topic Re: 3D Visualization of Floodplain Line artifacts in ArcGIS Pro Questions

3D Visualization of Floodplain Line artifacts

BenC5 — Fri, 29 Jul 2022 15:38:17 GMT

Hello all,

I'm attempting to create a 3D visualization of a Floodplain. I used the Interpolate shape tool to create my 3D Z-enabled flood depth polygon and have loaded it into a 3D scene in ArcGIS Pro. I extruded it using Absolute Height and everything works really well.

My question is regarding the line artifacts present in the Interpolated shape when it is extruded to the elevation surface.

- Is there any way to polish or remove these artifacts?

- Is there a different interpolation method that would produce a cleaner result.

Being able render floodplains like this in 3D would be an incredibly impactful visual aid in my industry, but I would like it to look a more polished than what I've currently been able to produce before going public with it.

Thanks for any help!

Re: 3D Visualization of Floodplain Line artifacts

RockRunEnterprises — Fri, 29 Jul 2022 15:57:57 GMT

Maybe try a higher resolution(smaller cell size) when creating the original surface/s.

Re: 3D Visualization of Floodplain Line artifacts

Andrew--Johnson — Fri, 29 Jul 2022 15:58:23 GMT

I'd recommend converting it to a multipatch. Try running the Layer 3D to Feature Class tool and seeing how that output looks.

thanks,

Andrew

Re: 3D Visualization of Floodplain Line artifacts

BenC5 — Fri, 29 Jul 2022 16:29:10 GMT

Hi Andrew,

Thanks for response. Your method is an improvement. The Multipatch FC has more options regarding lighting, which can reduce the effect of the line artifacts, but doesn't completely eliminate them.

I've tested using TINs to interpolate and tried various settings but it seems there is always something left.

I should clarify that the artifacts are only present when transparency is applied.

Ben

Re: 3D Visualization of Floodplain Line artifacts

Andrew--Johnson — Fri, 29 Jul 2022 17:31:25 GMT

Can you share the polygon layer as a layer package so I can take a deeper look on my end?

Re: 3D Visualization of Floodplain Line artifacts

BenC5 — Fri, 29 Jul 2022 17:54:32 GMT

Hi Andrew,

Yes for sure! Here is the original file created using the interpolate shape tool and the Multipatch version created using the Layer 3D to Feature class tool. Thanks again for your help!

Re: 3D Visualization of Floodplain Line artifacts

Andrew--Johnson — Fri, 29 Jul 2022 18:07:27 GMT

Looks like the data was not consolidated with the package. Can you check the "include UNC path data" option and re-share?

thanks,

Andrew

Re: 3D Visualization of Floodplain Line artifacts

BenC5 — Fri, 29 Jul 2022 18:25:03 GMT

For sure. Here is a new set:

Re: 3D Visualization of Floodplain Line artifacts

Andrew--Johnson — Fri, 29 Jul 2022 19:11:45 GMT

thanks, that worked. I'm heading out for the day but i'll take a deeper look on Monday and follow up with you then.

-Andrew

Re: 3D Visualization of Floodplain Line artifacts

Andrew--Johnson — Mon, 01 Aug 2022 16:18:39 GMT

Hi Ben,

I reached out to the graphics team and logged an internal issue for the team to see what can be improved. The problem at hand is the graphics engine has to render the transparent faces in real-time since it's an extruded polygon and this can lead to sorting issues. There are display options (In layer properties display tab) that were added in previous releases to attempt to handle these cases but it's not perfect for every case and unfortunately does not seem to improve much for this case.

One additional thing that I did try and seemed to improve the output considerably was run the Simplify Polygon GP tool with a 1 meter simplification tolerance. This appeared to remove most of the artifacts and hopefully this is good enough for you. You can also increase the tolerance more but at a loss of granularity.

If I hear any additional feedback from the graphics team i'll be sure to post back here.

thanks,

Andrew

Re: 3D Visualization of Floodplain Line artifacts

JeremyWright — Wed, 03 Aug 2022 22:21:38 GMT

@BenC5 thanks for your inquiry. At Andrew's behest we (the ArcGIS Pro graphics engine team) have investigated your repro case and after a reread of your question above this behavior and appearance are working as you have specified in the layer properties.

Why?

If you request that a polygon be placed "on the ground" then each of its vertices will be on the ground (whatever that elevation is) and the polygon itself will be triangulated to allow for this. This will necessarily result in a non-flat polygon for most cases with any elevation variation at all. You can use the coordinate readout in ArcGIS Pro to see the elevation at each vertex of your polygon.

If the same polygon is extruded using modes other than "absolute", then the top of the extruded volume will also be non-flat. You will see small thin triangles to account for the changes in elevation between vertices just as you would if the polygon were not extruded.

If you want to follow best practices for creating water polygon features, your best bet would be to use the 3D Basemap Solution tools as demonstrated here: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/gertvanmaren_arcgis-esri-digitaltwin-activity-6960112829840375808-jYf8?utm_source=linkedin_share&utm_medium=member_desktop_web

Give that a look, and please let me know if you have any further questions on this topic.

Re: 3D Visualization of Floodplain Line artifacts

BenC5 — Fri, 05 Aug 2022 15:42:43 GMT

HI @JeremyWright,

Thanks for following up with this. I will take a look at the tutorial you linked.

Thanks,

Ben