Click the Draw | Thin and Smooth command or click the 
button to remove unnecessary vertices in selected polylines or polygons and to smooth out jagged sections in digitized objects. After selecting a thinning or smoothing option, you can click the Preview button to see how it affects the selected object. Click Cancel to restore the polyline to its original condition. Click OK to apply and save the current settings.
The Keep Every nth Point option keeps every nth vertex point from the polyline or polygon, and then reconnects the polyline segments. The value of "n" is entered into the Removal Rate field. For example, if the Removal Rate is set to 3, the first node is kept, the next two vertices are removed, the forth point is kept, and so on.
The original polyline is on the left. The polyline after a
Removal Rate of 3 was applied is shown on the right.
The Deviation Distance controls how many points are removed by the thinning process. Points closer than the Deviation Value from the general trend of the polyline are removed. A value of 0 does not remove anything. A value of .1 inch removes all points that are .1 inch or closer to the general trend of the polyline.
The original polyline is on the left. The polyline after a
Deviation Value of 0.50 was applied is shown on the right.
Vertex Averaging preserves the first and last point in a polyline, but averages the vertices along the polyline based on the number set in the Average Rate field. For example, a polyline that has 10 vertices when averaged using a rate of 3 yields a polyline with 6 vertices.
The original polyline is on the left. The polyline after an
Average Rate of 3 was applied is shown on the right.
Spline Smooth produces a uniform polyline that passes through all of the data points, regardless of the spacing of the data points or the tension factor applied to the spline fit. The Spline Tension can range from 1 to 50. Higher tension factors result in straighter polylines between the data points and lower tension factors result in more curvature. The Generate Points option is the total number of vertices in the new polyline after smoothing.
The original polyline is on the left. The polyline after a Spline Tension of
3 and Generate Points of 100 was applied is shown on the right.
See Also