IronHorse Posted June 13, 2011 Share Posted June 13, 2011 Anyone know how to create 3D PDF from Inventor 2011, I tried Adobe Acrobat X Pro, and 3D PDF Converter. But It works only if I resave my files as .IGS. I also tried Deep Exploration, but the same thing I need to convert to .IGS in order to work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kencaz Posted June 13, 2011 Share Posted June 13, 2011 I'm pretty sure 2011 still has Export to PDF... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkFlayler Posted June 13, 2011 Share Posted June 13, 2011 But not to 3D PDF. The PDF export is only 2D. Inventor Publisher (separate product) has 3D PDF export. Its really more of a licensing issue with Autodesk and the fact that 3D PDF has really fallen flat on its face. You might want to try using a DWF as it is actually MUCH more robust than a 3D PDF and you can get more meaningful information from it without giving away the farm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IronHorse Posted June 13, 2011 Author Share Posted June 13, 2011 Thanks for answer, our customers can see much benefit to recieve a file where you are able to turn the object around, and everyone (almost) have Adobe reader, so they do not need to install any special program. I guess .DWF will not be in 3D and requieres customers to install special viewer. I tried to make .DWF but my explorer crashed ?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kencaz Posted June 13, 2011 Share Posted June 13, 2011 Anyone know how to create 3D PDF from Inventor 2011, I tried Adobe Acrobat X Pro, and 3D PDF Converter. But It works only if I resave my files as .IGS. I also tried Deep Exploration, but the same thing I need to convert to .IGS in order to work. Opps missed the 3D part... I really don't know anyone who does this... KC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkFlayler Posted June 13, 2011 Share Posted June 13, 2011 IronHorse, Well you got that mostly wrong. DWF is 3D and can be turned, sectioned, and animated for assembly as well as include the metadata for the files. It also is available to be viewed by anyone with Windows Vista or 7 or Internet Explorer 7,8, or 9 without need for a special download (in some cases just an ActiveX control). The problem is that the reason you are wrong is the issue with DWFs. Not that many people know just how versatile it is and will mean an extra conversation or instruction during the collaboration. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkFlayler Posted June 13, 2011 Share Posted June 13, 2011 Also, make sure you are creating a DWFx for the compatibility to the Windows programs without need for the extra viewer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkFlayler Posted June 13, 2011 Share Posted June 13, 2011 Adjustable Bracket.zipHere is a complete DWFx file. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IronHorse Posted June 14, 2011 Author Share Posted June 14, 2011 Thanks for the information, im suprised that the company who installs and give service/support for Inventor to our company do not know about this?? However I downloaded your file, unpacked and saved to desktop and doubleclicked. But my Explorer halts and report that something is wrong. "Can´t view page" I use Version 8 on Vista 64. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkFlayler Posted June 14, 2011 Share Posted June 14, 2011 You may have to allow an Active X control to be installed. Go to your Manage Add-ons and make sure Autodesk DWF View Control is turned on. Or look for any allow content controls when you open the file. Some IT departments also deploy restricted IE installations that make this problematic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
superslinky Posted June 14, 2011 Share Posted June 14, 2011 We export our model to a stp file and then using Acrobat, you can import the stp file to create the 3D pdf. You can download the trial version from Adobe to check it out.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IronHorse Posted June 15, 2011 Author Share Posted June 15, 2011 I tried on few computers at work and noone was able to open this bracket? I tried on both XP and Windows 7 system. In my home I use Vista 64 and Explorer 8. When I double click the file It just say "can´t open page" in Explorer. I check my add on shall I look for XPS viewer, The only thing I have is XPS Template and that one is active.. When It try to open your file It does not ask for any Active X ??