Edited from the video's English captions.
0:00Introduction
Welcome to the new 2020 version of NeuraLog, the world standard for well log digitizing. This video demonstration will lead you through the NeuraLog software, providing a brief tour of the main software components. Let’s get started.
0:15Start page and projects
Upon starting NeuraLog, you are taken to the NeuraLog start page. From this page you can select actions such as Digitize New Log or Raster Calibration. You can open previous work from the Recent Work list: recent work, image and LAS files are listed here for the current project. Notice that hovering over one of these selections brings up its location. From the start panel you can also create a new project, or you can simply enter the software by selecting Project Explorer.
0:46Project explorer
The first thing to notice when you start up NeuraLog is the Project Explorer, located at the left side of the main view. The Project Explorer is a tree of all projects in the current group. The active project will be bolded. To change the active project, double-click on the project name. This will expand the project tree to include all directories for working, LAS and image files. Expanding these individual directories will further show their contents. The project tree is a great way to see and manage all your work.
NeuraLog projects are organized into project groups. If you need to change the project group, you can do so in the Project Explorer by right-clicking on the top level and selecting Change Project Group. This brings you to a panel with a Current Project Group button, where you can browse for and select the new group. Click the Current Project Group button to browse for the new project group on your computer or network. If you change the group, you will need to select a new active project from this panel before closing it.
1:54Interface customization
Another important part of the NeuraLog interface is the ability to pin and hide panels to maximize your work area. Notice the thumbtack icon on the panel, and click to hide. Place your cursor over the words Project Explorer on the tab to reopen the panel, and then re-pin it using the thumbtack icon. Panels can also be closed using the X button in their upper right-hand corner. To open any closed panel, select the Views button on the far right-hand side of the ribbon, and then select the panel you wish to reopen.
The Curve Track dialog is another panel shown by default that can be minimized if needed. It contains the depth axes, scale axes and curves of the current working file. There are also three tab panels at the lower right corner: Depth Slider, used to scroll a log to a depth; Trace Speed, to slow down the auto-tracing; and User Prompt, to provide helpful workflow instructions.
2:58Quick access toolbar
Another important component of the NeuraLog interface is the Quick Access Toolbar, located along the upper left section of the screen. Here you can add shortcuts to access additional functionality, such as returning to the NeuraLog start page. From the start page, select Project Explorer to return to the main application display. Select the rightmost icon to customize the Quick Access Toolbar. The Quick Access Toolbar should be customized with shortcuts to your most important work items, such as printing, scanning, saving or undo and redo.
3:38Digitizing ribbon
NeuraLog has a ribbon-based interface that is broken up into workflow-related ribbons, similar to Microsoft Office and other modern software packages. A ribbon interface provides a graphical means of grouping common workflow tasks.
The Digitize ribbon is used for well log digitizing, including depth and scale axis definition, gridding and curve tracing. For grid calibration, the first icon on the Digitize ribbon is used to create the depth and scale axes by placing registration points in the log track. The Edit Axes icon is used to edit the depth and scale axes for more precise calibration. The Depth Grid icon is used to create or edit the horizontal depth grids along the log track, while the Scale Grid icon is used to create or edit the vertical scale grids. The Digitize Curve icon is selected when you are ready to trace. Other elements of the Digitize ribbon include standard zoom functionality: zoom in or out of the current view, or perform custom zooming such as Fit Window Width.
4:57Raster calibration
The Raster Calibration ribbon is next, and is used to create and edit a raster calibration for a log. A raster calibration is composed of a rectangle drawn to capture the header area, a rectangle drawn to capture the scale area, and a set of points to capture the depth of the log track. Properties of the calibrated log can be entered by selecting the Depth Interval Properties button on the depth track. Here the well UWI can be entered and the log type selected from a predefined list.
Icons found on the Raster Calibration ribbon include the calibration tool, used to draw the header and scale rectangles and add the registration points; Edit Depth or Scale Axes, to refine calibration accuracy; and Create or Edit Depth Grids, for even better depth precision. There is also a Straighten Image function that allows you to create a straightened log based on your calibration. The same zoom tools found on the previous tab are also available.
6:08LAS data handling
The LAS ribbon contains a variety of tools for viewing, formatting and editing LAS files. LAS Curve Edit, Scale Edit and Depth Shift Curves are just a few of the many tools. It’s easy to configure the visual properties of an LAS file displayed within the software. Click the Properties button on the ribbon and select the LAS Display tab in the Properties panel. Here you can change the LAS display attributes of each individual curve or track. You can apply these changes to view them, or simply select OK to accept the changes and put the panel away.
You can also show the LAS file next to the working file from which it was exported. It’s easy to configure this vertical view to compare the LAS to the original file. Special zooming and scrolling tools are available to allow for detailed comparison of these files.
7:06Quality assurance
The Quality Assurance ribbon provides a variety of tools to check your work. Find Spikes in Trace Curve and Find Curve Gaps are two commonly used QA tools. Verify Depth Track Grids is another important quality-checking function, used to check the horizontal grid spacing for missing or duplicate grids in the digitized log track. The Quality Index button provides a digitizing quality index report. It lists all trace curves with a percentage of coverage, as well as the total digitized footage. This allows for identifying areas where tracing may have been missed.
The Options button on the Quality ribbon allows users to configure preferences regarding quality checks, such as spike and gap tolerances for trace curves. NeuraLog also provides smoothing of digitized curves, and this tolerance is settable here as well.
8:09Help and support
The final ribbon found on the NeuraLog interface is the Help ribbon. Many useful links, such as the NeuraLog user guide and online tutorials, can be found here. A searchable hotkeys guide can also be accessed to help you find useful workflow shortcuts. Enter a keyword in the Hotkeys panel to look for its shortcut keys.
The Info and Request icons link to Neuralog; the Web Meeting and Email icons are especially helpful for directly connecting with Neuralog support. Select the About icon to see your product version as well as licensing information. This information will be important should you need to contact Neuralog support. The Update icon will send you to a web page with links to download the latest product releases. Information about other Neuralog products, such as well log scanners and printers, is also available through this ribbon, and for our customers that print well logs, a link is provided to the Neuralog online store.
A useful part of all NeuraLog ribbons is the search field: enter any keyword to directly find the software function for that word. Finally, don’t forget the User Prompt. It provides helpful information about each specific workflow task as it is being done.
9:38File menu
To the left of the ribbon interface is the File menu. The File menu contains standard functions not found on the ribbon. For example, preferences for the NeuraLog software can be found here. These preferences include things like project settings, various log image and digitizing settings, color selections and the choice of curve dictionary.
To import files into a NeuraLog project, access the Import function in the File menu. Import types include images, LAS files, curve data, well headers and various vendor logs. To export files from NeuraLog, access the Export function found here. Normally you will be exporting a digital LAS or a raster calibration; however, other types of exports are also possible.
This concludes our quick overview of the new NeuraLog 2020 interface, and it’s time to close the software. Do this by selecting Exit from the File menu. Thanks so much for watching, and please visit neuralog.com for more information.
