Cauldron 1 (original), On-line manual


This page provides information on Resource Dynamic's product 'Cauldron Stereonet Software'. This is the Cauldron users manual.
Some features of the Cauldron Stereological program

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  • Cauldron Stereographic Software
  • Cauldron's Features
  • Online Manual on Stereographic Projection
  • Copying and Copyright information
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    Cauldron Stereographic Software

     Cauldron Stereographic Software is a 16 bit Windows 3.x based program. It is intended for geologists and engineers who wish to plot and process the orientation of joints, bedding planes and other geological structures.

    Cauldron Software Features

     Cauldron is a Windows 3 based program that takes advantage of Windows resources, for example, to Print images or transfer then to other programs via the clip board. It uses a the windows menu system and the left and right mouse buttons to enter data and evoke data processing functions. Internally data is stored in 'Cauldron Format' which is based on direction cosines. The following description of program functions is based on the Cauldron menu structure:
    Cauldron program window

    Cauldron Features by Main Menu Bar
  • Mouse functions
  • File and i/o Functions
  • Data Entry Functions
  • Functions for transfering data between the main data storage area (the store) and the stack data area.
  • Calculations menu
  • Functions designed for Tectonic Synthesis
  • Contouring, Projection and Appearance Related functions
  • Editing Functions
  • Using Paint or other drawing Programs
  • Using Paint with word processing programs
  • Writing programs that create Cauldron Format files
  • About Direction Cosines
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    • The Functionality of the Mouse
    In addition to the usual windows functions of selecting items from the menu and clicking on buttons Cauldron gives you 4 important mouse functions:
  • Left Button Click. Clicking the left button when the cursor is within the plot circle makes a temporary mark with the orientation that this mark written next to it. This is given as the angle that the point makes to the horizontal (the dip) and the bearing. In brackets is written the complementary information -the dip and bearing that corresponds to a plane normal to the point clicked. This function is designed so that you can quickly read off the orientation of any point on the plot. It is however limited in accuracy by the resolution of the screen.
  • Double Left Button Click. This action enters the point clicked on into the store. It is not an accurate way of entering data. It is quick, easy and ideal for getting quick data for exploring other features of Cauldron. You can always remove the last entry in store by using the Data|Delete function.
  • Right Button Click. This draws a (great circle) line from the previously clicked on point. It measures the angle measured through the lower hemisphere. Note if this value exceeds 90 you generally want the complementary value given (i.e. 90-V).
    right click function
  • Right Button Double Click. If you have just entered a point into the store this function will draw a plane (great circle) through it and the present position of the cursor.
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    File and Related Functions
  • Save: This functions stores the contents of Cauldrons store to a file in Cauldron format. It can then be retrieved using the Read and Append function.
  • Print: Sends the current window (not including volatile mouse click data) to the currently selected printer. Often printed output will result in lines being thinner than required. These can be adjusted using features in the View|defaults submenu.
  • Read and Append: Loads a file (stored in Cauldron format) onto the end of the data already in the store.
  • Load Formatted Data: This enables data to be loaded from a file in any of a number of formats (see data|select format). One item of data should be on each line.
  • New: Empties the store area (and thus clears the screen). Data on the stack is not lost, however.
  • Clip Bitmap: Places the image into the clip board (for moving to other programs such as a drawing program to add labels).
  • Clip Vector: Places the image into the clipboard as vector graphics. The receiving program can thus resize the output. This is an ideal way to post output to a word processing document. When printing occurs it may be that lines are thinner than required. Adjust using features in view|defaults.
  • Output Text: This writes the information in the store to a file for the user. This format cannot be reread by Cauldron.

