BlenderGeoModeller

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Reliance on BlenderGIS

Please ensure you have BlenderGIS installed (awesome free add-on), as you will need this to set up a georeferenced scene in blender. Addtionally, you’ll want it for other features including;

• Import DEMs to create topography surface.
• Drape georeferenced images on topography.
• Import shapefiles, export as shapfile.

Link to BlenderGIS download: BlenderGIS

BlenderGeoModeller Installation Instructions

Works with Blender V3.8 to version 4.3 as of now

Video Instructions

1. Download the .zip File

• Download the .zip file from the main branch of the repository.
  • (Click Code → Download ZIP)

2. Install the Required Dependencies

Dependencies must be installed in your Blender environment before installing the add-on, or an error message will appear during installation.

• Open Blender:

  • Make sure if you are running windows to open blender with Run as Administrator for the depenency install. Once the install is completed once, there is no need to continue to run blender as an administrator or run the dependency install again.
  • To view the console (recommended) while running Blender Click Window → Toggle System Console.

• Navigate to the Text Editor:

  • Change the editor type by clicking the small hierarchy tree button (top-left corner) in the Outliner, and select Text Editor, OR
  • Switch to the Scripting tab at the top of Blender.

• Set up the Text Editor:

  • Click New to add a new text block.
  • Either:
    • Copy and paste the contents of the dependency_imports.py script into the text editor, OR
    • Add the dependency_imports.py file by clicking Add (located in the Text Editor).

• Run the Script:

  • Click Text → Run Script to execute the dependency installer.
  • This will install the following packages into your Blender Python environment:
    • numpy: 1.26.0
    • scipy: 1.13.0
    • matplotlib: 3.8.4
    • gempy: 2024.1.4
    • torch: 2.2.2
    • torchvision: 0.17.2
    • torchaudio: 2.2.2
    • pandas: 2.2.2
    • scikit-image: 0.23.2

• Monitor the Installation Progress:

  • Track the installation progress in the Console window.
  • When the installation is complete, the console will display the message:
    • "All dependencies installed successfully. You may now install the add-on to Blender."

• Note: Depending on your system setup, the installation process may take up to 10 minutes.

3. Install the Add-on in Blender

• Go to Edit → Preferences.
• In the Preferences window, navigate to the Add-ons tab.
• Click on Install… at the top of the window.
• In the file browser that appears, locate the .zip file you downloaded in Step 1 and select it.
• After installation, enable the add-on by checking the box next to GeoModeller in the list of installed add-ons.
  • (If you are using Blender 4.2 or later, the add-on will automatically install without requiring you to check the box. Note; there is sometimes a delay between checking the box and completion of the add-on install)
• Click ‘n’ on your keyboard to bring up the tool sidebar. Here you will see ‘GeoModeller’ tab.

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Overview Of Operators

For Detailed Work Flow Examples See Wiki

Drilling

• Desurvey Data:

  • Upload survey, collar, and datasheet as CSV files. Fill in the drop-downs as appropriate.
  • Returns the uploaded datasheet with added x, y, z (easting, northing, elevation (m)) values for each row. Adds a new row for each collar coordinate. Save to your files.

• Import Drill Holes (.csv):

  • Click ‘Load CSV’ to bring up the file browser and upload the desurveyed file. Fill in drop-downs as appropriate.
  • Returns 3 collections: Drill hole data (curve objects), drill hole traces (curve objects), and hole IDs (mesh objects).
  • Each curve object in the drill hole corresponds to a row in the CSV file, with the column values imported as custom properties for each object.

• Manage Drill Holes:

  • Stylize numerical or categorical data by selecting the collection that holds the drill hole data and then selecting the attribute you want to plot from the drop-down (populated based on the custom properties). Choose a desired color ramp. The color ramp options will automatically adjust based on whether your property is numerical or categorical. The color ramps are standard scientific matplotlib color ramps.
  • Option to adjust the color mapping for numerical properties based on the interquartile range (IQR) and user-defined scaling factor.
  • Option to dynamically size the curve objects for numerical properties along a log scale or linear scale.
  • Option to generate a legend (Note: You will need to switch your ‘editor type’ from ‘Outliner’ to ‘Image Editor’ in order to generate the legend).

• Drill Data Query:

  • Hides objects based on query inputs.
  • For numerical properties, every value outside a defined range will be hidden.
  • For categorical columns, check the boxes for the properties you want to show; all remaining are hidden.

• Drill Hole Planner:

  • Upload a CSV with planned hole IDs, azimuth, dip, planned depth (m), and your collar’s x, y, and z.
  • Returns curve objects representing the planned drill holes in their correct spatial location and orientation.
  • Option to take manually created curve objects in your scene (make sure to create curves as ‘Path’) and then create a CSV output from these objects (ensure they are all in the same collection).

Point Data

• Import Point Data (.csv):

  • Click ‘Load CSV’ to bring up the file browser and upload the point data file. Fill in drop-downs as appropriate.
  • Returns points as spheres (mesh objects).

• Manage Point Data:

  • Adjust colormapping and size.
  • Same additional fucntionality as drill hole curve objects.

