Leapfrog Geo Tips and Tricks

Issue 1: Colouring a surface by dip

Findlay Craig
June 2015
Context
• I am frequently asked to colour a
surface—often a lithological contact or
fault—by its dip or azimuth values.
• Colouring a surface makes it easier to
understand the deformation patterns A geological surface with the typical display of a single
colour.
affecting the surface and quicker to
assess their impact on design.
• Leapfrog does not have a tool to achieve
this directly, but it can be accomplished
by combining several tools.
Note: These guidance notes have been
prepared using Leapfrog Geo V2.2.1

The same surface coloured by dip, with warm colours

representing steep dips.
Workflow
Extracting vertices for mesh to be coloured
• In the project tree, right-click the required mesh and
select Extract Vertices.
The extracted vertices will now exist as a separate point cloud in
the points folder higher up the project tree.

Estimating structural data

• In the Points folder of the project tree, right-click the
required point cloud and select Estimate Structural
Data.
This will generate a number of structural disks that represent the
dip of the surface. The number will be either 500 or 5% of the
number of vertices, whichever is greater.

Creating interpolant of dip values

Leapfrog cannot use the structural data to build an
interpolant, so the data must be exported and re-imported
as points.
• In the Structural Data folder of the project tree, right-
click the required data and select Export.
Workflow
Re-importing structural data as new point cloud
• Right-click the Points folder and select Import
Points.
Ensure that you import the dips and azimuths as Numeric
values.

Creating interpolant based on dip values

• Right click the Interpolant folder and select New
Interpolant.
The New Interpolant window will be displayed.
• From the Numeric values dropdown menu, select the
dip values associated with your new point cloud.
This interpolant should be isotropic, so do not edit any other
settings.
• Click OK.

Note: we are not going to use the generated iso-

surfaces, so there is no need to do anything with these.
Workflow
Evaluating interpolant onto original surface
• In the project tree, right-click the on mesh and
select Evaluations.
The Select Models to Evaluate window will be
displayed.

• From the Available list, select the required

interpolant and click the right arrow to move it
into the Selected column.

• Click OK.

Colouring the mesh by Dip

• In the Shape List, expand the colour drop

down menu of the mesh, and select the
evaluation.

Your dip values will now be represented by colour

on your surface!
Contact Information
If you have any questions, or would like more information, please contact:

Findlay Craig Wayne Barnett SRK Vancouver

fcraig@srk.com wbarnett@srk.com Oceanic Plaza, 22nd Floor
+1 604 601 8419 +1 604 628 2567 1066 West Hastings Street
Vancouver, BC
Canada V6E 3X2
vancouver@srk.com