Communicate in 3D

Time is running out to enter the 3D PDF Contest.

In just a few minutes of your time, you could be entered to win a Dell laptop, iPhone, 3D mouse, iPod or Acrobat 3D Version 8. Simply take an existing CAD assembly, industrial design model, architectural model, 3D model, or CAD technical pub, that you own and use Acrobat 3D Version 8 to convert it to a 3D PDF - it’s that simple.

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You can even use the free 30-Day Acrobat 3D trial version.
Deadline for submission is January 31, 2008.

Enter at http://www.acrobatusers.com/contests/a3d/

Author: Josh Mings from Solidsmack.com

Everything you do in engineering a product is part of a workflow. This is the case whether you have a finely tuned system of processes or a desktop and file cabinet spewing forth sheets of documents. They both (eventually) get information from one point to the other. “Eventually” is what we want to work on. One product in particular can save you time and improve how you communicate along the winding road that is the Engineering process.

The Power of a Model
In the world of 3D CAD we have a unique method of communicating our design that is seldom used. Our model. We’ll make views in a drawing and add screenshots to an email when there’s an issue to resolve. Eventually (there’s that word again) our ideas are communicated and our questions are answered.

The methods to get the answers and complete a project are typically set for how change has been communicated in the past. It’s not very smooth and we want to change that with a quickness. Here’s how to do it by adding Acrobat 3D to your workflow.

The Workflow
Typically, an Engineering process may look like the following:

• Review relevant design information
• Outline the proposed entire assembly structure
• Resolve preliminary design issues
• Create assembly, sub-assemblies, and details
• Resolve modeling construction issues
• Create preliminary drawings
• Perform preliminary model review
• Submit to check
• Refine model
• Submit for review

This may be more or less complicated than what you have, but the general idea is there. It’s a process that seems to follow piece-meal approach to engineering with little collaboration. What we want to do is refine the above and get review up front. A 3D PDF makes this easy. Here’s the new workflow.

• Outline the rough assembly structure
• Create preliminary model from design information
• Create 3D PDF and send to design, check and review
• Incorporate feedback from PDF
• Create preliminary drawings
• Submit for review

The Benefits
A lot of the detail and items that slow down progress on design can be eliminated by creating the 3D PDF up front and making it a key component of the review cycle. You don’t have to completely restructure your system either. Try adding it at different places to see what works best. In the end you find a much smoother process. Here are the benefits you’ll see in a nice short list.

1. Allows design review up front
   You’re moving ahead on the modeling and ahead on creating PDFs, instead of waiting till the end and using them to capture document revisions.
2. Allows reviewer to add comments and mark-ups to the design
   The reviewer are getting an electronic document that has mark-up and commenting capabilities. While it takes a little getting use to, it becomes much easier than printing out a bunch of paper you have to scan and email back. Show people how to use it to make it easy for them.
3. Adds a record of the design iterations you may go through
   Since it’s up front in the design, you’re capturing the changes you’re going through. It can be created at any point of the design so you don’t have to wait till drawing view are created or mess with copying and pasting screenshots.
4. It’s a real model
   It can be measured, rotated and exported. You can control what’s allowed, but if you working with a company that needs a concept, you can send a small file they can view and use in their models.
5. Supplies useful data when design is complete
   Instead of going back and forth to create special views for technical publications, brochures etc., you can send this to the right people and they can create the views and sections they need. And of course you will have a nice archive of your model in 3D PDFs right up to the end.

Written by Josh Mings
www.solidsmack.com

Doug Halliday has posted a blog entry on the transformation happening in the Manufacturing industry of conveying “design intent” using 3D-only processes.

3D intent information goes by a number of names : “Functional Tolerance and Annotation” (FT&A), “Geometric Dimension and Tolerance” (GD&T) and “Product Manufacturing Information” (PMI) .

But regardless of the abbreviation, the basic concept is to define multiple views of a 3D CAD model that attaches feature dimensions and tolerance specifications to specific part of the product geometry. This information can be used by a manufacturer for costing, inspection and conformance validation.