• Point Data Query:

  • Same functionality as drill hole data query.

Geological Modelling

• GemPy Modeller:

  • Emulates the workflow of the gemPy module (v3). (set extents, feed formation and orientation data, create structral frame).
  • Returns the interpolated surfaces with the option to generate the lith blocks. Note that lith blocks are high-poly objects and modifier operators will slow way down.
  • Complex models will have long processing times.
  • For an overview of GemPy visit GemPy

• Structral Planes:

  • Create bounding box (create cube) to set extents.
  • Choose collection holding objects (mesh or curve objects) that you would like to convert to planes. Select the azimuth and dip properties.
  • Returns a plane in the set orientation, clipped to the bounding box.
  • Origin of the plane is set to the origin of the object if mesh object (point data) but set to the lowest vertex if curve object (interval data)

• Structral Discs:

  • Choose collection holding objects (mesh or curve objects) that you would like to convert to discs. Select the azimuth and dip properties. select the size.
  • Returns a disc in the set oreintation.
  • Origin of the disc is set to the origin of the object if mesh object (point data) but set to the lowest vertex if curve object (interval data).

Numerical Modelling

• RBF Grade Shell Mesh:

  • Create bounding box (create cube) to set extents.
  • Choose collection holding the data (can be curve or mesh object). Select the numerical property to model and choose an isosurface value and interpolation method.
  • returns an isosurface (mesh object) around the generated scaler field.

• RBF Block Model:

  • Create bounding box (create cube) to set extents.
  • Choose collection holding the data (can be curve or mesh object). Select the numerical property to model. choose an interpolation method.
  • Returns 10 collections of voxels. These are ordered from increasing to decreasing interpolated value in order to progressivly turn on or off segments.

Section Slicer

This tool applies a boolean modifier to every mesh object visible in the scene (does not work for drill holes/curve objects) using the ‘intersection’ method. The ‘Apply Default Slicer’ option will create an east-west oriented slice of 50 m width. This can be scaled/rotated/moved and the clip will automatically update. The ‘Use Custom Object’ allows the user to create an object to use as the slicer.

View Direction

This allows the user to see which direction the viewport is oriented (recored in azimuth and plunge). The direction readings will not update automatically upon movement, you will need to hover over the ‘set manually’ box or click on/off an object. Additionally, there is an option to assign a specific view direction and update the viewport to match

Tips, Tricks, and Limitations

• Understand Blender’s Viewport Shading options. To view the colors, you will need to be in Materials Preview Mode (or Render Preview Mode). Solid mode will not display the material you’ve assigned to objects.
• Matplotlib color maps are best represented using the ‘Raw’ color output. To switch to ‘Raw’, navigate to the Render Properties, and under Color Management, change the View Transform to Raw.
• Ensure that your data (CSV files) uses projected coordinate systems (UTM meters, feet) rather than geographic coordinate systems (lat/long).
• Management of numerical vs. categorical data in your CSV file is key. If you have a numerical column, ensure that no non-numerical values are present (e.g., “<” symbols, etc.). If you have a categorical column, ensure that no numerical values are present (e.g., zero to represent none). For any ‘null’ data, leave the cell blank; do not enter “null” or “N/A,” etc.
• When desurveying data, uploading a Survey CSV file is optional. If you do not have survey data, you can simply use the collar sheet and fill in azimuth, dip, and use final depth as the depth of measurement. Additionally, the ‘Start Depth’ in the collar sheet is an option for wedged holes. If all holes start at depth = zero, simply change the dropdown to “None” for Start Depth.
• If you do not wish to use the Blender coordinate system (centered on Blender’s origin), you can navigate to the add-on Preferences and uncheck the box Use Scene CRS. This will use the raw x and y values, though it is not recommended because issues can arise from operating far from Blender’s scene origin.
• Be aware that Ctrl Z (undo) will not work for some of the add-on’s operators. I’ve noticed it may crash Blender on some occasions.
• Blender is not designed to handle thousands of objects in your scene efficiently. Importing datasets with over 10,000 rows will result in slow processing times; the add-on works best for small drill programs (around 15 drill holes). Blender will progressively slow down due to caching operations for undo functionality. If Blender starts to run too slowly, try saving your work, closing, and re-opening the program.

Recommended System Requirements: (For optimal performance)

• Operating System: Windows 10/11, macOS 10.14, or Linux (64-bit)
• CPU: 64-bit eight-core processor (Intel Core i7 / AMD Ryzen 7 or higher)
• RAM: 32 GB or more
• Graphics Card:
  • NVIDIA RTX 20/30 Series or AMD Radeon RX 6000 series with CUDA/OpenCL support
  • 8 GB VRAM minimum (for larger scenes, more VRAM may be required)
• Storage: NVMe SSD for optimal read/write speeds
• Screen Resolution: 2560×1440 pixels (or higher if using 4K/large displays)

Contributions

I welcome issues and contributions! If you find a bug, have a feature request, or want to improve the project, feel free to open an issue or submit a pull request.

To contribute, fork the repository, create a branch, make your changes, and open a pull request with a brief description. Discussions and feedback are always appreciated. Thanks for contributing!