Problems exporting 3D polygons from ArcGIS 10.3

[DuncanSmith]

Hi,

I'm a long term user of ArcGIS, and exporting basic extruded 3D models of buildings has always been problematic with this software but it was possible. In my current version (10.3) it seems that it no longer is.

One method is to export to VRML from ArcScene. I have used this feature successfully for several projects the past, but with 10.3 this function crashes with no explanation. This method always struggled with large numbers of polygons, but now it crashes even using a single polygon. My colleague has tried this using a different computer setup with the same result, so I don't believe it's my hardware.

Another approach is to use the 3D analyst tools. I was optimistic that the multipatch to collada tool would be able to export 3D data, but again this tool crashes with no error messages or explanation. There is an existing discussion on this, concluding that the tool only works for 2D polygons-

Multipatch to Collada Crash

The whole purpose of multipatches is that they are three dimensional, so if the collada tool only works with 2D polygon data then its pointless. There's no problem exporting 2D polygon data (e.g. CAD export), the problem is exporting 3D polygons.

There's also a "Feature Class Z to ASCII" tool, but it doesn't work for extruded data either.

ESRI can you fix one or more of these tools please? I know CityEngine can do this task, but it should not be necessary to buy this software to perform the most basic of export features

[XanderBakker]

Sounds like a bug, if it can be reproduced on several machines. Did you contact Esri Support on this?

[YuriPotawsky]

Hi Duncan,

With regard to exporting extruded buildings from ArcScene, it was unclear if you had attempted to use the 'Layer 3D to Feature Class' GP tool from the 3D Analyst Toolbox. If you have set the extrusion properties at the layer properties level then converting these to Multipatches could be achieved by using the 'Layer 3d to FC' tool. I would ensure that you run this tool in the foreground as there have been documented issues with Background Geoprocessing. The 'Multipatch to COLLADA' GP tool requires multipatch input features and as such there is no way in which to input simple 2D vector geometries. That is the way the tool is designed as it cannot directly convert extruded polygons to closed 3D .DAE volumes. I would also try to stay away from exporting to VRML as that format is largely outdated and has been replaced by the X3D specification. Hope this helps.

Thanks,

Yuri