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    Data Entry Functions
  • Enter Formatted Data: Enables you to enter data via the keyboard by typing data in one of several formats (see Select format below). Invoking this function creates a token that is added to the end of the store. Depending on the format it will cause either a point or a plane to be added. See the Edit menu if you wish to change it in some way.
  • Select Format: Use the list box to select a format to be used in either the Enter Formatted Data or Load Formatted Data functions.
  • Select Mark Type: Entering an integer into the dialog will add a control token to the store that will change the symbol used to represent subsequently added points.
  • Colours: Enter either an integer to choose a colour or three integers in the range 0-255 to indicate the colour (as a red green blue value). This will add a control token that will cause subsequent data to be plotted in the selected colour. Note there are actually three functions depending on whether you wish the colour to applie to data in the upper, lower or both hemispheres.
  • Add Vertical: Adds a single data point to the store representing the direction vertically down.
  • Data on planes: Provide functions for entering data as pitch or plunge. This function only works if the previous token added to the store is a plane. Depending on the function chosen this will add points at a given pitch or plunge on this plane. If a numerical value is entered, e.g. 20 then two points will be added both having a pitch or plunge of 20 degrees. If a letter is added e.g. 20 e then only that point nearest the east direction will be added.
  • Random Data: It is sometimes convenient to experiment with random data. points. This submenu provides functions to add a given number of random points on the lower hemisphere, both hemispheres or to distribute them about a point. The fourth function changes the range over which this last function distribites points.
  • Increase precision:Increases the number of decimal places to which Cauldron stores data.
  • Decrease precision: The inverse of the previous function.
  • Show Space: Show the amount of space left in the store for data.
  • Delete:Removes the last token (data or control) from the end of the store.
  • Delete#: Removes a required number of points from the end of the store.
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    Functions that Manipulate Data on the Stack
    The store and the stack are both areas of memory where Cauldron stores data and control information as tokens. Though only the data in the store is visible the stack is used in editing and as a destination for the results of many functions. There are 12 functions in the stack menu. Most of which are self evident when the folowing terms are defined:
  • push: Tokens are taken from the end of the store and placed on the stack. Note that there are variants to push a given number of tokens and to show the token being pushed in a dialog.
  • Copy to Tokens are copied from the end of the store to the stack.
  • Pop Tokens are removed from the end of the stack and placed on the store.
  • Copy from Tokens are copied from the stack to the store.

    • There are two other important functions. Empty Stack is self explanitory. The swap function makes the store into the stack and the stack into the store. Using this function twice makes it easy to peek at what is on the stack. Return to main menu
    Return to Cauldron Features Menu

    Calculations
    This menu contains basic calculations and operations applied to data in the store. More advanced functions that specifically apply to tectonic synthesis are in the tectonics menu.
  • StatisticsThis submenu contains a number of statistical functions that are applied to the data in the store. The four variants of the mean function scan the data and add an average value as a point to the end of the file. Two of the functions are weighted calculations in that they are to be used with data that has weight values applied to the tokens. A point with weight 2 is equivalent to two tokens in the same point with weight 1. Two of the variants are designed for use with hemispherical data. Hemispherical data includes joint orientation or bedding where way up is not an issue. In the hemispherical treatment a point inclined one degree from the horizontal towards the east is treated as being two degrees different from one dipping one degree west, and the mean is horizontal. In the spherical case, suitable for bedding with way up information data, these points would be considered to be at an angle of 178 degrees with a mean straight down.

    Great Circle fitted thru' Points with contours
    The final statistical function fits a great circle though a set of points. This could be used, for example to find the axis of a fold from bedding measurements.

