Image Slice

An image slice creates a 2D image of the 3D grid at a specified position, rotation, or along a specified vector path. Multiple image planes or paths can be used to create a fence diagram.

Select a 3D grid volume in the Contents window and click 3D View | Tools | Add to 3D Grid | Image Slice to create an image slice.

An image slice creates a planar image of the 3D grid in the 3D view. When combined the slices form a fence diagram.

Properties

General Properties for Image Slice are described below. See the Clipping Plane and Filter Types pages for those properties.

Set the image plane position and appearance in the Properties window.

General

Orientation

Select XY, XZ, YZ, or Path in the Orientation field to quickly set the image slice orientation. Otherwise, select Custom to fully define the image slice position and orientation.

Path

When the Orientation is set to Path, the Path field becomes available. This allows you to slice the 3D grid along curved lines or multiple lines simultaneously, which is highly effective for creating complex fence diagrams.

Base Layer: Select a Base (vector) layer from the drop-down to generate slices along all polylines and polygons within that layer. This creates a single Image Slice object in the Contents window, making it easy to apply the same colormap and properties to all slices at once.
Specific Object: Select a specific polyline or polygon object (formatted as layername:objectname) to warp the slice to that exact path from start to end.

Position

The X/Y/Z position properties control the position of the image slice. Type coordinate values or use the slider to set the image slice position. Only one position property is displayed when an axis plane is used. All three coordinate positions are available when a Custom orientation is used.

Rotation and Tilt

When using a Custom orientation, you can modify the Rotation and Tilt properties.

Positive Rotation values move the plane counterclockwise about the Z axis. Tilt must be greater than or less than zero for Rotation to affect the image slice.
Positive Tilt values move the plane clockwise about the Y axis.
When Rotation and Tilt are both equal to zero, the orientation matches the XY plane.
When Rotation and Tilt both equal to 90, the orientation matches the XZ plane.
When Rotation is equal to 0 and Tilt is equal to 90, the orientation matches the YZ plane.

Resolution

The Resolution width and Resolution height properties control the appearance of the image slice by determining the total number of pixels used to display the slice. The Resolution width is the number of pixels used to render the image slice along one side. The Resolution height is the number of pixels used to render the image slice along the adjacent side. The directions of the Resolution width and Resolution height vary depending on the shape and angle of the intersection with the 3D volume.

The Resolution width and Resolution height can be specified independently to account for different image slices. For image slices that are generally square, the Resolution width and Resolution height should be set to the same value. For image slices that are rectangular, i.e. one side is significantly longer than the other, the texture appearance may be improved by increasing the resolution along the long side of the image slice.

By default the Resolution width and Resolution height are set to automatic. When both Resolution width and Resolution height are set to Automatic, the image slice resolution along the longer direction is set to 1024 and the image slice resolution along the shorter side is set based on the ratio between the image width and height. For example, a square image will have 1024 pixels along the width and height while a long and skinny image may only use 256 pixels along the shorter direction. When only one of the Resolution width or Resolution height values are set to Automatic, the Automatic value varies based on the specified value and the ratio between the surface width and height.

Opacity

The Opacity property sets the opacity for the entire image slice. 100% is fully opaque. 0% is fully transparent. Overall opacity can also vary due to the specified Colormap. For example, if the Colormap uses a 0 to 100% ramp and the Opacity property is set to 50%, the image slice will appear to ramp from 0% to 50% opaque.

Colormap

Specify the colormap for the image slice in the Colormap field. Select a predefined colormap from the list or click the ellipse button button to modify the colormap in the Colormap Editor. The image slice is created using the same colormap as the Volume Render by default.

Interpolation

The Interpolation property controls how colors are rendered between 3D grid nodes on the image slice. This is particularly useful when visualizing categorical data, such as lithology codes.

Tri-linear: This is the default setting. It creates a smooth, blended transition between grid nodes. Use this for continuous data like temperature or concentration.
Nearest neighbor: This method colors the slice using the data point closest to each pixel without any interpolation. This is ideal for discrete data (e.g., geology units) to prevent the "bleeding" of colors or the creation of false intervening values between non-consecutive numeric codes.

Tri-linear	Nearest neighbor

Note the interpolated Green bar between the Yellow and Brown.	Data goes straight from Yellow to Brown, without interpolating Green between.

Save Slice Grid

The 2D grid data extracted from the 3D grid along the slice can be saved as a standard 2D grid file. To do this, use the Save slice grid button in the Properties window, click 3D View | 3D Grid | Save Slice Grid in the ribbon, or right-click the slice in the Contents window and select Save Slice Grid.

The resulting grid file matches the 3D volume data (including blanks). The grid layout and resolution depend on the orientation of the slice:

XY orientation: Grid X is volume X, Grid Y is volume Y. Resolution exactly matches the 3D grid.
XZ orientation: Grid X is volume X, Grid Y is volume Z. Resolution exactly matches the 3D grid.
YZ orientation: Grid X is volume Y, Grid Y is volume Z. Resolution exactly matches the 3D grid.
Custom orientation: Grid X is horizontal across the plane, Grid Y is vertical up the plane. If the slice is not rectangular (e.g., triangular), areas outside the volume are assigned the blanking value. Resolution is computed to match the 3D grid as closely as possible.
Path orientation: Grid X is along the path, Grid Y is volume Z. Resolution is computed to match the 3D grid as closely as possible.
- Note: If the path has multiple disconnected pieces (like an entire base layer), a separate grid file will be generated for each piece, with "1", "2", "3", etc., appended to the specified filename.

Save Slice Image

The 2D image generated by the slice can be exported directly as a standard image file (such as a PNG, JPG, or TIF). To do this, click the Save slice image button in the Properties window, click the 3D View | 3D Grid | Save Slice Image command in the ribbon, or right-click the slice in the Contents window and select Save Slice Image.

The resulting exported image file will match the exact appearance of the slice as configured, including the applied Colormap, Opacity, and the pixel dimensions specified in the Resolution settings.