Tag Archives: Styles
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
Using graduated lines to show the number of accidents along road segments
By Rajinder Nagi, Esri Research Cartographer
We got a really interesting question on Ask a Cartographer earlier this month and since we had long wanted to make this type of map, we jumped on the opportunity to test out the methods. Here is the (paraphrased) question:
“I would like to analyze the location of about 320 bicycle and pedestrian crashes in a city over a 6 year period. About 2/3 of the points have XY values. The other third, I manually placed using a description of the location. I would like to display the locations in a more meaningful way than just points. Would I be able to do a dot density map or some type of heat map? Attached is a map I found in another place. Is it possible to replicate this in GIS?” Continue reading
Symbols and styles in ArcGIS 10.0
By Aileen Buckley, Mapping Center Lead
There are some great new enhancements to the way you work with styles and symbols in ArcGIS 10! Finding the right symbol and managing styles is now simpler and easier. Continue reading
Quick tint bands
By Aileen Buckley, Mapping Center Lead
Have you wondered how you can get a graded boundary effect for your polygons layer, which is a nice way to add a subtle emphasis to boundaries? This effect uses what are called “tint bands”. We posted a blog entry on this a while back. If you are in a rush and want to get a similar effect, you can create what we call “quick tint bands”. It’s pretty easy, really – you just need two layers – one for the fill, one for Continue reading
Esri_Optimized.style available in ArcGIS 9.2
By Charlie Frye, Esri Chief Cartographer
Quite a few people saw technical sessions in San Diego at the Users Conference where the Esri_Optimized.style was mentioned. A number of you have written in, asking, “What exactly is it?” and “Where can I find it?” Continue reading
Heads up color proofing for Esri style's colors
By Jenny Reiman, East-West Gateway Council of Governments
Here’s a useful little map document called ColorPalette_ArcGIS.mxd that I put together to anticipate the variation between colors on my monitor and the printers and plotters in the office. It contains no geographic data, only graphics that correspond to the standard color palette in ArcGIS. Each color swatch is labeled by name and by CMYK values. I print a copy from each printer and hang them near my monitor so I can choose colors for my layout based on what they look like on paper, not just based on what the colors look like on my monitor. Someday everything may be perfectly calibrated with a color matching system like Pantone. Until then, this helps – and it makes great cubicle wall paper!
