Interface Overview

A detailed guide to every panel, toolbar, and control in the BlastCAD workspace.

Top Bar

The top bar is the command center of BlastCAD. It is always visible and provides access to file operations, data exchange, and global settings.

Control	Action
BlastCAD logo	Returns to the home/landing page
New	Creates a new empty project (clears all data)
Open	Opens a `.bcp` project file from disk
Save	Saves the current project as a `.bcp` file
Import	Opens the Import Center modal
Export	Opens the Export Center modal
Statistics	Opens the Blast Analytics dashboard
Hole Table	Opens a tabular view of all drill holes
Database	Opens the Engineering Database manager (Rigs, Explosives, Templates)
Settings	Opens Project Settings (global origin, units)
Theme toggle	Switches between Dark and Light mode
User menu	Profile settings, 2FA management, password change, logout
Admin Panel	(Admin accounts only) User management and audit logs

Explorer Panel

The Explorer Panel (left sidebar) provides a hierarchical view of all project data.

Layer Tree

Layers organize all CAD entities, holes, and surfaces. Every entity belongs to a layer.

Create layer — Click the + icon to add a new layer.
Rename — Double-click a layer name to rename it inline.
Visibility toggle — Click the eye icon to show/hide all entities on a layer.
Isolate — Right-click → Isolate to hide all other layers temporarily.
Delete — Right-click → Delete layer (also removes all entities on it).
Color — Each layer has a display color applied to its entities.

Layer types:

Type	Description
`custom`	General-purpose drawing layer
`csv`	Auto-created when importing drill hole data
`dtm`	Auto-created when importing a DTM surface

Drill Design Tree

Below the layer tree, all drill holes are listed by Ring → Hole hierarchy. Clicking a hole:

Highlights the hole in the 3D viewport.
Populates the Properties Panel with that hole's parameters.
Scrolls the canvas to center on the hole.

Right-click a hole to delete it or go to ring view.

DTM Block Browser

When Datamine block models are loaded, each model appears with its attribute columns (Grade, Lithology, Lode, Geocat). Use the toggles to:

Show/hide individual block model layers.
Filter blocks by attribute range (grade thresholds, lithology codes).
Control slice plane thickness for sectional visualization.

3D Canvas

The canvas is a WebGL2 viewport powered by React Three Fiber. It supports both 2D (orthographic, top-down) and 3D (perspective, orbit) modes.

Action	Mouse / Keyboard
Orbit (3D only)	Left-click drag
Pan	Middle-click drag
Zoom	Scroll wheel
Fit all to view	Click the Fit All button in the Canvas Toolbar
Fit selected entity	`F`
Switch 2D / 3D	Toggle in Canvas Toolbar
Top / Front / Right views	Click View Cube face

For a detailed breakdown of 2D mode vs 3D mode, the section plane tool, and blast animation controls, see Navigation & Viewport.

Coordinate Display

The bottom of the canvas continuously shows the cursor's world coordinates (X, Y, Z in local space). The origin 0,0,0 corresponds to the Global Origin set in Project Settings. All coordinates are displayed in the project's active unit system (meters by default).

UCS Indicator

The UCS (User Coordinate System) icon in the bottom-left corner shows the orientation of the current working plane. In 2D mode, the working plane is always the XY plane. In 3D mode, you can set a custom UCS to work on ring planes or angled surfaces.

View Cube

The view cube (top-right corner) shows the current camera orientation. Click any face or corner to snap to standard views (Top, Front, Right, Isometric).

The floating toolbar to the left of the 3D canvas organizes all tools into collapsible groups.

Drawing Tools

Group	Tools
Lines	Line, Polyline, X-Line (infinite line), Ray
Curves	Arc, Circle, Spline, Donut
Shapes	Rectangle, Polygon
3D Primitives	Box, Sphere, Cylinder, Cone, Torus
Solid Operations	Extrude, Revolve, Loft
Points	Point, Point Cloud

Modification Tools

Tool	Shortcut
Move	`MOVE`
Rotate	`ROTATE`
Scale	`SCALE`
Mirror	`MIRROR`
Stretch	`STRETCH`
Trim	`TRIM`
Extend	`EXTEND`
Offset	`OFFSET`
Fillet	`FILLET`
Chamfer	`CHAMFER`
Break	`BREAK`
Join	`JOIN`
Explode	`EXPLODE`
Array (Linear)	`ARRAY`
Array (Polar)	`PARRAY`

Annotation Tools

Tool	Description
Text	Place single-line text in the viewport
Leader	Annotated leader line with text
Linear Dimension	Horizontal or vertical dimension line
Aligned Dimension	Dimension parallel to a selected edge
Angular Dimension	Angle between two lines
Radius Dimension	Radius annotation for arcs and circles
Diameter Dimension	Diameter annotation for circles

Measurement Tools

Distance — Click two points to measure the 3D distance between them. Result appears in the Command Terminal.
Angle — Click three points (vertex at second click) to measure the included angle.

Blast Design Tools

Tool	Description
Draw Baseline	Places the 3D polyline used as the drilling reference axis
Create Hole	Manually places a drill hole by clicking collar and toe
Tie-up Workflow	Activates the delay assignment workflow
Section Plane	Defines a volumetric cutting plane for cross-section visualization. Click two points to define the plane normal; the Active Slice panel appears in the canvas for thickness control and can be dragged to avoid overlapping other UI. See Navigation & Viewport.
Blast Animation	Plays a time-based simulation of the firing sequence. Each hole fires at its assigned delay. See Navigation & Viewport.

