Gemcom Surpac

Release Notes
Last Modified : Friday, 4 November 2011

Version 6.2.2
Issues Fixed
Block Modelling Volume adjustment no longer affects mcaf values when exporting to whittle
Previously, the volume adjusment attribute would incorrectly influence the resulting mcaf values, this has been fixed.

Plotting The plotting engine is now capable of processing "GOST type A" and "GOST type B" fonts.
There was a problem with the plotting engine where it was unable to recognise the fonts "GOST type A" and "GOST type B" even though they were installed properly with the Windows Operating System. This problem has been fixed now and Surpac honours them while processing a map as well as while displaying the plot file.

PROCESS MAP function with some oblique sections caused Surpac to freeze.
Previously if you used the PROCESS MAP function with some oblique sections, Surpac would freeze. Specifically this was when the northing/easting values of the section end point were less than the northig/easting values of the section start point. This problem has been fixed. Surpac works as expected irrespective of the order of the northing/ easting section origin and end values.

Surface & U/G Surveying CHAIN AND OFFSET SURVEY, RADIATION SURVEY and PROFILE SURVEY no longer crashes the software in Russian locale while processing survey observations in a .dat file.
Processing a .dat file in Russian language no longer crashes Surpac while working with the functions CHAIN AND OFFSET SURVEY, RADIATION SURVEY and PROFILE SURVEY. The problem was with the keywords that were getting translated while writing the survey observations to the .dat file. Now these keywords are not translated.

Version 6.2.1
New Features
Block Modelling Enhancements to Block Model Dilution & Reduction.
Block Model Dilution & Reduction has been changed to: - allow the user to specify the value to be used for negative master attribute values - allow the user to specify an attribute that defines bench names or numbers - change the method used to calculate reduction and dilution at ore/waste contacts and benches.

Standard Plug-ins Improvements to MineSight msr reader.

The following data is now correctly read from MineSight msr files: 1. Labels. 2. Markers. 3. Element Names and Material Names (stored as D1 and D2 of points).

System

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Version 6.2.1

New Features

Added diagnostic messages for missing fonts at startup.

Added diagnostic messages for missing fonts at startup.

Issues Fixed
Block Model Exporting to Whittle using a macro now correctly handles incorrect attributes.
Previously when exporting to whittle using a macro, no type checking would occur on the selected attributes (nonexistant attributes could also be used). This caused some crashes and incorrect behaviour. This has been addressed and Surpac will now stop incorrect scripts.

The error message for intersecting and overlapping trisolations,when constraining a Block Model inside a 3DM with many trisolations, has been improved.
The "inconsistent trisolations" error message, when constraining a Block Model inside a 3DM with many trisolations, is now more descriptive. The trisolations that are intersecting/touching each other are clearly described.

Block Modelling Block model Ordinary and Simple Kriging optional data is now correctly written for all subblocks of a user block.
When using BM FILL OK (block model ordinary kriging) or BM FILL SK (block model simple kriging) you may choose to save block variance, kriging efficiency, lagrange multiplier, conditional bias slope and the number of negative weights used to estimate a block as attributes in the model. For models with sub-blocks smaller than the user block, these values were only written to one of the sub-blocks. This has been fixed.

Exporting to Whittle now correctly handles incorrect attributes.

Previously when exporting to whittle using a macro, no type checking would occur on the selected attributes (nonexistant attributes could also be used). This caused some crashes and incorrect behaviour. This has been addressed and will now stop incorrect scripts.

Importing Whittle files will now correctly populate IJK values.

Importing Whittle files will now correctly populate IJK values, previously these were combined into a single value. Now that Surpac supports large Whittle files, these values are separated and will populate correctly.

BM VOL TON REPORT reports correct volumes now when X or Y or Z range is specified 'backwards'.
BM VOL TON REPORT reports correct volumes now when X or Y or Z range is specified 'backwards'.

Reduction and Dilution improvements.

Dilution calculations for the first and last block in a column were incorrectly handling the weight of the block directly above or below. This has now been fixed.

