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The latest release of Seequent’s Leapfrog software has arrived! This new release focuses on improving daily workflows with new simple and intuitive tools. One of the top new features to arrive in October is Freeze/Unfreeze.  This feature is available across all Leapfrog products including the new;Leapfrog Geo 5.0, Leapfrog Works 3.0 and Leapfrog Energy 4.0.

You now have full control to manually freeze and unfreeze the processing of individual objects. This blog will provide you with five top tips for using this new functionality to improve your daily workflows. Increased manual control over your dynamic workflows can help streamline modelling and help focus attention on key areas of interest.

How it works

Freeze can be found by right-clicking on objects and selecting Freeze.

Freezing an object in Leapfrog also freezes all it’s child objects. In this example, the geological model has been frozen. This affects all the child objects in the model.

Note, that when all objects in the geological model are displayed in black text, this indicates that although the objects are frozen, no changes have been made to them.

The number of frozen objects in the project tree is indicated at the top of the tree. Clicking the pause button at the top of the project tree selects all frozen objects in the tree.

Individual child objects can be unfrozen, even if the parent object is frozen. Right-click and select Unfreeze to unfreeze an object.

If you create a new child object for a frozen object, the new object will be created unfrozen, so that you can work with it in isolation. For example, if you freeze the surface chronology for a geological model and then create a new surface, the new surface will be unfrozen. Changes made to this surface will not cause the rest of the model to reprocess.

When changes are made that affect a frozen object, an object with unprocessed changes is indicated in the project tree using the colours blue and grey:

  • An object in blue has pending changes.
  • An object in grey has pending changes that arise as a result of changes made to a child object.

How can you benefit from this?

One of the benefits of Leapfrogs dynamic modelling approach is the way the data inputs, geological interpretation, and outputs are all tied together so that when you receive new data or change an interpretation the model immediately reprocesses. However, for more complex models, this can cause unwanted reprocessing, which can slow down your model refinement.

The new Freeze/Unfreeze functionality in Leapfrog provides you with more control over your workflow, whilst still maintaining the benefits of an implicit and dynamic model. This helps improve processing time by focusing on areas of your workflow that are important to you.

Here are five ways to use this new functionality in your workflows:

Give you time to QAQC your drillhole data when reloading

We all know the saying “Rubbish In, Rubbish Out”. It can never be stressed enough the importance of reliable data capture, high analytical sample accuracy and precision, and accurate logging. Using the new Freeze/Unfreeze functionality, you could Freeze all areas of your project except the Drillhole Database. Upon reloading, you can now validate your drilling information by using Leapfrogs ‘Fix Errors’ tools or continue your ‘Interval Selection’ before commencing your geological model update. Freezing your model provides you with the flexibility to ensure your data is reliable and of a high standard before being used within your geological model.

Freeze your resource estimation for major updates

Having a dynamic geology and resource estimation is great. It means your grades and tonnages are always up to date, allowing you to make fast decisions. However, sometimes a large update to a model is required. This could be as simple as new fault uncovered from additional drilling or new information improving your understanding of the structural controls of your mineralisation. With the new Freeze/Unfreeze functionality, you can freeze your domained estimators and your block model. This allows you to focus on major updates to your geology model first.

Freeze your vein system to focus on small areas of interest

As models grow more complex over time and more data is added over the mining cycle, the amount of information in your project grows. Freeze/Unfreeze can be used to allow you to focus on small areas of your model; such as updating underground mapping on one of your lodes. In this example, all the veins within the vein system are frozen except the vein of interest. Mapped hanging wall and footwall contacts can be updated and reviewed against underground drilling, focusing the processing on the priority development areas and leaving processing of the vein interactions until you’ve finished your edits.

Trial and test different structural hypothesis

It is common to generate a number of different form interpolants or meshes in the 3D scene to use as structural trends. This could be to test potential faults trends, bedding folding styles or mineralisation controls. A user could generate multiple different form interpolants, comparing results and deleting unused copies. Now, the Freeze/Unfreeze functionality can be used to freeze downstream intrusion surfaces or numeric models, whilst different hypotheses are trialed and tested on a single mesh or form interpolant.

Freeze your groundwater simulation whilst peer reviewing your geology models

During a model update, you may want to pause the modelling process to review data with a colleague or gather inputs from stakeholders. With the new freeze functionality, you can freeze downstream processing whilst a peer review is being conducted. This allows you to ensure each step of the model has been through a quality check before progressing to the next stage. In this example, you may want to update your geology and numerical models with the latest geology information, as well as porosity and conductivity data, and have this peer reviewed before simulating your groundwater flow.

These are just a few examples of how the Freeze/Unfreeze feature provides you with more manual control over dynamic workflows and can help streamline modelling and focus attention on key areas of interest.

Freeze/Unfreeze is one of many new features to come out in the latest versions of the Leapfrog software; Leapfrog Geo 5.0, Leapfrog Works 3.0 and Leapfrog Energy 4.0.