An overview of the Conversion toolset
Use these tools to convert surfaces to different formats that allow different types of analysis, show different interpretations, or extract features from TINs that you can use to enhance your analysis results or visualization in 3D.
Conversion tools allow you to convert surfaces to different formats or convert TIN surfaces to the features that comprise them. You can use conversion tools to convert TINs to rasters, rasters to TINs, or TINs to features.
Converting between raster and TIN formats allows you to employ the benefits of each while modeling the same surface. For example, use a TIN to model a surface if you have features, such as lines or polygons, that you want to use to enforce natural features, such as ridges or valleys, or clip a TIN to a study area. Convert this TIN to a raster using the natural neighbors interpolation option to preserve the linear features in the output raster. You'll now be able to use spatial operators on the raster that may not have been available for the TIN. In addition, the TIN-to-raster conversion is a smoothing process, so contours you generate on the raster will be smoother than they would be as a TIN.
If you have supplemental data for a raster surface, such as breakline data, you can convert the raster to a TIN, then add the features to the TIN. You can then convert it back to a raster using natural neighbors interpolation to preserve the breaklines or use the TIN for your visualization or analysis.
The following table lists the tools in the conversion toolset and a brief description of each:
|
Geoprocessing Tool |
Description |
|---|---|
|
Exports feature layers that have 3D properties defined to a multipatch feature class. |
|
Geoprocessing Tool |
Description |
|---|---|
|
Exports feature layers that have 3D properties defined to a multipatch feature class. |
|
|
Exports 3D features to ASCII text files in XYZ, GENERATE, or profile format. |
|
|
Creates polygon footprints representing the two-dimensional area occupied by a multipatch feature class. |
|
Geoprocessing Tool |
Description |
|---|---|
|
Imports 3D features from one or more ASCII files stored in XYZ, XYZI, or GENERATE formats into a new feature class. |
|
|
Imports one or more 3D models into a multipatch feature class. |
|
|
This tool imports one or more triangulated irregular network (TIN) surfaces from a LandXML file to output ESRI TINs. |
|
|
This tool imports one or more files in LAS format, the industry standard for lidar data, into a new multipoint feature class. Supported LAS file format versions are 1.0, 1.1, and 1.2. |
|
|
Generates a new output feature class containing statistical information about one or more point files. |
|
Geoprocessing Tool |
Description |
|---|---|
|
Creates a polygon or polyline footprint of the data portions of a raster dataset. |
|
|
Converts raster cell centers into multipoint features whose Z values reflect the raster cell value. |
|
|
Converts a raster to a triangulated irregular network (TIN) dataset. |
|
Geoprocessing Tool |
Description |
|---|---|
|
Converts a terrain dataset into a new point or multipoint feature class. |
|
|
Converts a terrain dataset into a raster. |
|
|
Converts a terrain dataset to a triangulated irregular network (TIN) dataset. |
|
Geoprocessing Tool |
Description |
|---|---|
|
Creates a line or polygon feature class representing the interpolation zone of a triangulated irregular network (TIN) dataset. |
|
|
Creates 3D line features using the triangle edges of a triangulated irregular network (TIN) dataset. |
|
|
Exports breaklines from a triangulated irregular network (TIN) dataset to a 3D line feature class. |
|
|
Exports the nodes of a triangulated irregular network (TIN) dataset to a point feature class. |
|
|
Creates polygon features using tag values in a triangulated irregular network (TIN) dataset. |
|
|
Creates a raster by interpolating its cell values from the elevation of the input TIN at the specified sampling distance. |
|
|
Exports triangle faces from a triangulated irregular network (TIN) dataset to a polygon feature class and provides slope, aspect, and optional attributes of hillshade and tag value for each triangle. |
The following two tools that were available in the ArcGIS 3D Analyst toolbox prior to version 10.0 have been removed, since they are now in the core Conversion toolbox.