Adobe Solutions for Manufacturing

How to create 3D markups in 3D Reviewer?

Tue, 19 May 2009 17:01:59 -0500

There is a 3D markup creation tool in 3D Reviewer that sometimes can be quite useful and complementary to the 3D commenting tool available in Acrobat. In this article we will guide you through the basic steps to create and edit 3D markups then publish them to PDF.

How to create views in 3D Reviewer?

Mon, 18 May 2009 18:24:16 -0500

It is very easy to create custom views in 3D Reviewer using the 'Add Configuration' tool and publish them to PDF. The creation of views in 3D Reviewer offers more advanced features than what is available in Acrobat such as creating exploded views for instance. We will discuss in this article a few tips to remember when using the 'Add Configuration' tool and share with you a quick video showing the creation of different types of views and how to publish the result in PDF.

More 3D Reviewer Features

Sun, 19 Apr 2009 10:54:56 -0500

In this article, I will review some additional features of 3D Reviewer. I will address physical properties and compare features (not necessarily in that order). We will start today by opening a PDF I created some time ago. This PDF contains two versions of a design. These two CAD files were imported into 3D Reviewer and “merged” into a single model tree, so I can easily toggle between the two or display both if I want to. The file was then saved to PDF using techniques I outlined in previous articles. Click below to take a look at the designs and features I will be showing.

3D Reviewer – “A Moving Experience”

Thu, 09 Apr 2009 11:49:54 -0500

Acrobat Pro Extended is a very robust rich “product suite”. In addition to Acrobat, Pro Extended includes Livecycle Designer for forms design, Adobe Presenter for training and 3D reviewer, a robust 3D tool set. In this article, I will review some of the features of 3D Reviewer. I will address features such as moving parts and sub-assemblies (hence the title), configurations, call-outs and export. These will help you do more with 3D PDFs.

Click below to learn about these features.

More on Interoperability

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 11:15:58 -0500

In today’s challenging economic climate, manufacturing firms are very focused upon finding and correcting inefficiencies. One of the major concerns is the need for interoperability. Multiple proprietary formats and applications in the CAD world alone, costs manufacturers billions every year. Concurrent engineering is one of the principle drivers for brining quality, new products to market swiftly. But, concurrency can come with a high price tag, so often too many processes are serial, leading to revenue loses. While there is no overarching remedy, there are certainly a number of steps companies can take to reduce cost both internally and across their supply-chain.

Read on to learn how Adobe can help you NOW.

5th Annual Collaboration and Interoperability Conference

Mon, 09 Mar 2009 15:41:21 -0500

We are gearing up for the 5th annual Collaboration & Interoperability Conference and Exhibition. There will be at least two presentations/workshops focused on how 3D PDF can help manufacturing companies collaborate more effectively with their entire value chain. 1) Boeing Rotorcraft's Chris Senesac will present on how they are supporting their move to 3D Model-Based Definition by leveraging 3D PDF, Adobe Acrobat and LiveCycle (CIC abstract, Adobe Case Study). 2) Doug Halliday and I will give a 2+ hour workshop on how Adobe's tools can be used to build rich information packages that include 3D data and information from various back end systems either manually with Acrobat or automated with LiveCycle (CIC abstract).

The event will be held in Estes Park, Colorado on May 18-20. You will find all the information you need at the conference web site. You can find the agenda here. All presentation are reviewed and approved by the CIC Advisory Board. You can register for the event here.

Questions about Adobe Acrobat Volume Licensing Programs?

Tue, 03 Mar 2009 10:32:36 -0500

We are often asked about the best way to buy Adobe Acrobat and like most questions, the answer to this one is, "it depends". Depends on what, you might ask? Well obvious things like 'how much software you need, do you plan to buy it all now or over time?' and, maybe not so obvious things like 'will the software all be used in the same location, or do you have multiple sites scattered around the globe?' and so on. To keep things simple Adobe offers two different licensing program options, one that is 'transactional' or defined by a single purchase and the other 'cumulative' where the discounts accrue over time based on your company's buying patterns. All of this is explained very well on a new area of our website that you can find here.

Adobe, Boeing, and Penn State collaborate on real-world mfg integration issues

Fri, 27 Feb 2009 10:42:33 -0500

Over the last 2 years I have had the privilege to work on an on-going three way collaboration between Boeing's Rotorcraft Division, the Penn State University College of Information Science and Technology and Adobe to provide PSU students exposure to real-world problems faced by manufacturing companies. The students take on the role of consultants to Boeing and are presented with a set of detailed requirements that they must analyze and clarify. They then research and propose a potential solution that meets those requirements--all under their own direction. The last three semesters have focused on how Adobe's 3D PDF, Acrobat Pro Extended and LiveCycle products can be leveraged to solve real issues Boeing currently faces related to providing suppliers with 3D Model-Based Definition information in a secure, reliable and cost effective way.

