3D features

To display discrete geographic features (like buildings, rivers, and wells) found on or beneath surfaces, 3D Analyst makes use of a special kind of feature: the 3D feature. 3D features can be stored in shapefiles or geodatabase feature classes.

Buildings are a common type of 3D feature modeled with 3D Analyst.

A 3D feature is a point, line, or polygon that, in addition to its x,y coordinates, stores a z-value as part of its geometry. A point has one z-value; lines and polygons have a single z-value for each vertex in the shape.

Both 3D polygon and 3D line features store z-values in the vertices. 3D points, of course, only have one z-value.

You can identify shapefiles and geodatabase feature classes that store 3D features by looking at the Shape field in their attribute tables. Those that have z-values will end with ZM. For example, the attribute values found in the Shape field for 3D point features will appear as “PointZM”.

3D feature classes can be identified by the ZM values in the Shape field of their attribute tables.

In ArcScene, you can also render 2D features in 3D by manipulating their layer properties.