Drill and Blast The BLAST SUMMARY function now correctly reports the Blasted Volume when a block model is used to perform the calculation.
There was a discrepancy occuring in the BLAST SUMMARY function when calculating the Blasted Volume from a block model, especially when the blocks were partially inside the solid. This problem is now fixed.

Drill Hole Database Surpac Database in the tutorial updated.

At present you get a mesage that the styles table is out of date and will be updated when you are using Surpac demo data for the first time. Surapc database and Quarry database are now updated and there is no message in the message window asking you to update the styles table.

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Version 6.2.1

Issues Fixed

Removed the unnecessary string 33000 from the output for the functions EXTRACT PLANS FOR PLOT and EXTRACT PLANS FOR CALC.
The functions EXTRACT PLANS FOR PLOT and EXTRACT PLANS FOR CALC now no longer create the unnecessary string 33000 in the output string file.

Delete table name reference from the .ddb file as well as the database.
Previously when you deleted a database table in Surpac the table was not deleted from the .ddb file. This has been fixed so that the table is deleted in both locations.

File Tools STRING FILE VOLUMES now reports S.G. values for ore.
Previously STRING FILE VOLUMES for ore reporting was failing to report specific gravity values. Now the problem has been fixed and S.G. values appear in the report for any number of segments.

When saving a string/dtm file in Graphics, the FileChooser now shows correct file filter when FileBrowser's field is blank.
Previously, when saving a string/dtm file in Graphics, FileChooser showed an incorrect file filter when FileBrowser's field was blank. This is now fixed.

Geostatistics Variogram modelling macros no longer crash.

Running variogram modelling functions in a macro sometimes caused a crash. This has been fixed.

Context help for VG KRIGING WEIGHTS.

The function VG KRIGING WEIGHTS now invokes the correct context sensitive help.

Variogram modelling behaviour after recalling an .evg file is improved.

In some cases, recalling an .evg file into variogram modelling failed to reset the variogram modelling state. This resulted in java errors or incorrect behaviour during graphical editing of the variogram model. This has been fixed.

Graphics Copy segment would fail validation on graphics layers with long names.
Copy segment would fail validation on graphics layers with long names, this has been fixed.

DRAW POLYGONS function.

Now the DRAW POLYGONS function is able to fill non co-planar polygons with colours.

GUI Some mice wouldn't 'scroll to zoom' correctly, particularly older mice.
Some mice wouldn't 'scroll to zoom' correctly, particularly older mice. This was related to the wheel 'clicks' when spinning and has now been fixed.

Long graphics layer names will no longer cause form validation failures.
Previously, long graphics layer names would cause certain forms to fail validation. For example, when using SEGMENT COPY. This has been fixed.

Plotting

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Version 6.2.1

Issues Fixed

Plotting: Copying settings files from a previous installation or deleting grids no longer causes problems when processing maps.
Previously, if the OBLIQUE SECTION or OBLIQUE SECTION TWO LABELS grids were missing, PROCESS MAP would fail with a message like: Warning: The entered value is too long. Make it shorter. Warning: Value OBLIQUE SECTION is not in the permitted list of values for this field Warning: Validation of field oblique_grid_style failed This has been fixed so that if the grids are missing, they are created automatically.

Spurious warning message no longer appears when plotting.

Previously, a spurious message: "Warning: Unknown font encountered during processing, using Default." would sometimes be displayed when using file based plotting. This warning no longer appears.

PROCESS MAP macros now run as intended.

Existing macros for PROCESS MAP were failing due to the addition of new tab/fields to the form. This has been fixed and all existing macros will run as intended.

Plotting ring design would not produce drillhole labels in the resulting plot.
Plots of ring designs wouldn't contain labels such as drillhole numbers, this has been fixed. Also addressed is an issue where re-plotting the same ring design would result in erroneous plots, as well as a crash when closing Surpac.

Sometimes plan strips would not be plotted.

On occasion, plan strips would not be plotted due to scaling when using a backward plane. This has been fixed.

Solids Modelling NEIGHBOURS AND VALIDATE TRISOLATION function reporting incorrect object number.
Previously the NEIGHBOURS AND VALIDATE TRISOLATION function was reporting incorrect object numbers. This is now fixed and object numbers reported in the message window are correct.

