _01b_autoplot_section.tcl. You will
need to click Apply on any forms presented.
Page 23 of 110
Plotting with Autoplot Task:Create a Section Plot with a Plan Strip
5. Press F1.
Page 24 of 110
Plotting with Autoplot Task:Create a Section Plot with a Plan Strip
7. Press F2.
8. Enter the information as shown, and then click Apply.
Page 25 of 110
Plotting with Autoplot Task:Create a Section Plot with a Plan Strip
The file section_with_plan.dwf is created and displayed in the Plot Preview window.
Note: To see all of the steps performed in this section, run _01c_autoplot_section_plan_strip.tcl.
You will need to click Apply on any forms presented.
Page 26 of 110
Plotting with Autoplot Task:Create Multiple Section Plots
Page 27 of 110
Plotting with Autoplot Task:Create Multiple Section Plots
7. Press F1.
8. Click and drag to move the box as displayed.
9. Press F2.
10. Enter the information as shown, and then click Apply.
Page 28 of 110
Plotting with Autoplot Task:Create Multiple Section Plots
Page 29 of 110
Plotting with Autoplot Task:Create Multiple Section Plots
Page 30 of 110
Plotting with Autoplot Task:Create Multiple Section Plots
15. Choose File > Close to close the Plot Preview window.
Note: To see all of the steps performed in this section, run _01d_autoplot_multiple_sections.tcl.
You will need to click Apply on any forms presented.
Page 31 of 110
Plotting with Autoplot Task:Create a Title Block for Multiple Section Plots
4. Click and drag the right and left mouse buttons and/or use the mouse wheel to zoom the
title block, as shown.
Page 32 of 110
Plotting with Autoplot Task:Create a Title Block for Multiple Section Plots
Page 33 of 110
Plotting with Autoplot Task:Create Multiple Section Plots
Page 34 of 110
Plotting with Autoplot Task:Create Multiple Section Plots
Page 35 of 110
Plotting with Autoplot Task:Create Multiple Section Plots
Notice that when you select the Drawing area of VA1B in Plot content, the only available
option in the Optional content Drawing area is VA1T. The software only allows you to
select drawing areas which are appropriate for the selected sheet size, and for one
another.
6. Click the Batch section tab.
7. Enter the information as shown.
Page 36 of 110
Plotting with Autoplot Task:Create Multiple Section Plots
Page 37 of 110
Plotting with Autoplot Task:Create Multiple Section Plots
15. Drag and drop multi_solid_section.dwf to display the plot in the Plot Preview window.
Page 38 of 110
Plotting with Autoplot Task:Create Multiple Section Plots
16. Click and drag the right and left mouse buttons and/or use the mouse wheel to zoom in
on the title block as shown:
Notice that the Section number has been automatically appended to the title block.
17. Click and drag the right and left mouse buttons and/or use the mouse wheel to zoom in
on the legend:
Page 39 of 110
Plotting with Autoplot Task:Create Multiple Section Plots
18. Click the tab on each of the files that was created:
multi_solid_section_01.dwf
multi_solid_section_02.dwf
multi_solid_section_03.dwf
Note:To see all of the steps performed in the section, run _01e_autoplot_multiple_solid_
sections.tcl. You will need to click Apply on any forms presented.
Note: This macro will only run correctly if the title block MULTI_SEC has been created.
Page 40 of 110
File-Based Plotting Task:Create Multiple Section Plots
File-Based Plotting
Overview
File-based plotting allows you to produce more complex plots.
For File-based plotting, Surpac needs to know where to find the data, what to plot, and also how to
plot the data. Before you produce a plot in Surpac you must first define a Map. The map definition
details what is to be plotted.
Maps consist of Entities, which refer to the set of instructions that indicates to Surpac how to plot
the data. Entity definitions consist of smaller groups of instructions called Attributes.
An Attribute provides information such as:
Page 41 of 110
File-Based Plotting Task:Create an Ore Block Plan
Workflow
Note: This workflow demonstrates the steps in this tutorial. There are other ways to achieve a
result.
Page 42 of 110
File-Based Plotting Task:Create an Ore Block Plan
3. View the displayed Define a String Entity form which defines the ORE BLOCK entity.
Page 43 of 110
File-Based Plotting Task:Create an Ore Block Plan
7. Click Cancel.
8. Choose Plotting > Process > Map.
9. Select ORE BLOCKS in the displayed table, and then click Apply.
Page 44 of 110
File-Based Plotting Task:Create an Ore Block Plan
Notice that the check box Display plot after processing has been selected. This will open
the map in the Plot Preview window so you can view it before plotting.
