Shape Marker from File (*.emf) Not Working

[RichardFairhurst]

I am unable to get ArcGIS Pro 1.3 to use an *.emf file as a Shape Marker for a point layer.  When I press the File button under the Shape Marker symbol option It lets me navigate to a directory with *.emf files and pick one, but when the browse window closes the displayed example symbol does not change and the Apply/Cancel buttons do not activate.  All of the other options (basic shape, style and font) work.

In ArcGIS Desktop 10.4 I am able to use these *.emf files as point symbols using the Picture Marker Symbol option.  If I import an .mxd from ArcGIS Desktop that has a layer containing *.emf point marker symbols into a new ArcGIS Pro project the markers are shown correctly, but I am unable to create that layer within ArcGIS Pro itself even though the ArcGIS Pro help says that *.emf file Shape Markers are supported..

Has anyone been able to set up a layer that uses *.emf marker symbols in ArcGIS Pro?  What behavior do you get when you select an *.emf file as a Shape Marker symbol in ArcGIS Pro?

Also it appears that point symbols can only use a fixed Rotation angle for all points in the layer and cannot use a Rotation field to set the rotation of each feature uniquely.  Is that correct?  Is the only work around to create multiple layers that have a definition query for small angle ranges (say 5 degrees) that together cover a full circle and use the midpoint angle of each range as an average rotation for those layers.

[ChaitGaddam1]

Hello Richard,

ArcGIS Pro 1.3 does support the ability to use an *.emf file as a shape marker. Can you share the *.emf file that you are trying to import and I will take a look? If not, can you describe how it is built.

It is possible to derive symbol rotation from an attribute field. Check out this help topic: http://pro.arcgis.com/en/pro-app/help/mapping/symbols-and-styles/rotate-point-feature-symbols.htm Please let me know if you have any questions. Thanks!

[RichardFairhurst]

I have attached a zip of the emf files I am testing.  It has been a long time since I created them and I have used many different methods over the years, so I can't exactly say how they were created other than the fact that at that time I originally created them as wmf files and used a freeware converter to make them into emf files.  At work I export straight to emf from photoshop, but at home I don't have photoshop and my graphics program only generates wmf files which I have to convert.  Emf files produced by both methods have always worked in ArcMap Desktop.

Also thanks for the help page explaining Rotation.  I was looking at the properties of the symbol itself, which only shows the Rotate Clockwise and Angle options under the Rotation heading.  The unified interface can be a little confusing when it uses identical headings in the menus to mean different things depending on the context.  In my view it would be nice to have a link in the symbol properties menu to link me to the connected properties menu and vice versa when the two properties apply to the same item (a layer) and have the same heading (Rotation), and affect the same thing (the display of the symbol on the map) but appear under different context menus (symbol shape and connected attributes).

Although I am new to ArcGIS Pro, I am not a novice user of ArcGIS, so I understand where these two setting relate back to the Desktop symbology tabs, but it is still confusing.  I guess I will have to get used to that, since I seem to recall that at one time the layer symbology menus in desktop were similarly confusing.  But at this point I consider this increased separation of two related, nearly identical, properties of the layer to be even less obvious to navigate than Desktop was.

[DanPatterson_Retired]

Marker symbol layers—ArcGIS Pro | ArcGIS for Desktop indicates that although...

Shape marker symbol layers, can be derived from 4 sources, including emf there are restrictions on what properties can be modified.

I quote...

Regardless of how the marker shape geometry is derived, the shape itself is drawn using a polygon symbol, as defined by the Shape fill symbol pull-down gallery. Choose a symbol from this gallery or click More polygon symbols in the gallery to choose one from available styles. Only the basic properties of the polygon symbol—Color, Outline color, and Outline width—can be modified.

[RichardFairhurst]

If that is true then there is no point to an emf file option, since they would never work as no one would create one for a symbol that is already available from the standard gallery.  Also that does not explain how my symbols came across when I import the layer from ArcMap, since none of my emf symbols are in the gallery of either program.  They are house footprints and both the rectangular ones that may be close to a gallery symbol (but use different height to width ratios than any gallery symbol) and irregular ones can be imported but not used directly in Pro.

[DanPatterson_Retired]

I don't know why, that is just the report... perhaps the limitations imposed is because it is still a work in progress

ADDENDUM

found this if you can make sense of it based on how you create the symbols

Unsupported drawing—ArcGIS Pro | ArcGIS for Desktop

[RachaelChasse]

Hi Richard,

I'm thinking this may come down to raster vs vector.

Do the Photoshop files contain actual shape paths, or is it all raster?  ArcMap pulls in EMF files as a picture marker (which accepts raster AND vector formats).  ArcGIS Pro does not allow EMF as a file type for picture markers, and you need to use the shape marker, as you mention.

If Photoshop is not generating vector data (as you would by default in, say Illustrator), Pro may not be able to "see" your shape in the shape marker symbol.  I am not sure why the apply button would not activate though, since one would think Pro would have acknowledged your EMF file, even if it couldn't display the shape.

I am currently using the same EMF files that we used in ArcMap in Pro without a problem and they were generated in Illustrator.  Maybe it's worth checking those Photoshop files to see if there are actual paths that show up on the Paths panel?

Also, did your previous files from ArcMap convert those symbols to a picture or shape symbol on import into Pro?

[RichardFairhurst]

I meant to say Illustrator, not Photoshop.  Sorry about the confusion.  My other Graphics program also created vector shapes and outputted to wmf, which I had to convert to emf.  So all my emf files are vector files and have never been created as or converted to raster.  Everything has been done as Shape Markers, not Picture Markers and the import from ArcMap was to Shape Markers.  So it does not come down to raster vs. vector, since the emf files have never been raster. 

I am not at home to test the Paths panel, so that will have to wait.  I know the files show up when I use the Shape Marker browse function.

[RachaelChasse]

If you know you created vector shapes (and didn't paste artwork from another source) then checking the paths panel shouldn't be necessary--that was more for if it was Photoshop.

I tried the files in your zip and they certainly didn't work in Pro.  For the heck of it, I opened one in Illustrator and re-exported to EMF and it works!

I attached a set of re-exported files for you.  It might be worth the time to check if re-exporting helps on your original files as well once you are back at the computer with Illustrator.

[RichardFairhurst]

I can use that workflow for files I develop at home and bring in to work. However, in some cases I may not be able to do that.

Anyway, the success of what you tried with Illustrator would seem to isolate the problem to the freeware converter I tried, which apparently did not adhere to the emf standard expected by Pro, but did adhere to an emf standard that works with ArcMap Desktop.  I think I will have to try some other freeware wmf to emf converters or find a freeware graphics program that is compatible with emf files for Pro and easy enough to work with in the place of the program I currently use that only outputs wmf files.