Plotting in

SURPAC
May 2007

www.gemcomsoftware.com

Copyright 2007 Surpac Minex Group Pty Ltd (A Gemcom Company). All rights
reserved.
This software and documentation is proprietary to Surpac Minex Group Pty Ltd.
Surpac Minex Group Pty Ltd publishes this documentation for the sole use of Surpac
licenses. Without written permission you may not sell, reproduce, store in a retrieval system,
or transmit any part of the documentation. For such permission, or to obtain extra copies
please contact your local Surpac Minex Group Office.
Surpac Minex Group Pty Ltd
Level 8 190 St Georges Terrace
Perth, Western Australia 6000
Telephone: (08) 94201383
Fax: (08) 94201350
While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this manual, we assume no
responsibility for errors or omissions. Neither is any liability assumed for damage resulting
from the use of the information contained herein.
All brand and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective
companies.
About This Manual
This manual has been designed to provide a practical guide to the many uses of the software.
The applications contained within this manual are by no means exhaustive as the possible
uses of the software are only limited by the users imagination. However, it will give new users
a starting point and existing users a good overview by demonstrating how to use many of the
functions in Surpac. If you have any difficulties or questions while working through this
manual feel free to contact your local Surpac Minex Group Office.
Contributors
Rowdy Bristol
Phil Jackson
Kirin Kumar
Surpac Minex Group
Perth, Western Australia
Product
Surpac 6

Table of Contents
Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 1
Autoplot...................................................................................................................................... 2
Workflow .................................................................................................................................... 2
Plan View Plotting...................................................................................................................... 4
Three Dimensional Plotting ....................................................................................................... 8
Section Plotting........................................................................................................................ 10
File-based plotting ................................................................................................................... 33
Importing/Exporting Maps and Entities.................................................................................... 59
Plan View Map of Drillhole Traces........................................................................................... 62
Section View Map of Drillhole Data ......................................................................................... 65
Creating Multi-Viewport Maps ................................................................................................. 71
Title Block Definitions .............................................................................................................. 91
Appendix 1: Plot Priorities ...................................................................................................... 98

ii

Introduction
In Surpac you can create plots using:

Autoplot

File-based plotting

Autoplot is essentially What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG) plotting from the Surpac
graphics environment. It is simple and easy to use.
File-based plotting allows you to perform more complex plotting functions.

Requirements
Prior to proceeding with this tutorial, you should ensure you have the following items:
A copy of the software for installation. This is usually installed from a CD, but the
software can be downloaded from the www.surpac.com website.
Objectives
The objective of this document is to enable you to plot from Surpac.

Autoplot
Overview
You can create plan, section, or three-dimensional plots of data with Autoplot.

Workflow
The Autoplot process is outlined below:

There are two mandatory steps to create a plot file with Autoplot:
1.

Display the data to be plotted.

Display data in graphics

String files

DTM files

Database

Block models

Plug-ins

Display data in
graphics

String styles, colour, marker styles and text are all plotted as they are displayed in graphics.
2.

Run Autoplot and specify parameters such as sheet size, scale, etc.

Run Autoplot
Enter
Presentation
Parameters

Run Autoplot

Enter title
block text

Enter grid
parameters

Plan View Plotting

Task: Use Autoplot to Plot Data
1.

Open the file soil1.str by dragging it into graphics.

2.

From the Display menu, select Hide strings, then By selection.

Click the strings that you do not want in the final plot. For example, string 1000
represents the soil sample locations and should not be plotted as a line.

3.

Click ESC to exit the Hide strings function.

You should have an image on screen like the following:

4.

From the Display menu, select Point, then Markers.

5.

Enter the information as shown, and then click Apply.

6.

From the Display menu, select Point, then Attributes.

7.

Enter the information as shown, and then click Apply.

The display is updated with the soil sample locations and grades displayed.

8.

From the Plotting menu, select Autoplot.

9.

Enter the information as shown, and then click Apply.

10.

Click and drag to select a small area of the screen to plot.

The scale is calculated to fit the A3 paper size.

11.

Enter the information as shown, and then click Apply.

12.

