• Difference between 3D and 2D data
• 3D analyst include ArcScene and ArcGlobe, which used for visualizing 3D data, creating and analyzing 2D and 3D surfaces
• Type of 3D data
o 3D-surface (raster and TIN)
o 3D-feature (shapefile and geodatabase feature class), has a field of PointZ, PolygonZ, PolylineZ in the attribute table.
o Create TIN from vector data (point, lines, polygons)
o Mass points are nodes from which triangles are constructed
o Breakline: tell a distinct change; hard breakline capture abrupt changes in a surface, soft breakline do not affect the shape of the surface
o Replace, clip, erase, fill polygons
• Create 3D-feature
o convert 2D to 3D or
o define a new empty 3D feature then digitize from a 3D raster or TIN
• Convert TIN to features
o Slope and aspect polygon features, elevations of nodes as point feature
• ArcScene
o Scene properties: vertical exaggeration, animated rotation, background color, extent, and illumination (azimuth and sun elevation)
o Layer property: base heights (the z-value, could be elevation, population, precipitation, temperature, …) and extrusion (point to line, line to wall, polygon to block)