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkFlayler Posted June 15, 2011 Share Posted June 15, 2011 Did you try it with IE9? I recall now that with IE7 DWFx files were only 2D and not the 3D. Now, all of this is great when it works, but most people do not have trouble downloading and installing a free viewer to see files. Most of my clients even supplement the delivery of their files with the installer for this reason. The Microsoft/Autodesk relationship is a very good one, but there are so many people still on older IEs because of stifling IT departments that I don't view this as a valid result. This is the price of admission though for working with CAD files. You want to look at them, use the free viewer we supplied you with because we don't want to give away information and we want you to be able to mark it up and get some basic information yourself. Things you can't easily do and some things you CAN'T do with a 3D PDF. 3D PDF is also becoming a ******* technology with all the ownership changes and reflectance to develop any type of MCAD relationship with vendors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IronHorse Posted June 16, 2011 Author Share Posted June 16, 2011 Thanks of your answer, no IE9 we do not use at work, It make problem in combination with Movex. At home It do not work with bankservices, probably just a matter of time until these problems are catched up. I decided to purchase Adobe Acrobat X Pro, and 3D PDF converter as plugin, for our work stations. Still our work stations are running XP 32, and that is a fare worse problem, we often run out of memory when we work with big projects. Windows 7 64 Pro (with possibility to ghost) should be the obvious choice today. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave_D Posted August 24, 2011 Share Posted August 24, 2011 Anyone arrive at a definative resolution to this? Ive spent most of the day in review on it and it looks like Acrobat Pro X and Tetra 4D are about the only answers. Tetra alone is $399 + $99 per year for required M&S, not going to go this route if it can be avoided. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkFlayler Posted August 24, 2011 Share Posted August 24, 2011 The problem wih Tetra is thay they don't have a lot of MCAD vendor support and they are no longer affiliate with Adobe. You run the risk of the format no longer existing in a couple years. In fact it is rather defunct already. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave_D Posted August 25, 2011 Share Posted August 25, 2011 Something seemed off with Tetra, thanks for confirming it. A co-worker has been creating 3d pdf files but the darn things take several minutes to open and are very clunky to rotate, zoom, pan, etc. The samples on Adobe's 3d page are impressive and open quickly, wish I could figure out how to create similar files. Hard to understand why this is such an undefined process when the benefits could be substantial ie: almost anyone can open a pdf file. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IronHorse Posted August 25, 2011 Author Share Posted August 25, 2011 I have been using Adobe X Pro and Tetra 4D about one month, I have no problem at all. I export as .IGES, import to Adobe and save. Takes only 5-10 sec. Even project consist of many hundrads of parts. And It rotates very smoothly on many different system I have tried. Something seemed off with Tetra, thanks for confirming it. A co-worker has been creating 3d pdf files but the darn things take several minutes to open and are very clunky to rotate, zoom, pan, etc. The samples on Adobe's 3d page are impressive and open quickly, wish I could figure out how to create similar files. Hard to understand why this is such an undefined process when the benefits could be substantial ie: almost anyone can open a pdf file. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3DinteractiveICT Posted October 1, 2011 Share Posted October 1, 2011 I joined this forum after reading this thread; sorry it’s a bit long… Some interesting points have been raised. Forums are just great since they lead me into some interesting directions, one of these being the .stp format. As I understood it was only the .u3d that could go directly into a 3D pdf, as an inserted 3D. I did a quick search and this is well worth further investigation. Apparently I can save the .stp from Inventor Fusion so I will try that out, unless I am misunderstanding the point raised. I too have given Tetra4D a work out. For the money, it’s probably the cheapest option but for me I found it struggles to cope, perhaps it’s the fact I am using it on a Mac with Bootcamp, not sure. I think its true to say that the .iges format is probably the best option since I get great results from using this 3D file extension. I have heard that the 3D option in the pdf might not be supported by Adobe in the future but to be honest, I think it will be a very silly move. It’s a great 3D viewing platform since 95% of the world’s computers have the pdf reader, and don’t forget that many people bought the 3D Tool Box from Adobe. For one thing, since Tetra4D have taken up the 3D Tools in the pdf, I would hate to see their hard work be in vain. Also, the 3D pdf is viewable