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3D PDF's

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Message 1 of 41
KevinPinks7697
15429 Views, 40 Replies

3D PDF's

Is it possible to create a 3D PDF from Inventor 2012? Or is there a third party software that is needed to do this?

40 REPLIES 40
Message 21 of 41
BigAl70454
in reply to: jim_merry

So the answer is, there is no direct 3d dwg to 3d pdf solution.  What are the advantages of using Inventor to convert the dwg's as opposed to exporting 3ds out of Autocad? Which is what we are doing now.

Message 22 of 41
Paul-Mason
in reply to: BigAl70454

LIKE I SAID THE QUALITY OF OUT-PUT PDF ALL DEPENDS ON YOUR SETTINGS AND NOTHING ELSE.

 

However if you on about full 3D viewing then there was/is Adobe Acrobat 3D that allows full 3D view control similar to the cube/rotate functions in IV for a 3D part or assembly

 

BUT I don't know if this is still available though

 

AGAIN the quality of the out put file depended on YOUR settings.

 

I've been using Adobe PFD for years and have no problems or grumbles with it again as I explained the settings needed to get a good quaitly PDF from any IV format files.

 

Have you stopped and give the though that it may be your system settings that is a fault resulting in the poor quaity PDF files.

 

Here a quick one form my sytem, on which the image qaulity id extreamly high and it only took about 5 seconds to creat it.

==============
Inventor 2023 Pro
HP Z420 workstation
Xeon 3.7Ghz CPU 8 Cores, 64 GB Ram
64bit (The Garbage known as) Windows 10 Pro
AMD FirePro V3900 (ATI FireGL) (1GB RAM)
=================
Ashington Northumberland (UK) ~ Home to the WORLD FAMOUS Pitman Painters Group
Message 23 of 41
whunter
in reply to: BigAl70454

No, there is no direct way (ie, from within Inventor and without 3rd party software) to save to a 3D PDF. Autodesk wants you to use DWF (which is really XPS, Microsoft's version of PDF). Unfortunately Microsoft's XPS viewer doesn't support 3D, otherwise your problem would've been solved. Your second question about Inventor vs Autocad is really just that, and there are a slew of reasons to use Inventor instead of Autocad, but no doubt some people will say the opposite is also true. Bottom line: If you use Inventor and want to share your files in 3D with your clients, then you have to send them a DWF (or DWFx). You can of course also send them one of the many other 3D formats available to you via Inventor. But, you cannot, without buying 3rd party software, save as a 3D PDF. Tetra4D probably has the solution you're looking for, for a mere $999... And I see if you buy now, you save a whopping $49, that's a discount of 4.9%! But that's not all... No, seriously, it's pretty obvious to me what the solution is, just use DWF.
Message 24 of 41
BigAl70454
in reply to: whunter

Mason-Paul, there is nothing wrong with the quality of our 3d pdf's.  Actually, the quality is excellent.  The orginal question was, is there a direct translation from 3d dwg to 3d pdf without using 3rd party software.  Obviously there isn't.

 

William, thank you for the response.  We are currently using nwd files to distribute to users to view with Navisworks Freedom.  The intent of using 3d pdf's is for users that don't yet have Navisworks Freedom to be able to view 3d models.  Everyone in our company has Acrobat.  Also, Tetra4d works great.

 

The question now is will 3d pdf's out of Inventor maintain the assembly/drawing structure information in the Model Tree.  3dsout doesn't do this.  I will post results after doing some testing.

 

Thanks to all for responding.

Message 25 of 41
iamdaniel
in reply to: KevinPinks7697

There is third party software that may be helpful, take a look to PDF3DReportGen software (see http://www.pdf3d.com), it will let you convert directly from DWG 3D, DWF 3D and DXF models to 3D PDF format.

It’s not a direct Acrobat plugin like Tetra4D, but files can be loaded and edited in Acrobat after conversion. For Inventor, it’s also possible to export ZGL.

Hope this helps you!

Message 26 of 41

We use this here:

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/pc/index?id=14640987&siteID=123112

Did you find this reply helpful ? If so please use the Accept as Solution or Kudos button below.

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Message 27 of 41
cparnell
in reply to: KevinPinks7697

I just found this link and it worked for me. I had to down load three softwares. The last software used the other two to do its thing. The page is in German.

http://inventorfaq.blogspot.de/2011/03/inventormodell-in-3d-pdf-umwandeln.html

Message 28 of 41
machiel.veldkamp
in reply to: cparnell

The translated page by google translate:

http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%...

Did you find this reply helpful ? If so please use the Accept as Solution or Kudos button below.

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Message 29 of 41
mbystry
in reply to: machiel.veldkamp

For 3D PDF's of solid models, I've been using a product called SimLab Composer. My current release is 2013 SP1. It does an awesome job of converting Inventor parts and assemblies into 3D PDF's an a number of other formats (Sketchup, Collada, STL, DWF, OBJ, Etc). It's quite inexpensive.

