Opening 3D Symbol Property Editor

Follow the steps below to open the Symbol Property Editor dialog box from ArcScene to modify the display properties of your 3D symbols.

The basic properties of symbols used to display your features and graphics can be modified to make changes to the display. You can also choose to save symbols into styles for reuse at another time or in other documents. Styles are logical collections of symbols and map elements, and when you use a symbol from a style, you are placing a copy of it in your map or 3D view. There is no reference maintained back to the style. Reusing the contents of a style saves the time of re-creating the symbol.

Learn more about modifying and saving symbols

To open Symbol Property Editor and access advanced properties for 3D symbols in ArcScene, do the following:

Steps:
  1. Click the symbol of the layer in the table of contents.
  2. Optionally double-click the layer to open the Layer Properties dialog box, click the Symbology tab, then click the symbol whose properties you want to change.
    The Symbol Selector dialog box opens. Here you can modify basic symbol properties.
  3. Click Edit Symbol.
  4. The Symbol Property Editor dialog box appears with access to advanced symbol properties.

  5. Modify the symbol as desired and click OK on the Symbol Property Editor dialog box when you have finished.
  6. Optionally click Save As on the Symbol Selector dialog box to save the modified symbol to a style. Then type a name and a category for the symbol. Browse to a style to save it into, or use your personal style, which is the default. Keep in mind that the styles installed with ArcGIS are read-only, so you will not be able to save symbols into them.
  7. Click Finish on the Item Properties dialog box if you are saving the symbol to a style. Otherwise, click OK on the Symbol Selector dialog box.
TipTip:
  • Inside the Symbol Property Editor dialog box, the 3D Preview window is useful when changing the orientation of the 3D symbology.
  • The 3D Placement properties tab allows you to change individual values for rotation and offset about the x-, y-, and z-axes with a 3D preview.
  • When saving symbols, modify the tags if desired. Symbol tags are used in symbol searching. By default, they contain words that refer to the graphic properties of the symbol, but you can modify the tags to include any pertinent information, such as the map specification the symbol is related to, when it was created or by whom, or which product it is used on.
3/5/2014