Add realistic detail to a scene

A basic 3D scene might include the ground's terrain and simple, extruded building footprints. A scene can be made more compelling with realistic building textures and custom 3D features of key locations. In this tutorial, you'll use advanced 3D mapping techniques in ArcGIS Pro to add realistic detail to a scene showing Venice, Italy. First, you'll apply a rule package to extruded building footprints to make the buildings look more real. Then, you'll add a custom 3D feature of Venice's famous Piazza San Marco created in ArcGIS CityEngine.

This tutorial was last tested on July 31, 2024, using ArcGIS Pro 3.3. If you're using a different version of ArcGIS Pro, you may encounter different functionality and results.

Requirements

• ArcGIS Pro (see options for software access)

Add realistic detail to a scene

Apply a rule package

To make 3D structures look more realistic, you can set the layer's symbology with a rule package created in ArcGIS CityEngine. Rule packages contain a series of design settings that create more complex symbology. Although you can't create rule packages in ArcGIS Pro, you can apply and modify them from an external file.

1. If you completed the previous tutorial in this series, Map Venice in 3D, open the Venice project you created in ArcGIS Pro.
2. If you did not complete the previous tutorial, download the Add realistic detail to a scene project package. Locate the downloaded project package and double-click it to open it in ArcGIS Pro. If prompted, sign in using your ArcGIS account.

   Note:

   If you don't have access to ArcGIS Pro or an ArcGIS organizational account, see options for software access.

   Whether you're using the project you created in the previous tutorial or downloaded the project package, your project includes a scene showing Venice's structures, canals, and landmarks.

   

   Next, you'll add the rule package.

3. Download the Venice Facades rule package.
4. Locate the compressed file in your Downloads folder. Use Windows Explorer to extract its contents to the Documents folder on your computer's C: drive or a location of your choosing.

   The extracted folder contains a single file: VeniceFacades.rpk.

5. In ArcGIS Pro, in the Contents pane, click the symbol for Structures.

   

6. In the Symbology pane, click Properties and click the Layers button.

   

   You'll change the solid fill symbology to a procedural fill using the rule package you downloaded.

7. Click Solid fill and choose Procedural fill.

   

   The options change to show the procedural fill settings, but they are currently empty. You'll need to assign a rule.

8. Click Rule.

   

   The Select Rule Package window appears.

9. Browse to the location of the extracted VeniceFacades.rpk file and double-click it.

   Note:

   You may need to refresh the Select Rule Package window to access the rule package.

   The Symbology pane populates with several symbology settings, or rules, that you can adjust. For now, you'll see what the default settings look like.

10. Click Apply.

    Note:

    It may take some time for all of the structures to update.

11. After the structures finish updating, navigate to the Piazza San Marco bookmark. Explore the scene to get a closer look at the updated symbology.

    

    The structures now have realistic-looking textures instead of generic colors. However, the tower in the Piazza San Marco has shrunk to a small, flat building. The heights of other buildings have changed as well. One of the rules in the package determines height, overriding the height attribute you used to extrude the structures.

Configure the rules

You'll improve the way the rule package is applied by configuring its rules.

1. In the Symbology pane, examine the rules.

   

   The Nbr_of_Floors setting determines how many floors a structure will have, while the Floor_Height setting determines how high each floor will be. At the current settings, each structure has three floors of approximately four meters each, before the roof is included.

   Although you can adjust the floor height to any static number between 3 and 4.5 (the minimum and maximum values set in the rule), you can also map the rule to the structure's height attribute.

2. For the Floor_Height setting, click the Click to set attribute driven properties button.

   

   The Set Attribute Mapping window appears. You could set the floor height to be exactly the same as the structure's height attribute, but each structure has three floors. To account for the number of floors, you'll create an expression to set floor height to one-third the height attribute.

3. In the Set Attribute Mapping window, click the Set an expression button.

   

4. In the Expression Builder window, build the expression $feature.Height/3.

   

5. Click OK. In the Set Attribute Mapping window, click OK.
6. In the Symbology pane, click Apply.

   The structures update with the new height data.

   Note:

   It may take a few minutes for the features to redraw.

   

   Next, you'll change the basemap to add to the scene's appearance.

7. On the Map tab, in the Layer group, click Basemap.

   

8. Under 2D Basemap, choose the Imagery basemap.

   

   The basemap shows satellite imagery of Venice, adding to the realism.

   

9. Save the project.

Add the Piazza San Marco

While the rule package's symbology functions as intended for most of the structures in Venice, the famous structures of the Piazza San Marco (such as the Doge's Palace and St. Mark's Basilica) would look better with more detailed symbols that capture their unique architecture. You'll add new features that were specially designed in CityEngine to have the look of these famous structures.