Enter an interval of 100 for X and Y Grid Lines, select full lines for your Grid Type, then
click Apply.

At this point the plot will be processed and the Navigator will be updated. In this
case, the layer name is soil1.str so the resultant plot file will be soil1_str.dwf.
Surpac starts the Plot Preview window with the file displayed as shown.

13.

From the File menu, select Close to close the Plot Preview window.

14.

Click the Reset graphics icon

Three Dimensional Plotting

You can create a plot of any data, including solids, block models, etc in any three-dimensional
orientation with Autoplot.

Task: Create a Three Dimensional Plot

1.

Open three_dimensional_view.swa.

2.

Click the Autoplot icon

3.

Enter the information as shown, and then click Apply.

The plot is displayed in the Plot Preview window.

4.

From the File menu, select Close to exit the Plot Preview window.

5.

Click Reset graphics

If you have difficulty with these steps, run _01a_autoplot_3d.tcl, and click Apply on each
form that is displayed.

Section Plotting
When a section has been created, and the data is in the section plane, two options are
enabled in Autoplot:

Plan strips

Batch sections

You can create a plot with an XY (plan) view as well as a section view with the Plan strip
option. You can create plots of multiple sections using the Batch sections option.
Task: Create a Simple Section Plot
1.

Open topo1.str.

2.

Open ore_solid1.str.

3.

Open surpac.ddb.

4.

From the Database menu, select Display, then Drillholes.

5.

Enter the information as shown, and then click Apply.

10

The data in the two string files and the drillhole traces are displayed.

6.

From the Database menu, select Sections, then Define.

7.

Enter the information as shown, and then click Apply.

8.

From the Database menu, select Display, then Drillholes.

11

9.

Enter the information as shown on the Geology patterns tab.

Enter the information as shown on the Labels tab, and then click Apply.

Note: Right click in the empty space below the first row and select Add to add a second row
to the table.

12

The data is displayed as shown.

Notice that the section number is displayed in the Status bar at the bottom of the window
.
10.

From the Database menu, select Sections, then Next.

Notice that the Next section icon

is displayed on the toolbar.

13

11.

Click the Next section icon

until the 7320 section is displayed, as shown.

Note: If you have difficulty with these steps, click the Reset graphics icon
section_7320_north.swa.
.

12.

Click the Autoplot icon

13.

Enter the information as shown, and then click Apply.

14

, then open

14.

Press the F1 key.

15.

Left click and drag in graphics to move the box as shown.

16.

Press the F2 key.

17.

Enter the information as shown, and then click Apply.

15

The file section.dwf is created and displayed in the Plot Preview window as shown.

18.

From the File menu, select Close to close the Plot Preview window.

19.

Click Reset graphics

If you have difficulty with these steps, run _01b_autoplot_section.tcl, and click Apply on
each form that is displayed.

16

Task: Create a Section Plot with a Plan Strip

1.

Drag and drop section_7320_north.swa to display the data as in the previous task.

2.

Click the Autoplot icon

3.

Enter the information as shown, and then click Apply.

4.

Press the F1 key.

17

5.

Left click and drag in graphics to move the box.

6.

Press the F2 key.

7.

Enter the information as shown, and then click Apply.

18

The file section_with_plan.dwf is created and displayed in the Plot Preview window, as
shown.

8.

From the File menu, select Close to close the Plot Preview window.

9.

Click Reset graphics

If you have difficulty with these steps, run _01c_autoplot_section_plan_strip.tcl, and click
Apply on each form that is displayed.

Task: Create Multiple Section Plots

1.

Drag and drop section_7320_north.swa to display the data in section view.

2.

Click the Autoplot icon

19

3.

Enter the information as shown.

4.

Click the Batch sections tab.

5.

Enter the information as shown, and then click Apply.

20

6.

Press the F1 key.

7.

Click and drag to move the box as shown:

8.

Press the F2 key.

9.

Enter the information as shown, and then click Apply.

The following files will be created:

Northing
7320
7360
7400
7440

Filename
multi_section.dwf
multi_section_01.dwf
multi_section_02.dwf
multi_section_03.dwf

21

10.

