Latest Contributions by MorganHarris

Esteban Herrera‌ and Raymond Huang‌ If you are still interested in this discussion then you should take a look at this picture. I was watching a video for power line corridor mapping and hazard tree detection (Resource Management & Power Line Encroachment Applications: E3De LiDAR Exploitation - YouTube)‌ and at the end of the video they just mention: "and then you can create a buffer in arcscene and use the intersect tool to see where the trees are taller than the power lines". They make it seem like this is a well known function, but I can't find any tool that allows me to create a buffer like that (i.e. one that has the same z dimensions as the 3D line, but is a flat surface). Anyway, maybe this visualization will spark some inspiration and help get what I need to do across a little better. ... View more

Ok, thanks for the information! ... View more

Thanks for the reply Chris, The script that I get when I copy the python snippet is just the basic arcpy.Buffer_3D (i.e. it is referencing the tool in the toolbox). I am hoping to get the actual script for the tool itself so that I can see how that tool works (through script) and potentially modify it for a new script tool. Maybe this isn't something you can't do with stock tools in ArcMap? Basically, I want to be able to view to script as it was written to create the tool itself. ... View more

Did you ever figure this problem out? I have a similar issue where I want a buffer for my line that extends horizontally, but follows the same elevation contour as my line. ... View more

Thank you, that was some useful information. I was pretty sure that the angle of the grid cells couldn't be changed to a specified direction, but I just wanted to see if anyone knew a trick that I didn't. I will try to create polygons and see if I can solve my problem that way. Thanks! ... View more

What exactly is an esri grid? My raster layers are floating point rasters that were generated within ArcMap. They should be ESRI grids, correct? If they are already in the correct format then what is the next step to be able to define the angle of the grid cells within the raster? Thanks! ... View more

I tried this method and I thought it was going to work really well, BUT since the line itself is sloping and not a constant value there is no way to assign a value from the attribute table to the raster so that the raster retains that slope of the line (at least not that I could figure out). The resulting raster only had two values containing what I believe is the average elevation of the power line. The only way that I have been able to work this out is to take my points derived from LiDAR that contain the elevation of each point and copy them and move them to the required distance away from the original points then create a TIN that connects the original points to the copied points. This creates a sloping TIN that follows the power lines. From that TIN, I can then create a raster with the elevation value that is representative of the shape of the line. The raster is the end result that I wanted, so that is why I was really hoping the method you presented would work. Let me know if you know of a way to make the raster follow the slope of the line rather than be represented as one elevation. Thanks for your input! ... View more

I am trying to use this buffer to create a raster surface with power line height so that I can automate the process of subtracting vegetation height from power line height at different buffer distances. We are trying to figure out how vegetation heights around power lines at different distances away from the power lines affect seabird flight. ... View more

Esteban, buffering in a specific direction is possible, yes, and I know how to perform that task. Refer to my reply to Raymond for a more detailed explanation of my question. Thanks! ... View more

Sorry, you're right. That wasn't very clear in my question. I am trying to create a 2D buffer that extends from a polyline that is in 3D space. So , I do not want a buffer that has a volume, I just need one that follows the same shape as my polyline. In this specific example I have a polyline that represents a power line in 3D space and I need to create a planar buffer that has the same shape and height as the power line. The issue is that power lines sag, so they are not straight lines, but when you use the 2D buffer function it does not retain that 'sag' in the buffer. I hope that makes it more clear! ... View more