  • Angles This is a quick way to find the angle between the last two tokens. Note that planes are considered as their poles and cones to be their axes.
  • Scanline weighting If data is known to be gathered on a scanline or set of scanlines then the bias caused by this scan line can in part be corrected by weighting the data appropriately. Here the scan lines are entered and pushed onto the stack. They must have weights representing their length. The data is then added to the store and this function evoked. The data will now have weights which can be used, for example, with the weighted mean function.
  • Count This submenu gives functions that count the number of tokens in the store of the various types (all, data, points, planes, cones or controls)
  • Apparent dip If the last entry is a plane, this function will give the apparent dip on any given bearing.
  • Intersections
  • All dataThis function determines the intersection between all the planes in the store. Points are assumed to be poles. The results are written to the stack. Intersecting structures must be more than a certain minimum angle to each other (see below).
  • and stackFinds intersections between data in the store with that in the stack. The original contents of the stack are written into the store and the results placed on the stack.
    Red poles are intersections of blue and black
  • Change Minimum Angle adjusts the minimum angle between two structures for their intersection to be included in the previous two functions.
  • 2 Cones Finds the points of intersection between two cones or a cone and a plane.
  • 3 cones Finds the (up to 6) intersection points between three cones. This function is specifically designed for inclined borehole problems.
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    Tectonic Synthesis
    A collection of features concerned with structural geology.
  • Sigma Directions This function assume that the last two entries in the store are planes representing complementary faults. The internal angle of friction is calculated and the principal stress directions added as points.
  • Rotate about last entry in the store Here the last entry should be a point representing a pivot or fold axis. Enter an angle and the other data points in the store are read, rotated about this point and written to the STACK.
  • Tilt data The data in the store is read and tilted by the offset of the last entry and written to the STACK. This solves the classic problem of the tilts of beds beneath an unconformity. If the last entry represents a pole to the unconformity the results in the stack represnt the inclination of the beds at the time that the unconformity was level.
  • Tilt data (2) Where as the previous function applies a tilt between the last entry and the horizontal, this function looks at the last two tokens (points) calculates the tilt between them, applies this to all the data in the store and writes the result to the stack.
  • Strain Data (points) Here The last entry should be a point and the axis for compression dilation. Entering values less than 1 compresses on this axis (0 is permissible), value over one stretches. This version assumes points in the data set to represent lineations or directions.
  • Strain Data (poles) This is a version of the previous function that assumes points to be poles to planes. (These are rotated towards rather than away from an axis of compression).
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    View Functions (Contouring, projections, default view functions)
  • ContouringContouring, as performed by this program is a two stage process. The Contour function actually estimates the value of a probability density function. This is estimated for points that make up a grid. This function uses a conical weighting function the radius of which is selected using the Select Gridding Constant option. It uses data from one or both hemisphere as selected by the select hemisphere option. This gridding process is relatively slow. A 75Mhz pentium gridding 100 points takes around 30 seconds. Each time the contour function is evoked a new grid is added up to a current maximum of 4. Functions provided save or load grids to/from file and delete them. One may also change the colour of the last grid created. Contours (one per grid created) are redrawn everytime the window is resized etc.. However the grids are not recalculated. Grids are not destroyed by the file New function. The number of lines drawn for a given grid can be altered. The Select Number and selection function does this. If we enter the numbers 10 3 9 here then the grid values are divided into 10 contour intervals. However, instead of drawing 10 contour lines only contours 3 through 9 are drawn.
  • Set Defaults A set of functions that let the user select the line thickness, plot circle thickness, contour thickness and the size of the marks used to plot poles. Generally default settings are fine for the screen. However, printing or passing data as vector graphics you may find some adjustment necessary.
  • Projection This functions toggle the screen between equal area and equal angle projections. Note: that all features are redrawn including contours.
  • Window Margin Enables you to alter the space around the outside of the plot circle. To little margin means that data from mouse clicks can get lost.
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    Edit Functions


  • Make Last A collections of functions that act on the last one or two tokens in the store.

    Make last...

  • 2 entries into cone if last two entries are data then they are converted into a cone (small circle) the first data entry being the centre the second a point on the circle.
  • entry into coneThis function queries the users for a cone angle. A cone of that angle is drawn about the last token (if data point).
  • entry into planeIf the last token is data it is converted into a plane (great circle).
  • 2 entries into plane If the last two entries are data they are replaced by a great circle through them (In the case of a small circle the plane passes through the axis, in the case of a plane through the pole).
  • entry into point Replaces plane with its pole, or cone with its axis.
  • entry upper/lower hemisphere. Forces last entry into the lower or upper hemisphere.
  • Make All A collection of functions that act on the store to To make all all data either points, planes upper or lower hemispere.
  • Delete All A collection of functions that act on the store to delete all controls, points, planes or cones.
  • First Token Operations This submenu contains self explanatory store based functions that i) moves the last token to the start, 2) moves the first token to the end and 3) delete the first token.
  • Addendum and Labels This sub menu contains two functions. Add weight/addendum to last allows the last token on the store to be given a name or label and or be given a weight (which is used in certain calculations).Count tokens from label counts the number of tokens since one with a chosen label. Together these function enable data be divided into subsets and manipulatied with the delete# and push# functions.
  • Delete outside If the last token entered is a small (or great) circle then this will delete all points outside it.
  • Delete inside
  • Delete outside If the last token entered is a small (or great) circle then this will delete all points inside it. It is useful in sorting joint sets according to dip and orientation. It can also be used to select a cluster of data for examination.
  • Show last Explains the content of the last token on the store.
  • Edit Last token Enables the last token to be edited directly. Note that this requires a knowledge of Cauldron format and a degree of care.
  • Switch last 2 Reverses the order of the last two tokens in the store. Can be used, for example, to identify the last entry in the store (which might be the mean of a joint set) by entering a a colour change token and then selecting switch last 2.
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    Cauldron Format etc.
    Cauldron format is the format used internally to store data and to control the colours and mark type for plotting poles. When you enter data (or use a function such as the mark type function) a 'token' is placed at the end of a data structure called the store. Whenever windows has to redraw a Cauldron window, or print, or or place vector graphics into the clipboard, Cauldron will 'play' the store, in order from the first token to the last. So for example, if you wish to plot three groups of poles one in green, one in red and one in blue your first select the colour green, then enter the 'green' poles, then select the colour red, then enter the 'red' poles, then enter the colour blue, then enter the blue poles. On the store the first token would be a colour selection token for blue (blue has the colour value 0 0 255). Next would come the data tokens for the 'blue' poles. Next would come a colour change token for red (colour value 255 0 0), then the tokens for the red poles etc..