 

http://www.simlab-soft.com/

 

The only problem with 3D PDF's is that they must be viewed in Adobe Reader (free) or better. It's my understanding that Adobe products are the only ones that can view these things. I use PDF Xchange Viewer for all of my PDF vieweing and 3D PDF's do not work with that viewer. On the other hand, most people that I send these 3D PDF's to already have Adbobe Reader installed. 

 

 

Message 30 of 41
JDMather
in reply to: mbystry

IE on Windows Vista or Windows 7 (and of course I assume WIn 😎 will open *.dwfx files directly.
I haven't checked the other browsers.


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Message 31 of 41
karthur1
in reply to: JDMather

JD,

I hope this is the case. I never could get the dwfx to open on XP machines.

 

Have you tried this on a machine that DOES NOT have an autodesk product installed on it? I dont have a machine like that or I would try it.

 

Kirk

Message 32 of 41
JDMather
in reply to: karthur1


@karthur1 wrote:

JD,

.... I never could get the dwfx to open on XP machines.

 

Kirk


Only Vista and later.
I just cleaned a machine recently.  Nothing installed but OOTB OS and usual junk.
I will try browsers other than IE as well, some time this weekend.  I am hoping someone will come along and save me the effort.

 

(as a reminder to myself - check student ePortfolios with embedded dwfx as well)

 

I thought this was a huge deal at AU when they announced several years ago that dwfx would be supported in Vista, but surprisingly little heard about it since.


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Message 33 of 41
IraRod
in reply to: KevinPinks7697

Hi everyone, I just wanted to post an update to this thread. This past December while at AU, tetra4D came out with 6 plugins to create 3D PDFs directly from Autodesk products. These include, AutoCAD, Revit, 3ds Max, Maya, Navisworks and Inventor. They are easy to install and easy to use. With the exception of 3ds Max and Maya, They run for $199. The 3ds Max and Maya runs for $99.

 

You do not need Acrobat for the plugins, but Acrobat does provide a number of advanced features that you can do with a PDF afterwards. For more info check out our videos or webinars:

Plugin Info:  http://www.tetra4d.com/products/plugins/autodesk

Videos:  http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLnvENVl5wEVHYDyfH6GriU5uvT9hJJbN4

Webinars:  http://www.tetra4d.com/events

Samples:  http://www.tetra4d.com/3d-pdf-converter/showcase 

  

Ira Rodriguez

Product Manager, tetar4D

Message 34 of 41
JDMather
in reply to: JDMather

I did a test on clean machine with dwfx.

IE would open dwfx of 2D drawings, but did not show 3D, and shaded images were not correct (shade shifted).

 

So it looks like Design Review needs to be installed to see 3D in IE browser.

On machine with DR I opened a 59 page dwfx with skectch block images, 3D assembly and 3D part, drawings of each and an animated ipn exploded assembly to reassembly.

 

I think at one time Autodesk also had a site where users could upload dwfx (and/or dwf?) files that could then be viewed by others without any add-ins when you gave them the url.  Not sure where this is now.


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Message 35 of 41
karthur1
in reply to: JDMather


@Anonymous wrote:

I did a test on clean machine with dwfx.

IE would open dwfx of 2D drawings, but did not show 3D, and shaded images were not correct (shade shifted).

 

So it looks like Design Review needs to be installed to see 3D in IE browser.

On machine with DR I opened a 59 page dwfx with skectch block images, 3D assembly and 3D part, drawings of each and an animated ipn exploded assembly to reassembly.

 

I think at one time Autodesk also had a site where users could upload dwfx (and/or dwf?) files that could then be viewed by others without any add-ins when you gave them the url.  Not sure where this is now.



Good news that the 2d dwfx would open in the browser.... bad news that the 3d doesnt work. 😞

 

I believe the online viewing is now located in your Autodesk 360 account.  Thats good for people that are online, but sometimes you want/need the file to be local. For users that are not online, they need to be able to view the drawings/models without installing additional software.

 

Thanks for sharing.

Kirk

Message 36 of 41
JDMather
in reply to: karthur1

I should have added that this clean machine was running Vista, not Win 7 or 8, but I doubt it is any different in later OS.


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Certified SolidWorks Professional


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Message 37 of 41
mrattray
in reply to: JDMather


@Anonymous wrote:

I think at one time Autodesk also had a site where users could upload dwfx (and/or dwf?) files that could then be viewed by others without any add-ins when you gave them the url.  Not sure where this is now.


http://freewheel.autodesk.com/

Mike (not Matt) Rattray

Message 38 of 41
karthur1
in reply to: mrattray

Thats probably better than the Autodesk 360 site I mentioned above.  Not sure if the Autodesk 360 site is free to nonsubscription customers or not.

Message 39 of 41
DWhiteley
in reply to: KevinPinks7697

3D PDFs from Inventor for free.

 

Take a look at this:-

 

http://envisageuk.blogspot.co.uk/

 

No colors yet - but apparently it's coming.

Message 40 of 41
CAD-One
in reply to: DWhiteley

Thanks a lot !!!
Cheers!
C1
Inventor Professional 2020
Vault Professional 2020
AutoCAD 2020

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