View & Display Settings

Accessible via the gear icon in the toolbar:

Setting	Description
2D / 3D	Toggle viewport dimensionality
Ortho / Perspective	Switch projection mode
Grid	Toggle grid display and set grid size
Grid Snap	Snap cursor to grid intersections
Polar Tracking	Constrain drawing to specific angles (15°, 30°, 45°, 90°, custom)
Ortho Mode	Constrain drawing to horizontal/vertical only
Show Holes	Toggle hole solid geometry
Show Hole Lines	Toggle collar-to-toe lines
Show Collars	Toggle collar marker geometry
Show Labels	Toggle hole ID / delay labels
Show Ring Lines	Toggle ring plane boundary display
Show Ring Labels	Toggle ring name labels
Show Detonators	Toggle detonator symbols
Show Delay Labels	Toggle delay time annotations
Anti-aliasing	Toggle MSAA for smoother rendering
Pixel Ratio	Adjust device pixel ratio (1× / 1.5× / 2×)
Zoom Speed	Adjust mouse wheel zoom sensitivity
Pan Speed	Adjust pan drag sensitivity

Properties Panel

The Properties Panel (right sidebar) is context-sensitive — its content changes based on what is selected in the viewport.

When a Hole is Selected

Displays and allows editing of all hole parameters:

Collar / Toe coordinates (X, Y, Z)
Hole length, diameter, dip, azimuth, dump angle
Ring and hole number
Explosive type, delay (ms)
Charge summary (total kg, column length)
Comments field

When a CAD Entity is Selected

Entity type (line, polyline, circle, arc, etc.)
Layer assignment
Color and lineweight
Length / radius / area (computed)
Vertex count (for polylines)

When an Image Entity is Selected

Image source (file name or embedded data)
Opacity slider (0–100%)
Georeferencing control points (E/N/RL coordinates of the 3 reference points)
Re-Georeference Image button — reopens the georeferencing modal to adjust the affine transform

When a Block Model Entity is Selected

Model type (Surpac, Datamine, or CSV)
Cell size (X, Y, Z in metres)
Attribute columns available for colour mapping
Point count and bounding box

Hole Table

The Hole Table is a spreadsheet-style view of all drill holes in the project. Open it from the Top Bar → Hole Table.

Features

All hole fields in one view: Ring, Hole ID, Layer, Delay, Length, Diameter, Dip, Azimuth, Explosive, Total Charge (kg), Collar (E/N/RL), Toe (E/N/RL)
Sortable and filterable columns: Click a column header to sort ascending/descending; use the search field to filter by ring name or hole ID
Cell editing: Click any editable cell to type a new value — changes apply immediately to the project
Multi-row selection: Click checkboxes to select multiple rows for batch operations
Copy/Paste: Standard copy/paste keyboard shortcuts work within the table when cells are focused.
CSV Export: Click Export CSV to download the entire table as a comma-separated file

The Hole Table is particularly useful for:

Verifying delay assignments before running blast animation
Doing bulk delay edits across many holes
Checking coordinate accuracy after import

Command Terminal

The Command Terminal sits at the bottom of the workspace. It serves two purposes:

System Log — Displays real-time messages from all operations: imports, exports, calculations, errors, and user actions. Messages are color-coded by type:

Color	Type
White	`info` — general status
Green	`success` — completed operation
Red	`error` — failed operation
Yellow	`warning` — requires attention
Blue	`system` — internal engine messages
Cyan	`cmd` — user-typed commands

Command Input — Type AutoCAD-compatible commands directly (e.g., TRIM, OFFSET 2.5, LINE). Relative coordinates use the @ prefix: @10,5 moves 10 units East and 5 North from the last point. Absolute coordinates are typed without prefix: 100,50.

The terminal retains the last 50 messages. Older messages are automatically pruned. Use the filter buttons above the log to show only specific message types.

Status Bar

The Status Bar is the thin bar at the very bottom of the workspace, below the Command Terminal. It provides quick access to drawing precision modes and shows the cursor position.

Cursor Coordinates

The left side of the Status Bar shows real-time cursor coordinates in the app coordinate system (X = Easting, Z = Elevation). This updates as you move the mouse over the canvas.

Drawing Mode Pills

Four toggleable pills in the center of the Status Bar control drawing precision:

Pill	Shortcut	Function
ORTHO	`F8`	Constrains drawing to horizontal and vertical directions only. Lines snap to 0°, 90°, 180°, 270°.
POLAR	`F10`	Polar tracking — constrains drawing to configurable angle increments (e.g. every 15°, 30°, 45°, 90°). A dashed alignment line appears when the cursor is near a polar angle.
SNAP	`F3`	Object Snap (OSNAP) — automatically locks cursor to geometric features (endpoints, midpoints, centers, intersections, etc.) of nearby entities.
GSNAP	`G`	Grid Snap — locks the cursor to the nearest grid intersection during point placement.

All four pills are clickable — click to toggle the mode directly from the Status Bar without using the keyboard shortcut.

Active Layer

The right section of the Status Bar shows the current active layer. New CAD entities are created on this layer. A lock icon appears if the layer is locked (editing disabled).

Selection Count

When entities are selected in the viewport, the Status Bar shows the number of selected objects.

Working Plane

The WP indicator shows whether the Working Plane constraint is active. The Working Plane locks all point input to a fixed coordinate plane (e.g. Z = 1000 m, constraining drawing to a horizontal plane at that elevation). Click the WP indicator to open the Working Plane configuration popup where you can set the locked axis (X, Y, or Z) and coordinate value, or pick a value from the scene.