An overview of the 3D Features toolset

The 3D Features toolset provides a collection of tools for constructing features and assessing geometric properties in 3-dimensional space. The following table summarizes the tools in this toolset:

Overview of tools in the 3D Features toolset

Tool	Description
Add Z Information	Adds information about elevation properties of features in a Z-enabled feature class.
Buffer 3D	Creates a 3-dimensional buffer around points or lines to produce spherical or cylindrical multipatch features.
Difference 3D	Eliminates portions of multipatch features in a target feature class that overlap with enclosed volumes of multipatch features in the subtraction feature class.
Enclose Multipatch	Creates closed multipatch features from open multipatch features.
Feature To 3D By Attribute	Creates 3D features using height values derived from the attribute of the input features.
Inside 3D	Determines if 3D features from an input feature class are contained inside a closed multipatch, and writes an output table recording the features that are partially or fully inside the multipatch.
Intersect 3D	Computes the intersection of multipatch features to produce closed multipatches encompassing the overlapping volumes, open multipatch features from the common surface areas, or lines from the intersecting edges.
Intersect 3D Line With Multipatch	Returns the number of geometric intersections between 3D line and multipatch features and also provides optional features that represent points of intersection and also divide the 3D lines at such points.
Is Closed 3D	Evaluates multipatch features to determine whether each feature completely encloses a volume of space.
Minimum Bounding Volume	Creates multipatch features that represent the volume of space occupied by a set of 3D features.
Near 3D	Calculates the three-dimensional distance from each input feature to the nearest feature that resides in one or more near feature classes.
Regularize Building Footprint	Normalizes the footprint of building polygons by eliminating undesirable artifacts in their geometry.
Union 3D	Merges closed, overlapping multipatch features from an input feature class.
Update Feature Z	Updates the z-coordinates of 3D feature vertices using a surface.