Extract by mask or clip tool?

[AakashAhamed]

Hello,

I need to "punch out" a series of polygons from a raster dataset. A suitable analogy would be cutting out cookies of various shapes from a sheet of cookie dough.

The polygons are feature classes. The raster type is a "file system raster".

I have tried the "clip" and "extract by mask" tools but have had no success as of yet.

Any troubleshooting tips are appreciated! Thanks!

Source: Graduate student in Geology/Geophysics.

[TimWitt]

Maybe try the erase tool? http://resources.arcgis.com/en/help/main/10.1/index.html#//00080000000m000000

Just erase anything around the area you would like to extract.

There might be a better tool, but this is worth a shot. Just make sure your work on a copy.

Hope this helps!

[AakashAhamed]

Tim,

Many thanks for your answer. I have to perform this operation for ~1500 polygons that overlap at times. I think the erase tool may complicate things.. any other suggestions?

Thanks again
Aakash

[TimWitt]

Akash,

Did you use the regular clip or the clip located in: Data Management Tools -> Raster -> Raster Processing -> Clip

Tim

[AakashAhamed]

Tim,

I've tried both, to no avail. Further, the error message i receive is a generic error (Error # 99998) and does not specify what is wrong when trying to perform the function.

I have also tried to reproject the raster to the same coordinate system as the polygons (NAD 1983 UTM 18 N) but I am receiving errors when trying to do this as well. I have tried restarting GIS, reloading the necessary layers and repeating these steps as well.

I am going to give the "erase" tactic a shot momentarily

Thanks for your continued responses!

Aakash

[TimWitt]

Here is another article I found, method 2 might work.

http://blogs.esri.com/esri/arcgis/2009/05/06/better-raster-clipping-options-in-arcgis/

I'm sure it ends up being a very easy solution and we think too much!

[AakashAhamed]

Tim,

When I try method 2 the "Selected graphics" field is gray, and won't let me check it off.

You're right! There must be a very simple solution to this. Now to attempt the "erase" tool

Best,
Aakash

[AakashAhamed]

Tim,

I got it to work! The problem was not saving the clip output into a file geodatabase. As soon as I set the export path to a geodatabase, the raster successfully clipped to the polygons.

Thanks again for your help!

Aakash

[TimWitt]

Glad you got it figured out!