Dips FAQs: General

Below are answers to General FAQs for Dips. Click on the question to read the answer.

1. The program is not behaving correctly. It either doesn't start, crashes all the time, or doesn't work as defined in the manual. What's wrong?

   If you are getting errors and you're running an older operating system (Windows 9x/NT), then the reason is most likely to do with an incompatibility between Rocscience software and older operating system files. Rocscience software requires up to date operating system files in order to run properly. As a rule, Rocscience does NOT change or alter your operating system files and puts the onus on you to maintain up to date operating system software.

   This problem can easily be fixed by downloading the latest Microsoft system file updater from our website: http://www.rocscience.com/downloads/general/vcredist.exe

   Download the file by clicking on the above link. Save the vcredist.exe file to your computer and then run it. Follow the directions.

   Note: It is always advisable to make a backup before installing software that modifies system files.

2. How do you undo something?

   The Edit > Undo option will undo most operations on the spreadsheet (i.e. deleting, cutting, pasting etc). It will not however undo adding or deleting columns or rows to the spreadsheet, which is done with the specified options in the Edit menu. If you want to "undo" things like adding planes, sets, or added drawing features to plots (e.g. lines, text, etc), you will have to use the various delete options for each option, there is no global "undo" for this purpose.

3. Does the program provide a plan of joint locations?

   Dips does not provide a plan view of joint locations. Dips creates stereonet (pole, scatter and contour) and rosette plots. Rosette plots can use any plane as the reference for the viewing face.

4. Is there a field sheet for data collection available to be printed out?

   There is currently no field sheet available for print out. This is something we might consider adding to a future version of Dips.

5. Explain Trend/Plunge in the lower right corner of the screen.

   See the Convention topic for information. If you click on the box at the lower right corner of the screen, you can toggle the Convention from pole vector (Trend/Plunge) to plane vector (Strike/Dip or Dip/DipDirection).

       

6. Is it possible to display ALL great circles of ALL planar data in the Dips file, without having to select each individual pole with the Add Plane option?

   Yes, while you are viewing a Pole Plot or a Scatter Plot, use the All Planes option in the View menu (you can view Planes Only, or Planes and Poles). See the All Planes topic for more information.