Acrobat 3D Corner

CASE STUDY

Complex surfaces in architectural design

Developing a good design is mostly a problem of communication

Challenge

Jess Maertterer is working on new architectural project that uses developable and curved surfaces. His company is responsible for the construction design of all of the complex curved metal parts. He needs to ensure that everything can be built exactly the way that it has been designed. The complexity of the deformable surfaces design and and the distribution of work between multiple firms requires that communication be precise.

According to Maertterer "Developing a good design is mostly a problem of communication. You cannot discuss or decide anything if you are not sure that everyone is looking at the same thing." Maertterer works primarily in Rhino3D, but many of his clients and partners use CATIA and SolidWorks. Translating and combining the files has always been a significant problem. It costs time and money and inevitably leads to many errors.

Solution

Previously Maertterer's company has never been able to make a viewable file that includes all components for developable surface projects. They had to create multiple 2D image file snapshots for reviews between partners. This required a tremendous amount of work and usually forced a loss of detail and information. However, using Acrobat 3D 8, Maertterer has imported the entire CATIA 250 MB assembly and ended up with a 5 MB 3D PDF file that can be navigated and reviewed by clients. This streamlines the collaboration and approval process, while simultaneously reducing communication errors.

Maertterer can even export the 3D data to STEP, for production. The export yields perfect solids, no naked edges, with clean surfaces and trims. Even the object attributes are retained.

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