CATIA 3DEXPERIENCE > 3D PDF

Overview of CADPublish

What is a 3D PDF?

In its simplest form a 3D PDF is a standard Adobe PDF document that contains interactive 3D content.

A PDF is a document format that can contain:

  • 2D Graphics.

  • 3D Graphics (3D CAD model.)

  • Attached files to form a Technical Data Package.

  • The ability to interrogate and interact with the document.

  • The ability to universally review CAD with a free viewer.

  • Compressed data for optimum file size sharing.

  • Support for Model Based Definition (MBD).

  • The addition of 3D content to a PDF allows your company:

    • To produce documents to fully describe the product.

    • To achieve effective communication regarding product information.

    • To automate specific business processes.

    • To improve understanding and eliminate ambiguity in relation to product data.

    • To create and extend customised, dynamic documents.

    • To create rich documents with 3D content which can be consumed anywhere.

    • To create interactive and engaging documents such as brochures.

It’s already used for documents which commonly relate to products e.g.; Request for Quotation, Engineering Change Requests, Bill of Material reports, Inspection Documents, Works instructions, Service manuals, Sales literature, etc.

What is CADPublish?

Theorem’s CADPublish brand offers a 3D PDF publishing solution for organisations who design with 3DExperience, CATIA V5, Creo, NX or who want to extend the use of their JT data to create interactive 3D documentation (3D PDF’s.)

The use of 3D PDF means that anybody can now consume, view and mark up 3D data with Adobe’s ubiquitous Reader, eliminating the need to install specialist viewing software or to be trained to use a special tool.

Designed for organizations of all sizes, CADPublish solutions are based on the original Adobe® and vendor specific technology, therefore are fully compatible with Acrobat and native CAD systems enabling users to take the intelligence contained within a 3D model directly into the world of PDF.

Theorem’s CADPublish suite of products is powered by native Adobe® technology 3D PDF publishing toolkit, which is also used in Adobe Acrobat® and Adobe Reader®.

For more information regarding our CADPublish brand, please contact sales.theorem@techsoft3d.com

What does CADPublish provide?

Theorem Solutions’ CADPublish suite of applications includes:

  • CADPublish Create

    • 3D PDF Publishing from within CAD Applications:

      • 3DExperience / CATIA V5 / Creo / NX

  • CADPublish Enhance

    • Batch Publishing for:

      • 3DExperience / CATIA V5 / Creo / NX / JT

CADPublish supplied templates

Both the CADPublish Create and CADPublish Enhance brands allow the user to create custom configurations. This enables the user to select a specific template in which to translate their source data in to, including the example templates below.

Example templates are provided in the following location:

<installation_directory>\data\publish_3dpdf\templates

The following examples are available:

  • BOM - Illustrates how to output an Assembly Bill of Materials.

  • Assembly_Viewer - Illustrates JavaScript additions to a template replicating a CAD viewer.

  • Technical_Data_Package - Illustrates adding attachments to a template and the free movement of geometry, along with the JavaScript additions.

  • PMI_Analysis - Illustrates how to output a PMI list and filter either by type or by view.

These templates are supplied as examples only and can be used by customers as a guide in creating their own template documents.

Theorem offer a wide range of services to assist customers with their document creation needs. If you would like more information regarding our template design services, please contact sales.theorem@techsoft3d.com quoting “3D PDF Template Design”.

The remainder of this document will focus on CADPublish for 3DExperience. For further information on other Theorem CADPublish Products please contact sales.theorem@techsoft3d.com

3DExperience to 3D PDF - CADPublish

The 3DExperience to 3D PDF Uni-directional Translator

The 3DExperience to 3D PDF translator may be installed on a number of machines accessing a central network- floating license.

The 3DExperience to 3D PDF translator is a Uni-directional direct database converter between the Dassault Systemes 3DExperience application and PDF file format.

It enables the user to convert all forms of 3D Mechanical Design Geometry and Assembly data, together with system defined attribute information and colour information, between these two systems. This product is designed for companies using 3DExperience who have selected PDF to be their main method of visualisation and/or collaboration either internally or between OEMs and their customers or suppliers.

It is also a major method of visualisation and is used by companies using Adobe® based solutions to translate their 3DExperience data into PDF format.

Primary Product Features

  • Converts 3DExperience data to 3D PDF documents.

  • Converts assembly structures to PDF file format.

  • Converts attribute data such as meta-data, colour and layer information and 3DExperience properties.

  • Integrated with the 3DExperience installation.

  • The conversion process can be run Interactively or in Batch Mode.

  • Uses the 3DExperience API.

Primary Product benefits?

  • Direct conversion from 3DExperience to PDF reduces processing time, simplifies integration and ensures that the correct data is being published.

  • Using the freely available Adobe Acrobat Reader application allows the user to visualise the 3D CAD data without Incurring any additional costs.

  • Provides improved communication and collaboration by visualising 3DExperience data in a PDF.

  • Allows 3D CAD data to be easily shared with non-CAD users.

  • Allows for Comments and user-interactions to be saved to the PDF document for downstream updates allowing greater collaboration and communication between users.

  • Allows for documents to be password protected improving the security of sensitive Information when sharing the data.

  • Enables the data to be converted into a PDF template specified by the user.

  • Allows for additional documents to be added as attachments.

  • Reduce costs and risks associated to accessing the wrong version of data by integrating the publishing process into all related business processes.

  • With over 30 years industrial use Theorem’s product robustness and quality is well proven, reducing your business risk.

Getting Started

Installation

The installation is run from the .msi file download provided. For full details of the installation process, visit Install Guide.

License Configuration

To run any product a valid license file and Flex License Manager installation will be required. The Flex License Manager is run from the .msi file download provided. This can be accessed from the Product Release Notes. For full details of the installation process, visit Install Guide.

Running the Product

Once configured and licensed, the product is ready to be run. There are 3 distinct ways of running the translator:

  • Interactively from within 3DExperience

    • The Interactive Interface provides a direct method of exporting from 3DExperience.

  • In Batch via CATUtil - DataExchangePLMBatch

    • The 3DExperience DataExchangePLMBatch Interface provides a direct method of invoking the translator. It can be used to translate single or multiple files at once.

  • On the Command Line

    • A command line method of Invoking the translator is possible.