11. Enter the information as shown, and then click Apply.
Page 45 of 110
File-Based Plotting Task:Create an Ore Block Plan
13. From the Plot Preview window menu, choose Create > Text.
Page 46 of 110
File-Based Plotting Task:Create an Ore Block Plan
14. Click a point for the text to be displayed in the plot, fill in the form as shown, and then
click Apply.
16. Choose File > Save, and then click Apply to save the file.
Note: You can edit *.dwf files with a CAD package such as Autocad or Microstation.
Page 47 of 110
File-Based Plotting Task:View Data for Plotting
Page 48 of 110
File-Based Plotting Task:View Data for Plotting
Notice that string 1 contains the crest and toe strings for the pit.
Page 49 of 110
File-Based Plotting Task:View Data for Plotting
Page 50 of 110
File-Based Plotting Task:View Data for Plotting
11. Type PS (for Plot Strings) into the function chooser, and then press ENTER.
12. Enter the information as shown, and then click Apply.
Page 51 of 110
File-Based Plotting Task:View Data for Plotting
Notice that there are three segments for string 1 and a single segment for string 100.
17. Type CS into the function chooser, and then press ENTER.
Page 52 of 110
File-Based Plotting Task:View Data for Plotting
Page 53 of 110
File-Based Plotting Task:View Data for Plotting
Page 54 of 110
File-Based Plotting Task:View Data for Plotting
Page 55 of 110
File-Based Plotting Task:View Data for Plotting
29. Type CS into the function chooser, and then press ENTER.
30. Choose Display > Point > Markers.
31. Enter the information as shown, and then click Apply.
Page 56 of 110
File-Based Plotting Task:View Data for Plotting
Page 57 of 110
File-Based Plotting Task:View Data for Plotting
Page 58 of 110
File-Based Plotting Task:Create a Bore Hole Location Plan
3. Select the Line operations tab and select the check box for Use line operation.
4. Enter the information as shown, and then click Apply.
Page 59 of 110
File-Based Plotting Task:Create a Bore Hole Location Plan
Page 60 of 110
File-Based Plotting Task:Create a Bore Hole Location Plan
10. On the Point operations tab number 1, enter the information as shown.
11. Select Point operations tab number 2, and enter the information as shown.
Page 61 of 110
File-Based Plotting Task:Create a Bore Hole Location Plan
The last entity that needs to be created is a note entity. Note entities allow files of text
data to be incorporated into a plot. The text was created in a spreadsheet and saved as a
text file called bor1.not.
14. Choose Plotting > Entity > New.
15. Enter the information as shown, and then click Apply.
Page 62 of 110
File-Based Plotting Task:Create a Bore Hole Location Plan
The note may be positioned relative to any of the four corners of the plotting sheet. Once
you have specified the corner, you then need to nominate the X and Y offsets and the
horizontal and vertical justification.
17. Choose Plotting > Map > New.
18. Enter the information as shown, and then click Apply.
Page 63 of 110
File-Based Plotting Task:Create a Bore Hole Location Plan
20. Press the TAB key while in the Segment range column to add a new row.
Note: The second entity has been specified as SOLID LINE/PN3. The /PN3 means to use
pen 3, instead of pen1 as specified in the original entity definition.
Other modifiers are:
text height /HTnn (nn = height in millimetres)
l
22. Choose Plotting > Plotter colours > Pen colour properties.
Page 64 of 110
File-Based Plotting Task:Create a Bore Hole Location Plan
Notice that Pen 1 has been assigned to black, Pen 2 to blue and Pen 3 to green. This
satisfies the criteria you set earlier regarding the use of different colours for different
strings.
23. Click Cancel.
24. Choose Plotting > Process > Map.
25. Enter the map name as shown, and then click Apply.
Page 65 of 110
File-Based Plotting Task:Create a Bore Hole Location Plan
Page 66 of 110
File-Based Plotting Task:Create a Bore Hole Location Plan
Page 67 of 110
File-Based Plotting Task:Import Map and Entity Definitions
Most of these entities are already loaded in the file which stores the map and entity
definitions, <installation directory>\share\plotting\library.dec
where <installation directory> is the directory in which Surpac was installed.
