Outersect one 3DM by another

You use this function to create a new 3DM by intersecting two 3DMs and saving the triangles of the first (that is, outersected) 3DM which are outside the second 3DM and the triangles of the second (that is, outersecting) 3DM which are inside the first 3DM. For example, you can model a solid that represents an ore body with a decline driven through it. You can save the line of contact between the two 3DMs to a specified string number.

To run this function: Choose Solids > Solids tools > File Intersection > Outersect solids, or...

In the Function Chooser, type TRISOLATION FILE 3DM/3DM OUTERSECT, and press ENTER.

If there is no region of intersection between the triangles of the two trisolations the function will store the appropriate combination of the two input trisolations as the result.

Fields on the Outersect one 3DM by another to create a new 3DM form

Field	Description
Define the objects to be outersected
Location	The file name and location for the 3DM you want to outersect.
Id number	The ID number of the 3DM you want to outersect.
Object range	The objects in the 3DM that you want to outersect.
Trisolation range	The trisolations in the 3DM that you want to want to outersect.
Retain other trisolations	Selected: Any other trisolations that exist in this file are copied to the results file. Cleared: Only the intersection results are saved in the results file.
Define the outersecting object
Location	The file name and location for the outersecting 3DM.
Id number	The ID number for the outersecting 3DM.
Object number	The objects in the 3DM that you want to use to outersect.
Trisolation number	The trisolations in the 3DM that you want to use to outersect.
Define result file to be created
Location	The name and location of the file created from the outersection.
Id number	The ID number of the file created from the outersection.
Use outersected object ID number	Selected: The Object ID numbers of the outersected objects are used to name the result file. Cleared: The Object number and Add. object number fields are used to name the result file.
Object number	The object number for the resulting trisolations.
Add. object number	The additional object number. This contains the resulting trisolations that are in the region of intersection between the outersecting and outersected 3DMs.
Contact string	Selected: The line of contact between the two 3DMs is saved to a string in the result file. Cleared: The line of contact between the 3DMs is not saved.

Result

The trisolations that result from this operation are stored in the objects defined by the Object number and Add. object number parameters.

This results storage occurs as follows:

If there is an area of intersection between the triangles of the two trisolations, the result trisolations are written to the Object number object.
If the outersected trisolations are entirely outside the intersecting object, the outersected trisolations are written to the Object number object.
If there is no intersection between the two trisolations, and one trisolation is not entirely inside the other trisolation, the outersected trisolation is written to the Object numberobject.
If there is no region of intersection and the outersecting trisolation is entirely inside the outersected trisolation, the outersecting trisolations are written to the Add. object number object.

The neighbour lists of the result trisolations is set automatically and the direction of the trisolations are set to SOLID by default.

Troubleshooting

This function works without errors in the majority of cases. However, for certain data sets you might find that the function either stops with a warning message during processing, or produces a result which is not closed. These errors occur because the function has not been able to create new triangles along the line of intersection of the two trisolations to join them together smoothly. These problems arise because of one of the following conditions:

a vertex of a triangle of one of the trisolations is very close to a vertex of a triangle of the other trisolation
a vertex of a triangle of one of the trisolations is very close to an edge of a triangle of the other trisolation
an edge of a triangle of one of the trisolations is very close to an edge of a triangle of the other trisolation

If you see this error you should display the two trisolations in Graphics and examine the region (or regions) where the two trisolations intersect to check for these conditions, and make appropriate adjustments to correct the problem. After making some changes, and saving them, you can attempt to perform the intersection again.

An alternative is that you could use String Maths to shift all the points of one of the trisolations by a small amount, for example, at the second or third decimal place, and attempt the intersection again.

Message	Description
`There is no region of intersection between the two trisolations`	No result will be created because an intersection cannot be found.
`The neighbours of the first trisolation have not been set`	The neighbours for the two trisolations should be set using the Validation functions from the Solids menu.
`The neighbours of the second trisolation have not been set`	The neighbours for the two trisolations should be set using the Validation functions from the Solids menu.
`The first trisolation is not closed`	You can check that the two trisolations are closed using the Validate functions.
`The second trisolation is not closed`	You can check that the two trisolations are closed using the Validate functions.
`The direction of the first trisolation has not been set`	The directions for the two trisolations should be set using the Validation functions from the Solids menu.
`The direction of the second trisolation has not been set`	The directions for the two trisolations should be set using the Validation functions from the Solids menu.
`The maximum number of consolidations has occurred`	More than 50 CONSOLIDATION restarts have occurred. You can resolve this issue by shifting the position of triangle vertices of one of the trisolations slightly.
`The line of intersection is not closed`	The line of intersection between the two trisolations must be closed, or the trisolation intersection functions cannot be performed.
`Fatal retriangulation error Fatal error in calculations module`	You need to shift the position of triangle vertices of one of the trisolations slightly.
`Extent of data is too large to give accurate results with current settings`	The spread of the data is too large to give accurate results with the current settings of the sensitivity parameters in the CONSOLIDATION module. To comply with the current settings (that is, the minimum intersection segment length of 0.001 units), the spread of the data must not exceed 100000 units.

Note: If either of the input trisolations has validated=false, then the function will stop with an error message. If either of the input trisolations has not had the validated flag set then the WARNING: 3DM NOT YET FORMALLY VALIDATED form is displayed.