CREATING 3D DATA FROM 2D LINEWORK

Prepared for Part 4 of the blog series

“Scanning and vectorising old mine drawings”
Published September, 2015

Frank Bilki
Technical Product Manager – Micromine

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Copyright © MICROMINE 2015

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 CREATING 3D DATA FROM 2D LINEWORK

CONTENTS

1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................. 3

2 3-D DATA IN MICROMINE ................................................................................................................... 3

EDITABLE DATA .................................................................................................................................................. 4

3 ASSIGNING ELEVATIONS TO SURFACE MAPS ...................................................................................... 4

3-D ELEVATIONS FROM EXISTING SURFACE TOPOGRAPHY ........................................................................................... 4

CONSTANT 3-D ELEVATION (E.G. CONTOUR LINES) ................................................................................................... 5
Direct assignment ..................................................................................................................................... 5
Assign Elevation tool ................................................................................................................................. 6
CONSTANT GRADIENT (E.G. A HAUL ROAD CENTRELINE) ............................................................................................. 7
Known starting elevation and gradient .................................................................................................... 7
Constant gradient between points with known elevations ...................................................................... 7

4 ASSIGNING ELEVATIONS TO UNDERGROUND MINE PLANS ................................................................ 8

GETTING STARTED .............................................................................................................................................. 8

A BASIC WORKFLOW ........................................................................................................................................... 8
LEVEL WORKINGS ............................................................................................................................................... 9
INCLINED WORKINGS......................................................................................................................................... 10
Creating centrelines ................................................................................................................................ 10
Workings with known starting elevation and gradient .......................................................................... 11
Workings with known endpoint elevations............................................................................................. 12
Curved sidewalls ..................................................................................................................................... 12

5 CREATING UNDERGROUND MINE SOLIDS FROM 3-D LINEWORK ...................................................... 14

GETTING STARTED ............................................................................................................................................ 14

WORKFLOWS .................................................................................................................................................. 15
Near-horizontal sidewall strings; rectangular profile shape ................................................................... 16
Near-horizontal sidewall strings; non-rectangular profile shape ........................................................... 18
Centrelines in any orientation; any profile shape ................................................................................... 19
Profile shapes at ends of straight structures .......................................................................................... 19

6 CONCLUSION .................................................................................................................................... 20

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1 INTRODUCTION

Although the two-dimensional linework acquired by vectorising a paper map is useful in a plan-
view orientation, three-dimensional data is critical for near-mine exploration or mine planning. All
2-D data must be converted into three dimensions before you can use it for cross-sections, long
sections or perspective views.

This cookbook provides some ideas for converting two-dimensional linework into three
dimensions, with separate sections for surface and underground operations. Successfully turning
2-D linework into 3-D relies on having clean, topologically valid and fully attributed data, correctly
split wherever an attribute value changes. Please don’t try any of the following workflows until
your linework is at this level of readiness.

This document departs from my normal use of free and open source software (FOSS), since I’m
not aware of any FOSS applications capable of performing the following tasks. This means you’ll
have to use a commercial application, and I’ll use Micromine to illustrate the following workflows.
The results will be similar with other applications; only the workflow steps differ.

2 3-D DATA IN MICROMINE

All forms of vector data must have full 3-D coordinates before they can be displayed in
Micromine, although it’s perfectly valid for the values of one axis (usually Z) to be assigned a
constant value (usually zero). This is exactly the kind of data Micromine creates whenever you
import 2-D data from a vectoriser.

Although the Micromine user interface always labels the three coordinate prompts as East, North,
and Z (Figure 1), you can put the corresponding file fields in any order and give them any names
you want, as long as they make sense to you. We use the more generic Z for elevation simply
because the Z-axis has so many different names: the Americas prefer Elevation, whereas the
English tend to use RL (which is an abbreviation of the surveying term “Reduced Level”). And, of
course there is plain old Z and the more technical-looking ZC.

Figure 1: Typical 3-D coordinate input fields in Micromine

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Editable data

The steps in the following workflows only apply to editable data, such as points or strings
(polylines and polygons). Anything that can be represented in a STRING, DATA or related file is
suitable, which covers virtually all normal scenarios. And, anything in a non-editable format can
be temporarily converted to something editable.

