idea Terrain sculpting and masking in ArcGIS Pro Ideas

Terrain sculpting and masking

SimonSchütte_ct — Wed, 02 Jun 2021 12:15:22 GMT

It would be great to have the same "interactive terrain editing tools" that are being introduced in CityEngine 2021 available in the next ArcGIS Pro release. https://doc.arcgis.com/en/cityengine/latest/help/help-terrain-editing.htm#ESRI_SECTION1_4B8A0F1DC07A4B368D12823363F8FC74 What's new in CityEngine 2021.0—ArcGIS CityEngine Resources | Documentation

Re: Terrain sculpting and masking - Status changed to: Needs Clarification

KoryKramer — Tue, 01 Jun 2021 16:08:14 GMT

By "terrain" do you mean you are working with a DEM (raster elevation data)? Or other? If working with raster, have you tried the pixel editor tools? https://pro.arcgis.com/en/pro-app/latest/help/analysis/image-analyst/pixel-editor-in-arcgis-pro.htm

Re: Terrain sculpting and masking

SimonSchütte_ct — Wed, 02 Jun 2021 08:12:34 GMT

The Pixel Editor is not a tool for interactive terrain sculpting:

- no live (visual feedback) editing in 3D Scene
- no brush tool for freehand sculpting to adjust terrain to a 3D Building for example
- the Pixel Editor can only be activated in 2D Maps (I can not get it to show up in Scenes)
- it is difficult to organically sculpt the terrain.
- the Pixel Tool Operations rely on defined regions. This results in multiple steps being required before the terrain is being modified.

Yes, we can use the Pixel Editor to get similar results, but the process is not as simple as it is with the CityEngine Tools shown above (User Experience).
Interactive terrain editing/sculpting brushes/tools can help to faster modify the elevation data in a more flexibe way which would be especially useful as a tool for planners.

Re: Terrain sculpting and masking - Status changed to: Open

KoryKramer — Wed, 02 Jun 2021 12:12:38 GMT

Thank you for the clarification, Simon.

Re: Terrain sculpting and masking

SimonSchütte_ct — Tue, 20 Jul 2021 08:41:31 GMT

In the UC 2021 ArcGIS Pro Road ahead session, "Terrain Editing" is said to be on the Long-term roadmap (beyond 2023). I am not sure if this will include the features requested here, but it is something I will be looking forward to.

Re: Terrain sculpting and masking

SimonSchütte_ct — Tue, 28 Feb 2023 10:14:38 GMT

Here the link to the Roadmap: https://community.esri.com/t5/arcgis-pro-documents/arcgis-pro-roadmap-february-2023/ta-p/1261591

Re: Terrain sculpting and masking

SimonSchütte_ct — Mon, 17 Jun 2024 07:38:46 GMT

Mesh Editing is available in ArcGIS Enterprise 11.3. I´d love to see this in ArcGIS Pro:

What’s New in ArcGIS Enterprise 11.3 (esri.com)

Re: Terrain sculpting and masking

SimonSchütte_ct — Wed, 07 Jan 2026 10:55:46 GMT

ArcGIS Pro Roadmap - November 2025

Long-term (in the plan but not assigned to a release at this point)

Terrain Editing - Ability to interactively edit the ground or other surfaces. Add, remove and replace data referenced by the surface.

idea Terrain sculpting and masking in ArcGIS Pro Ideas

Terrain sculpting and masking

Re: Terrain sculpting and masking - Status changed to: Needs Clarification

Re: Terrain sculpting and masking

Re: Terrain sculpting and masking - Status changed to: Open

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