3d PDFs

[marchourican]

Does anyone have experience creating 3d PDFs out of an AutoCAD MEP drawing? If so, is Acrobat Pro Extended Required?

This could be a home run for client presentations. If a picture says a thousand words, a sharable 3d model would speak volumes.

There are some PDF examples located at the following website:

http://www.acrobatusers.com/gallery/3d

[Tmanuszak]

Well I suppose it depends on what you are trying to achieve. If you want a static 3D rendered image, you can simply use the print screen function. Apparently there are functions built in to record fly-by videos as well. To provide a fully interactive 3D PDF might be more than Adobe provide, but I haven't tried. What is the purpose you are trying to satisfy?

[marchourican]

I want to fully interactive 3d PDF. I have obtained a trial copy of Acrobat Pro Extended, which will interface directly with DWG files. The problem I am having now is that MEP objects, such as piping and equipment, are not rendering. The only objects that show up in the 3d PDFs I have created are the solid blocks I have created, such as intertia bases.

I am thinking maybe Acrobat is having trouble interpreting MEP objects, so I am going to try exporting the DWG file to a 3D DWF first.

I will post my results from this strategy.

[Anonymous]

I'd like to hear about your results when you try.

I'm about to migrate to MEP, and we distribute drawings via pdf all the
time. Our mechanics LOVED IT when layers became available for them, and
being able to nav around a reno area in a familiar software like acrobat
would floor them...


Melanie Perry
***not all who wander are lost***
http://augi.com/autocad
http://mistressofthedorkness.blogspot.com

marchourican wrote:
> I want to fully interactive 3d PDF. I have obtained a trial copy of Acrobat Pro Extended, which will interface directly with DWG files. The problem I am having now is that MEP objects, such as piping and equipment, are not rendering. The only objects that show up in the 3d PDFs I have created are the solid blocks I have created, such as intertia bases.
>
> I am thinking maybe Acrobat is having trouble interpreting MEP objects, so I am going to try exporting the DWG file to a 3D DWF first.
>
> I will post my results from this strategy.

[Keith.Brown]

I am not sure about pdf's but I know for sure that dwf's definately do this. When coordinating floor plans, I always send a dwf of my 3D models along with the 2D plans. In addition, the dwf viewer is a free download and allows the users to mark up the drawings with notes. This is not available with the free pdf reader.

[marchourican]

Basically I am hitting the wall with this. Autocad MEP will export my files to 3d DWFs (.dwfx) format. When I open these files in Autodesk design review I can see everything in 3d.

Acrobat Pro Extended will not properly process my 3d DWG files, and does not recognize the DWFx format.

I understand that Design Review is free, and that newer versions of Windows include a dwf viewer, but it would be nice to have a 3D pdf option.

If anyone has any other ideas I am all ears.

[JayAyalaATG · Accepted solution]

A while back ago I had a similar question in regards to Layer Controls in DWF.

Hello marchourican

I created this video to help him understand how to turn things on and off in the DWF environment. Ultimately I think that the answer for you is going to be DWF based. You can pack all your views (plan and 3D) in a single DWF file and share that with your customers and your consultants.

There are maniplulations that will allow you to hide and show different objects in the 3D model. You don't have to buy software, MEP and 3D AutoCAD objects work with out a glitch. You get more of the intelligence behind the object properties then you do in PDF. Personally I believe it is more robust then PDF and its free!

Check out this video response I created for Jason Quintana out of Roy, UT.
DWF Layers - Hiding objects in 3D DWF fies