3 ASSIGNING ELEVATIONS TO SURFACE MAPS

Maps of surface data are usually topologically simple, making them easy to convert into 3-D.
There are a few different ways to turn 2-D surface data into 3-D, which depend on the variability
of the elevations; for example contours, which have a constant elevation, are treated differently
from stream lines, which must flow down the side of a hill.

3-D elevations from existing surface topography

The most common way to assign elevations to surface data is by draping it onto a digital elevation
model (DEM), which is known as a digital terrain model (DTM) in Micromine. Draping is ideal
when you need to turn 2-D stream lines into 3-D lines, or to define the surface expression of a 3-D
geological model by assigning 3-D elevations to mapped geological polygons.

Digital elevation data is readily available from online sources like the USGS EarthExplorer.
Alternatively, you could create your own DTM from a LiDAR survey or 3-D contours and spot
heights. Although creating a DTM is outside the scope of this document you’ll learn about creating
3-D contours from 2-D data later on.

A DTM may be represented as a triangulated irregular surface (TIN) or as a raster, which are
respectively known as a wireframe and a grid surface in Micromine. Wireframes support both of
the following modes, whereas grid surfaces only support generating Z-values:

 Draping, which adjusts the elevations existing points onto the DTM and adds new points
wherever a line crosses a triangle edge.
 Generating Z-values, which only adjusts the elevations of existing points.

To drape editable data onto a wireframe:

1. Load into Vizex (Micromine’s viewing environment) the wireframe and data to be draped.
2. Click the Drape on Wireframe button on the String Tools toolbar and then follow the
instructions in the selection assistant.

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3. Alternatively, click the small arrow at right of the Drape on Wireframe button to Generate Z
from Wireframe.

If you need to assign elevations to many files you can automate the process by writing a script or
macro that incorporates the dialog-based versions instead, by using Strings | Utilities | Drape
onto Wireframe or DTM | Generate Z Values.

To generate new Z-values using a grid surface:

1. Load into Vizex the grid surface and data to be assigned

Although you don’t need to load the data, doing so will make it easier to inspect the result.

2. Select Grid | Generate Z Values from the main menu and choose the input and output files.
3. Choose an existing Z field, or create a new one for a before-and-after comparison.

Constant 3-D elevation (e.g. contour lines)

In a surface operation any map that comprises polylines with constant 3D elevations is usually
some sort of contour map, which may include open pit crest and toe lines. Because contours
never branch, cross over, or change value they are usually easy to assign elevations. Maps that
only include a few contours are easily assigned elevations by directly editing the properties of
each contour. For maps with lots of contours, the assign elevation tool is best.

Direct assignment

To assign a Z-value to one or more contours at the same elevation:

1. Click the first contour and then Ctrl+click any other contours at the same elevation.

Switch to the Properties window and enter the elevation into the corresponding Z-axis field (“RL”
in the screenshot). It’s as simple as that.

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Assign Elevation tool

Direct assignment can get tiresome when there are lots of contours, and in this situation it’s
better to use the Assign Elevation tool. To use this tool:

1. Determine the elevation of the first contour and the contour interval.
2. Draw a temporary string (polyline) in the uphill direction, making sure it crosses all of the
contours without crossing a spur or valley. A straight line is perfectly valid. (A complex map
might need more than one uphill line):

Drawing the uphill line. Contour line-endings

are labelled with elevation (currently zero).

3. Click the Assign Elevation button on the String Editor Tools toolbar and then follow the
instructions in the selection assistant.
4. Enter the start elevation, increment value, and elevation field when prompted, and then
click OK. Voila! New elevations:

Using a start elevation of 1160 metres and

an increment value (contour interval) of
40 m produces this result. Note how the two
short contours in the top right-hand corner
were not assigned elevations because they
did not cross the uphill line. (The contours at
the bottom aren’t labelled because their line
endings fall outside the view.)

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If you click on an updated contour and inspect the Properties window you’ll see that it now has
an elevation based on the rules you supplied. Simply repeat for any unassigned contours,
remembering, of course, that the uphill lines should never cross a spur or valley.

Constant gradient (e.g. a haul road centreline)

Lines with constant gradients aren’t common in surface operations, and a (haul) road centreline is
probably the best example of such a line. The Gradient tool, which can be used in a couple of
different ways, is the easiest way to assign a constant gradient to an existing centreline.