If you try to add an entity that already exists in the library, Surpac will beep. A log file will
also be generated to list the entities loaded.
3. Choose Plotting > Map > Import.
4. Enter the information as shown, and then click Apply.
Page 68 of 110
File-Based Plotting Task:Create a list of Map and Entity Definitions
Note: You can either choose which entities to unload by filling in the list, or unload all
entities by using an asterisk (*).
The entities will be downloaded to a file which can be loaded onto another computer.
3. Choose Plotting > Map > Export.
4. Enter the information as shown, and then click Apply.
Note: You can either choose which maps to unload by filling in the list, or unload all maps using an
asterisk (*).
The maps will be unloaded to a file that can be loaded onto another computer.
Task:Create a list of Map and Entity Definitions
1. Choose Plotting > Entity > Report.
2. Enter the information as shown, and then click Apply.
Note: You can either choose which entities to report by filling in the list, or report all
entities using an asterisk (*).
3. Choose Plotting > Map > Report.
Page 69 of 110
File-Based Plotting Task:Create a list of Map and Entity Definitions
Note: You can either choose which maps to report by filling in the list, or report all maps using an
asterisk (*).
Page 70 of 110
File-Based Plotting Task:Create a Plan View Map of Drill Hole Data
Page 71 of 110
File-Based Plotting Task:Create a Plan View Map of Drill Hole Data
Page 72 of 110
File-Based Plotting Task:Create a Section View Map of Drillhole Data
Note: The ZXA0 grid is used for a section view, as it plots the label mRL on the grids
ascending the page, and Eastings on the grids going to the left of the page.
Page 73 of 110
File-Based Plotting Task:Create a Section View Map of Drillhole Data
Page 74 of 110
File-Based Plotting Task:Create a Section View Map of Drillhole Data
Note: The VA1B drawing area is a view used with an A1 sheet that plots at the bottom
of the page. It encompasses about three quarters of the bottom area, but leaves a space
at the top for a narrow plan view strip.
The Landscape Fixed orientation locks down the lower left-hand corner of the map. As
you saw, when using the Landscape Centred orientation, the centre of the data is placed
at the centre of the map. For plotting a series of section maps, this would be OK if all the
data for all the sections had the exact same minimum and maximum data extents in
elevation and easting (or northing). However this is rarely the case, and it is also
necessary to align the upper (plan view) drawing area with the lower (section view) data.
Therefore we must establish a common easting value for the left edge of the drawing.
The Landscape Fixed orientation is almost always used when plotting a section view with
a plan view strip at the top.
Page 75 of 110
File-Based Plotting Task:Create a Section View Map of Drillhole Data
Note: The orientation is listed as NF. This is equivalent to Landscape Fixed. Since we
are processing a section view map, "Y" on this form refers to elevation.
10. Enter the information as shown, and then click Apply.
Page 76 of 110
File-Based Plotting Task: Create and Plot an Oblique Section of Drillhole Data
Page 77 of 110
File-Based Plotting Task: Create and Plot an Oblique Section of Drillhole Data
Page 78 of 110
File-Based Plotting Task: Create and Plot an Oblique Section of Drillhole Data
Page 79 of 110
File-Based Plotting Task: Create and Plot an Oblique Section of Drillhole Data
Page 80 of 110
File-Based Plotting Task: Create and Plot an Oblique Section of Drillhole Data
Page 81 of 110
File-Based Plotting Task: Create and Plot an Oblique Section of Drillhole Data
25. On the Plot Parameters tab, enter the information as shown, and then select the
Oblique Section Grid tab.
Page 82 of 110
File-Based Plotting Task: Create and Plot an Oblique Section of Drillhole Data
26. On the Oblique Section Grid tab, enter the information as shown, and then click Apply.
Note: The fields of this tab only become active if the Grid selected on the Plot
Parameters tab is blank, NOGR, or one of the oblique grids.
Page 83 of 110
File-Based Plotting Task: Create and Plot an Oblique Section of Drillhole Data
Page 84 of 110
File-Based Plotting Task: Create a Plot with Two Drawing Areas
29. Select View > Window in, or use the mouse scroll wheel to zoom in on one edge of the
map as shown below.
Note: To see all of the steps performed in this section, run _02a_extract_oblique_section.tcl. You
will need to click Apply on any forms presented.