1. On the Map tab, click the Add Data button.

   

2. In the Add Data window, under Portal, click ArcGIS Online. In the search box, type Piazza_San_Marco owner:Learn_ArcGIS and press Enter.
3. Double-click Piazza_San_Marco to add it to the scene.
4. If necessary, navigate to the Piazza San Marco bookmark to view the new features.

   

   The new features are added, but they overlap with the existing Structures layer.

5. In the Contents pane, turn off all layers except the Piazza San Marco layer and the basemap.
6. Pan, zoom, and tilt the scene to explore the new features.

   

   The new features have elements such as the domed roofs and arches of St. Mark's Basilica that could not be achieved by applying rules to extruded features. These features are multipatch features. Unlike extruded features, such as the Structures layer, multipatch features are not simply 2D footprints given a uniform height value. Instead, their third dimension has been specifically modeled in CityEngine, allowing for much more detail.

Delete overlapping features

Next, you'll remove the features in the Structures layer that overlap with the Piazza San Marco. You'll select the overlapping features and delete them completely from the dataset. Since it is not recommended to delete features without having a backup of the original data, you'll make a copy of the data first.

1. In the Contents pane, right-click the Structures layer, point to Data, and choose Export Features.

   

   The Export Features window appears.

2. In the Export Features window, for Output Feature Class, type Structures_Copy.

   

   The copy will be saved to the project's default geodatabase.

3. Click OK.

   The copy of the original Structures layer is added to the map as a 3D layer. Now that you know your data has a backup, you no longer need the original on the map. You'll remove it before you start deleting features from the Structures_Copy layer.

4. In the Contents pane, right-click Structures and choose Remove. Rename Structures_Copy to Structures.

   Tip:

   To rename in a layer, you can either click its name after the layer is already selected, or double-click the layer name and edit the Name parameter in the Layer Properties window.

   Next, you'll select all the structures that you want to remove.

5. On the Map tab, in the Selection group, click Select By Location.

   

   The Select By Location tool appears. You'll configure the tool to select features in the Structures layer that intersect (touch) the Piazza San Marco features.

6. For Input Features, choose Structures. For Selecting Features, choose Piazza San Marco.

   

7. Click OK.

   The selected features are highlighted in a cyan color.

   

8. Explore the selected features.

   As you explore, you may notice two features that were selected although only a small edge touches the Piazza San Marco features, indicated in the following image:

   

   Tip:

   You can turn off the Piazza San Marco layer to better see the selected features, like in the example image. If you do, remember to turn the layer back on later.

   Since these features don't really overlap, there's no reason to remove them. You'll unselect them while keeping the rest of the features selected.

9. On the Map tab, in the Selection group, click the Select button.

   

10. Find the feature at the southern end of the Piazza San Marco that doesn't overlap. Press Ctrl and click the feature to unselect it.

    Tip:

    If you need to pan, zoom, or tilt to get closer to the feature, press and hold the C key to enable the Explore tool.

    

    Tip:

    If you unselect the wrong feature, you can reselect it by pressing Shift and clicking it.

11. Find the feature at the northern end of the Piazza San Marco that doesn't overlap. Press Ctrl and click the feature to unselect it.

    

    Next, you'll remove the selected features.

12. On the ribbon, on the Map tab, in the Navigate group, click Explore.
13. Click the Edit tab. In the Features group, click Delete.

    

    Caution:

    Deleting features is permanent. You should only delete features if you have a backup copy of the original data.

14. In the Delete window, click Yes.

    The remaining selected features are removed completely.

    

15. In the Manage Edits group, click Save. In the Save Edits window, click Yes to save the edits.
16. Save the project.

Your scene is finished. You used rule packages and multipatch features to give your scene a realistic appearance. Your scene is not only more realistic, but much more engaging for users. You've learned how to use advanced 3D mapmaking functionality to add detail to a scene.

You can find more tutorials in the tutorial gallery.

Acknowledgements

• The Structures, Canals, Landmarks, Venice 1m, and Venice Ground Surface layers were acquired from or derived from data acquired from Comune di Venezia - Portale dei servizi. The data is shared under the Italian Open Data License 2.0 (IODL-2.0), which allows for free copying and distributing of the data, as well as the creation of derivative works.
• The Piazza San Marco layer package and Venice Facades rule package were created by Esri employees.
• Topographic map sources: Esri, HERE, Garmin, FAO, NOAA, USGS, Intermap, METI, OpenStreetMap contributors, and the GIS User Community
• World Imagery layer sources: Esri, Maxar, Earthstar Geographics, and the GIS User Community