On 9/18/2012 4:03 PM, John Prentice (FS) wrote: > Greetings > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Joseph Chiu [mailto:joec...@joechiu.com] > > > > Not sure about the tablet side of the equation -- but if you want to give > exploded diagrams, you might consider 3D PDFs which can be opened by Adobe > Reader. > > > > > > But beware 3D PDFs have been dropped in Acrobat X > > > > John Prentice >
Well, the Adobe effort to include 3D information moved forward along three paths in the early- to mid-2000s. - The compound PDF file structure required modification to allow inclusion of so-called Universal 3D datasets (a format Adobe got from elsewhere), which when independent files were usually given the .u3d suffix. They've also included PRC data (not something I know much about). - The PDF file structure required tweaking to allow links between the 3D data and other data in a compound PDF file such as 2D and text objects.. - There had to be Adobe software products (sell-able products, by the way) that made it possible for us mere mortals make this all useful in our work. I suspect the first Adobe reader that could display and manipulate u3d data was accomplished by cobbling together Adobe and third-party software and I suspect the first Adobe Acrobat to include 3D capability (version 9?) was too. <brag on> My group was one of the very first to demonstrate that one could embed a 3D object into the new PDF structures and use it downstream, back when the toolchains were still rather fragmented. I processed an AISC steel structure model that Bob Lipman in my group had developed for an international data exchange standardization effort---called CIMSteel---in which the AISC represented the USA, creating first a .u3d file and then embedding it properly, and posting instructions so the rest of the steel design and fabrication members of the standardization group could use the technique. No biggie, but it seemed important at the time. <brag off> My thought back then was that Adobe's strategic plan to "own" the engineering-, construction-, and manufacturing-documentation market wasn't going to hold up, but I never made money selling anything so what did I know:-) They were being urged on by certain CAD software houses who wanted to head off certain other CAD software houses from "owning" this same market with the introduction of other proprietary formats and tools. No names please. Since that time, of course, there has been an explosion of formats, tools, and standards to support collaborative engineering and, indeed, entire product/project life-cycle work, shredding any such strategic plan. So far as I know, the current PDF specification still allows for inclusion of 3D data and still allows for linkage between different types of data in different PDF objects. I see no reason for that to change. However, within one release cycle, Adobe appears to have stopped development of the software components that process 3D data from different sources into pdf files. Look instead for products from tetra4D http://www.tetra4d.com/3D-PDF Nobody I was working with at the time was interested* in screens the sizes we see in today's phones and tablets, but I suspect this position has changed for three reasons: 1) the vast reduction in hardware prices in less than a decade; they are no longer budget-busters; 1) growing familiarity with the hardware platforms; many already have them for other reasons and increasingly expect to be able to do anything and everything with them; and 3) the user interfaces keep getting better. I've even seen electronic "redlining" and field annotation being done on a small screen, but it's not a game for my sore eyes and fumble fingers. Regards, Kent *the construction industry, for example, routinely works with ANSI Arch-E (roughly ISO A0) size drawings, and the ship builders wanted even bigger. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Live Security Virtual Conference Exclusive live event will cover all the ways today's security and threat landscape has changed and how IT managers can respond. Discussions will include endpoint security, mobile security and the latest in malware threats. http://www.accelacomm.com/jaw/sfrnl04242012/114/50122263/ _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