Standard Plug-ins Improved Vulcan plugin for .dgd files.

Certain Vulcan .dgd files with a previously unseen record type were not being correctly loaded. This has been fixed and the files now load.

Shapefile loading stability improvement.

Loading Shapefiles with null attribute values sometimes caused Surpac to crash. This has been fixed.

Surface & U/G Surveying Corrected the dialog that was too narrow for data entry for the function UNDERGROUND TRAVERSE.
The dialog for the function UNDERGROUND TRAVERSE now displays all the fields correctly while running Surpac in Russian language.

CHAIN AND OFFSET SURVEY function causes fatal error when the form is cancelled.
The CHAIN AND OFFSET SURVEY function no longer causes a fatal error when the form is cancelled.

2D TRANSFORM DTM function no longer shows the erroneous error message.

Previously the 2D TRANSFORM DTM function would produce an erroneous error message in the message window and write the same message to the log file. This is now fixed so that no message appears in the message window or log file.

U/G Ring Design

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Version 6.2.1

Issues Fixed

Break through is now properly reported for all break through values defined in the drilling parameters.
Previously break through was not checked or reported properly when the break through value was defined as <= 0 in the drilling parameters. The problem has been fixed.

Plots of ring designs now correctly contain labels such as drillhole numbers.
Plots of ring designs wouldn't contain labels such as drillhole numbers, this has been fixed. Also addressed is an issue where re-plotting the same ring design would result in erroneous plots, as well as a crash when closing Surpac.

Version 6.2
New Features
Basic Statistics The basic statistics report form has been provided with an option for whether reporting on grouped data is required.
Previously, the basic statistics report (STATS STATISTICS) in the basic statistics window generated the reports for grouped data as well as ungrouped data. Now the form for this function has a check box to choose whether reporting on grouped data is required. You should select this option to report statistics based on one average data value per histogram bin width, in addition to statistics on all raw data.

Block Model Support for new Whittle format.

Surpac can now both import and export Whittle's new format, which allows up to 999 999 blocks in any direction.

Export to Whittle now supports 'real' block values.

Previously, you couldn't select a 'real' attribute as the block value when setting a whittle export. Real values are now available and follow the same rules for exporting decimals as other attributes (when exporting as a fixed format file). Also the MCAF and PCAF values now default to a value of 1 on the Export to Whittle form.

BM THICKNESS now has the option of aggregating values in a column.

BM THICKNESS allows you to enter a list of numeric attributes to be aggregated. The aggregate values are appended to the description fields, following any composited values, of the resultant points. The totalling happens at the smallest block size.

Surpac can now export Whittle files with three decimal tonnage values.
BM OUTPUT WHITTLE has been modified to allow the user to choose 0, 1, 2 or 3 decimal places when exporting tonnages to a fixed format whittle file. Free format models will now always use 3 decimal places for tonnage values, as there is no limit to the number of characters the format can support. Parameter files will now no longer export selling costs, prices, element prices, rock-type CAFs, rehabilitation cost and throughput factor values.

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Version 6.2

New Features

Block model Ordinary and Simple Kriging now optionally stores extra data in estimated blocks.
Some resource classifications are based on parameters such as block variance, kriging efficiency, lagrange multiplier, and conditional bias slope. Surpac now outputs these values as well as the number of negative weights used to estimate a block as block model attributes. As was previously the case for kriging variance, these are available via the "Estimation Attributes" form. These parameters were previously calculated for the first 5 blocks of any estimation and written to the kriging report if debug output was included.

Geo DB Drillhole text: Add ability to restrict the labels values to be displayed based on not only specified minimum value but also based on maximum value.
Previously if drillholes were displayed with labels on, all labels would display in Graphics. This made the data difficult to read. Users can now set a specified Minimum value as well as Maximum value for display. Now when drillholes are displayed the labels will only appear in Graphics if the value of the drillhole is equal to or greater than the Minimum value and equal to or less than Maximum value.

