Click the Load Ring Design button to create or load a ring design layer in Vizex.

Click the Add Drive button to specify a string file and a corresponding wireframe file that will be used to represent one or more drives in the Ring Design display. Each string in the nominated file will be treated as a separate drive. Typically, wireframes will have been extruded using strings in the same file. See: Add Drives

Click the Regenerate Drive Boundary button to adjust the drive boundaries so that they conform to the new shape of the drive wireframe. See: Regenerate Drive Boundary

Click the Create Ring tool to put the display into Create Ring mode and create a new ring object, You will need to select an existing drive in the display, or add a drive to the display. See: Create a ring

Click the Edit Ring button to put the display into Edit Ring mode. Once in edit mode, you can define a ring boundary, edit holes interactively, define parallel or fanned holes, renumber holes, and setup for charging.

When the display is in Edit Ring mode, you can use the Edit Previous Ring and Next Ring buttons to move back and forth between the rings on the current drive.

Click the Copy Ring to copy the currently selected ring to a new location on any drive. Once in Copy mode, you can select a point on any drive (including the drive the source ring is located on) as the location for a new ring. See: Copy Ring

Click the Replicate Ring Along Drive to copy a ring along the drive multiple times. Along an individual drive, rings are often identical in terms of their ring boundary, drillhole pattern and charging setup. The Replicate a ring along the drive function allows you to save on planning time.

Click the Delete Selected Object button to delete the currently selected object, whether it be a drive, ring, or drillhole. See: Delete an object

Click the Generate Wireframe and Grades button to generate wireframes which represent the area that will be blasted for either the current ring, or all of the rings on the selected drive. You also have the option of estimating tonnes and grades for the blasted area. See: Generate a wireframe and grades

As an alternative to setting up charging and stemming parameters interactively, you can click the Calculate Charging button to Calculate Charging and Stemming.

Click the Ring Design Options button to view or edit ring design input and display options.

Click the Ring Plot button to open the Ring Plot dialog. You can use this dialog to create multiple plots of the rings in your design. Note that the Ring Plot function does not rely on the Plot Editor as it did in previous versions. See: Create a Ring Plot

Click the Set View Orthogonal button to change the orientation of the display so that it is orthogonal to the selected ring plane.  This is particularly useful when you want to reset the display in Ring Design - Edit mode. When you edit a ring, the display must always be orthogonal. to the selected ring plane.

It may be necessary to adjust the drive wireframe during the design process. To adjust the drive boundaries so that they conform to the new shape of the drive wireframe, click the Regenerate Drive Boundary button.

It may be necessary to apply under-drilling to certain holes. When the display is in Edit Ring mode, click the Adjust Drillhole Lengths button to shorten or lengthen the holes by a specified distance.

When in Edit Ring mode, click the Renumber Holes button on the Ring Design toolbar to renumber the current ring. In the Renumber Holes form you can specify a start number and the direction in which the holes will be renumbered.

When the display is in Edit Ring mode, the Design Ring Boundary tool is enabled. This tool allows you to create or edit a boundary string. The string is automatically closed as a single regular polygon which completely encompasses the drive.

Alternatively, select the Select Ring Boundary option from the drop-down tool menu to load an existing ring boundary (previously saved as a String file). See: Select an existing ring boundary

Once you have created or loaded the string that represents the ring boundary, click the Design Ring Boundary button again to exit the restricted edit mode.  You will be prompted to save the ring boundary you have created or loaded. Click OK to save the ring boundary to the Ring database and add it to the display.

Note: If no ring boundary has been defined for the selected ring, then the Generate tool options on the toolbar will be disabled. The first time you edit a ring, you will need to zoom out in order to define the ring boundary.

When the display is in Edit Ring mode, click the Adjust Multiple Drillholes button on the Ring Design toolbar to Adjust Multiple Drillholes based on the position and orientation of a selected hole.

When the display is in Edit Ring mode, click the Edit Drillholes button to enable interactive editing. When in Edit Drillholes mode, you can move and rotate drillholes with the mouse.

When the display is in Edit Ring mode, click the Interactive Charging and Stemming tool to use the mouse to interactively setup and edit charging and stemming for the holes in a ring.

When the display is in Edit Ring mode, click the Assign Drillhole Intervals button to enter or edit Stemming and Charge interval lengths for a selected hole.

As an alternative to setting up charging and stemming parameters interactively, you can click the Calculate Charging button to Calculate Charging and Stemming.

When the display is in Edit Ring mode, click the Generate a drillhole fan tool to create a "fan" of holes that all share the same origin (pivot point).

When the display is in Edit Ring mode, click the Generate Parallel Drillholes tool to create a group of parallel holes within an extent rectangle.

When the display is in Edit Ring mode, click the Generate Single Drillhole button to generate a single drillhole and enter hole parameters.

To generate a hole with a position and orientation which is relative to another hole, select the Generate a single relative drillhole option from the drop-down tool menu.