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Acrobat 3D 3

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It is cool. I believe this is why SW made the switch from BlueBeam to Adobe for PDF creation

Rob Rodriguez CSWP
President: Northern
Vermont SolidWorks User Group
(updated 2/22/06)
SW 2006 SP 3.0
 
I have not had the chance to read up on or see Acrobat 3D. Is it not basically the same as Edrawings? Also, I was not aware that Solidworks switched over to Acrobat from Bluebeam. When did that switch take place? I am still using SW2005 and have not had a chance to look at 2006.

Regards,
Dan Olid
 
The switch took place in SW2006 SP2.1 I believe. Essentially yes, Acrobat 3D is like e-drawings but it allows you to combine an e-drawings like model into various types of documents. As an example, you could create an entire electronic owners manual and all the graphics in the manual would have the same ability you would have in e-drawings. The Acrobat 3D file also gives you more options when it comes to file sharing and security than e-drawings.

Rob Rodriguez CSWP
President: Northern
Vermont SolidWorks User Group
(updated 2/22/06)
SW 2006 SP 3.0
 
Also, from my experience CAD users of other systems will not use eDrawings because they see it as "belongs" to SolidWorks. Now they can view any solid model thru Acrobat, which everyone uses.

Chris
Systems Analyst, I.S.
SolidWorks/PDMWorks 05
AutoCAD 05
ctopher's home site (updated 06-21-05)
FAQ559-1100
FAQ559-716
 
Well, tried to watch the webcast today. I could hear them talking, but the video would not play! uuugh! I informed Adobe support. I'm going to download the 30 day trial and check it out.

Chris
Systems Analyst, I.S.
SolidWorks/PDMWorks 05
AutoCAD 05
ctopher's home site (updated 06-21-05)
FAQ559-1100
FAQ559-716
 
I am using a 30 day trial of Acrobat 3D, and for those of you using SW06, forget about using it because it it doesn't work.

Acrobat 3D Capture supports capturing objects in OpenGL mode only and does not support DirectX.
(snip article)
Supported application settings in Acrobat 3D: SolidWorks
Click to expand...
I set SW for OpenGL and used the 3D Capture settings in Acrobat 3D, but the capture was all garbled up.

Well I found this other article later:
Acrobat does not import SolidWorks 2006 files (Acrobat 3D on Windows)
Click to expand...

Just an FYI for some thinking of trying it out and who use SW06.

Flores
SW06 SP4.1
 
I've never quite seen the potential advantage of Acrobat 3D over eDrawings--especially considering the price.

Anybody know?

Jeff Mowry
Reason trumps all. And awe trumps reason.
 
I'm no expert but the advantage I see is the ability to have a page (or document) containing text and graphics (much like a tech bulletin or instruction sheet may look)with the graphics portion being 3D interactive. E-drawings only really allows the graphics, no text.

Rob Rodriguez CSWP
President: Northern
Vermont SolidWorks User Group
(updated 6/05/06)
SW 2006 SP 4.0
 
eDrawings is geared more toward the mechanical design/review world.
Acrobat 3D is geared more toward the multi-format documentation/presentation world, but could also be used for design/review.

[cheers]
Helpful SW websites FAQ559-520
How to get answers to your SW questions FAQ559-1091
 
Sounds like a perfect hint to eDrawings as to what they could add as an "enhancement".

Thanks for the replies, it's good to consider.

Jeff Mowry
Reason trumps all. And awe trumps reason.
 
I haven't tried this, but the comments about adding text to an E-drawing made me wonder if this could be done by saving the E-drawing as an HTML file and editing the HTML to include the desired text.

I believe the viewer would still need to download the necessary browser plug-in, but this might work. Just a thought......
 
Actually you can add text using the "Markup" function in the Professional version.

[cheers]
Helpful SW websites FAQ559-520
How to get answers to your SW questions FAQ559-1091
 
Sounds like everyone is going about the eDrawings wrong. What you have to do is open a drawing of your project, and save the DRAWING as an eDrawing and not just a part or assembly as an eDrawing. Now you have all of your text and dimensions showing, and if you want to rotate a view, just hit the rotate button, and you can zoom, rotate, etc. Pick the sheet on the right pane, and now you are on the drawing again.
You can create an assembly instruction so they can see how it is assembled, then pick a view and spin the model to see things in a 3D world.
I downloaded a Acrobat 3D sample, and it is painfully slow to rotate the model and it is not a polished product yet. Supposedly the free Adobe reader 7 can open an Acrobat 3D so try it yourself:
Go to the "View a sample file with embedded 3D (PDF, 2.4M)
I even saved a copy and opened it locally with the Acrobat 3D (not free viewer) and it is slow.

Flores
SW06 SP4.1
 
Great point, Flores. I use markups, but hardly ever create drawigns for eDrawings--normally assemblies with configs, etc. for quick-change views.

Thanks, too, for the heads-up on what appears to be yet another overpriced Adobe product.

Jeff Mowry
Reason trumps all. And awe trumps reason.
 
If you have already installed Acrobat Reader 7 version (as I did) in response to some Web site indicating you needed to update your Reader version you MAY start noticing problems. On two different systems – my home computer and the laptop I use on the road – I noticed the computer slowing down when reading an Acrobat file off the Net. Sometimes the computer locks up completely and sometimes the PDF file doesn’t display at all. I fixed the problem by removing Acrobat Reader 7 and reinstalling Acrobat Reader 6.0. If you’re experiencing problems it’s probably worth your time to do this fix. You can find "Acrobat Reader 6.0" it on the Net simply by searching for the term in quotes. If a Web site asks whether you want to download version 7.0 my recommendation is to answer “No” unless you have a really good reason for answering "Yes". Attempting to read 3D Acrobat files may be a good reason . . . or maybe not.


Mark Stapleton
Watermark Design, LLC
Charlotte, NC
 
I just downloaded the sample (after installing Reader 7) and it worked fine for me ... not slow at all.

The reader has some nice features for presentations like render styles & lighting options, but I will stick with eDrawings for my clients mechanical review needs.

I believe the full 3D package also has measure & explode abilities.

[cheers]
Helpful SW websites FAQ559-520
How to get answers to your SW questions FAQ559-1091
 
Hello all,

This is an incredible product for anyone working in a MultiCAD environment. What other viewer can open: UG, CATIA, SolidWorks, VRML, JT Open ... and do it at such a reasonable price.

eDrawings is great, but you need a separte license for each different CAD product. With Acrobat 3D, you just need 1 license.

Note that it has some impressive markup abilities and to view an Acrobat 3D file all you need is Adobe Reader 7.0.

One more thing check out these cool examples:


3D helicopter animation

ftp://ftp2.bentley.com/dist/collateral/Web/Building.pdf

3D video camera


Immersive Design Example



Cheers,

Joseph
 
$1,000 for a (buggy) 3D publishing program? I wouldn't pay it, but perhaps that's worth-while for all those who have already purchased SolidWorks, UG, Catia, etc.

Cool examples, but I wouldn't swallow the price. (Then again, I don't have a "full" version of Photoshop, either, so I don't fit the profile of one who splurges on software.)

Jeff Mowry
Reason trumps all. And awe trumps reason.
 
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