Doug points out that this kind of manufacturing specific information is typically problematic to extract from most CAD systems with proprietary formats. (i.e. PLM vendors generally are not too eager to give easy access as this undermines their ability to leverage their format as a tool to sell the post-CAD downstream applications to their CAD customers.)

Acrobat 3D Version 8 does includes the ability to extract PMI information from the main high-end CAD systems. So Doug proposes that this poises Acrobat 3D to be the defacto tool to move to a 3D-only communication workflow across the supply chain.

One of the most compelling new features in Acrobat 3D 8 is the portable PRC format. This is the magic that allows for large assemblies, high compression that stores exact geometry, and the tolerances necessary for export to STEP or IGES for manufacturing. Specifically it enables:

• assemblies and parts
• tree of 3D entities : coordinate systems, wireframe, surfaces and solids,
• exact geometry representation
• tessellated (triangulated) representation
• markup
• regular compression : enables to represent DIRECTLY CAD data without loss or transformation from the originating CAD system.
• high compression : enables to store very small files, which are at a given physical tolerance from the originating shape. Tolerance is typically 0.001 mm for exact geometry and 0.01 mm for tessellation.

Adobe has released the PRC specification in the Acrobat 3D Developer Center

This means that developers can start building Acrobat 3D 8 plug-ins to manipulate PRC files or CAD and 3D Modeling developers can create applications that read and write PRC format files and Acrobat 3D 8-compatible PDFs.

Believe It Or Not! Engineer converts 347 MB SolidWorks Assembly into 2MB PDF and can use the resulting PDF to machine the parts

If I told you that I could take an ordinary 49 MB Photoshop file and compress it down to 125 KB without data loss, ready to create 4 color print separations, you would probably find it a bit hard to believe (must be a trick file).

Similarly hard to believe: Take a 49 MB Solidworks assembly file and convert it down to 125 KB fully interactive PDF, with a precision level that can be used to machine the parts. Sounds like the kind of thing you would read in Ripley’s Believe it or Not!

Well while the Photoshop scenario might be wishful thinking, the CAD to PDF scenario is reality. Check out the 3D samples gallery for Acrobat 3D 8 files (they have the little 3D 8 tag). Several of the files show the original CAD file size along with the lossless compression factor. Note: you will need to download the Acrobat 3D 8 trial to view these models as they use they new PRC format.

With Acrobat 3D 8 and its support for PRC, you can have bigger, smarter, but smaller models with accuracy tolerances sufficient for manufacturing or iterative editing.

Tuesday May 29, 2007 is the official release of Acrobat 3D Version 8. This is the first time that people who weren’t involved in the beta program can actually try out the product and test the compressions levels.

Regardless of your field of interest - CAD, 3D modeling, Architecture, Industrial Design, CFD - the ability to convert your 3D files into email-size friendly interactive 3D PDFs, without having to sacrifice precision, is truly exciting.

My strong advice: Take the trial version out for the 30 day test drive. For simple previews and animations, try creating U3D models. For precision, import as PRC. And if you create a 3D PDF model that you would like to share in the Gallery, be sure to send us an email (acrobat3d[-at-]acrobatusers[-dot-]com)

Also if you would like to write about your experience using the new Acrobat 3D 8 in real world production (fun or professional), let us know.

Everyone and their mother is talking about the newly announced Photoshop CS3 Extended - the big news being how it will add a new set of capabilities for integration of 3D graphics (e.g. See arstechnica for an example.)

So exactly what are these 3D capabilities and how do they relate to Acrobat 3D?

The official Adobe Photoshop CS3 Extended website doesn’t offer too much detail (i.e. “Easily render and incorporate rich 3D content into your 2D composites—even edit existing textures on 3D models directly within Photoshop Extended and immediately see the results. Photoshop Extended supports common 3D interchange formats, including 3DS, OBJ, U3D, KMZ, and COLLADA, so you can import, view, and interact with most 3D models.”) So all we know from this is that U3D (an Acrobat 3D format) will be supported for importing into Photoshop to be able to create paintable composites - interesting certainly, especially if all you care about is rendering out still image composites.

