Importing Rhino 3d Buildings in ArcGIS Pro

Question

Hi everyone,

I’m currently working on importing 3D building models from Rhino into ArcGIS Pro. I’ve tried several supported formats, but most of them result in the buildings being placed incorrectly—often far from the intended location. The only format that seems to preserve the correct geolocation is .dae.

However, since .dae is a COLLADA format, all the buildings are merged into a single feature, and none of the attribute data from Rhino is retained.

Is there a recommended workflow or format that allows me to import the buildings separated in one file while preserving their associated data from Rhino?

Any guidance or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you in Advance

DanielFox1 · Answer

Hi @Genoo

You can use extensions such as .obj or .fbx, here is a workflow you might find helpful

1. Export your Rhino model to or .
2. In ArcGIS Pro, use the Import 3D Files tool to convert the model into a 3D Object Feature Layer.
3. Use the Georeferencing tools in ArcGIS Pro to align the model correctly if needed.
Import and incorporate 3D models in a scene | Documentation walks through this process.

You may be faced with attributes not coming across, so you could try the following once you have converted the format of the data:Workaround:
1. Export a CSV or JSON from Rhino containing the attribute data.
2. After importing the geometry into ArcGIS Pro, join the attribute table using a common identifier (e.g., building name or ID)