Latest Contributions by JakubSisak

Not the most elegant solution but; you could create an array of regularly spaced polylines with the river approximately in the centre Interpolate the polylines to 3D and cut them at the intersection of the river polyline Change orientation of the 3D lines if necessary so that each line starts at the river polyline Use the Split (editor tool) to split each line at distance using the "From Start Point of Line" Use the Select By Location spatial quesry to select all lines that intersect the river polyline Switch selection and delete all features that do not touch the river Digitize a polygon snapping to each of the 3D line end points There is your approximate 3D buffer To make this more accurate, you could create a the interval lines perpendicularly from each middle segment of the river. The smaller the interval the more accurate the result. If you are fluent in ArcObjects and programming in either C# or VB .Net, this is something that you could make into an Add-On tool to automate all of the steps. ... View more

You need bathymetry data for accurate calculation.  Model the lake bottom to create a TIN surface then use the 3D Analyst to calculate the volume bellow surface. You can also do this with Spatial Analyst using raster data and the Cut and Fill tools.  You could also assign an approximate depth to get a very rough volume estimate.  To calculate volume this way you can extrude the lake polygon to the approximate depth then convert to multipatch feature. Once you have a closed multipatch feature, use the Add Z Information tool to calculate volume. Not sure about ArcView 3.3. You will probably also need the legacy 3D Analyst extension to complete the volume calculations. ... View more

Partial Refresh is flaky.  Does it work with full refresh? It's been a while but i remember endless discussions about the intricacies of Partial Refresh in the old forums. If you really need to optimize refreshing you could try searching there.  Also, i strongly recommend you try posting this this on GIS Stack Exchange. There are several ESRI Forums MVPs on there and these types of queries usually get answered pretty quick. ... View more

Thanks Michael, any ideas on how to figure out the other coordinate of the line? I guess my trigonometry needs more then just one known angle to a triangle. Thanks. Is your horizontal line parallel with either northing or easting or does it have an azimuth? It's possible to do something like this if your horizontal line is oriented either north - south or east - west.  You can convert all data into points then re-map the XYZ coordinates to "trick" ArcMap into sectional view. (redigitize the cliff profile) Once you are looking at a sectional view you could start drawing a line at a particular angle. Creating scaled sections is not the easiest task in ArcGIS and things become a lot more complex when the data is oriented on an azimuth other than 0,90,180,360.  There are trigonometry formulas to convert data such as azimuth dip and distance into XYZ and it must work the other way arouund.  Here is some info on the trigonometry calculation (see whubber's answer).   The bottom line is; ArcGIS is not a 3D drawing program.  You could try Sketchup. You can export TIN into mulptipatch then collada then import into Sketchup. (Assuming your cliff is a TIN or a raster)  In Sketchup you can easily draw lines in true 3D by using the protractor for example. ... View more

By creating stations you mean points along the line at specific intervals?  You could divide the 3D line at intervals then convert the line to points but you will get all the vertices that way not just the divisions.  To convert the 3D line to 3D points you will need either ArcInfo or basic knowledge of ArcObjects, programming and the Add-on framework.  The only way I can think of to filter out the "station" points without much manual work would have to be programatically. ... View more

II am trying to create 3D spheres from center points and intersect them to calculate volumes occupied by both spheres. @Dan - What method are you using?  I just replied to Patric's post and included a link to a discussion that shows how I can intersect spheres and calculate volume.... ... View more

I am able to create the multipatch, but for some reason many of the buildings are unclosed @Patric - could you post a screen capture of multipatches that are not closed?  I don't seem to be having this issue. I can symbolize points to shperes and extrude polygons then create multipatches that are closed.  See here ... View more

In order to intersect 2 multipatch features, all features in the operation have to be closed. To consider a multipatch features to be closed it has to fully enclose a volume.  In the video link, what looks like line grid must be closed multipatch features created from polygons not lines.  You can extrude lines and create multipatch features from them using the Layer 3D to Feature Class tool however this will NOT create a closed multipatch since these multipatch features DO NOT contain a volume. I suggest you buffer your lines by a small number (flat-end buffers require ArcInfo) then extrude these thin polygons and convert to multipatch features. This way the resulting Intersect 3D operation will succeed. related info here ... View more

Leapfrog is amazing. Truly. I had no idea until I started using it. Personally, I use Leapfrog Mining but Leapfrog Hydro might be more suitable for your application.  I've heard great things about it. I've used a number of 3D applications and do some developing myself but I have to say that I have never used anything like this software. It is polished. My company purchased the licenses and I believe it's about $10,000 per year. You cannot actually outright purchase this software. Training is really hard to come by (at least here in Canada) so it consist mainly of 2 - 3 day customized workshops where you have to book the instructor and fly him to your location.  However, after you install a licensed version of Leapfrog you can print the help manual which consist of detailed step by step tutorial and an in-depth reference manual. If you are in the States you could attend the November 2011 NWMA in Reno. Aranz Leapfrog is running a course there. Here is some info and visuals ... View more