Drag and drop multi_section.dwf to display the plot.

11.

Drag and drop multi_section_01.dwf to display the plot.

22

12.

Drag and drop multi_section_02.dwf to display the plot.

13.

Drag and drop multi_section_03.dwf to display the plot.

14.

From the File menu, select Close to close the Plot Preview Window.

If you have difficulty with these steps, run _01d_autoplot_multiple_sections.tcl, and click
Apply on each form that is displayed.

23

Task: Create a Title Block for Multiple Section Plots

1.

From the Plotting menu, select Plotting Sheet setup window.

2.

From the Title Blocks menu, select Copy.

3.

Enter the information as shown, and then click Apply.

24

4.

Click and drag the right and left mouse buttons and/or use the mouse wheel to zoom
the title block, as shown.

5.

From the Title Blocks menu, select Edit, then Delete item.

6.

Click the text Plan No. to delete it.

7.

From the Title Blocks menu, select Create, then Autoplot section details.

8.

Click near the previous location of Plan No..

25

9.

Enter the information as shown, and then click Apply.

Note: Insert a space after the last character of the Prefix, and before the first character of
the Suffix. For example, the Northing Prefix is Section<space>:<space>.

The field name [Autoplot section] is displayed in the title block.

10.

From the Title Blocks menu, select Save.

11.

From the File menu, select Close to close the Plot Preview window.

The MULTI_SEC title block is now ready for use in Autoplot when plotting sections.
12.

Click Reset graphics

26

Task: Create Multiple Section Plots

1.

Drag and drop section_7320_north+solid.swa to display a section with a solid model.

2.

Right click to the right of the menus, move the cursor to Toolbars, and then click Scale
and transparency.

3.

Drag the transparency slider to set the transparency of triangles to 50%.

27

4.

Click the Autoplot icon

5.

Enter the information as shown.

Notice that when you select the Drawing area of VA1B in Plot content, the only available
option in the Optional content Drawing area is VA1T. The software only allows you to select
drawing areas which are appropriate for the selected sheet size, and for one another.

28

6.

Click the Batch section tab.

7.

Enter the information as shown.

8.

Click the Legends tab.

9.

Enter the information as shown, and then click Apply.

29

10.

Enter the information as shown, and then click Apply.

11.

Press the F1 key.

12.

Click and drag to move the box as shown.

13.

Press the F2 key.

14.

Enter the information as shown, and then click Apply.

30

The following files will be created:

Northing
7320
7360
7400
7440

Filename
multi_solid_section.dwf
multi_ solid_section_01.dwf
multi_ solid_section_02.dwf
multi_ solid_section_03.dwf

15.

Drag and drop multi_solid_section.dwf to display the plot in the Plot Preview window.

16.

Click and drag the right and left mouse buttons and/or use the mouse wheel to zoom in
on the title block as shown:

Notice that the Section number has been automatically appended to the title block.

31

17.

Click and drag the right and left mouse buttons and/or use the mouse wheel to zoom in
on the legend:

18.

Drag and drop each of the files that was created:

multi_solid_section_01.dwf
multi_solid_section_02.dwf
multi_solid_section_03.dwf

If you have difficulty with these steps, run _01e_autoplot_multiple_solid_sections.tcl.

Note: This macro will only run correctly if the title block MULTI_SEC has been created, as
described in the previous task.

32

File-based plotting
Workflow for File-based plotting

33

Overview
File-based plotting allows you to produce more complex plots.
For File-based plotting, Surpac needs to know where to find the data, what to plot, and also
how to plot the data.
Before you produce a plot in Surpac you must first define a Map. The map definition details
what is to be plotted.
Maps consist of Entities, which refer to the set of instructions that indicates to Surpac how to
plot the data.
Entity definitions consist of smaller groups of instructions called Attributes.
An Attribute provides information such as:

what is to be plotted (e.g. a line, symbol, text, point number etc.)

which fields of a string file to plot

where to plot data

how to plot text (e.g. height, angle)

which pen to use

34

In this chapter you will learn how to create the following maps:

Example 1

Example 2
These maps contain the three types of entities in Surpac.
These are:

Sheet entities - presentation aspects e.g. grid, title block, border

String entities - physical features stored as strings

Note entities - tables printed from files containing text data

String and note entities are created and modified within Surpac.
Sheet entities are created and modified via the Sheet entities window interface and are stored
in a collection of files called sheets.ssi, borders.ssi, drwareas.ssi, grids.ssi, titles.ssi that
are in the \ssi\share\etc\plotting directory.