Drillhole text: Add ability to restrict the labels values to be displayed based on specified minimum value.
Previously if drillholes were displayed with labels on, all labels would display in Graphics. This made the data difficult to read. Users can now set a specified Minimum value for display so that when drillholes are displayed the labels will only appear in Graphics if the value of the drillhole is equal to or greater than the Minimum value.

Graphics Enhancement to the function BEARING AND DISTANCE.

The function BEARING AND DISTANCE is modified to change the snap mode in between the selection of setup and foresight points, dependant on the mouse button used. The left button selects as usual (point, drillhole interval, survey station etc). The middle mouse button snaps to a triangle or line. The right mouse button snaps to the cursor location.

Plotting EXTRACT SECTIONS FOR PLOT and GRAPHICS EXTRACT SECTIONS FOR PLOT now output data that allow PROCESS MAP to display Northing and Easting grid lines on oblique vertical sections.
EXTRACT SECTIONS FOR PLOT and GRAPHICS EXTRACT SECTIONS FOR PLOT have been changed to output a single point in string 33000 with description fields D1,D2 = Northing/Easting of section origin and D3,D4 = Northing/Easting of the other end of the section. This defines the section line and allows PROCESS MAP to display lines where the section crosses relevant Northing or Easting planes. PROCESS MAP now has an extra tab ("Oblique Section Grid") to plot Northing and Easting grids on vertical oblique sections using the section line defined by EXTRACT SECTIONS FOR PLOT and GRAPHICS EXTRACT SECTIONS FOR PLOT.

Solids / Surfaces New function transform DTM.

A new function 2D TRANSFORM DTM alias 2DTD has been added under File tools->Transformations->2D transformation of a DTM.

DTM creation performance improvement.

DTM creation is much faster, especially on large data sets. A new algorithm has been developed to improve the speed of the process.

Breakline intersection test improvements.

The breakline intersection test when creating a DTM now runs faster and displays temporary markers at the crossover locations when using GRAPHICS CREATE DTM.

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Version 6.2

New Features

POINTS INSIDE / OUTSIDE 3DM FILE function trisolation range enhancement

The POINTS INSIDE / OUTSIDE 3DM FILE function now allows users to select trisolation range as well as object range.

OBJECT REPORT function enhancement.

The OBJECT REPORT form now has a "Check overlaps" option that, when selected, checks for overlapping (duplicate and intersected) trisolations.

TRISOLATION SPLIT CONNECTED FILE is available.

A new file based function TRISOLATION SPLIT CONNECTED FILE is available. This function can be invoked through the Solids menu, Edit trisolation -> Split connected triangles into trisolations in a file. This function allows correction of a data problem in a trisolation, where a triobject consists of several distinct trisolations with same IDs.

Standard Plug-ins Surpac now supports Autocad 2010 format files.

The DWG/DXF third party libraries have been updated to support reading and writing Autocad 2010 format files.

String tools The functions TRAVERSE ANGLE, TRAVERSE BEARING, LOCATE ANGLE and LOCATE BEARING are no longer restricted to specifying only the horizontal distance.
Previously, the functions TRAVERSE ANGLE, TRAVERSE BEARING, LOCATE ANGLE and LOCATE BEARING allowed users to specify the horizontal distance but not the slope distance. These functions now allow users to choose either horizontal distance or slope distance.

Issues Fixed
Update Surpac to use version 12.12 of the BDSL
Surpac now requires version 12.12 of the BDSL.

Block Model An attribute used to export to Whittle can no longer be chosen as the error attribute.
Previously, it was possible to corrupt block model data if the user chose an attribute to use for both whittle export calculations and error reporting. Regression tests will now record and run correctly as well.

Block model extended string constraint with "Keep blocks partially inside" checked was not producing the correct result.
The algorithm used to perform the extended string constraint with the partial check box selected was not giving the correct result. Abetter algorithm is now used to generate this result.

Integer and Calculated attributes now supported when validating for output to Whittle.
Previously, using an integer or calculated attribute as a grade element would fail validation, this has been corrected. A crash relating to the error attribute was also found and fixed, this would occur when using a value instead of an attribute in MCAF or PCAF fields.

