Tag Archives: 3D Analyst
New 3D Analyst geoprocessing tools and enhancements at 10.1
A large effort was put into creating several new tools and reorganizing existing ones into more logical groupings within the 3D Analyst toolbox. A full summary of the toolset changes can be found listed inside What’s new in the 3D Analyst toolbox.
New geoprocessing tools for LAS datasets with flexible licensing requirement levels
Although most tools for working with LAS datasets new at 10.1 require the 3D Analyst extension, some are licensed a little differently to allow more flexibility. The tools located inside the 3D Analyst toolbox require 3D Analyst. The tools located in core toolboxes work if you have one of these three options: 3D Analyst, Spatial Analyst, or ArcGIS Standard.
A quick tour of what's new in 3D Analyst at 10.1
The 3D Analyst at 10.1 solidifies the 3D GIS story delivered with 10. Continuing to expand a fully functional and easy-to-use solution for visualizing, managing, analyzing, and sharing your GIS information in 3D.
The 10.1 release specifically targets users of:
- Virtual Cities (Urban Planners, Emergency response, Public safety)
- Virtual Campuses (Facilities Managers, Defense, Universities, Hospitals)
- Surfaces (Civil engineers, Defense, Forestry, Government)
by expanding and improving:
- the online integration of 3D
- support for authoring and maintaining 3D City and Campus-level data
- support for point clouds, with focus on airborne lidar (LAS) data
ArcGIS 10.1 Lidar Training Seminar
Are you interested in learning about lidar and GIS at 10.1? A live training seminar will be offered next Thursday, May 24, 2012 to introduce Esri’s lidar capabilities at ArcGIS 10.1. There will be three offerings at: 9:00 am, 11:00 am, and 3:00 pm PDT (U.S. & Canada). To find out more information regarding the latest Working with Lidar Data in ArcGIS 10.1 seminar click the link below.
http://training.esri.com/Gateway/index.cfm?fa=seminars.viewDetails&course_id=178
Lindsay Weitz
Product Engineer, Software Product Release
FormFonts 3D
When it comes to 3D model stock, Google’s 3D Warehouse is a great resource. However as we all know, these models can’t be used in other GIS packages (3D Warehouse EULA, paragraph 11.4).
As GIS professionals, we have to rely on other sources of 3D content. With the recent addition of CityEngine to the Esri 3D lineup, it has become very easy to generate 3D geotypcial urban content. The software has a powerful procedural modeling core that allows you to dynamically create 3D buildings and streets using your existing operational geodatabases, further reducing the need to maintain a separate 3D model database.
However at this stage, our procedural modeling core does not allow you to model 3D trees, cars, street furniture etc. Also for geospecific 3D buildings, it is sometimes easier to model these manually rather than procedurally.
We therefore reached out to the team of professional modelers at FormFonts 3D. FormFonts started doing in-house modeling of georeferenced 3D models for Esri this year, and so we’d like to share this excellent source of 3D model stock with the Esri community.
FormFonts 3D is a subscription 3D modeling service with more than 11,000 subscribers. It has a professionally developed 3D model library with more than 50,000 3D assets under management. You can subscribe to this living library of rights managed and professional model stock for $199 a year (per user), and enjoy the highest quality 3D models on demand – anytime and anywhere you need them. This subscription model can work well for most of our users, and FormFonts will discount subscriptions depending on the size of your ELA.
FormFonts 3D’s models and textures are fully compatible with ArcGIS via the Collada .dae format and if you have specific modeling needs, FormFonts will undertake these on a bespoke basis, and can usually turn your models around in less than 48 hours.
Click here to download a complimentary tester pack of 3D models to try from FromFonts 3D. Instructions are included with the download to add them into ArcGIS.
Gert van Maren
3D Product manager
ArcGIS – CityEngine round trippin'
Last week we made the ‘CityEngine: Philadelphia example’ available for download on the CityEngine resource center. The main comments we’ve received so far are:
- how do I get my GIS data into CityEngine, and
- how do I bring it back into ArcGIS?
So let’s do a roundtrip! Continue reading
CityEngine to ArcGIS
CityEngine allows you to model and design your city in 3D based on GIS geometry, attributes and procedural rules.
CityEngine Urban Planning Example now available for download
It has been awhile since we released Esri CityEngine 2011 at the EUC in Madrid. In the last month we have been working hard on an ArcGIS – CityEngine urban planning example and we are happy to let you know it is available for download now in the gallery section on the CityEngine resource center.
This example highlights how CityEngine can be used to create and design 3D urban content based on GIS data input such as building footprints and street lines with attributes.
Starting point is a 3D geodatabase with:
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building footprints with attributes such as ridge height, eave height and roof form
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street center lines with attributes such as street width
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vegetation locations with attributes such as vegetation type, rotation and size
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street furniture locations with attributes such as furniture type, rotation and size
The example comes with a set of rules that allow you:
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turn your building footprints into 3D textured buildings
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turn your street center lines into 3D streets.
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turn your vegetation and streetfurniture points into 3D models
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Import existing 3D content such as 3D buildings, trees, cars and street furniture
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do a redesign on any part of the city
You can download this CityEngine: Philadephia example in the gallery section on the CityEngine resource center.
For more information on how to:
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bring your CityEngine models back into ArcGIS
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turn your 2D features into 3D
go to the gallery section on the CityEngine resource center and have a look for the CityEngine to ArcGIS and 2Dto3D templates.
Enjoy…
Gert
Esri R&D Center Zürich
2D to 3D
Sometimes it is necessary to turn the 2D geometries into 3D features using on an elevation model. This is especially true when you want the feature to interact with the surface (e.g. burn building footprints into the terrain) or use them in 3D spatial analysis.
The new 2Dto3D template shows the process of creating 3D features from 2D using an elevation model. The data used in this template is a subset of the buildings available in the Virtual City template.
Enjoy
Gert
New Glare Analysis template available
We have made a new glare template available in our template gallery.
This template describes the process of creating volumetric glare objects using the new Skyline Tools available in ArcGIS 10.
Have a look at this video to see what glare analysis can do for you.
Enjoy.
Gert van Maren
3D Product Manager.
Cross sections in ArcGlobe and ArcGIS Explorer
Good blog post from Mark on creating 3D cross-sections in ArcGlobe and displaying them in ArcGIS Explorer.
Gert
3D Product Manager
