Assignment: Creating a 3D Flight Using ArcGlobe

Sylvio Mannel, Oglala Lakota College, 2007

NAME:

Follow the procedures and answer the questions with a Q in front! Help each other and work as a team!

Step 1: preparation

Download a DEM

For example, On the internet go to

click on <Digital Base Data>

username: sdgis password: 259001

  1. Download 2004 Shannon Digital Orthoquad (DOQ) from the SDGS website (or use the one you already have) This takes about 2 hours, ask instructor for the DOQ
  2. Download DEM of Shannon county
  3. unzip the files to your folder (right click and <winzip> <unzip to here>

Step 2: open ArcGlobe

  • Add aerial photo and elevation
  • In photo properties drape the photo to DEM
  • Click <elevation> tab
  • checkmark layer floats independently …
  • Select your DEM

If the aerial photo doesn’t fit the globe layer, play around with the globe layer properties

  • Open Globe Layer properties
  • <General> tab: choose an off set of 5 or 2 (for both options)

Save your ArcGlobe project (save often)

Identify and bookmark beginning and end areas of where you want to fly to and from

<view> <Bookmark> <create>

Flying

  • Add a North Arrow and <enable HUD>(<View> <View Settings>)
  • HUD is a frame that makes flying easier

Important tools:

  • Bird
  • <esc> key on keyboard to stop flight
  • <Navigate> button (to adjust the angle of looking down (i.e. straight down)
  • That’s good for getting started

Left mouse key: speed up and zoom in

Right mouse key slow down and zoom out

Watch on the bottom right for your height

Watch on the bottom left for speed

  • <shift> to maintain your height

Now, Left mouse (or arrow up button): increase speed

Right mouse (or arrow down button): decrease speed

You might want to use an actual printed map to know which way you want to fly to.

Make sure DOQ layer is under draped layers

Q: hold the <shift> key while flying with a speed of 2. What happens when you move your mouse forward and backwards? Move back all the way.

Make video

<View> <toolbars> <Animation>

  • Click on symbol for <Animation controls>
  • Click record
  • Fly
  • Press stop
  • press play to watch your flight
  • (if you want to keep this flight, save it, otherwise, the next flight will record over this one)
  • Save your flight
  • click <Animation> and <save flight>
  • name it , i.e. ‘point1_to_2

Export video:

This will take a long time (up to 48 hours)

Have all flights saved before exporting!!

  1. Make sure there is no screen saver enabled and that the computer stays on for up to 2 days
  2. Resize the ArcGlobe window to make it smaller
  3. Click <Animation> <Load Animation file>
  4. to load the animation that you want to export
  5. Click <Animation> <Export to video>
  6. Name your animation video (i.e. point1_to_2_video)

STOP

  1. Click <options>
  2. Check mark <allow off-screen recording (otherwise it records everything that happens on the screen, i.e. if you open other programs, or if the screen saver kicks in
  3. Change custom frame extent to: 1024*768

Click <Export>

Now, you might have to wait a few minutes

  1. Pick a codec
  2. A good one is Cinamax… (the first one on the list)
  3. DIVX works too (may not be installed everywhere
  4. uncompressed is huge)
  5. leave compression quality and keyframe as default
  6. <click ok>

Tips:

Keep flights short (1-2 minutes)

ArcGlobe can also export to QuickTime, if QuickTime is installed

Problem: Export records everything that happens on the screen

Solution: <Enable Off-Screen recording>

or make sure you don’t do anything, and no screen saver will pop up

Create a video with audio

Open video in Windows “Movie maker” and add pictures, soundtrack and other thing

Additional tips from the web:

Tips and Tricks for Using ArcGlobe 9. ArcGlobe is better than ArcScene for 95% of 3D visualization. It's a separate standalone application, and relatively simple to use. Here are some tips that come from 6 months of an hour or more a day’s use of the app.

  • Define projections for all datasets you intend to use in Catalogue using the script posted earlier
  • Clean out your hard drive, 5 gigs wont go amiss.
  • Drop down the resolution of your screen to say 1024*768 for starters
  • Open ArcGlobe
  • Add a dataset
  • Set a DEM or GRID as the height source, under the layer properties tab, and the DEM must also be projection defined.
  • Now view and zoom into the data.
  • Try setting the tools> options> bump up the elevation and image quality a notch or two, them more progressively as you have good success with that, until it slows, and/or crashes.
  • Save Often.
  • Don't print with ArcGlobe, ever.
Labeling:

“Ugh, don’t bother unless you like to be a sadist, save often. Labels in ArcGlobe are down with Annotation. If capturing screen shots for use in publications and/or PowerPoint (my favorite). You can plough through some massive output by the simple Alt+Prnt screen button and paste into PowerPoint – the export quality isn’t worth the mucking around I find in 80% of cases.“