Incorrect volume calculation when the top and bottom DTMs intersect each other while carrying out the partial percentages calculation between DTMs.
If DTMs used for BM PARTIAL PERCENTAGES (executed with the constraint BETWEEN DTMS selected) intersect a warning displays and the function stops, rather than continuing and producing incorrect results.

Blocks with undefined waste are no longer included in whittle pcaf calculations.
Previously, parcels that contained waste were being used when calculating the blocks average pcaf value. This has been fixed.

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Version 6.2

Issues Fixed

Geo DB EDIT COMPOSITE is now more stable.

EDIT COMPOSITE sometimes caused Surpac to freeze. This has been fixed and the function is faster and more robust.

Curved drillhole traces are not accurate between the final survey point and the maximum depth of the hole.
Previously, if the maximum depth of a curved drillhole is greater than the survey point furthest down the drillhole then any traces created may be inaccurate (only between the deepest survey point and the maximum depth). The trace generating code has been modified to fix this issue and now matches the drillhole drawing code's behaviour (which was not affected by the same problem).

Graphical compositing issues fixed.

The depths recorded for the ends of graphical composites created or edited by snapping to tick marks or coloured drillhole trace were sometimes slightly inaccurate. They are now correct. Attempting to write composites to a field that doesn't exist in a table was causing Supac to crash. This has also been fixed and reports an error to the use when they try to write composites to a non-existent field.

EXTRACT PLANS FOR PLOT fails if a drillhole lies exactly on the extent boundary.
EXTRACT PLANS FOR PLOT now includes drillholes if they are located on the extent boundary. The function is also significantly faster when processing data with drillholes on the extent boundary..

Bug fixes for WRITE COMPOSITES.

Two issues with the WRITE COMPOSITES function have been fixed. 1. The function no longer fails with error messages about duplicate indexes if the table already contains data. 2. Problem datasets that would crash on this function no longer crash.

Improve accuracy of snap-to-point mode when adjusting drillhole composite length.

Graphically adjusting drillhole composite length when snap-to-point mode is enabled will now only select relevant labels/ticks rather than the line being moved.

The function EXTRACT SAMPLE DATA now allows more than 10 assay fields to composite.
Previously, the function EXTRACT SAMPLE DATA was limited to compositing a maximum of 10 assay fields. This has now been enhanced to composite a maximum of 32 assay fields.

Drillhole labels can now be offset vertically.

Labels on drillholes can now be placed higher or lower, than the drillhole collar or end, by selecting a field on the Display Drillholes form.

Crash fixed when uploading composites to a numeric field.

The software no longer crashes when uploading composites to a numeric field in a database.

Graphics Drillhole data is now correctly displayed if a section is defined before displaying drillholes
Drillholes were sometimes incorrectly displayed in Graphics if a section was defined and no other data was displayed in Graphics prior to displaying drillholes. This is fixed.

VIEW SCALE issues fixed.

Applying scaling to Graphics using VIEW SCALE had adverse effects on some graphics features, specifically snapping to geometry when digitising, coordinate feedback and the move tool. These issues have been fixed.

GRAPHICALLY CLIP DTM fixed for boundary segments with end points within 0.02 of a triangle vertex.
Previously GRAPHICALLY CLIP DTM function was failing with a message that the given segment is open when the end point of the closed boundary segment was within 0.02 of a triangle vertex. This has been fixed.

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Version 6.2

Issues Fixed

The layer appears unchanged while graphically appending/replacing files.

The layer name in the Layers pane was not displaying as active (coloured red) when users appended (CTRL + drag) or replaced (SHIFT + drag) files in a layer graphically. This has been corrected and the layer will now appear as active (red) when files are graphically appended or replaced.

GUI Tabbing order corrected in the dialogs for the functions 2D GRID and 3D GRID.
Previously using the TAB key would not place the cursor in the X Direction field on the forms for the 2D and 3D GRID functions. This problem has been fixed.

Plotting Chinese characters in title lines are now displayed correctly.

When using Autoplot, Chinese characters entered in the title block lines form were not displayed correctly in the plot file. The characters now display correctly.

Fixed bugs causing errors and crashes in Plotting.