TIP: The side-strings of a curved road can’t be assigned a constant gradient because the gradient
changes in response to the curvature of the road. Clearly, the inside edge of a switchback is
steeper than the outside because it covers the same height over a shorter horizontal distance
than the outside. If you do need to assign elevations to side-strings, try the Creating centrelines
and Curved sidewalls methods from Inclined Workings section.

Known starting elevation and gradient

Sometimes you know the starting elevation and gradient of a line, and just need to calculate
elevations for the remaining points in that line. To apply a known gradient:

1. Make sure the first point in the line has the correct elevation.
2. Click the Gradient button on the String Editor Tools toolbar and then follow the instructions
in the selection assistant.
3. Select the Define string gradient option and enter the gradient value and units when
prompted, remembering that uphill gradients are positive and downhill gradients are
negative.

Constant gradient between points with known elevations

To apply a constant gradient between start and end points with known elevations:

1. Make sure the first and last points in the line have the correct elevations.
2. Click the Gradient button on the String Editor Tools toolbar and then follow the instructions
in the selection assistant.
3. Select the Smooth gradient between first and last point option.

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4 ASSIGNING ELEVATIONS TO UNDERGROUND MINE PLANS

Underground mine plans are rather complex and need a correspondingly complex workflow to
turn them into 3-D. Good data preparation is vital for dealing with this complexity, both in terms
the original 2-D lines and their modified 3-D versions.

Underground mines consist of overlapping horizontal, inclined, sub-vertical and vertical workings,
many of which may not have known elevations. Converting such data to 3-D is a bit like a solving
jigsaw puzzle: you start with the easiest pieces (the best-understood workings) and progressively
add others to the puzzle. Each piece you add then (hopefully) provides new clues for solving
others.

A quick disclaimer before we go any further: some of the workflows in this section require the
Micromine Wireframing or Mining modules.

Getting started

Begin by directly assigning everything a default elevation just below the deepest part of the mine.
This keeps the unassigned data close to the mine’s true 3-D location, making it easier for you to
interact with your data. Otherwise, the assigned and unassigned data will be too far apart and will
make the view unwieldy.

You can also use this default value as a simple way to identify data that hasn’t been given an
elevation. For example, if the bottom of the mine is at -500 m, assigning everything a slightly
unusual elevation of -511 gives you a unique number that’s easy to use in a filter or selection. Just
make sure it doesn’t correspond to a real elevation.

Always tag and attribute all underground workings with their type (level, decline, raise, etc.) and
name or level number beforehand. You can also assign elevations to horizontal workings at this
time if you know them. And, always ensure that the sidewall strings are correctly split wherever
the heading type changes, as illustrated in Part 4 of this blog. This especially important wherever a
heading changes from a decline to a level without an obvious line break.

Having good attributes makes it easier to use different workflows for horizontal, inclined, and
vertical workings and to work on an individual level without being distracted by other levels.

A basic workflow

Every mine plan is different and there’s no set workflow for turning 2-D lines into 3-D. But, after
working with a few different mine plans I’ve developed a basic order of events for processing

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underground workings, which seems to make things go fairly smoothly. The following pages
explain the individual stages:

1. Horizontal level workings are usually well-understood and processing them first creates a 3-D
framework that helps with the remaining data:

Assign elevations

2. Straight inclined workings include ore-passes, raises, winzes, etc. that are represented with
sidewalls:

Snap start and end points to relevant level workings;

Assign a smooth gradient to intermediate points

3. Declines (known elevations at both ends). Steps 3 and 4 mostly apply to declines but can be
used with any curved and inclined mine workings, including surface haul road side-strings:

Create centreline;
Snap centreline start and end points to relevant level workings;
Assign a smooth gradient to intermediate points.
Create temporary sidewalls and DTM;
Assign elevations to actual sidewalls.

4. Declines (known elevation at one end):

Create centreline;
Snap centreline start or end point;
Apply a constant gradient (must be known beforehand);
Create temporary sidewalls and DTM;
Assign elevations to actual sidewalls.

5. Workings represented by centrelines usually applies to workings given an assumed profile

such as planned development, or existing vent raises, ore-passes, and shafts, which are
usually just shown as a centreline.

