It is possible to register images in GeoScene3D and use them both for visualization and for use in a modeling process.
This can be an easy way to bring in analog data, i.e. scanned documents, photos etc, and use them in the modeling process or for purely visualization. Here a couple of examples:
This image is an archeological cross section shown in 3D,
and a log from a geotechnical borehole investigation.
These datatypes can be expensive to digitize fully, but with the minor effort of registering the images in X, Y, Top and Bottom, the data can be used in GeoScene3D for visualization and modeling.
This tutorial will guide you through the steps for registering images.
It is also possible to watch this youtube movie.
To prepare for the use in GeoScene3D, you need to register the images in space. The images need to be in a raster of bitmap format in the following formats: jpg, png, tiff, gif, bmp.
The registration must be put into a database with the following structure:
The following fields in the database table are used:
ID: The ID column should be a number and long Integer.
X: X position for the image – needs to be a number and double.
Y: Y position for the image – needs to be a number and double.
Z: Z position for the image – needs to be a number and double.
TopElev: The top elevation of the image – the top edge of the image - needs to be a number and double.
BotElev: The bottom elevation of the image – the bottom edge of the image - needs to be a number and double.
URL: URL points to the location of the images. The field should be text.
A template database, called “MetaPlane_Empty.mdb” is in included in the installation within the Template folder.
To be sure that the image fits in the topography it is important to get the right dimension of the image. The dimension of the image is from the top of the image (top of paper) to the bottom of the image. This is important to note, it’s the top/bottom of the whole image, including headers and margins that must be registered.
One way to do this is by opening the image in an image editor. I this example Microsoft Paint is used. Here it’s possible to put X and Y axis on. The axis can help to get the right dimension of the image.
See the following figures.
Left: The image opened in Paint to get the right dimensions of it.
Right: The image is now loaded to GeoScene3D and the elevation fits.
The red bar in the left side of the figure below illustrates the dimension of that image. The log goes from 0 to 5 meters. 1 meter on the log is 60 units in Paint. The whole image is 890 units long. That gives 14.8 meter equal to the size of the image in meters. The top elevation to put in the database is therefore equal to the elevation of the topography. You might have to set the top elevation a little higher to get the beginning of the log to be at the same level as the topography. The bottom elevation is the topography elevation minus 14.8 meters.
Open the Add Data Wizard
Choose ”Local File or Database”
Now choose the “Access database” as the Source Type
And choose XYZ points as the data type
When using the template database, you should choose ”Documents” as the table to use.
Define X, Y, Z for the point location. The point will be loaded as a normal 3D point object.
And name it e.g. ”Well Bitmaps”
Now click the ”Add Document With Position”:
Select the already loaded data source Well_Bitmaps, and set the Fields. URL, Top Elevation and Bottom Elevation:
Now press ”Refresh data”:
The images should now be loaded and visible:
It is also possible to make a profile with the images. Just simple digitize a profile to see the images on it. The images can also be used to edit XYZ points and thus be used to create new layers. See how to in tutorial “Editing XYZ Points in Profile Window”.
If there are available well logs from the area they can be used together with the images.
In the 3D view double clicking on the image to open it in a window. This window is synchronized with the image in the 3D view – where the mouse is on the image will follow on the image in the 3D View, see figure below.
In the profile window, you have to do Ctrl Double Click on the anchor point (here the blue point),
to open the log profile in its own window:
An important feature to notice is that is possible to digitize directly on the metadata plane. GeoScene3D will place the digitization points in the right position in the 3D space.
GeoScene3D does not change the resolution of the bitmaps that are loaded. The size of the bitmaps should be carefully chosen, so that resolution is enough to be able to interpret the bitmap, but on the other hand not to detailed, as this will use up the memory of the system. Below is a comparison of the same image with two different resolutions. The image to the left is 1.5 MB and the image to the right is 100 KB. It is almost impossible to read the notes in the image to the right.
A large number of images can degrade the performance of GeoScene3D.