Fault model - contains 3D fault-network models built from fault picking (used by structural modeling).

Right mouse button on the icon allows to:

• Create new
• Add folder

Right mouse button on a fault model additionally allows to:

• Open
• Rename
• Convert to Multi-Z surfaces
• Colorize
• Delete
• Extract fault data

Several fault models under Fault model → Local → Depth or Time can also be selected together. Right mouse button on such a selection offers a single command, Remove, which deletes all of the selected models: g-Space first asks you to confirm the removal of the selected models and, when structural models use any of them, reports how many structural models reference the selection and asks whether to remove it anyway. Answering No to either question leaves the project unchanged. Confirming deletes each selected model together with the Multi-Z surfaces published from it, but leaves affected structural models and their existing results in place. When you reopen an affected structural model, the Structural Modeling wizard warns that its saved fault model is unavailable and resets Fault model to Ignore faults; select an available replacement before running or saving. For a single fault model, Delete also asks whether to continue when a structural model uses it. The commands above remain single-selection, and Remove is offered on the fault models themselves, not on the individual modeled fault surfaces.

Right mouse button on an individual modeled fault surface allows to:

• Set color
• Extract fault data

Create new opens the Fault Modeling wizard.

Extract fault data

Choose Extract fault data on a fault model to create one point set from all of its modeled fault surfaces, or on an individual modeled fault surface to include only that surface.

In the Extract fault data dialog, enter an Output name and adjust Add source fault name as attribute, Remove duplicate points and Skip faults with empty geometry (report in results) as needed. Both Run and Save create the point set under Data Manager → Points. Save to workflow adds the configured extraction to the project workflow without creating the point set immediately.

Fault Modeling Wizard

The Fault Modeling wizard builds modeled fault surfaces from interpreted fault data stored in the Data Manager. At the top of the dialog choose the Domain (Depth or Time) and enter a Name for the model. The workflow is organized into three tabs.

Fault Inputs

Select which faults take part in the model and how their data is used.

• Available Inputs (left panel) lists the faults from the Data Manager, grouped in the same folder structure they have under Data Manager → Faults for the chosen Domain. The Faults and Multi-Z surfaces checkboxes filter what is shown.
• Use Add → and ← Remove to move items between the available list and the Selected Faults table.
• The Selected Faults table has columns Fault Name, Points, Sticks, Maps, Markers and Fault Type.

Folders keep their Data Manager names, open expanded and can be collapsed. Faults that are not in a folder stay at the top level, together with any Multi-Z surfaces, which are not organized in folders. Every folder of the chosen Domain is listed, including a folder that currently holds no faults. Select a folder and use Add → to add every fault it contains, subfolders included, in one action; a fault is added only once even when you select it together with its folder. Switching the Domain or reopening the wizard rebuilds the tree, so fault folders created or moved in the Data Manager appear there.

Each data-type cell (Points, Sticks, Maps, Markers) sets how that input is used. On an interpreted fault, only the data types actually present are editable:

• No data (grey) - the data type is not used.
• Soft (green) - guiding constraint; the surface is attracted to this data but may deviate from it for a smoother result.
• Hard (blue) - strict constraint; for Points, Maps and Markers the surface is forced to pass exactly through this data, and for Sticks it follows the picked sticks as closely as possible.

On a fault modeled from picked sticks, the Sticks cell also decides how the fault surface is built. With Sticks set to Soft, the surface follows the general fault trend fitted through the picked data instead of reproducing every stick, so noisy or irregular individual picks no longer pull it out of shape. With Sticks set to Hard, the surface keeps following the picked sticks as closely as possible, even when that leaves it rougher. The Points, Maps and Markers cells keep the constraint meaning above and do not switch this behavior.

Each Hard point of an interpreted fault's Points, Maps and Markers data becomes a fixed node of the modeled surface, and Smoothing (%) cannot move it afterwards. Set Markers to Hard when the modeled fault surface must intersect the fault markers picked in wells. Hard points that lie closer together than the smaller of Step X and Step Y are reduced to one fixed node per grid cell.

A Multi-Z surface row is treated as one already-interpreted geometry rather than picks, maps and markers: its Points cell is always editable and carries the single Soft or Hard mode of the whole surface, starting at Soft, while Sticks, Maps and Markers show a dash (—) and do not apply; the Fault Type cell stays editable as for any other input. With Hard, the geometry is used as it stands: the outer edge of the surface is held in place and Smoothing (%) reshapes only the interior, so a Multi-Z surface lofted from just two picked sticks is left essentially unsmoothed. With Soft, the geometry is a flexible constraint and Smoothing (%) may move the edge in depth or time as well, while the surface keeps its map-view outline. Extend H and Extend V apply in both modes. Only these two modes are meaningful here: leaving the cell at No data does not drop the surface, which is still built with its edge held in place exactly as for Hard.