But from a few early “First Look” articles we know a bit more (e.g. First Look: Photoshop CS3 Extended) Specifically we know that you can import in a U3D model, edit the textures using the familiar tools in Photoshop, and then save the textures back to the U3D model. In other words, you can use Photoshop CS3 Extended as your real-time 3D texture editor for your Acrobat 3D models. Now this is cool and very significant.

The Acrobat 3D toolkit lets you import textures and apply them to models, but you can do very little to actually manipulate the textures on the model. With Photoshop CS3 Extended, texture editing becomes a simple and integrated part of your Acrobat 3D workflow. Nice!

But I don’t think that is really all there is. As I was looking at the screen shots for 3D texture editing and 3D object manipulation in Photoshop, it struck me how similar the interface looked to Acrobat 3D with the same basic object manipulation tools, similar lighting options, cross sectioning, etc. In fact it looks a lot like the Acrobat 3D engine. I am speculating at this point, but my guess is that they are based on the same technology and that once Photoshop CS3 Extended is actually released, we will see additional support for some of the new features in Acrobat 3D 8 (such as the near-universal file format compatibility, high performance engine, and perhaps even some sort of file interchange).

You will get a very complete and very smooth workflow efficiency for Acrobat 3D and 3D PDF that you can’t get with any of the other CAD Data Visualization products (e.g. Autodesk DWF or e-drawings). This is going to remove one of the serious barriers that has been holding the CAD visualization market back.

In a previous article, Is the blueprint obsolete?, I wrote about PDF and annotation as the 3D digital blueprint of the future. A large part of what I was referring to was the ability of Acrobat 3D to include Product Manufacturing Information (PMI) along with the “traditional” 3D geometries.

So I want to talk more about PMI: what is it, and why it is so important.

Short Version: PMI is all of the information required by a manufactuers to actually build a product. This includes data such as geometric dimensioning and tolerancing, 3D annotation (text) and dimensions, surface finish/roughness, and material specifications. This is sometimes also referred to as “design intent” or “3D Model Based Definition”

Most of the major CAD softwares provide tools for annotating parts with PMI, associating the information to edges and faces. The problem has been how to share this information downstream with suppliers and manufactuers. The engineers with the CAD software, can access all of this critical data. But how do you smoothly transfer this information to suppliers and others outside engineering so they complete and accurate manufacturing specifications? In other words, how do we provide the equivalent of a 2D blueprint in portable 3D digital form?

This is where Acrobat 3D v8 comes in. Acrobat 3D v8 will extract PMI from the major CAD formats (JT and CATIA) and include it along with the model view in the 3D PDF. Since the Acrobat Reader is free, and cross-platform, this offers a a cost effective, low risk way to deploy PMI throughout the entire supply chain.

Add in the ease of collaboration through commenting and Connect, and you are going to see a revolution in efficiencies.

As a big of a deal as PMI in Acrobat 3D is going to be (and it will be big!), I think an even bigger deal is going to be the PRC file format supported in Acrobat 3D 8. More on that in a future post.

One often overlooked use for Acrobat 3D is to create Virtual Training Manuals. Acrobat 3D-based virtual training enables manufacturing companies to combine their existing 3D CAD and PLM data with their operating and procedural manuals to produce interactive 3D simulations (Virtual Manuals).

We have a few examples in the gallery (e.g. how to assemble a wheel brake). But I think the potential for using existing CAD data to create virtual training manuals is enormous.

Acrobat 3D Toolkit lets you create basic exploded views and animations. These can be scripted to be controlled by Javascripts and text or graphic buttons in Acrobat 3D or Acrobat Professional. So you can create interactive demonstrations of how to assemble/disassemble a product,or how to perform basic maintenance on a products, etc. And of course because you are using PDF, you can combine the 3D simulations with complete text instructions and even the schematics or traditional maintenance manuals. As PDF they can be distributed on CD or over the web.

