qCompass - Trace Tool

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12olc
Posts: 2
Joined: Sat Mar 24, 2018 8:11 pm

qCompass - Trace Tool

Post by 12olc »

Hi,

I'm looking to map some joints and am trying to use the trace tool in the Compass plugin. Once I trace and accept the feature I can't seen to find where the orientation of the new plane is or how to export them.
Sorry for the novice question, I'm new to the program.

Thank you!
SamThiele
Posts: 3
Joined: Mon Apr 10, 2017 10:44 pm

Re: qCompass - Trace Tool

Post by SamThiele »

Hi 12olc,

Compass doesn't fit-planes to traces by default, as this can get annoying when tracing things like contacts (that might not be planar). To make the plugin fit a plane you need to either:
(1) Press "Shift+Enter" rather than "Enter" when accepting the trace, or;
(2) Activate "Fit Planes" in the trace menu (next to the undo button).

Once a fit-planes has been computed it should appear in the DB Tree as a Plane object who's name gives the dip and dip-direction. After you've finished digitizing your joints, you can then export all the planes in the workspace to a friendly .csv format using the export button in Compass (save icon).

Finally, it is worth noting that Compass will refuse to fit a plane to a trace that is close to co-linear (as this can give very misleading results). When this happens a warning will appear in the console - though if you are certain that you want to compute a best fit plane then you can select the trace and fit a plane using Edit->Plane->Fit. Just beware that the trace may not contain enough 3D information to actually constrain the 3D orientation of your structure!

Hope this helps,
Sam
12olc
Posts: 2
Joined: Sat Mar 24, 2018 8:11 pm

Re: qCompass - Trace Tool

Post by 12olc »

That's exactly what I was looking for, Thanks Sam!
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