About layer drawing priority in 3D

When developing a 3D view, you might need to define the drawing order priority between two or more feature layers. An example would be adding building polygon and parcel polygon data, where both layers are rendered using filled symbols. If the drawing order priority is not set correctly, the parcel polygons could obscure the building polygons.

Data can be displayed as either a floating layer or a draped layer in the 3D view. Floating layers usually define their height source separately from other layers in the 3D view. Draped layers usually share the same surface data as other layers.

The drawing priority of layers becomes important in these circumstances:

• Using partial transparency
• Multiple layers sharing the same 3D location
• Multiple layers draped on the same surface

Although feature layer drawing priority is supported in both ArcScene and ArcGlobe, the settings are exposed differently.

In ArcScene, both floating layers and draped layers use a layer property to define their drawing priority. The drawing priority value ranges from 1 to 10, where 1 is the highest priority. This means that a layer with a drawing priority of 1 will obscure a layer with a drawing priority of 2, when the two layers share the same 3D location.