35

Task: Create an Ore Block Plan

You will generate a plot of some ore block strings kbb135.str using an existing entity called
ORE BLOCK, within an existing map definition called ORE BLOCKS.
The entity is made up of two operations: a line operation which draws a line around the ore
block and a string operation which plots a text description field at the centre of the ore block.
1.

From the Plotting menu, select Entity, then Edit.

2.

Select ORE BLOCK from the list, then click Apply.

3.

View the displayed Define a String Entity form which defines the ORE BLOCK entity.

36

4.

After reviewing the Define a String Entity form, click Cancel.

5.

From the Plotting menu, select Map, then Edit.

6.

Select the ORE BLOCKS map definition, and then click Apply.

The form will now display the fields as shown:

7.

Click Cancel.

8.

From the Plotting menu, select Process, then Map.

9.

Select ORE BLOCKS in the displayed table, and then click Apply.

37

10.

Enter the information as shown, and then click Apply.

Notice that the checkbox Display plot after processing has been ticked. This will
open the map in the Plot Preview window so you can view it before plotting.

38

11.

Enter the information as shown on the next two forms, and then click Apply.

A *.dwf file is created based on the name of the map definition.

i.e. in this case the first processed map will be called oreblocks.dwf with subsequent maps
called oreblocks_01.dwf, then oreblocks_02.dwf, oreblocks_03 etc.
The map is displayed in the Plot Preview window.

39

12.

From the Plot Preview window menu, select Create, then Text.

13.

Click a point for the text to be displayed in the plot, fill in the form as shown, and then
click Apply.

14.

Click ESC to terminate the input text mode.

15.

From the File menu, select Save, then click Apply to save the file.

Note: You can edit *.dwf files with a CAD package such as Autocad or Microstation.

40

Task: View Data for Plotting

1.

Open pit1.str.

2.

From the Display menu, select Hide everything.

Note: The alias for Hide everything is CS ( for Clear Screen). In all following cases where
you wish to hide everything, type CS into the function chooser and then press ENTER.
3.

From the Display menu, select Strings, then With strings numbers.

4.

Fill in the form as shown, then click Apply.

Notice that string 1 contains the crest and toe strings for the pit.

41

5.

Type CS into the function chooser, then press ENTER.

6.

From the Display menu, select Strings, then With strings numbers.

7.

Fill in the form as shown, and then click Apply.

Notice that string 2 contains the pit boundary.

8.

Type CS into the function chooser, then press ENTER.

9.

From the Display menu, select Strings, then With strings numbers.

10.

Fill in the form as shown, and then click Apply.

42

Notice that string 1000 contains the ramp.

11.

Type PS (for Plot Strings) into the function chooser, then press ENTER.

12.

Fill in the form as shown, and then click Apply.

In this example, string 9999 will not be plotted.

13.

Click Reset graphics

43

14.

Open site1.str.

15.

From the Display menu, select Strings, then With strings numbers.

16.

Enter the information as shown, and then click Apply.

Notice that there are three segments for string 1 and a single segment for string 100.

17.

Type CS into the function chooser, and then press ENTER.

18.

From the Display menu, select Strings, then As lines.

44

19.

Enter the information as shown, and then click Apply.

20.

From the View menu, select Window, then In.

21.

Click and drag a box around the shape to window in.

22.

Press ESC to terminate the window in function.

23.

From the Display menu, select Point, then Attributes.

45

24.

Enter the information as shown, and then click Apply.

Notice that the d1 attribute is displayed at the centroid of the shape.

25.

Click Reset graphics

26.

Open bor1.str.

46

27.

From the Display menu, select Strings, then With strings numbers.

28.

