Contour Options

The Contour Options in Slide2 allow you to customize the safety factor contours which appear in slip center grids, if a circular surface Grid Search has been performed. The Contour Options also affect the colours used to represent safety factor for the Minimum Surfaces and All Surfaces options.

The general features of the Contour Options dialog are discussed below, followed by a description of each Contour Option.

Contour Options Dialog

The Contour Options dialog works a little differently than a regular dialog. It is known as a "roll-up" dialog, and can be left up on the screen while performing other tasks.

To use the dialog:

1. The "arrow" button 5 in the upper right corner can be used to "roll-up" 5 or "roll-down" 6 the dialog, without closing it. This allows the user to minimize/maximize the dialog, to keep it out of the way when not needed.
2. The dialog can also be minimized or maximized, by double-clicking the left mouse button on the title bar of the dialog.
3. Contour Options operates on a PER VIEW basis, so that if multiple views are open, each view can have its own set of Contour Options applied. When working with multiple views, the user can apply different options to different views without closing the dialog.
4. If you enter new values in the Contour Range edit boxes, you can use the Apply button to apply your changes without closing the dialog.
5. All other options in the dialog (e.g. Mode) are automatically applied when the option is selected, it is not necessary to use the Apply button. The Done button will apply all changes to the active view AND close the dialog.
6. The default Contour Options are in effect whenever a file is opened, or a New Window is created. User-defined Contour Options can be created using the Define Auto Format option, and recalled again when needed, or saved as the program defaults

Contour Options is available in the View menu and the default right-click menu.

The following options are available in the Contour Options dialog.

Contour Range

• By default, the safety factor Contour Range is specified by Minimum and Maximum values, and the Number of Intervals between the Minimum and Maximum.
• If you select the Interval checkbox, you can specify the Contour Range by a Minimum value, an Interval, and a Number of Intervals.
• The 0 to 6 button will restore the default 0 to 6 safety factor Contour Range, if you have previously customized the Minimum and Maximum values, and wish to quickly restore the default 0 to 6 range.
• The Auto Range button will calculate Minimum and Maximum values based on the actual range of safety factors of all slip surfaces in the current file.

Mode

Contours can be displayed as:

• Filled regions (the default)
• Lines
• Filled regions with Lines
• or they can be turned Off.

When you select the Contour Mode (Filled, Lines, Filled + Lines, or Off) the selection will automatically be applied to the current view, you do not have to select the Apply button.

Auto-Format

A number of pre-defined Auto-Format contour options are available, as described below. To apply an Auto-Format option, simply select from the Auto-Format list, and the contour format will be immediately applied to the current view.

• DOS-style – uses the same colours and number of intervals as the original Rocscience DOS-based programs (e.g. Slide2 v. 2.0)
• 16-colour display – uses 14 colours and intervals (black and white are not used, which is why only 14 instead of 16 are actually used)
• Hot to Cold – uses a blue to red range of contouring, simulating a "hot to cold" effect.
• Hot Spots – uses a white to red range of contouring, simulating a "hot spot" effect.
• Photo-E – uses alternating white and black intervals, simulating a "photoelastic" effect.
• Black to white – uses black to white contouring, and 7 intervals.
• Black Lines – uses black lines, Mode is automatically changed to Lines
• Examine 3D – uses the same colours and number of intervals as the Rocscience program Examine 3D

Define Auto-Format

In addition to the pre-defined Auto-Format options, the user can create fully customized Auto Format options, by selecting the Define Auto-Format button. If the user creates their own custom Auto-Format options, these will appear in the Auto-Format list, underneath the pre-defined options, and can be applied to a view by simply selecting from the list. See the Define Auto-Format topic for details.

TIP: If you want to create a customized Auto-Format based on an existing Auto-Format (for example, one of the pre-defined options listed above), then first select the existing Auto-Format option that you would like to customize. When you select the Define Auto Format button, the parameters of the Auto Format you selected, will be loaded into the Define Auto Format dialog, allowing you to use this as a starting point for creating a custom Auto Format.