Use Vizex string editing tools to create 3-D centrelines.

Level workings

To assign a Z-value to one or more horizontal workings at the same elevation:

1. Click the first sidewall string and then Ctrl+click any other sidewalls at the same elevation.
2. Switch to the Properties window and enter the elevation into the corresponding Z-axis field.

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Inclined workings

Underground mine plans typically represent existing mine workings as sidewall strings. Although
this faithfully projects the workings onto the plane of the drawing it adds complexity when
converting inclined workings back into three dimensions. This is because the sidewalls of curved
and inclined workings (like declines) can’t be assigned a constant gradient without “twisting” the
floor: the inside curve of a decline is steeper than the outside because it covers the same height
over a shorter horizontal distance, the gradient then varies in response to the curvature of the
decline, which causes the twist.

One way to accurately assign elevations to curved sidewalls is to create a centreline as discussed
below and then use the Curved Sidewalls method described later in this section.

Ore-passes, raises and winzes, which are generally straight, are not affected.

Creating centrelines

There are two ways to create a centreline from a pair of sidewalls:

 By manually stitching the centreline from the sidewalls using Snap Mode together with the
Between Tool, and
 Using the new Sidewall to Centreline option (Mining | Underground Tools | Sidewall to
Centreline) to be released in Micromine 2016.

Given that Micromine 2016 is yet-to-be-released I’ll focus on the stitching method. Although it’s a
manual process it’s very quick and should only take a couple of minutes to create each centreline.

Figure 2: Using Snap Mode and the Between Tool to create a centreline. Grey = sidewall strings; blue
dashes = path of mouse, alternating between left and right sides; black = resulting centreline. Note how
the centreline starts at the intersecting level working (at top) and ignores the cuddy (at bottom).

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To manually stitch a decline centreline:

1. Display the sidewall strings in Vizex.

2. Use the Select Active Layer control to create a new string file.
3. Enable Snap Mode and the Between Tool on the String Editor toolbar.
4. Press N or click the New String button to create a new string.
5. Working your way along the decline, snap to points on each side of the decline, always
alternating between the left and right sidewalls, as shown on Figure 2.

Remember: you must always click twice when using the Between Tool. It will only add a point
to the centreline once you click a second time.

6. Keep going until you reach the end of the decline (or the intersection with a level working).

If the decline starts or ends at a wall or intersection, be sure to snap to the left and right sides
of that wall or the centreline won’t be long enough to cover the whole decline.

From here you can apply one of the following gradient methods.

Workings with known starting elevation and gradient

Use this method when you know the starting elevation and gradient of an inclined line and just
need to calculate elevations for the remaining points in that line. To apply a known gradient:

1. Make sure the first point in the line has the correct elevation by snapping it to a connected
level working that has already been assigned an elevation.
2. Click the Gradient button on the String Editor Tools toolbar and then follow the instructions
in the selection assistant.

Figure 3: Scanned drill traces (linework at bottom) converted to 3-D from a starting elevation and gradient

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3. Select the Define string gradient option and enter the gradient value and units when
prompted, remembering that uphill gradients are positive and downhill gradients are
negative.

This method also applies to drillholes that are projected into plan-plan view on a mine drawing, as
shown on Figure 3. Provided the vectoriser has picked up the horizontal projection of the drill
trace, you know the collar elevation, and the hole’s inclination is printed on the drawing, you can
use the Gradient tool to reconstruct its original 3-D trajectory and length.

Workings with known endpoint elevations

To apply a constant gradient between start and end points with known elevations (for example
between two different levels):

1. Make sure the first and last points in the line have the correct elevations by snapping them to
connected level workings at either end that have already been assigned elevations.
2. Click the Gradient button on the String Editor Tools toolbar and then follow the instructions
in the selection assistant.
3. Select the Smooth gradient between first and last point option.

Curved sidewalls

Centrelines are the only way to accurately assign a gradient to curved and inclined mine workings.
However, the sidewalls obviously have to be assigned some sort of elevation before they can be
used to create 3-D solids. The trick is to do it in stages, starting with the centreline. The result is a
pair of sidewall strings that always produces a level floor:

1. Assign a gradient to the centreline, as above.

2. Create temporary sidewalls from the centreline, which are wider than the original sidewalls.
3. Create a temporary DTM from the temporary sidewalls.
4. Use the temporary DTM to generate new Z-values for the real sidewalls.

