Query on how to display temporal data smoothly and progressively on ArcGIS Pro?

Question

Hi,

I am trying to create a time series of 3D models on ArcGIS Pro and I want the models to be displayed smoothly in accordance with their associated time input. I have enabled temporal display for my temporal data but when I played the animation, the models do not appear smoothly in sequence but instead they appear and disappear as the time feature progress (it looked as though the models are 'blinking' when I clicked on the play button). What I want is something like the 'Display data cumulatively' function on ArcMap.

Thanks a lot for your help!

CherylLim · Answer

Hi Nathan,

Thank you very much for the helpful tip! I have managed to create the time animation on an external application but I really appreciate your kind assistance

-Cheryl

NathanShephard · Answer

Hi Cheryl,

You have configured the time slider correctly for cumulative display, and the 'blinking' effect is (unfortunately) a result of how long the updated filter is taking to update the view. That is, Pro is pulling the updated subset of features (based on the time slider change) and is not drawing them fast enough to avoid the 'blink'. You can try reducing the playback speed - which will show each time slice a little bit longer before pulling the next time slice - but you will likely still see a similar effect.

Another approach, useful for sharing out a time-aware playback video, is to create an animation. This will NOT improve interactive playback within Pro - the time the view needs to filter and re-render a time slice will remain the same - but it does give you the ability to export the playback to a video file. The video will be smooth because each frame is fully rendered before being exported.

Here's a help topic link that can get you started on creating a time-aware animation:

- Animate through time—Animation | ArcGIS Desktop

Quick tip: you will most likely only need to create two keyframes (one with the time-slider set to 1890-1891, and one with the time-slider set to 1890-1971), update the video duration (default will be 3 secs, but you probably want a 10-15 second playback time), and then export it to a YouTube-friendly video file.

Hope this helps!

Thanks, Nathan.

ArcGIS Pro team

CherylLim · Answer

Hi Tim,

Thank you very much for your kind help.

I have tried to disable the Start value time but the features still failed to display cumulatively over time. It seems like the features with smaller time values will appear first then disappear for a short moment and ArcGIS Pro will redraw them and display them again with the new features which have greater time values. I cannot seem to get rid of the 'blinking' fashion when I tried to run the whole time series.

Regards,

Cheryl