Enter the information as shown, and then click Apply.

Notice that the points are all in string 1.

29.

Type CS into the function chooser, then press ENTER.

30.

From the Display menu, select Point, then Markers.

31.

Enter the information as shown, and then click Apply.

47

32.

From the Display menu, select Points, then Attributes.

33.

Enter the information as shown, and then click Apply.

Notice that the d1 field is plotted above the markers.

48

34.

From the Display menu, select Points, then Attributes.

35.

Enter the information as shown, and then click Apply.

Notice that the d2 attribute is plotted below the marker.

36.

Use a text editor such as Notepad or Context to open bor1.not.

You will see that it contains the following:

49

Task: Create a bore hole location plan

Based on what you have seen in the previous task, your map will contain the following:
File

String Number

Drawn as

pit1.str

1,2;1000

Black line

site1.str

Green line

site1.str

100

D1 at centroid

bor1.str

Marker, D1 above, D2 below

bor1.not

Text in top right corner

1.

From the Plotting menu, select Entity, then New.

2.

Enter the information as shown, and then click Apply.

3.

Select the Line Operations tab and tick the checkbox for Use line operation.

4.

Enter the information as shown, and then click Apply.

5.

From the Plotting menu, select Entity, then New.

6.

Enter the information as shown, and then click Apply.

50

7.

Enter the information as shown, and then click Apply.

8.

From the Plotting menu, select Entity, then New.

9.

Enter the information as shown, and then click Apply.

51

10.

On the Point operations tab number 1, enter the information as shown.

11.

Select Point operations tab number 2, and enter the information as shown.

52

12.

Select Point operations tab number 3.

13.

Enter the information as shown, and then click Apply.

The last entity that needs to be created is a note entity. Note entities allow files of text data to
be incorporated into a plot. The text was created in a spreadsheet and saved as a text file
called bor1.not.
14.

From the Plotting menu, select Entity, then New.

15.

Enter the information as shown, and then click Apply.

53

16.

Enter the information as shown below, and then click Apply.

The note may be positioned relative to any of the four corners of the plotting sheet. Once you
have specified the corner, you then need to nominate the X and Y offsets and the horizontal
and vertical justification.
Now that you have finished creating the entities for the map, you can create the map.
17.

From the Plotting menu, select Map, then New.

18.

Enter the map name as BORE PLAN, and then click Apply.

19.

Enter the details for the Solid Line entity from pit1.str.

54

20.

Press the TAB key while in the Segment range column to add a new row.

21.

Add the remaining entities to complete your map definition.

Note: The second entity has been specified as SOLID LINE/PN3. The /PN3 means to use
pen 3, instead of pen1 as specified in the original entity definition.
Other modifiers are:

22.

text height /HTnn (nn = height in millimetres)

text angle /ANnn (nn= angle in degrees)

priority /PRnnn (nnn=priority 0 to 125)

From the Plotting menu, select Plotter colours, then Pen colour properties.

Notice that Pen1 has been assigned to black, Pen 2 to blue and Pen 3 to green. This
satisfies the criteria we set earlier regarding the use of different colours for different
strings.
23.

Click Cancel.

55

24.

From the Plotting menu, select Process, then Map.

25.

Enter the map name as shown, and then click Apply.

26.

Enter the information as shown, and then click Apply.

56

27.

Enter the information as shown, and then click Apply.

bore_plan.dwf is displayed.

57

28.

From the File menu, select Print plot file.

29.

Click Apply to process the default map name.

30.

Click Apply to send the map to the printer.

58

Importing/Exporting Maps and Entities

Overview
In this section you will learn about:

Importing Map and Entity Definitions.

Exporting Map and Entity Definitions.

Listing Map and Entity Definitions.

Task: Importing Map and Entity Definitions

1.

From the Plotting menu, select Entity, then Import.

2.

Enter the filename entity.txt as shown, and then click Apply.

Most of these entities are already loaded in the file which stores the map and entity
definitions, <installation directory> \share\plotting\library.dec
where <installation directory> is the directory in which Surpac was installed.
If you try to add an entity that already exists in the library, Surpac will beep to indicate that it
already has this entity definition.
A log file will also be generated to list the entities loaded.