The Penn State College of Information Science and Technology wrote an in-depth article describing the project which you can find here.

Collaboration and Interoperability Conference Survey

Fri, 27 Feb 2009 10:32:56 -0500

The 2008 Collaboration and Interoperability Conference was by all measures a great success and we are looking forward to the 2009 event this May. As part of each year's conference Longview Advisors plans to conduct a survey of the attendees to gain insight into the mfg community's current set of issues, hopes, and vision for collaboration and interoperability. They have graciously decided to share the results of this effort with anyone and everyone. If interested you can find the 2008 results here.

Mfg Companies leverage 3D PDF for Global Collaboration

Fri, 27 Feb 2009 10:26:59 -0500

The folks over at Plastics Today posted a great article on their Injection Molding website written by Adobe’s own Rak Bhalla that discusses the advantages 3D PDF offers to manufacturing companies. It includes data from a Harris Interactive poll that gives insight into the importance of collaboration in today’s manufacturing environments and then discusses how common problems and bottlenecks encountered when you need to collaborate with suppliers, partners and customers using 3D CAD data can be mitigated by using Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro Extended and 3D PDF. The article includes quotes about specific ROI achieved by several companies that have deployed Acrobat and 3D PDF including Eaton, Prokka, Indak, Atrus, Bradrock Industries, and Sunbeam.

The article also discusses how the Adobe Acrobat 3D PDF platform can be leveraged by other software companies and points to several CAD companies who already support 3D PDF today like SolidWorks, PTC, Lattice, Right Hemisphere, and Actify—all of whom now output 3D PDF files directly from their systems.

You can find the article here.

Address Cost Issues Now

Mon, 19 Jan 2009 13:44:15 -0500

In today’s challenging economic climate, large scale IT projects are being postponed, especially in the manufacturing sector, but that doesn't mean all progress has to stop. Companies are addressing cost-related issues, especially where there is a near term payback. PDF is one of those solutions that help you leverage previous investments. Remember this image from a previoius article:

Adobe solutions are never about “rip and replace”. It's about extending and execution based upon what you alread have in place. Yet, there is no risk to strategic projects. PDF, Acrobat and our enterprise Livecycle solutions are totally compatible with SOA architectures and large scale systems like PLM, so when you get there integration will not be issue. In this case, you can have it both ways!

There are lots of other things we are doing to start reaping benefits quickly by helping you prepare the organization for improvements.

Read on to learn how Adobe can help you NOW.

The Third Dimension

Thu, 15 Jan 2009 09:47:33 -0500

I just read an interesting and well-written article by Hugh Davies in the December 29 issue of Building Design. Mr. Davies’ article, was entitled PDFs ready to enter the third dimension. We appreciate the article and the attention 3D PDFs are receiving in architecture, engineering, construction and manufacturing industries. Indeed, adoption is growing substantially. As far as I know, Adobe had no role in the article whatsoever.

Mr. Davies ends the article by stating “3D PDFs have huge potential, but perhaps if they are to become an everyday means of communicating design intentions, it would help if the viewing features incorporated into the Extended version were incorporated into the free version of the software. Nevertheless, 3D PDF is a powerful and accessible file format.”

It is the last sentence I would like to dig into a bit, because all of the viewing capability is there in the Reader. I'm not sure we are explaining it well. Click on "more" to see what I mean.

Adobe 3D PDF Update

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 19:02:53 -0500

I’m happy to announce that we have just posted the Acrobat Pro Extended 3D update in North America. The rest of the geographies will follow very shortly. This 3D update contains support for recent versions of CAD file formats and bug fixes for 3D specific features in Acrobat Pro Extended and 3D Reviewer.

Click "more" below to read about the changes and how to get it... free of course.

Batch Processing Revisited -- Part Three

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 11:50:52 -0500

This is the third in a series about batch conversion of 3D files. I explained in previous articles how Adobe’s Livecycle PDF Generator 3D Enterprise Suite is helping enterprise customers automate the production of 3D PDFs. In the first entry I gave an example of a 3D PDF and described, at a high level, how it works. In the second entry discussed ways customers are using PDF G3D, from simple to the most complex options available. In this entry, I will build upon the previous two entries to discuss supplier collaboration workflows and how customers are streamlining operations with 3D PDFs. Click “more” to read on.

Batch Processing Revisited -- Part 2

Sun, 09 Nov 2008 18:39:11 -0500

This is a follow on to a recent article about batch conversion of 3D files. I explained in the previous article Adobe’s Livecycle PDF Generator 3D Enterprise Suite, which was released in July, is helping enterprise customers automate the production of 3D PDFs. Last time we gave an example of a 3D PDF and described, at a high level, how it works. In this entry, I will dig more deeply into ways customers are using PDF G3D, from simple to the most complex options available. Read on to learn more about Livecycle PDF Generator 3D.