Optimizing raster and surface layers

Quite often raster and surface data is very large and may be slow to draw. There are several techniques and options you can use to optimize the display of raster and surface data in ArcGlobe.

One important way to reduce the time it takes to display large raster datasets is to always opt to generate pyramids if they do not exist. When image pyramids do not exist, ArcGlobe will attempt to load the full-resolution image, regardless of the current scale, and may run out of resources. If you are not automatically prompted to build pyramids for your data, you can build pyramids using the Build Pyramid geoprocessing tools.

Other optimization techniques are distinct to the 3D viewing environment you are using.

Optimizing raster and surface layers in ArcGlobe

The following optimization techniques are only applicable in ArcGlobe:

• Use distance-dependent rendering for the layer.

  You can save resources by using visibility threshold for viewing data. For example, there is no need to see localized data when viewing the globe from large distances. Likewise, very coarse data doesn't need to be seen when viewing the globe at small distances. By disabling layers based on the distance to the camera, ArcGlobe will only need resources for displaying applicable data.

• Develop a full or partial disk cache whenever possible.

  Disk caches allow data to be prerendered for optimum ArcGlobe display performance.

  To manually generate a disk cache for a layer, right-click the layer in the table of contents and click Generate Data Cache.

• Store ArcSDE datasets using the cube projection.

  This will avoid pyramid resampling and data reprojecting for ArcGlobe.