59

3.

From the Plotting menu, select Map, then Import.

4.

Enter the map name as shown, and then click Apply.

Task: Export Map and Entity Definitions

We will now look at how to export Map and Entity definitions from Surpac. The entities will be
unloaded to a file which can then be loaded onto another computer.
1.

From the Plotting menu, select Entity, then Export.

2.

Enter the file name as shown.

Note: You can either choose which entities to unload by filling in the list, or unload all entities
by using an asterisk (*).
The entities will be downloaded to a file which can be loaded onto another computer.
3.

From the Plotting menu, select Map, then Export.

4.

Enter the text file name as shown, and then click Apply.

Note: You can either choose which maps to unload by filling in the list, or unload all
maps using an asterisk (*).
The maps will be unloaded to a file that can be loaded onto another computer.

60

Task: Creating a list of Map and Entity Definitions

1.

From the Plotting menu, select Entity, then Report.

2.

Enter the file name as shown, and then click Apply.

Note: You can either choose which entities to report by filling in the list, or report all
entities using an asterisk (*).
3.

From the Plotting menu, select Map, then Report.

4.

Enter the file name as shown, and then click Apply.

Note: You can either choose which maps to report by filling in the list, or report all
maps using an asterisk (*).

61

Plan View Map of Drillhole Traces

Overview
In this section you will learn how to use previously created maps and entities to create plots in
both Plan and Section view.

Task: Create a Plan View Map of Drill Hole Data

In this exercise you will create a Plan view map using existing maps and entities.
1.

From the Plotting menu, select Process, then Map.

2.

Select PLAN VIEW, then click Apply.

62

3.

Enter the information as shown, and then click Apply on each form.

63

The plot file will appear in the Plotting window as shown below:

64

Section View Map of Drillhole Data

Task: Create a Section View Map of Drill hole Data
1.

From the Plotting menu, select Process, then Map.

2.

Select Section View as shown below and click Apply.

65

3.

Enter the information as shown, and then click Apply on each form.

Note: The ZXA0 grid is used for a section view, as it plots the label mRL on the grids
ascending the page, and Eastings on the grids going to the left of the page.

66

The plot is displayed as follows:

67

Next you will use a different drawing area to plot the data, and lock the lower left coordinates
of the plot.
4.

From the Plotting menu, select Process, then Last map.

5.

Enter the information as shown, and then click Apply.

Note: The VA1B drawing area is a view used with an A1 sheet that plots at the bottom of the
page. It encompasses about three quarters of the bottom area, but leaves a space at the top
for a narrow plan view strip.
The Landscape Fixed orientation locks down the lower left-hand corner of the map. As you
saw, when using the Landscape Centred orientation, the centre of the data is placed at the
centre of the map. For plotting a series of section maps, this would be OK if all the data for all
the sections had the exact same minimum and maximum data extents in elevation and
easting (or northing). However this is rarely the case, and it is also necessary to align the
upper (plan view) drawing area with the lower (section view) data. Therefore we must
establish a common easting value for the left edge of the drawing. The Landscape Fixed
orientation is almost always used when plotting a section view with a plan view strip at the
top.

68

6.

Enter the information as shown, and then click Apply.

Note: The orientation is listed as NF. This is equivalent to Landscape Fixed.

Note: Since we are processing a section view map, "Y" on this form refers to
elevation.
7.

Enter the information as shown, and then click Apply.

69

The plot is displayed in the plotting window as shown:

70

Creating Multi-Viewport Maps

Overview
In this section you will learn how to use more than one drawing area on a plot. This enables
you to plot both plan and section views of data on the same page.
You will learn about:

Creating a plot with two drawing areas.

Modifying an existing drawing area.

Adding a third drawing area.

Task: Create a Plot with Two Drawing Areas

You will now process the previous map again, combining the section view map with a plan
view map at the top of the page.
1.

From the Plotting menu, select Process, then Map.

2.

Select Section View.

3.

Right click in the blank space below the Section View entry and select Add to add
another row to the table.

