Understanding the 3D Analyst toolbar options

3D Analyst Options menu

3D Analyst Options is a drop-down menu where certain settings can be found for the 3D Analyst toolbar tools. These commands allow you to control interpolation techniques and save your graphic data.

The Graph Data tab on the 3D Analyst Options dialog box is where you can define the location used for saving profile graphs to disk. If a folder location is specified, then a shapefile will be created each time a profile is created.

NoteNote:

It is not recommended that you specify a geodatabase folder as an output location for the profile graph shapefiles. ArcGIS will not recognize the shapefiles inside a geodatabase.

Additionally, on the Graph Data tab, you can specify a graph template to apply design elements to new graphs using an existing graph file. Several graph templates are provided with ArcGIS and can be accessed from the installation folder typically found under the \ArcGIS\Desktop10.1\GraphTemplates directory. You can also create your own personal graph templates.

3D Analyst toolbar options—Graph tab

The Interpolation tab on the 3D Analyst Options dialog box provides interpolation methods and profile sampling techniques.

3D Analyst toolbar—Interpolation tab

The interpolation methods are used to define the z-values when using either the point, line, or polygon interpolation tool. These interpolation methods apply only when 3D analysis is being conducted on a TIN or terrain dataset surface. The table below provides a description of each interpolation method available when working with TINs and terrain datasets.

Interpolation methods available for TINs and terrain surfaces

Interpolation method

Description

Linear

Default interpolation method. Estimates z from the plane defined by the TIN or terrain triangle that contains the x,y location of a query point.

Natural neighbors

Estimates z by applying area-based weights to the TIN or terrain's natural neighbors of a query point.

Conflate z min

Obtains z from one of the TIN or terrain's natural neighbors of a query point. The z of the neighbor with the minimum height is used.

Conflate z max

Obtains z from one of the TIN or terrain's natural neighbors of a query point. The z of the neighbor with the maximum height is used.

Conflate closest to mean

Obtains z from one of the TIN or terrain's natural neighbors of a query point. The z of the neighbor that is closest to the average height of all the neighbors is used.

Conflate z of nearest

Obtains z from one of the TIN or terrain's natural neighbors of a query point. The z of the neighbor closest in x,y to the query point is used.

The Profile sampling options are used to define sampling techniques along a profile line. These methods apply when 3D analysis is being conducted on either a raster, TIN, or terrain dataset surface. The table below provides a description of the three profile sampling methods available.

Profile sampling methods

Profile sampling method

Description

Automatic densification

The profile graph is generated from the original input vertices plus additional samples where the profile intersects triangle edges for TIN and terrain surfaces. With raster surfaces, the original vertices plus densification points added using the cell size are used to generate the profile graph.

User specified distance

The profile graph is generated from the original input vertices plus additional samples along the profile at the user-specified distance.

No densification

Only the original input vertices are used to generate the profile graph.

8/16/2013