Adobe 3D PDF from Autocad 2015?

[george.watson]

I have plain old ACAD 2015 and want to create a 3D PDF file to share with some field people so they can zoom in and rotate my drawing to see where the new parts fit to the old (300' tall transmission tower). I have a drafter that does MicroStation and it will create the PDF that does what I want.

I have done a little reading here and online and it seems like a touchy subject.  I am vaguely aware that Autodesk has a free viewer and I could export my 3D model to a DWF that could be loaded into the viewer. I would rather find a driver that would allow me to create the 3D PDF from ACAD 2015 without having to get a 3rd party program, or make the field people install the free viewer.

Is it possible there is a driver to do this?

[pendean · Accepted solution]

You need to buy a 3D PDF printer driver: Autodesk seems hung up on DWF instead. These folks and others will gladly sell you such drivers http://www.bluebeam.com/us/products/revu/cad.asp

Or switch to Microstation 🙂

[dgorsman]

You may want to rephrase that.  You say you want to find a driver (incorrect term, really) to create a 3D PDF without getting a third-party program.  "Finding a driver" means adding a third-party tool.  In this case, you need to go to Tetra 4D and purchase their plug-in.  Or use 3D DWF.  Or use AutoDesk Navisworks (which I find better for anything approaching real-world sizes).

[george.watson]

Thanks for the reply Dean. I do have MicroStation available to install and will probably go ahead and and do that.  I was playing with the DWF and must not have done something right.  I Output the 3D model to DWF and D/L the free Autodesk Design Review.  When I opened the DWF, it was just a flat 2D page and the 3D orbit tools were not available so I could zoom in but the screen was so pixellated I could not see much detail.

I was also put off that when I double clicked my DWG, it was opened in Design Review and not one of my ACAD versions.  You would think that during the install of DR, it would ask before it switched all my preferences to Design Review by default.

I guess I had hoped that Adobe might have done a printer plug-in for ACAD that would let me create the 3D pdf like my friend does in Microstation.  I do this very rarely so it will be easier to get Microstation and figure out how to plot to a 3D PDF.

Take a look at the attached screen shot from Des-Rev and let me know if there is some way to get better resolution so the lines are crisp.  At this point  I plan to uninstall it and re-connect my DWG's to ACAD 2015.

[george.watson]

Nevermind about the resolution. I was exporting the DWF and it went to a 2D. I read the help and found the right icon to create the 3D DWF and it looks great.

[Anonymous]

George, we use as well Autodesk as Bentley software.

You can easily export 3D PDF files from the Bentley viewer (which is freeware).

Step 1 : open your DWG file with the Viewer

Step 2 : File --> Print to PDF …

             When it’s a 3D drawing you will get the option “Print to 3D” - check

Step 3 : Click print (save the 3D pdf - finished)

Hereby the link to youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCy-yfQdSzY

[Anonymous]

I know that this is an older post, but just wanted to see if you are still interested in creating 3D PDF from DWG files.  I work for a startup that is making a plug-in for AutoCAD that does exactly that.  You can get more info at www.dimensionpdf.com.  We are just now doing a beta of our first release and I would be happy to work with you on creating PDFs from DWG.  No pressure, no sales.  Just want to get you up and running.  You can email me at info@dimensionpdf.com if you are interested.

[Anonymous]

I have used 3D PDF exporter to export my autocad model to 3D PDF and I could share this 3D PDF model with client or else person.

It will generate exact model into 3D PDF what you have on AutoCAD. 

You can try this 3D PDF for autocad to generate 3D PDF. 

[Anonymous]

Stumbled upon this topic when looking for an answer for an equal request and the suggestion for Bentley Viewer program works like a charm!

There is however one (minor) issue with the Bentley Viewer: I do not have admin rights on my work pc, so I had to call in our IT guy to  have this Viewer installed. Bantley furthermore asks you to register. Not a big deal - but when it notices that the newly created account does not have similar (admin) rights, it limits the free use of their Viewer to just 7 days.