Calculating distances between point data and closest mesh surface

WilliamSmith

Hello community, I'm looking to batch calculate the minimum distances (in metres) between interval/point data points and a 3D mesh layer. I have access to Leapfrog EDGE to use the Estimator functionalities but haven't found an optimal solution yet. I want to generate polylines between each sample point and the closest mesh isosurface and batch extract their length (i.e., Ruler tool). 

Ideally, this would work similarly to the NNJoin QGIS function or the Grass v.distance in surface GIS software. 

JamesLally

For a single mesh you can do this by creating a distance function on the mesh (numeric model > New Distance Function) then evaluate the points object against the function (right-click points object > evaluations). this creates a new column in the points object containing the distances. Note that if your points are drill hole intervals and you need to preserve the From and To values with the distances then they need to assigned to new 'calculated' columns within the interval table, which are then added to the points. I'm not clear from your question whether you are trying to do this using just one mesh or several. If it's the latter then you can add in more than one evaluation to the points and then find which one has the minimum distance value in each row.