Anisotropic Surfaces & Vector Fields
Define anisotropic strength surfaces and orientation vector fields across the geometry.
Define anisotropic strength surfaces and orientation vector fields across the geometry.
Some materials are stronger in one direction than another — bedded rock, foliated soils, or jointed masses. JW Slope provides two geometric inputs that the Generalized Anisotropic strength model uses to determine the local orientation of weakness at each slice base: anisotropic surfaces and anisotropic vector fields.
Anisotropic surfaces
An anisotropic surface is a constraint surface (an open polyline) used for surface-based anisotropy. The local orientation of weakness is taken relative to this surface, so it works well where the fabric of the material parallels a known geometric feature such as a bedding contact.
To draw one:
- Click Add Anisotropic Surface.
- Place the polyline vertices, then click Done Anisotropic Surface.
Use Clear Anisotropic Surfaces to remove them.
Anisotropic vector fields
A vector field defines the local orientation of weakness across an area rather than along a single surface. Each vector field is built from one or more control lines (control polylines); the orientation at any point is interpolated from the nearby control lines.
To build a vector field:
- Click Add Anisotropic Vector Field.
- Draw the first control line, then click Done Anisotropic Vector Field.
- To add more control lines, select the vector field and use Add Control Line in the properties pane.
Each control line has an Influence weight that controls how strongly it pulls the interpolated orientation toward its own direction relative to the other control lines.
| Parameter | Default | Range | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Influence | 1 | 0 – 1,000,000 | Weight of a control line in the orientation interpolation. |
The properties pane also exposes display-only settings (line length scale, line thickness scale, grid spacing) for how the field's direction arrows are drawn; these do not affect the analysis.
Use Clear Anisotropic Vector Fields to remove all vector fields.
Using these with the strength model
Anisotropic surfaces and vector fields are only geometry — they have no strength of their own. A material must be assigned the Generalized Anisotropic strength model and reference the appropriate surface or vector field for the orientations to take effect. See Generalized Anisotropic for how orientation maps to strength.