[GIS] Getting smoother contours using ArcScene

arcgis-desktoparcscenecontourrastervector

I am trying to get nice smooth contours using ArcGIS. I have already smoothed out the DEM using focal statistics, simplified and smoothed the contours. The current result looks like this, which is way too pixel-y whenever the line is not straight: Ugly Jagged contours. Captured in ArcScene.

And zoomed in on my peeve: enter image description here

What I am going for is something less raster-y and more vector-looking like this: Low resolition, but nice non-pixely lines.

I don't know if something like that is even possible within ArcGIS or whether I need a different application. Nevertheless I hope someone can guide me onto the right path towards perfect contours.

Best Answer

You might try turning on anti-aliasing in your graphics drivers. ArcScene should benefit from this since it uses OpenGL to render in 3D using your graphics hardware. Be aware though that this tends to require a lot more graphics card resources.

Also note that ArcMap will not benefit from this, since it renders in software.

If you have ArcGIS Pro, it should have a display option to perform anti-aliasing.

See also: How to replicate QGIS vector smoothing effect in ArcGIS for Desktop?

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