The reason I am suggesting to create the plume using the layer cake interval method is because I personally don't know of any way of creating a closed multipatch with a volume using a point cloud.  What you need to do is very easy in very expensive software. In Leapfrog you can use 3D interpolation such as bihormonic spline for example to quickly generate a closed 3D mesh surface with volume. 3D Analyst provides a way to import such model but not to create it. ... View more

Is determining the volume of the contaminated soil the ultimate goal or do you need to visualize this? You need to build something like an isosurface or a 3D voxel grid from your input data then determine its volume which is something 3D analyst cannot do.  If you just need a rough model then you can create sort of a layer cake multipatch model in 3D by extruding between surfaces to obtain a multipatch geometry for each level.  In geology software for example a lot of interpretation goes into creating subsurface models so using a similar approach you could separate your data into groups of points by elevation then using the sample points as a visual guide draw approximate polygons defining the outer most extent of the contamination for each elevation group (every x metres).  Each time you complete a polygon for one level you asign it a height field. What you end up with will be a series of flat polygons stacked on top of each other when you view the results in ArcScene.  You can load in your points at the same time and QAQC your results.  The stacked polygons should already resemble the shape of the plume.  Next step is to use the extrude between tool to create a 3D multipatch for each level. when you do this for all the levels and add it to ArcScene you should basically have a rough 3D model of the plume.   You can use the Union 3D tool to merge the layer cake together into a single model. Your multipatch should be closed so you can use the add Z information tool to obtain volume. This is essentially a similar process to how subsurface solid object are created in geological software except there you can digitize in real 3D space (snapping to drillhole assays,  points in space or whatever else is loaded) and create your polygon slices inclined and in whichever direction. You can then connect the slices with directional polylines in 3D space to "tell" the software in which direction to build the mesh. In truth, 3D analyst is not the tool for subsurface modelling. There is no actual way to digitize multipatches from scratch in 3D space. You can import multipatches from 3D DXF created in datamine studio, Gemcom, Leapfrog, Geosoft, etc. but then what? You can't label anyting in 3D, you can't produce a decent vertical section, you can't import drillhole data or borehole logs which is how most subsurface data is obtained. I didn't even find an easy way to set a specific plunge and azimuth in arcscene. There are other ways you could build the multipatch such as using Google Sketchup - Collada. The problem is that in version 10 you can only export collada to Sketchup from ArcGIS. First you have to create a multipatch then convert to Collada then export to Sketchup. This is only an OK process for buildings and such - you export boxes and make them look like buildings in Sketchup then bring them back to ArcScene. Up to version 9.3.1 you were able to use the Google Sketchup plugin for ArcGIS which allowed you to export points, polygons, polylines and TINs as well so you could have technically exported your point cloud then make a 3D object of the plume in sketchup and then bring it back. Georeferencing was an issue though so you needed to export control points with then georeference the model back to these control points. Still i used to do it a lot. Gone are the days were i was able to easily export a complex surface model from TIN to sketchup without any issues. The Collada way is too buggy. It only handles simple polygons and you are lucky if something does not die during the process. So it really only works for buildings. You might find a lot better answers on GIS StackExchange forum. Most of the GIS wizzards that used to frequent the ESRI forums have moved there and there are some serious experts there. In my experience questions that have to do with interpolation or 3D modelling receive a lot of attention. ... View more

I want to create a 3D model (175 hectares of city area). I thought of digitizing the facilities on satellite image in ArcMap and then import them to GoogleSketchup - paste digital photos as textures (to make them look real) - and then export the skp model to arcscene - then add walkway, trees, people etc - create animation as well. Please suggest if you got a better way to work on it. Thanks. You can do the entire model ground up in Sketchup.  You can pull in google earth imagery into sketchup using the default tool then digitize buildings on the imagery and create your model right there.  It's quite easy to bring in and reference whatever other imagery you have. There is huge library of sketchup models such as trees, people, etc. anything you can dream up on the web accesible from within sketchup.  Sketchup can easily handle 170 ha. ... View more

Have you considered a 3D drawing programs such as sketchup? 3D Analyst is a poor tool for this type of work. 3D DXF import quite well into ArcScene so i guess you could use 3D capable AutoCAD or any other drafting program that can output 3D DXF. ... View more

I remember trying to purchase digital globe imagery when I was in the mining sector and those guys had no interest in selling me 2 or 3 strips. I had a Canadian distributor essentially tell me that a delivery of the size of a city is about the smallest they'll do. Perhaps it is easier in the US. I personally purchased imagery from DigitalGlobe direct several times without any issues whatsoever. (Other then our business had to be screen by homeland security) Archival imagery from any of the available satellites was always delivered within 2 weeks via an FTP download link.  The minimum order was 25km2 or somewhere around $400. Eventually they passed me onto their Canadian supplier and I purchased imagery from them several times also without any issues staring at the minimum order sizes of 25km2.  Try contacting Pacific Geomatics They are the authorized DigitalGLobe reseller in Canada. ... View more