The Fault Type column (Normal, Reverse, Strike-slip, Unknown, Strike-slip + Normal offset or Strike-slip + Reverse offset) is read from each fault's stored type and can be edited here. See Assign Fault Type for setting the type directly on the fault object.

Surfaces

Define surface-generation parameters, one row per selected fault. Columns: Fault Name, Step X, Step Y, Smoothing (%), Shape, Extend H and Extend V.

• Step X / Step Y - grid sampling in project units (meters or feet).
• Smoothing (%) - how strongly the generated surface is smoothed (0-100). This is a separate setting from the Soft / Hard input mode, and works differently with each.
• Shape - Ellipse, Rounded boundary or Input shape. Input geometry is always preserved.
• Extend H / Extend V - how far the surface extends beyond the input data, in project units. Disabled when Input shape is selected.

On a fault modeled from picked sticks, Smoothing (%) acts on the result of the input mode chosen on the Fault Inputs tab. With Hard input it only reduces roughness, and the data the surface must pass through stays in place; with Soft input it also flattens the fitted trend, from gently curved at low values towards almost planar at 100%, so Soft input with a high value gives a very smooth, nearly planar surface that still preserves the main fault trend.

Fault Intersections

Intersections between selected faults are detected automatically. For each pair the table shows Fault, Intersects With and Dominant Fault. The Dominant Fault drop-down in each row offers Keep both first, followed by the names of the two inputs in that row; a Multi-Z surface used as an input is listed there like a fault and can be selected as the dominant object. Every newly detected pair starts with Keep both, which applies no cut at that intersection and leaves both surfaces full. Select one of the two names for a pair to make that input dominant: it continues through the intersection and the other one is truncated at it, so a Multi-Z surface selected as dominant is preserved and the fault crossing it is cut back to that surface.

Running and Saving

Select the Fault Inputs, Surfaces and Fault Intersections tabs directly. Run generates the modeled fault surfaces using the selected data constraints, surface parameters and intersection rules, stores the model under Data Manager → Fault model → Local → Depth or Time (matching the wizard's Domain) → the model Name, and keeps the wizard open. It is enabled after you provide a unique model name and select a fault with at least one input type set to Soft or Hard, or select a Multi-Z surface. Save stores the current model settings in the same branch without recalculating and also keeps the wizard open. The open wizard stays attached to the model it has just committed: adjust the fault inputs, surface parameters or intersection choices and click Run again to recalculate and update that same model in place, keeping its Data Manager entry and applying the current Name text to it, instead of creating a second model. A calculated model is visible in the 3D View and can be reopened with Open, which restores its fault inputs - including the Soft or Hard mode of a Multi-Z surface row, in its Points cell - and Surfaces values together with the Dominant Fault choice saved for every detected pair - one of the two names, or Keep both - so a saved model can be reviewed, edited and re-run without repeating those intersection decisions. A model saved by an older product version that used a Multi-Z surface input is the one exception: every pair involving that surface reopens as Keep both, so make the dominant choice again before running.

Each selected input that produces geometry becomes a child node under the model, named after that input. A Multi-Z surface input is built with the Step X, Step Y, Smoothing (%), Shape, Extend H and Extend V values of its Surfaces row and takes part in Fault Intersections; its child node carries the Multi-Z surface's own name, and the surface used as input is left unchanged under Multi-Z surfaces. These child nodes are the individual modeled fault surfaces on which Set color and Extract fault data operate.

Each modeled fault surface is listed in the Data Manager with its colour filling the object icon, and the same colour is used for that surface in the 3D View and on section views. It is the colour given to the modeled fault surface with Set color, or assigned by Colorize on the fault model; when none has been set there, the modeled fault surface takes the colour of the interpreted fault of the same name under Faults, so a fault keeps the colour it was given when it was picked. A colour set explicitly for that surface in a view still takes precedence. See Structural models for how a structural model built from this fault model uses these colours.

Save to workflow adds the current settings as a Fault Modeling task in the project workflow without running the model. Use Close to exit the wizard.

Running or saving a fault model does not automatically publish its per-fault surfaces under Multi-Z surfaces. To publish them, right-click a calculated model in the Data Manager and choose Convert to Multi-Z surfaces. After this explicit conversion, each later run of the same model refreshes its Multi-Z surfaces. Multi-Z surfaces already stored by older product versions are preserved.

See Also

• Structural modeling
• Fault picking