Surpac will no longer crash when moving grouped elements or when using the undo function to reverse ungrouping in Plotting. This fix relates to both Capped-Lines and groups. In addition a bug for the ruler element was fixed and an option to disable auto-grouping of elements was added to the Autoplot form.

The Lookup File Editor now allows you to view 350 records.
Previously, the function LOOKUP FILE EDIT limited the table to 200 rows. Now it allows the table to display 350 rows.

Solids / Surfaces Put Y and X message arguments in the correct order.

6.1.5 Alpha 1 was reporting DTM break line crossovers incorrectly (Y and X coordinates were transposed in the message). This has been fixed.

Added a warning to DTM VOLUMES and DTM CUT AND FILL VOLUMES when surfaces have been created with different algorithms.
When you use a surface created in Surpac prior to version 6.1.5 and a surface created in version 6.1.5 or later to DTM VOLUMES or DTM CUT AND FILL VOLUMES, a warning is reported to the message window and to the report. The warning tells the user that the volumes reported between the surface may be affected by the triangulation differences. The differences in these algorithms may result in volumes between surfaces created using the same data.

OBJECT REPORT function enhancement.

Previously the OBJECT REPORT function could only check for the first occurrence of intersecting or duplicate trisolations. Now the OBJECT REPORT can produce a report for all duplicate and intersected trisolations in an object.

DTM creation now more robust.

Previously, some arrangements of data caused the DTM creation process to fail while adding breaklines. The breakline algorithm has been changed to be more robust and now succeeds on these data sets. Should you wish to use the previous algorithm, set the "dtm breakline method" in defaults.ssi to "legacy".

The function STRINGS OVER DTM now behaves correctly.

Previously, the file based function STRINGS OVER DTM modified the "Z" attribute or any description fields of the points that were to be laid over a DTM even if the points were outside the DTM boundary. This behaviour has been corrected so that points outside the DTM are no longer altered.

DTM VOLUMES no longer reports small volumes for elevations entirely below surface extents.
The function DTM VOLUMES no longer reports small, non-existing, volumes for elevations that are entirely below the minimum z-extents of both surfaces.

GRAPHICS SECTION DTM (GDS) works with object and trisolation numbers other than 1.
The GRAPHICS SECTION DTM function no longer fails on objects and trisolations with IDs other than 1.

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Version 6.2

Issues Fixed

Standard Plug-ins AutoCAD polyline improvements

The loading of AutoCAD AcDbPolyline entities has been improved so that the lines more accurately match the lines presented in Autodesk products.

DXF files with many POINT entities are now loaded more efficiently.
DXF files with many POINT entities (for example, some CMS data files) were being inefficiently loaded as many single point segments. This has been changed so that the points are loaded into a single segment with an appropriate drawing style, which improves performance.

Surpac now opens all Minesight files.

Previously Surpac was failing to open certain Minesight files. This problem has been fixed.

Sirovision plugin no longer crashes on Vista or Windows 7 when loading sirovision files.
The Sirovision plugin was crashing on some operating systems when loading files but this has now been fixed so that Sirovision files load correctly.

String tools FIELD AMALGAMATION function places the value at the defined description field.
Previously the FIELD AMALGAMATION function wrote the description field data at the next available field. Now it will write the description field data at the user defined field.

System New version numbers added to bug logging utility.

It is now possible to log bugs against more recent versions of Surpac in the bug logging utility.

Digitisers using Wintab driver now only produce one point per click.
Some new digitisers (for example, GTCO Calcomp digitisers) using the Wintab driver were producing multiple points each time a button was pressed on the digitiser. This has been fixed so that a single point is digitised each time a button is pressed.

U/G Ring Design COPY RING now correctly recalculates pivot and length dfields.
COPY RING now recalculates pivot and length dfields after adjusting the collar to ensure it intersects the drive outline.

Version number now reads 'Alpha 4'

Version number now reads 'Alpha 4'

Surpac can now be badged as "Alpha 1"

Surpac can now be badged via a 'branch' string. This means it can be badged as "Alpha 1", "Alpha 2" etc.

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