Problem with Surface Difference Tool - projected coordinate system required?

[JessePine]

Hello,

 I am trying to determine the volume between two TIN's using the surface difference tool. I keep getting an error message that a projected coordinate system is required, but, my project is already in a projected coordinate system (under scene layer >properties). Any help would be much appreciated. also, Is there perhaps a better way to do this? arcscene surfacedifferencetool #volumetric analysis

Thanks,

Jesse

[DanPatterson_Retired]

maybe your scene is, but have you checked the data layers that are actually in there?

What is a TIN surface?—Help | ArcGIS Desktop 

Just to be sure, remember that the coordinate system that the scene is displaying your data in... doesn't make that data in that coordinate system... itt is just dressing it up to look different.  It is best to create your tin from projected data in the first place.  If you aren't sure... a redo is probably faster.

Finding out in what coordinate system your data is currently displayed—Help | ArcGIS Desktop 

PS  I have moved this to https://community.esri.com/community/gis/3d?sr=search&searchId=48cacfad-b206-4546-b5da-37be8d6e0d62&...‌ to give you a better chance on getting more help.... GeoNet Help is about help on using GeoNet

[JessePine]

Thank you so much! Very helpful! And it worked! One more quick question. (Itried to find the answer but couldn’t). Do you know what units the volume is described in? sq. Meters?

Thank you

Jesse

[DanPatterson_Retired]

If your file's units are meters then area would be sq m and volume, cubic meters

[JessePine]

Thank you for your help, Dan. I have my elevation values for the two TIN's converted to scene units feet to meters but the original z information I used to make my TIN's was in feet (needed to line up with my DEM).  Would it be safe to assume that the volume displayed in the attribute table for the surface difference layer would be calculated using the units of feet?

thanks again!

[DanPatterson_Retired]

cubic feet presumably, if the units of the file were feet BUT if the units of the coordinates were in meters, and the zvalues in feet, the z-values should be converted to meters (can be done internally) since 1 ft is about 0.3048 m,  In this fashion, your volumes will be in m^3 an can then be converted to feet^3 or cubic yards