The purpose of this article is to explain the Basic Fundamentals and Navigation menu settings.


What is a 3D Subsurface Visualization?

A 3D Subsurface Visualization is a 3-dimensional visual representation of sub-surface (underground) layers (cross-sections) through which oil and gas wells pass.


This visualization works much like other Spotfire visualizations and is especially similar to the Map Chart.  This visualization supports rendering multiple data tables into the subsurface scene.  This allows for efficient loading and representation of subsurface data types. These data tables create geometries which can be filtered, marked, and manipulated in much the same way you are accustomed to inside Spotfire.


This visualization supports:

  • Wellbores
  • Horizons (grids)
  • Point Sets


What are the camera controls for the 3D Subsurface Visualization?

Understanding the Navigation Widget

 

- To pan around the visualization, hold down right mouse key or use the arrows in the navigation widget. 


-  To zoom in/out, use the scroll on your mouse or use the zoom icons.

-  To reset your navigation, click the center dot of the navigation widget arrows. This will bring the 3d image back to the center of the visualization window.

 - To rotate your visualization, hold down left mouse key and move your mouse.

 - These icons determine the type of view you wish to use to display the visualization. Left (orthographic projection) icon represents the lines of the layers parallel to the drawing surface as true to scale. Right (perspective projection) represents your normal 3D projection.

Note: To quickly view the orthographic project on a particular angle.
1. Right-click the visualization (Make sure the mouse pointer icon is selected)  
2. Click on Straight, Top, Side, or Front to change the angle of the view. 


Please see the video "WATCH: Controls for the 3D Subsurface Visualization" under videos for additional help.


What are the units in my visualization?

The visualization does not require a specific type of unit to be used. When loading data, make sure the columns you are using have consistent units. 


It's also important to make sure you are in the same domains.  For instance, seismic may be in time (ms) and wellbores may be in depth (ft).  You could do a crude migration inside Spotfire using calculated columns or expressions to transfer time to depth domain.  Alternatively, you can leverage other software packages to help you.


We have built a deep integration with TIBCO OpenSpirit for handling of units and unit conversions.  This includes keeping a consistent CRS for X,Y units.


How do I know which is the top of my visualization?

In the current version, if wellbores are loaded, the label of the wellbore indicates the top of the wellbore. 


Because the visualization is unitless, up and down are defined by your data.  For instance, you may choose to make depth positive (as in the case of wellbores) or negative.  The visualization will render the geometries correctly, you just may need to flip it over.


How do I mark a wellbore on the 3D visualization?

Marking is activated when the mouse pointer icon in the navigation widget is selected.

  • To mark a wellbore, left-click and drag over the wellbore.

There is an option to turn on a bounding box and indicate the marked objects in the visualizations. 

  • To turn on the bounding box option in properties window>Layers>Wellbore Layer>General>Selection Options
  • Check the box to "Show bounding box when selected" and choose a color for the bounding box.



How do I edit the label?

In the Controls menu, expand the Grid options to view properties for labels. 

  • Hover over the color bar next to Label Color to open the color palette and change the color of the label text.
  • Drag the blue bar next to Label Size to change the size of the label font or enter a number in the field next to the blue bar.

For additional information on RAI 3D Subsurface documentation, click here