    The order in which data is entered can be important. Many calculation functions assume that the last token(s) has/have special significance. For example, if you want to rotate your data around an inclined axis, the function (in the tectonic synthesis menu) that performs this function assumes that the last token entered contains is the axis of rotation. In order to manipulate the order and sequence of your tokens you can use functions from the stack and edit menus.

    Cauldron can save and retrieve files in Cauldron format. Such files can be examined using an editor (such as the MS-DOS editor) or created by other programs. For more details on how you can do this see Return to main menu
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    Advanced Features

    Cauldron is intended to be used with other programs. For Example, to label and annotate output a drawing program such as paint can be used. Diagrams can be sent to word processing programs. If you program you can easily create file in Cauldron format.
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  • Using Paint or other drawing Programs
  • Using Paint with word processing programs
  • Writing programs that create Cauldron Format files
  • About Direction Cosines

    • Using Painting Programs


    Plots can be moved to painting programs using the clipboard. Often the bitmap format is the most useful format. This means that the image size in the Cauldron window determines the size of the image in the paint program window.

    Once an image is moved to a paint program labels can be created by adding text and arrows. Colour can be added, for example, outside the plot circle or between contour lines. From the paint program the images can be again moved to word processors, presentation software etc..
    Cauldron Output tarted up using Paintbrush
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    Using word processors


    Moving images to a word processor will usually be in clipboards vector format. This enables them to be resized as required. The aspect ratio should remain the same - circles remain circles etc.. However, you may find that you wish to change line thickness settings.
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    Writing your own programs


    If you wish to have your own programs create input for Cauldron there are two routes that you can take. Firstly you can create files to be read by the Formatted read option. This option is fine if your data consists of all points or planes. If you wish to take advantage of all the plotting features you will want to use Cauldron Format.

    Cauldron Format consists of 'tokens'. Each token is separated by a semicolon and it is recomended that you start each on a new line. The first character in each token is called the verb and this determines the action of the token. Three tokens are termed data tokens 'o','O' and '.', (lower case O, upper case O and period). These refer to small circles, great circles and points respectively. In the case of data tokens these are followed by three floating point numbers that represent the direction cosine for the data. Direction cosines are in the order:east, north, up. Since most data is plotted on the lower hemisphere the third number is usually negative. In the case of directions, the direction cosines difine them unambiguously, for small circles they represent the circle's centre and for great circles they represent the pole (normal). All tokens can have labels -text placed after the numerical data but before the semicolon.

    Control tokens change the colour used to plot data and the type of mark used to plot points. Colours are defined using red green blue integers in the range 0-255. Moreover they can be made to apply only to the upper or lower hemispheres. To see the formats used create tokens using the functions from the data menu, then examine them with the edit last option in the edit menu.
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    About Direction Cosines


    In using three numbers to represent a direction we are obviously using more than we need. It does, however, lead to straight forward and more rugged calculations. First let us consider how to represent the direction dipping down 22 degrees towards a bearing of 117.
    The position of 117 degrees on the unit circle is sin(117) (east), cos(117)(north). We must scale these values by cos(22) to get the coordinates on the sphere. Thus the direction cosines are: {cos(22)sin(117), cos(22)cos(117),-sin(22)} = {0.82, -0.42,-0.37} so a token representing this direction could be written
    . 0.82 -0.42 -0.37 some optional label;
    The direction cosine used for a plane dipping 22 degree towards 117 would be its pole. I.E. the direction cosine for a point dipping 90-22=68 degrees towards 117+180=297.
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    Copyright

     The material presented here is copyright. However, it may be Windows is a trademark of Microsoft
    Permission may also be granted for partial copying. We would normally request that links to the rest of the document be maintained.
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