How to rotate point feature symbology in 3D

Available with 3D Analyst license.

To apply rotation to point feature symbology in ArcScene, follow the steps below. ArcScene supports rotation in three dimensions, around the x-, y-, and z-axes. You can also choose to rotate point feature symbology by an attribute field, an expression, or random values. The Rotate 3D dialog box dynamically updates to reflect your choices to help you select the correct results.

When applying rotation by providing an expression, it is important to know this is the same as using an attribute field. The drop-down on the Rotate 3D dialog box will list the attribute field name used in the expression instead of <expression>. You can also choose to save an expression to an expression file (*.cal) by clicking Save on the Expression Builder. This can be useful in cases when you have complex expressions. You can reload the expression file for reuse by clicking Load on the Expression Builder and browsing to its saved location on disk.

1. Right-click the point layer in the table of contents.
2. Click Properties and click the Symbology tab.
3. Click the Advanced button.
4. Click Rotation.

   Shown here is the Symbology tab to access 3D rotation.

   

5. Click the Rotation around axis drop-down arrow to choose the axis of rotation (x, y, or z).

   By default, the rotation axis is set to the z-axis.

Rotation about the x-, y-, and z-axes in 3D corresponds to pitch, roll, and yaw.







6. From the Fields drop-down list, click the attribute field that contains the rotation angle.

Values should be in degrees and range from 0 to 360.

7. You can also apply the following optional rotation:

   Rotation by expression	Choose <expression> in the Fields drop-down list. Click the Expression Builder to provide the expression that needs to be used for rotating the symbols.
   Rotation by random values	Choose <random> in the Fields drop-down list. Random values will be generated between 0 and 360 degrees. You can apply restrictions to the minimum and maximum random values by supplying upper and lower limits to the random value boxes on the dialog box.

8. Click Rotation style and choose a rotation. Geographic rotates the assigned symbol from north in a clockwise direction. Arithmetic rotates the assigned symbol from east in a counterclockwise direction.

   ArcScene supports both geographic and arithmetic rotation about the z-axis. Rotation about the x- and y-axes only supports the arithmetic rotation style.

9. Click OK on all dialog boxes.

   Shown here is the Rotate 3D dialog box with the steps marked to apply the rotation styles and options.

   

10. If you want to change the values in the rotation angle field, start a 3D edit session. You can update the rotation values by using the Rotate command or by typing new values in the attribute table or the Attributes dialog box.
Press and hold the C key as a shortcut to interactively rotate a selected point feature.

Note:

• You can only use the 3D Editor Rotate function on a point feature symbolized with a 3D symbol if the attribute by rotation as outlined in the steps above, is set.
• To remove any rotation applied to the feature symbology, you can choose <none> in the drop-down available on the Rotation 3D dialog.
• To rotate feature symbology without taking an angle from a field, double-click the marker symbol in the table of contents and set its angle property. Without a rotation field, all symbols will be drawn at the same angle.
• You can use a marker symbol's angle property in conjunction with the rotation angle field.