4.

Select Plan View as shown, and then click Apply.

71

5.

Enter the data as shown, and then click Apply.

72

6.

Enter the information as shown, and then click Apply.

73

7.

Enter the information as shown, and then click Apply.

Note: You generally will want to show the entire area of influence for the section. These
sections were created using data 25m south and 25m north of the section line. Therefore
when you enter the reference corner for the plan view map for the 6800m N section, you will
want to lock the lower left corner of the map at 25m south of the section line, or 6800m 25m
= 6775m. Note that this "Y" value is in plan view coordinates, not section coordinates (recall
that 25m RL was used on the map section view to lock the lower left coordinate of the section
drawing area).

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8.

Enter the information as shown, and then click Apply.

You will now see the map as shown, with the Plan view at the top (in drawing Area VA1T) and
the Section view at the bottom (in drawing area VA1B).
Notice that both maps are locked at 2300m E so that they align properly.

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Task: Modifying an existing drawing area

Note that the section line of 6800m N in the plan view is not centred vertically in the drawing
area. It is 25m north of the lower left hand corner of the VA1T drawing area (as we specified),
but it does not show the full 25m extent of the section to the top edge of the drawing area.
You will now enlarge the drawing area VA1T so that it covers the extent of the section (25m
north and 25m south).
Enlarging the plan view drawing area also requires that the section view drawing area is
reduced in height.
1.

From the Plotting menu, select Plotting sheet setup window.

A new window appears.

2.

From the Drawing areas menu, choose Select.

3.

Select VA1T for the first drawing area as shown.

4.

Right click in the blank space below the VA1T entry and select Add to add another row
to the table.

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5.

Select VA1B for the second drawing area as shown, and then click Apply.

Notice that both drawing areas have been selected and so both drawing areas are displayed
on the screen.

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6.

From the Drawing areas menu, select Properties.

This will display the dimensions of the drawing areas.

Refer to the above diagram to understand the construction of the drawing areas.

VA1B
Left = 0.6 The distance in from the left edge of the plotting sheet to extent of the drawing
area.
Right = 0.6 The distance in from the right edge of the plotting sheet to extent of the drawing
area.
Bottom = 0.6 The distance in from the bottom edge of the plotting sheet to extent of the
drawing area.
Top = 10 The distance in from the top edge of the plotting sheet to extent of the drawing area.

VA1T
Left = 0.6 The distance in from the left edge of the plotting sheet to extent of the drawing
area.
Right = 0.6 The distance in from the right edge of the plotting sheet to extent of the drawing
area.
Bottom = 47 The distance in from the bottom edge of the plotting sheet to extent of the
drawing area.
Top = 0.1 The distance in from the top edge of the plotting sheet to extent of the drawing
area.

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7.

Enter a value of 10.6 for VA1B Top, and a value of 46.4 for VA1T Bottom.

Note: To rescale the drawing areas, you can either choose the properties function as shown
above, or you can move the boxes manually using the cursor.
8.

From the Drawing areas menu, select Save, to save the modifications.

9.

Click Apply.

10.

From the Plotting menu, select Process, then Last map.

11.

Enter the information on each form as shown previously in this section.

The resulting plot file will look like the image shown:

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Task: Adding a Third Drawing Area

Now you will add a third drawing area to the map. In doing this you will keep the existing
drawing areas VA1T and VA1B, but copy them to new drawing areas, called Plan and
Section and modify them. Then you will add a new drawing area called LEGN in the upper
right hand corner of the sheet.
1.

From the Plotting menu, select Plotting sheet setup window.

2.

From the Drawing area menu, select Copy to copy the VA1T drawing area to a new
drawing area called PLAN.

3.

Enter the information as shown, and then click Apply.

Notice that the Right dimension for the sheet boundary has been changed to 17 cm
to create room for the LEGN drawing area.

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4.

The new PLAN drawing area appears on the screen as shown.

5.

From the Drawing areas menu, select Save, to save the drawing area.
You will now repeat the above steps for the VA1B drawing area.

6.

From the Drawing areas menu, select Copy, to copy the VA1B drawing area to a new
drawing area called SECTION

7.