Here’s how it goes. It starts the same way as the Workings with known endpoints method:

1. Make note of the width of the original decline.

2. Make sure the first and last points in the centreline have the correct elevations.
3. Click the Gradient button and then follow the instructions in the selection assistant.
4. Select the Smooth gradient between first and last point option.

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And from there:

5. Click the Generate Sidewalls button on the String Tools toolbar and follow the instructions in
the selection assistant to create temporary sidewall strings (shown in black in the following
diagram). Make sure they are wider than the actual decline sidewalls:

6. Click the Create DTM button on the String Tools toolbar and follow the instructions in the
selection assistant to build a temporary DTM, using the sidewalls as both input data and
restriction string.

If you’re building a decline, work in sections to avoid crossovers with other levels.

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7. Click the Drape on Wireframe button on the String Tools toolbar and drape the actual decline
sidewalls onto the temporary DTM:

8. Delete the temporary sidewalls and temporary DTM. Keep the centreline; if required you can
reuse it to reproduce your work.

5 CREATING UNDERGROUND MINE SOLIDS FROM 3-D LINEWORK

Once the linework for the entire mine has been tagged, attributed and converted to 3-D you can
then turn it into wireframe solids. Because of Micromine’s toolbox approach there are many
different ways to create solids of underground mine workings, which apply to a number of
different scenarios.

Getting started

The following workflows need the sidewall strings to be closed polygons, so begin by duplicating
the 3-D linework file. You can then close the strings in the duplicate without risking the integrity
of your original linework.

Next, decide how closely you want the new wireframe solids to match the original linework,
which controls how you close the strings:

 A single, continuous wireframe per level: This method is fast and relatively simple, but
everything on that level will look the same:

Simply join all of the strings on each level and finish by closing any remaining opening(s).

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 Individual wireframes based on sidewall attributes: This method produces a more

representative result, although it creates internal barriers that can be problematic if you want
to use the solids for an underground fly-through animation.

Join all of the sidewall strings for each individual working.

Note that this will mean closing each end along with any openings that branch to other
workings (Figure 4). The closures then become internal walls between adjoining solids.

Before After

Figure 4: Joining and closing sidewall strings of a decline before converting them to solids. Note how the
openings to adjoining headings are also closed. Isometric view looking NE.

Once the polygons are closed you can then convert them to solids. Although closing and
converting are described separately, in reality you would complete both steps on each working
before moving onto the next.

Workflows

The following workflows are robust enough to be used with mine designs (which usually have
centrelines and implied simplified profile shapes) and as-built drawings (which are typically very
irregular). They fall into a number of different categories, all of which assume the input sidewall
strings are already closed:

1. Near-horizontal sidewall strings; rectangular profile shape:

Create floor DTM; use Surface to Solid to convert to solid, or

Create roof and floor DTMs; use sidewall polygons as cookie-cutter

2. Near-horizontal sidewall strings; non-rectangular profile shape (e.g. arched roof):

Use Sidewall to Solid function

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3. Centrelines in any orientation (including vertical); any profile shape:

Use Centreline to Solid function.

Optionally use Sidewall to Centreline function (Micromine 2016 or later) to convert
sidewalls to centrelines beforehand.

4. Profile shapes at ends:

Interactively link profiles as if building a geological wireframe

Near-horizontal sidewall strings; rectangular profile shape

Creating underground mine workings with rectangular profile shapes can be done in a couple of
different ways using wireframing tools.

a. Floor DTM b. Created solid with sidewall polygons

c. Resulting solid “cookie cut” against the sidewall polygons

Figure 5: Using sidewall polygons to create 3-D coal mine solids from a floor DTM

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The first method works best for mines in stratigraphic deposits such as coal or potash, which have
a large horizontal extent with a single or small number of levels. It relies on creating a floor
surface that covers the entire level. To do so:

1. Click the Create DTM button on the String Tools toolbar and build a temporary floor surface
covering the entire level (Figure 5a; use the sidewall polygon file as input if you don’t have
another source).
2. Select Wireframe | Operations | Surface to Solid and use the temporary floor surface as both
the top and bottom surface. Enter a top Z-offset corresponding to the height of the workings.
3. Load into Vizex the sidewall polygon file and newly created solid (Figure 5b).
4. Click the Cut Wireframe button on the Wireframe Tools toolbar and follow the instructions in
the selection assistant (Figure 5c).