on both a PC and Mac without any extra players. I know Tetra4D are working hard on other options for 3D so this might be something worth waiting for. For the cheaper option and great support, I would buy Tetra4D even though I have experienced issues. I think it’s my Mac and not the software. There are other options for viewing 3D without the pdf. One of these it the Collada file with the .dae file extension, which you can be viewed in GLC_Player. There are a few software apps that can save as the .dae file format and others you can get plugins. You can use the GLC_Player on both Mac and PC, which will play most 3D files extension like obj, 3ds and 3DXM and more and the quality is quite good too, even bitmap rendered 3D’s. One problem in viewing any 3D in a pdf with a texture map, it does not support the bitmaps very well and it doesn’t support the bump map at all, so a 3D pdf with bitmap render map can look very flat. The 3D pdf is great for vector graphics such as CAD files. You also have the 3DVIA Composer option. This is a great software app but I personally would avoid buying it for many reasons. Firstly is the price of it, and that’s if you can find out the price of it. When I finally did, I found it to be way overpriced at about $10K Aus as far as I read. 3DVIA has some great features and it can save as the 3D pdf as well as its own 3D player, which leads me into another reason why I would avoid buying this very expensive software. Its own player is almost impossible to play content on a Mac. I am yet to get it working after many attempts. This tells me that if I cannot view content, what chance would anyone I send the 3D files have. It works ok in Windows it’s the Mac that has issues. I am running my Safari in 64bit mode, I have to change this to 32bit and other things need to be changed for the VIA player to work but I am yet to work that one out on my Mac. If the price of this software were more affordable, I would most defiantly recommend it. I loved using the trial. When you consider the price for 3DVIA, Autodesk Inventor Pro which can save the DWFx, together with Inventor Publisher, which can also save both the DXFx and 3D pdf is a great 3D tool set. Almost amazing, but it falls down on a few things. As far as I can work out it will NOT save an animated 3D pdf, or even an animated DWFx, not that I have ever made one of those. I have only been playing with the new Inventor Pro 2012 for about a week now, and to be honest, I am finding the animation side painful. Perhaps after I get my head around it tools, I might think differently about the animation features, but after using many other animation apps, this has to be the strangest… Saying that, Inventor Pro is just amazing… If it had a better animation process and could save the animated 3D pdf, or save it from Inventor Publisher, then these two software apps would be the best of the best and bloody amazing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3DinteractiveICT Posted October 3, 2011 Share Posted October 3, 2011 Hi... Just a follow up.. I did the .stp format a test and yes, it will open in a 3D pdf file but I only found that a single part is best. When I tried to open multiple parts they split up and the colours were lost too... Also, you have to watch the options or the quality will not be that great either. So, even though it is possible to open a .stp in a 3D pdf, there is not much point to it.. Might as well try to find a software app that can save or convert the 3D file to a .u3d then you will not have any issues.. or better still, a software app that exports to 3D pdf. As for the for the DXFx, great for Windows but no good in a Mac.. I remember checking that out years a go.. The options are quite varied, but it would not open on our laptop.. So not so good... Also, animated pdf's will not work either, only the Storyboard type animation, not the Timeline animation. The only real option for Viewing a 3D model in a pdf on both a Mac and PC is via the 3D pdf or the GLC_Player. I really hope this option in Acrobat continues to be supported by Adobe. I for one would have no use for the Acrobat Pro if this option/support where to be removed, so I wouldn't bother buying it. One advantage with Inventor Publisher, it has so many options for exporting.. Its good that it has the .f4v support since apart from the Acrobat pdf the other options are not supported in a Mac. I have yet to test out the mobile publish option in Inventor Publisher, I look forward in doing that very soon... I am just now getting my head around the animation in Inventor Pro, I am beginning to find the logic in the way the user has to set up the parameters in readiness for animation. So far I stand by my evaluation of Inventor Pro.. Its just awesome!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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