Enter the information as shown, and then click Apply.

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Notice that the Right dimension from the sheet boundary has been changed to 17cm to
create room for the LEGN drawing area.
The Section drawing area appears on the screen as shown.

8.

From the Drawing areas menu, select Save to save the drawing area.

9.

From the Drawing areas menu, choose Select and choose both of the drawing areas
to display on the screen.

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The drawing areas appear as shown:

Now you will create a new Drawing area called LEGN.

10.

From the Drawing areas menu, select New.

11.

Enter the information as shown, and then click Apply.

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12.

From the Drawing areas menu, select Save, to save the drawing areas.
Now display all three drawing areas together on the screen.

13.

From the Drawing areas menu, choose Select and enter the information as shown

The drawing areas appear as shown:

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14.

From the Plotting menu, select Process, then Map.

15.

Enter the information as shown, and then click Apply on all forms.

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86

16.

Enter the information as shown, and then click Apply.

Note: Make sure that you change the drawing area to PLAN (a drawing area for the top of an
A1 sheet) and the Title block is set to a "blank" for No title block.

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88

Enter the information as shown, and then click Apply.

After the map has finished processing, it will appear in the Plot preview window.

89

You will see the map as shown, with drawing areas PLAN, SECTION, and LEGN.

90

Title Block Definitions

Overview
In this section you will learn how to create a new title block, as shown:

Task: Create a New Title Block

1.

From the Plotting menu, select Plotting sheet setup window.

2.

From the Title Blocks menu, select Copy.

Note: You will make a copy of an existing title block as it will save setting up new lines,
prompt items etc. In most cases this will be the easiest way to create a new title block
as all items can be altered using the property command.

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3.

Enter the information as shown, and then click Apply.

Note: The only items you will need to type in are the new title ID and title description.
4.

Click Apply and the new title block will appear.

5.

From the Title block menu, select Snap grid, then Properties.
You will use this to help align items on the title block.

6.

Fill in the form as shown, then click Apply to create a snapping grid on 0.2cm
spacings.

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7.

From the Title Blocks menu, select Edit, then Delete item.

8.

Click on the text Surpac Minex Group, and it will disappear.

9.

From the Title Blocks menu, select Create, then Text.

10.

Enter the information as shown, and then click Apply.

Next, you will add the company logo, stored in bluesky_logo.png, to the left of the text.
11.

From the Title Blocks menu, select Create, then Image.

12.

Click and drag a roughly square-shaped area to the left of the text BLUE SKY
MINING.

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13.

Enter the information as shown, and then click Apply.

14.

From the Title Blocks menu, select Snap grid then Hide.

15.

From the Title Blocks menu, select Save.

16.

From the File menu, select Close to close the Plotting sheet setup window.

17.

From the Plotting menu, select Map, then New.

18.

Enter the map name BLUESKY_TEST, and then click Apply.

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19.

Enter the following information, and then click Apply.

20.

From the Plotting menu, select Process, then Map.

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21.

Enter the information as shown, and then click Apply on each form.

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The plot and title block are displayed in the Plot Preview window.

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Appendix 1: Plot Priorities

When defining an entity, you are asked to nominate a priority for the entity. This is common
to all entity definitions and is a way of controlling overwriting on plots.
Overwriting is controlled in two ways:

lines can be made to 'break' around text and symbols on a plot

where text or symbols may overwrite on a plot, some may be clashed off

All lines, symbols and text in entity definitions are assigned priorities in the range 0 to 125.

Different rules apply for priorities less than or equal to 100 and for those over 100.
A line will break around a symbol if:

its priority is less than the symbol

its priority is equal to the symbol and the priority is less than or equal to 100

A line will overwrite a symbol if:

its priority is greater than the symbol

its priority is equal to the symbol and the priority is greater than 100

A line will never clash a symbol off the plot and all lines of any priority cross without effect.

A symbol will clash another symbol off the plot if:

it has higher priority or,

it has the same priority, less than or equal to 100 and is the first symbol processed in
preparing the map.

Two symbols with the same priority greater than 100 will overwrite.

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