The second method works best for hardrock mines with a large vertical extent and many different
mining levels. It involves creating a separate wireframe for each mine working:

1. Click the Create DTM button on the String Tools toolbar and build a temporary DTM using the
sidewall polygon as input data and restriction string (Figure 6a).
2. Select Wireframe | Operations | Surface to Solid and use the temporary DTM as both the
top and bottom surface. Enter a top surface Z-offset corresponding to the height of the
workings (Figure 6b).

a. Temporary DTM b. Resulting solid

Figure 6: Creating individual 3-D mine solids from sidewall polygons

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Near-horizontal sidewall strings; non-rectangular profile shape

A limitation of the two preceding methods is that they don’t create solids with a realistic profile
shape. If creating headings with the correct profile is important you can use the Sidewall to Solid
tool instead:

Figure 7: Converting sidewall polygons directly to solids (MM 2016 shown)

1. Working with one sidewall polygon at a time (use a filter), select Mining | Underground Tools
| Sidewall to Solid with the filtered sidewall polygon file as the input (Figure 7).

Note: The Sidewall to Solid function is under heavy development in Micromine 2016.

Figure 8: Creating a vent raise from a centreline and profile shape

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Centrelines in any orientation; any profile shape

Certain underground openings such as declines, vent raises and ore-passes are often represented
using a simple centreline, either because they are very simple or are yet to be constructed. Their
actual 3-D shape is implied by their profile shape and the diameter or height and width
documented on the mine plan. To create a solid from a centreline:

1. Working with one centreline at a time (use a filter), select Wireframe | Create from Strings
|Centre Line to Solid with the filtered centreline file as the input.
2. Define the profile shape properties and use the X and Y offsets to position it in relation to the
centreline (Figure 8).

Profile shapes at ends of straight structures

A limitation of the centreline-to-solid method is that it doesn’t know how to orient the profile
shapes of vertical openings like shafts. (For all other orientations the top of the profile always
faces upwards.) Fortunately the shaft on most mine plans is shown as an outline where it meets
each level (Figure 9a), and it’s easy to manually link these profile outlines to form a solid as if you
were building a geological wireframe:

1. Ensure there is a profile at the start and end of the structure. If not, right-click an existing profile
and use Copy/Move Strings to create a duplicate at the right location (Figure 9b).
2. Use the Select Active Layer control to create a new wireframe.
3. Select the Build Wireframe tool on the Wireframe Editing toolbar and then click the two
profiles to link them together (Figure 9c).
4. Optionally click the Close Holes button on the Wireframe Editing toolbar to close the ends
and make the wireframe into a solid.

a. Shaft outline at level b. Duplicate at next level c. Resulting shaft solid

(for illustration only) (to surface)

Figure 9: Linking shaft outlines between levels to form a wireframe solid

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6 CONCLUSION

This document has introduced some of the ways to turn 2-D linework acquired by scanning and
vectorising into 3-D linework, and to turn that linework into 3-D solids.

Many different kinds of linework can be mapped at surface or underground, and there are many
ways to turn that information into 3-D. Surface data is the easiest to use, with methods ranging
from simply assigning an elevation to a contour to making a stream flow down a hillside by
draping it onto a digital terrain model.

Linework from an underground mine plan is much more complex, partly because of the geometric
complexity of a typical mine and partly because it’s harder to obtain reliable elevation data
underground. By grouping mine workings into different categories (levels, declines, raises, passes,
shafts etc.) and starting with the best-understood workings, you can progressively assign
elevations to less-understood workings, adding pieces to the jigsaw as you go.

Once you convert underground linework to 3-D you can then apply a range of different solid-
creation tools to turn it into wireframe solids, such as converting surfaces to solids and “cookie
cutting” them with sidewall polygons; or using the sidewall to solid tool, the centreline to solid
tool; or by manually linking profiles as if they were geological polygons.

As always, please feel free to leave a comment if you’d like to know more about any of the
preceding workflows, or if you have some ideas of your own.

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