ArcScene layers display as vertical lines

Description

Note:
This article pertains to retired ArcGIS versions 9.x and 10.0. Later versions of ArcGIS may contain different functionality, as well as different names and locations for menus, commands and geoprocessing tools.

When adding a 3D feature such as point, line, polygon or TIN to ArcScene, the feature appears as a vertical line.

Cause

The data is in a geographic projection. ArcScene assumes that the data loaded has the same vertical units as the defined horizontal units. This causes the vertical units to be stretched to a great extent.

Solution or Workaround

There are three solutions to this issue; select one of the options below:

Project the data to a non-geographic projection

1. Start ArcToolbox.
2. Open the tool Data Management Tools > Projections and Transformations > Raster > Project Raster.
3. Specify the required parameters.
4. Select a non-geographic projection.
5. Run the tool.

1. Start ArcToolbox.
2. Click Data Management Tools > Projections and Transformations > Feature > Project.
3. Specify the required parameters.
4. Select a non-geographic projection.
5. Specify a transformation if necessary.
6. Run the tool.

Adjust the Z unit conversion for the layer to a very small value

1. Right-click the layer in the table of contents and select Properties.
2. Click the Base Heights tab.
3. Adjust the value to a number between between 0.001 and 0.0001 as shown in the following image.

Adjust the vertical exaggeration of the entire scene to a very small value

1. Click View > Scene Properties.
2. Click the General tab.
3. Adjust the vertical exaggeration to a value between 0.001 and 0.0001 as shown in the following image.