Articolo apparso nel febbraio 2007 sul blog di NOVEDGE.
I like to call it “CAD Data Visualization,” another may prefer DDC (Digital Design Communication), someone else might like the ambitious acronym PDC (Product Design Collaboration), but whatever name you choose, this kind of software program has been around for many years. The central idea is to provide affordable ways to visualize the content of a CAD file for those who don’t own the original expensive CAD system. Over time, these tools evolved from view-only to view, share, and communicate.
In January 2006, Adobe released the first version of Acrobat 3D, joining the group of software manufacturers offering CAD visualization solutions. Acrobat 3D 1.0 is a special version of Adobe’s popular PDF product. Despite suffering from the typical problems of every first release, it indicated Adobe’s ambitions for the CAD world. Now, one year later, Adobe is getting ready to launch a new and improved version of Acrobat 3D. Most of the features in the new release are based on the technology Adobe acquired with TTF (Trade & Technologies France), a French software company specializing in CAD interoperability. For a detailed list of feature improvements for the new version, you can check the Adobe pages.
when a company adds a new feature it can’t dictate to users when to use it or not
Last Friday, Adobe invited other bloggers, such as Deelip Menezes and me, to an online preview of the new Acrobat 3D version 8. I would like to share my opinion on this new product and the Adobe strategy for the 3D world.
What is the new Acrobat 3D
Data Visualization or Data Translation?
While the first version of Acrobat 3D was a visualization-only solution, the new release will offer the option to export a 3D model from PDF to IGES and STEP file formats. According to Adobe, this feature is not intended for a CAD-to-CAD data translation and, according to them, PDF should be used only to move geometry from a CAD system to a post-CAD system, such as CAM, rendering, animation, etc. While theoretically this is not a bad idea, I expect users will ignore Adobe’s recommendations. When a company adds a new feature to its products, it can’t dictate to users when to use it. Pretty soon, Acrobat users will start using PDF to move geometric information among CAD systems, and Adobe will find itself pulled into the data translation space. Without a very strong technical background in that field, this is not a nice position to be in!
To PDF or not to PDF?
Over the years, PDF has earned a great reputation as a multi-platform, reliable, mostly version-insensitive, compact, and standard format. Leveraging this huge popularity, Adobe has gradually transformed PDF into a container for almost everything: text, images, audio, forms, videos, and 3D models. This seems like a great idea to expand the PDF market, but it can easily backfire and undermine PDF’s reputation.
Let’s look, for example, at the problems that can arise from storing a CAD model in a PDF file. 3D models are not as simple as text or pictures. In fact, in just one release, PDF internal representation moved from one to 4 different 3D file formats: (1) the internal tessellated representation, (2) U3D specification 1, (3) U3D specification 2, (4) PRC (the TTF file format). It’s a slippery slope: if this proliferation of formats continues, in the near future receiving a PDF would not guarantee easy access to the information it contains. If this happens, users will have to learn that what they know about PDF documents doesn’t apply to PDF 3D models.
Do you want Geometry or Tessellation?
Because of the structural ambiguity between tessellation and geometry, when you receive, send, or archive a PDF, you don’t really know what’s inside. When we store a PDF file on our hard disk, are we archiving valuable geometric information, or just a bunch of small triangles (tessellation) that are good only for creating nice images on our screen? The only way to tell the difference is to open the file and check whether the “Export” option is enabled. This ambiguity can easily become a CAD manager’s nightmare!
What is in a PDF?
When you create a 3D PDF, this is the critical question Adobe software asks. A tessellation-only PDF is a safe way to share design information and to protect your intellectual property. It’s like sharing a picture of your 3D model. On the other hand, when the 3D PDF also includes the geometry, sharing the PDF is equivalent to sharing the original model. Anybody can extract a STEP or IGES copy of the original geometry from the PDF file. As you can imagine, the consequences of this simple decision — tessellation or geometry — are enormous. The problem is: does the average user know what a tessellation is? Does he know all the implications of this choice? Based on what I’ve seen, the Acrobat 3D user interface is not doing a good job in helping users to understand the meaning of “tessellation” and “geometry” and to appreciate the consequences of the two options.
Do we really need another 3D file format?
When you generate a 3D PDF by selecting the “include-geometry” option, Acrobat 3D converts your original CAD file to the PRC format and embeds the PRC representation in the PDF. If you share or exchange geometric information using PDF, you are just using a PRC file wrapped in the familiar PDF format; it is still a PRC file. Adobe chose PRC because it’s the TTF file format that they own, not for any specific technical reason. Why didn’t they embed a fully standard STEP file instead of a PRC? I’m sure Adobe marketing has a good explanation, but from the end-user point of view, now we have one more 3D file format to deal with. And nobody needs it!
Adobe Acrobat Reader is essential to the success of Acrobat 3D. For most users, Acrobat Reader is just a way to open PDF files they receive by email or download from the Internet. Over the years, Acrobat Reader has become a huge, slow, and unstable piece of software. If we don’t hear many complaints from end-users, it’s because this is a viewing-only tool. When it crashes (not a rare event on my computer), the user doesn’t lose any data. He/she can restart the program, reopen the PDF document, and everything is OK. If Adobe couldn’t develop a reliable Acrobat Reader when PDFs contain only text and pictures, what will happen when PDFs include 3D models in one of the 4 different formats?
Acrobat Reader Nightmare.
After listing all the limitations of Acrobat 3D and Adobe’s strategy, let me explain why I believe Adobe has a chance to succeed with Acrobat 3D.
Why Acrobat 3D has a chance to succeed
Adobe Acrobat 3D is here to stay.
The acquisition of TTF and the investments in the new version of Acrobat 3D are proof of Adobe’s commitment to designing data communication. I believe there is a huge opportunity in this market. So far, I haven’t seen any company with the strategy, resources, and determination to develop and conquer this market. Adobe is a good candidate that I’ll be watching.
Acrobat doesn’t have competition.
Today, Acrobat 3D is still a young product. Over time, it can grow into a mature, full-featured product. Adobe sees a huge opportunity — even more so because there is no real competitor to challenge Acrobat 3D. Currently, the CAD Data Visualization market is only partially exploited, dominated by a handful of single-brand solutions and a few small companies. The single-brand solutions, such as Autodesk DWF and e-drawings, are, by definition, limited to the products of a single software manufacturer; they have no appeal to users of other software systems. The other competitors are mostly small companies. Some of them offer excellent products, but they don’t have the strategies or resources to develop and capture this huge potential market.
Adobe is like Switzerland.
These are just my opinions, but I would like to hear yours too. Please feel free to leave a comment and share your thoughts with me and all the readers of this blog.
A CAD data communication solution can be successfully promoted only by a company that is not owned by or affiliated with any of the major CAD systems. This is one of the reasons the Autodesk DWF file format failed. After some adjustments to Acrobat 3D (which will presumably require a couple of releases), Adobe will be in a perfect position to position itself as a neutral, reliable partner to manage the design communications of all major manufacturers, regardless of which CAD system each company uses or will use in the future.
