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I am trying to export a shapefile from ArcGIS 10 into Autodesk Ecotect Analysis 2011 for solar analysis. I have a shapefile with polygons, and the heights of buildings is stored in the attribute table. I tried saving it as a KML file but Ecotect does not import KML files. Instead, Ecotect would accept any DXF or 3D files (such as 3D Metafile and 3D Studio). Is there a way of saving 3D files from GIS other than KML? I tried importing KML into Sketchup and Autocad without success. Any other idea for exporting shapefiles into a software that can extrude them and save as 3D would help too! Cheers!

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How do you convert the shapefiles from ArcGIS to Ecotect? I am trying to do that for solar analysis. Could you explain your solution for me? – user7227 Apr 30 '12 at 6:54

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In ArcGIS 10...
right click on the shapefile in the TOC (table of contents),
Choose Data>
Export to CAD.

If you have map3d it will import 3d shapefiles and then you have extensive 3d capability in autocad (same as map3d).

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Thanks! But I dont have map3d. I could extrude the polygons manually in autocad but I work with big portions of cities and want an automated way to extrude them from the attribute table.. any ideas? – Juanjost Jun 27 '11 at 19:53
the first part was instruction for arcgis 10. did that do what you want? – Brad Nesom Jun 27 '11 at 20:03
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Thanks Brad! I finally found a solution by using ARCscene to save the 3D that can be imported into Ecotect. – Juanjost Jun 30 '11 at 14:39

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