Edit TIN (3D Analyst)

Summary

Loads data from one or more input features to modify the surface of an existing triangulated irregular network (TIN).

Learn more about how Edit TIN works

Illustration

Breaklines are added to the TIN.

Usage

• This tool modifies the input TIN. Consider using the Copy TIN tool to maintain a backup if you want to retain an unmodified version of the source TIN.

• The surface feature type defines how the input features will contribute to the definition of the triangulated surface.

  • Point features can be specified as mass points, which provide data nodes with z-values that are used in the triangulation of the surface.
  • Line features can be specified as mass points and breaklines, which represent locations along a surface with linear discontinuities in slope, such as ridge lines, shore lines, pavement edges, building footprints, and so on.
  • Polygon features can also be specified as mass points and breaklines, along with clip features that define the data area, replace features that define regions with constant z-values (for example, water bodies), and erase features that indicate interior areas where data does not exist.

• The tool can create a TIN composed of many millions of points given enough memory. However, limiting the number of TIN nodes to less than 6 million will ensure a responsive display performance and overall usability. If a larger TIN surface is needed, consider using a terrain dataset. The terrain dataset offers a multiresolution TIN surface that can support much larger collections of source measurements.

Parameters

Dialog

Label	Explanation	Data Type
Input TIN	The TIN dataset that will be processed.	TIN Layer
Surface Feature Definition	The input features and their related properties that define how they will be added to the TIN. Input Features—The features that will be added to the TIN. Height Field— The field from the input's attribute table that will provide the elevation for its features. The z- or m-values in the Shape field can be used along with any numeric field. Choosing the <None> option will result in the feature's elevation being interpolated from its surrounding 3D measurements. Tag Field—A numeric attribute will be assigned to the TIN's data elements using values obtained from an integer field in the input feature's attribute table. Type—The input feature's role in defining the TIN surface. The available options depend on the geometry of the input features. For line- and polygon-based surface feature types, the hard and soft designations for the surface feature type impact the way the line or polygon boundary is handled when interpolating a raster surface from the TIN dataset when using natural neighbor interpolation. A hard surface feature type represents a border with a sharp discontinuity in elevation, such as the edge of a cliff, a wall, or a curb on the side of the road. A soft surface feature type represents a border where the elevation is more smoothly defined. Point and multipoint features can be defined as Mass_Points, which contribute elevation values that are stored as TIN data nodes. Line features can be incorporated into the TIN as the following: Mass Points in which the line vertices are converted to nodes in the TIN. Hard Line or Soft Line breakline features that define linear discontinuities in the TIN. Polygon features can be incorporated into the TIN as mass points, break lines, and the following surface feature types: Hard Clip or Soft Clip features that define the data area of the TIN surface. Hard Erase or Soft Erase features that represent interior voids in the data, Hard Replace or Soft Replace features that define areas of constant height. Hard Value Fill or Soft Value Fill features that assign integer attributes to nodes and triangle faces. Use Z— Specifies whether z- or m-values will be used when the SHAPE field is indicated as the height source. Specifying True indicates that z-values will be used; setting it to False indicates that m-values will be used.	Value Table
Constrained Delaunay (Optional)	Specifies the triangulation technique that will be used along the breaklines of the TIN. Unchecked—The TIN will use Delaunay conforming triangulation, which may densify each segment of the breaklines to produce multiple triangle edges. This is the default. Checked—The TIN will use constrained Delaunay triangulation, which will add each segment as a single edge. Delaunay triangulation rules are honored everywhere except along breaklines, which will not be densified.	Boolean

Derived Output

Label	Explanation	Data Type
Updated TIN	The updated TIN.	TIN Layer

Python

arcpy.ddd.EditTin(in_tin, in_features, {constrained_delaunay})

Name	Explanation	Data Type
in_tin	The TIN dataset that will be processed.	TIN Layer
in_features [[in_features, height_field, tag_value, SF_type, use_z],...]	The input features and their related properties that define how they will be added to the TIN. in_features—The features that will be added to the TIN. height_field—The field in the feature attributes that will provide the elevation of input features. The z- or m-values in the Shape field can be used along with any numeric field. Choosing the <None> keyword will result in the feature's elevation being interpolated from the surrounding surface. tag_field—A numeric attribute will be derived from an integer field in the input feature's attribute table whose values can be used to assign a basic form of attribution to the TIN's data elements. Specifying <None> will result in no tag values being assigned. sf_type—The input feature's role in defining the TIN surface. The available options depend on the geometry of the input features. For line- and polygon-based surface feature types, the hard and soft designations for the surface feature type impact the way the line or polygon boundary is handled when interpolating a raster surface from the TIN dataset when using natural neighbor interpolation. A hard surface feature type represents a border with a sharp discontinuity in elevation, such as the edge of a cliff, a wall, or a curb on the side of the road. A soft surface feature type represents a border where the elevation is more smoothly defined. Point and multipoint features can be defined as Mass_Points, which contribute elevation values that are stored as TIN data nodes. Line features can be incorporated into the TIN as the following: Mass_Points in which the line vertices are converted to nodes in the TIN. Hard_Line or Soft_Line breakline features that define linear discontinuities in the TIN. Polygon features can be incorporated into the TIN as mass points, break lines, and the following surface feature types: Hard_Clip or Soft_Clip features that define the data area of the TIN surface. Hard_Erase or Soft_Erase features that represent interior voids in the data. Hard_Replace or Soft_Replace features that define areas of constant height. Hardvalue_Fill or Softvalue_Fill features that assign integer attributes to nodes and triangle faces. use_z—Specifies whether z- or m-values will be used when the SHAPE field is specified as the height source. Specifying True indicates that z-values will be used; specifying False indicates that m-values will be used.	Value Table
constrained_delaunay (Optional)	Specifies the triangulation technique that will be used along the breaklines of the TIN. DELAUNAY—The TIN will use Delaunay conforming triangulation, which may densify each segment of the breaklines to produce multiple triangle edges. This is the default. CONSTRAINED_DELAUNAY—The TIN will use constrained Delaunay triangulation, which will add each segment as a single edge. Delaunay triangulation rules are honored everywhere except along breaklines, which will not be densified.	Boolean

Derived Output

Name	Explanation	Data Type
derived_out_tin	The updated TIN.	TIN Layer

Code sample

EditTin example 1 (Python window)

The following sample demonstrates the use of this tool in the Python window:

arcpy.env.workspace = "C:/data"
arcpy.ddd.EditTin("my_tin", "clip_polygon.shp <None> <None> hardclip false; "\
                 "new_points.shp Shape <None> masspoints true", "Delaunay")

EditTin example 2 (stand-alone script)

The following sample demonstrates the use of this tool in a stand-alone Python script:

'''****************************************************************************
Name: EditTin Example
Description: This script demonstrates how to use the
             EditTin tool to add features to a output of the CopyTin tool.
****************************************************************************'''

# Import system modules
import arcpy

# Set environment settings
arcpy.env.workspace = "C:/data/LAS"

# Set Local Variables
origTin = "elevation"
copyTin = "elev_copy"
inFCs = [["Clip_Polygon.shp", "<None>", "<None>", "hardclip", False],
         ["new_points.shp", "Shape", "<None>", "masspoints", True]]

# Execute CopyTin
arcpy.ddd.CopyTin(origTin, copyTin, "CURRENT")

# Execute EditTin
arcpy.ddd.EditTin(copyTin, inFCs, Delaunay)

Environments

Current Workspace, Extent

Licensing information

• Basic: Requires 3D Analyst
• Standard: Requires 3D Analyst
• Advanced: Requires 3D Analyst