With the Material Editor, you can create a material catalogue/library for Stockpile items. The material types can be set to have a density and value per unit, which automatically converts the volume of the pile to weight (tonnage) and gives you its monetary value.

The Material Editor can be found in the VIEW Tab, the TOOLS for Stockpile tab (when a stockpile is selected), or as a quick button in the Status Bar.

View Tab - Material Editor

TOOLS for Stockpile Material

Status Bar - Material Editor

Overview

• Material Editor Panel
• Material Editor - Sections & Definitions
• Add, Remove, and Edit Materials
  • Add Multiple Materials to the Material Editor
• Search For and Assign Materials
• Using the Show Fill Feature
• Tips and Tricks 
• Related Video

Material Editor Panel

The Material Editor Panel is where you edit your stockpile materials and their associated information. The Settings section of the panel controls properties for all stockpile items and allows you to set an Undefined Material Color, change the Currency Symbol, and enable/disable Show Fill. 

The Materials section of the panel defines specific materials and allows you to add or delete materials in your catalogue as well as identify the materials by Name, Density, Value, and Color.

• Select the Material Editor button from the View tab or the Status Bar to display the Materials Editor panel to the right of the Viewport.

Material Editor - Sections & Definitions

Settings Undefined Material Color - Use for cases where stocks may be composed of unknown material, or nonrevenue generating materials (sludge, waste, etc.). Any calculated stockpile that is not assigned a material is set as Undefined.  Currency Symbol - Simply type in your currency symbol or abbreviation to have it designated in the program or PDF report. This is applied to all materials that have the Value enabled. For example: for US Dollars you can type USD or $. Show Fill - Tick the box to show the color of the fill over the stockpile. When unticked, the stockpile is only outlined by the material fill color until you hover over the stockpile with the mouse. When you hover over the stockpile, it will highlight the pile with the set fill color.  Materials Search - Look up a material by name. Add Material - Click to add a new material. Name - Name of your material type. Density - Tick the box to enable. Shows the density, which is weight per cubic unit. If your data Display Units are in metric, the density is in tons per cubic meters (t/m³); when imperial, they are in tons per cubic yards (t/yd³). Value - Tick the box to enable. The Value should be the value of your stock/aggregate in tons per cubic meters/yards. For instance, the value of Sand in the image is 1.25 Euros per ton. Your value for the whole pile is calculated by combining volume, density, and value.  Color - Assign a color to each material to help you identify and distinguish the stockpiles at a quick glance.

Add, Remove, and Edit Materials

You can add, remove, and edit types of materials at any time. 

1. Select the Material Editor button.
2. Go to the Materials Panel.
3. Click Add Material to create a new type of material; or alternatively:
   1. Click the Wrench icon to edit a material.
   2. Click the Trashcan icon to remove/delete a material.
4. Fill in the desired information fields for that material:
   1. Name
   2. Density
   3. Value
   4. Color
5. Click Add (or Update) to create the new material.

Add Multiple Materials to the Material Editor

You can add multiple materials to your project using a template file you've saved or received from another Virtual Surveyor project. Simply drag and drop the template file anywhere in the Virtual Surveyor app to have the materials added to the project that you can assign to your stockpiles.

Search For and Assign Materials

Search for materials in the Material Editor. If you have created a lot of materials, you can quickly search for them and make edits directly in the Material Editor.

Using search to assign materials. You can search for and assign materials using the search feature found in the Tools tab on a selected stockpile, in the Materials Editor, and by using right-click when assigning materials to a specific stockpile. Assign the materials from the Tools tab after searching for them, or even better, you can simply right-click on the stockpile in the Viewport and quickly search for and assign the material from the mini menu. 

Using the Show Fill Feature

Use the Show Fill function to quickly identify where materials are on the project site.

• Tick the box to enable Show Fill - Leave Show Fill enabled to help you easily identify groups of stockpiles and where they are on the project site. 
• Untick the box to disable Show Fill - Keeping Show Fill disabled will make it easier to see the actual image of the pile and can help you identify the type of material in detail.

Tips and Tricks 

• Materials can be exported or saved as a Template to be reused in other projects. These templates can either be reused by yourself or by other users.
  • Use Save as a Template to store your materials template to your Virtual Surveyor ID, which can be reused with any of your projects at any time as it follows you on whatever machine you log into.
  • Export your materials as a template (.vsmt file) that is easy to share within your own team or outside your organization. These templates can be loaded into any Virtual Surveyor project at any time.
• If you are trying to obtain cut/fill information over a site, make sure you are using the Cut/Fill Tools, instead of the Material Editor and Stockpile tools.
• Disable fill to be able to identify the material in a Stockpile PDF report. 
  • Because Virtual Surveyor works as a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) concept, whatever your terrain looks like in the Viewport will export with the same visuals.

Related Video