Page 85 of 110
File-Based Plotting Task: Create a Plot with Two Drawing Areas
Page 86 of 110
File-Based Plotting Task: Create a Plot with Two Drawing Areas
Page 87 of 110
File-Based Plotting Task: Create a Plot with Two Drawing Areas
Page 88 of 110
File-Based Plotting Task: Create a Plot with Two Drawing Areas
Note: You generally will want to show the entire area of influence for the section. These
sections were created using data 25m south and 25m north of the section line. Therefore
when you enter the reference corner for the plan view map for the 6800m N section, you
will want to lock the lower left corner of the map at 25m south of the section line, or
6800m 25m = 6775m. Note that this "Y" value is in plan view coordinates, not section
coordinates (recall that 25m RL was used on the map section view to lock the lower left
coordinate of the section drawing area).
Page 89 of 110
File-Based Plotting Task: Create a Plot with Two Drawing Areas
You will now see the map as shown, with the Plan view at the top (in drawing Area VA1T)
and the Section view at the bottom (in drawing area VA1B).
Notice that both maps are locked at 2300m E so that they align properly.
Page 90 of 110
File-Based Plotting Task: Modify an Existing Drawing Area
4. Right click in the blank space below the VA1T entry and select Add to add another row to
the table.
5. Select VA1B for the second drawing area as shown, and then click Apply.
Page 91 of 110
File-Based Plotting Task: Modify an Existing Drawing Area
Notice that both drawing areas have been selected and so both drawing areas are
displayed on the screen.
Refer to the above diagram to understand the construction of the drawing areas.
VA1B
Left = 0.6 The distance in from the left edge of the plotting sheet to extent of the drawing
area.
Right = 0.6 The distance in from the right edge of the plotting sheet to extent of the
drawing area.
Bottom = 0.6 The distance in from the bottom edge of the plotting sheet to extent of the
drawing area.
Top = 10 The distance in from the top edge of the plotting sheet to extent of the drawing
area.
Page 92 of 110
File-Based Plotting
VA1T
Left = 0.6 The distance in from the left edge of the plotting sheet to extent of the drawing
area.
Right = 0.6 The distance in from the right edge of the plotting sheet to extent of the
drawing area.
Bottom = 47 The distance in from the bottom edge of the plotting sheet to extent of the
drawing area.
Top = 0.1 The distance in from the top edge of the plotting sheet to extent of the drawing
area.
7. Enter a value of 10.6 for VA1B Top, and a value of 46.4 for VA1T Bottom.
Note: To rescale the drawing areas, you can either choose the properties function as
shown above, or you can move the boxes manually using the cursor.
8. Choose Drawing areas > Save, to save the modifications.
9. Click Apply.
10. Choose Plotting > Process > Last map.2300
11. Enter the information on each form as shown previously in this section.
The resulting plot file is displayed.
Page 93 of 110
File-Based Plotting Task:Add a Third Drawing Area
Notice that the Right dimension for the sheet boundary has been changed to 17 cm to
create room for the LEGN drawing area.
The new PLAN drawing area is displayed.
Page 94 of 110
File-Based Plotting Task:Add a Third Drawing Area
Notice that the Right dimension from the sheet boundary has been changed to 17cm to
create room for the LEGN drawing area.
The Section drawing area is displayed.
Page 95 of 110
File-Based Plotting Task:Add a Third Drawing Area
Page 96 of 110
File-Based Plotting Task:Add a Third Drawing Area
11. Choose Drawing areas > Save, to save the drawing areas.
12. Choose Drawing areas > Select.
13. Enter the information as shown, and then click Apply.
Page 97 of 110
File-Based Plotting Task:Add a Third Drawing Area
Page 98 of 110
File-Based Plotting Task:Add a Third Drawing Area
Page 99 of 110
File-Based Plotting Task:Add a Third Drawing Area
Note: Make sure that you change the drawing area to PLAN (a drawing area for the top
of an A1 sheet) and the Title block is set to a "blank" for No title block.
After the map has finished processing, it will appear in the Plot preview window.
The map is displayed, showing drawing areas PLAN, SECTION, and LEGN.
Note: The only items you will need to type in are the new title ID and title description.
4. Click Apply and the new title block will appear.
5. Choose Title block > Snap grid > Properties.
You will use this to help align items on the title block.