Abstract

Seismic datasets are usually large and noisy, with no apparent structures, at least to the untrained eye. Geo-illustrators and geologist use a set of 2D textures, lithological patterns, to show the interpreted information in seismic data. Lithological patterns are illustrations of the contents of a rock unit or a rock formation. For 2D slice viewing, and for 2D planar cuts in a 3D object, a 2D texture is sufficient.

But to fully take advantage of the information found in 3D seismic datasets, we want to explore the use of specially designed 3D textures to show the interpreted information. This opens up some new possibilities, such as viewing the interior of the seismic volume, by using traditional tools for handling of occlusion. Unfortunately, no such 3D lithological textures exists.

This thesis deal with the process of creating the 3D textures. We analyse and break the 2D lithological patterns down into symbols and their integration. Then each 2D symbol is manually extended to its plausible 3D counterpart, and finally the 3D objects are placed in the texture as defined by its integration. The control over this synthesis process is placed in a XML schema for flexibility. The lithological patterns covers a variety of different textures from stochastic such as sand to the structural limestone, and thus follows the two main types of textures that we are able to create, structured textures and stochastic textures.

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