Just what can you do with virtual manuals and why would a manufacturing company be interested? Let’s explore several ideas:

• Repurposing 3D CAD data for interactive training manuals means customers receive improved support and documentation If someone can learn how to assemble, clean, or adjust a product without having to place a phone call to tech support, then you have achieved a significant operating cost savings. Customer self sufficiency reduces the need for direct support. Paper manuals help, but they can’t be rotated or manipulated so that the user can see what is going on from their own viewpoint.
• A maintenance operator can use an Acrobat 3D interactive document to repeatedly go through the steps to perform tasks in simulated environment prior to manipulating real equipment. A 3D simulation (assembling, repair, maintenance, etc.) can easily explain technical instructions that are difficult to articulate in words. For example, a task described as “carefully insert” may actually translate to a sequence of movements that insert an ink cartridge into a small opening and requiring a small tilt at the end. A 3D PDF virtual training manual can show these steps that would otherwise be difficult to explain in words.
• Animated 3D PDFs that show assembly or disassembly are easy to create! You use the CAD data you already own. You create basic animations using keyframes in Acrobat 3D Toolkit, you can add buttons and Javascript control in Acrobat 3D. Try doing this with any other 3D authoring system and then combining it all together in a document that can be read on any platform.
• 3D PDF Virtual Training Manuals can be delivered on-demand to the workplace anywhere in the world via the internet. While this is also true of text PDFs, text manuals have to be translated and available in the specific language of the receiver (i.e. Japanese, French, English, Korean). 3D PDFs on the other hand, have the advantage of being visual and thus understandable any where is the world.

With training being an enormous cost center in a company, 3D PDF Virtual Training Manuals can go a long way to improving the bottom line.

If you’ve looked at Acrobat 3D at all, you know it is unbelivably cool. But how do you learn how to use it? It is definitely a sophisticated product for the professional CAD and Industrial Design user.

We have a bunch of tutorials posted on the Acrobat 3D Users site which can help.

Recently however, three new Flash tutorials have appeared which go a long way to getting you going. The tutorials cover the basics of the interface and creating technical illustrations, how to optimize CAD files, and importantly, the basics for animation for virtual training.

Normally I don’t have the patience to set through Adobe tutorials - too much marketing trying to convince me about the business proposition. But these three tutorials are focused and are actually content rich.

Check them out:

1. How to access the many features available in the Acrobat 3D Toolkit and set up the right environment to simulate your technical illustration process
2. How to optimize CAD file imports for maximum performance, use polygon reduction, and edit and create materials.
3. How to create exploded views or keyframe-based animations for assembly and disassembly instructions

Combine this with the Acrobat 3D 30-day trial, and 3D PDF becomes very accessible.

I receive Google Alert emails on a variety of topics. Whenever Google finds new news or announcements about topics that interest me, I receive an email. Lately I’ve noticed the quantity of Google Alert emails has risen significantly.

What’s the reason for the jump? It seems there is a fast growing number of companies announcing 3D PDF support in their products (existing or future) and many firms are using Acrobat 3D to produce content for public distribution. 3D PDF seems to be the format that everyone wants to support.

Here’s just a sampling of the news I have received:

Lots of Adobe-related news written up in various CAD and Manfucturing web site: Adobe is focused on the professional CAD market. Acrobat 3D Toolkit gives you enormous levels of control over professional 3D models - it geared for professional who are familiar with high end CAD tools. Acrobat 3D 8 (at least according to the rumor mills) will even better handle this market including adding in support for PMI, export to STEP, the PRC format, and faster rendering for large assemblies.

News from other CAD companies: With the exception of a very few number of companies (e.g. Autodesk), CAD companies are starting to incorporate 3D PDF as an export option from their own applications.

Basic consumer 3D modeling packages (like Strata3D) are simply looking for a universal way to let people share their creations - no special viewers required.

Marketing product companies like Kaon are using 3D PDF to present product information. Or companies with a serious product are rendering to 3D PDF for virtual prototypes (e.g. DiMora)

Everyday consumers are using 3D PDFs to show off anything they do in 3D (such as Make Magazine and their potato shooting spud gun).

3D PDF is obviously fulfilling several needs - from the sharing of professional data for collaboration, to the simple conveying of 3D information in a format that is universally accessible. What is most interesting is the rate at which companies are rushing to support 3D PDF. Looks like there is a bit of a pent up demand for this kind of solution! I expect my Google Alerts will continue to increase in number as more companies support or use 3D PDFs.