Archive for the ‘3D PDF’ Category
Monday, December 14th, 2020
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, it was not only PROSTEP TECHDAY 2020 that was held online this year but also almost every other event at which we normally make an appearance. In recent months, we have participated in numerous online events with presentations and virtual booths. The feedback was rather restrained: What our speakers missed most was contact with the other participants.
One of the events we have been attending for years is LiveWorx, where we demonstrate the solutions in our portfolio, and in particular our OpenPDM integrations to Windchill, Creo and the IIoT platform ThingWorx, to the PTC community. Although this year’s trip to Boston was canceled, our appearance was not. In one presentation, we demonstrated to participants how our integration platform can provide support for end-to-end digitalization in heterogeneous PDM/PLM landscapes and make data from different enterprise applications available in role-based ThingWorx apps. You can watch the video here.
The 3DEXPERIENCE Conference EuroCentral organized by Dassault Systèmes was also held online this year. Our participation in the event comprised not only a virtual booth but also two live presentations. In the first presentation, we explained to participants how our data exchange platform OpenDXM GlobalX supports 3DEXPERIENCE (3DX) platform users in the context of cross-enterprise collaboration. The second presentation focused on data migration. We used concrete use cases to demonstrate how companies can migrate metadata and CAD data from legacy systems to the 3DX platform in high quality with the support of PROSTEP’s experts and our OpenPDM integration platform. Several presentations were also made at our booth, including one on how 3DX can be incorporated in an EA-based PLM strategy.
Our PLM strategy consultants also responded to the constraints placed on their ability to travel by participating in online events. One highlight was most certainly the joint presentation given together with Bosch at the prostep ivip Symposium in which we presented the current status of the SetLevel and V&V research projects. The two projects deal with the question of how the traceability of simulation steps and results can be ensured when it comes to validating autonomous driving functions. A video of the presentation, which was also shown at the 6th Symposium Driving Simulation, can be found here.
At the same time, our consulting specialists made an appearance in the former plenary hall of the German Bundestag in Bonn as a sponsor of LeanIX EA Connect Days 2020, one of the most important conferences in the field of enterprise architecture management, which was a smart combination of physical and virtual event. In an interview, Dr. Martin Strietzel explains the role EA (Enterprise Architecture) plays in PLM and the digitalization of the product development process and what PROSTEP expects from its collaboration with LeanIX.
We gave a number of presentations at the NAFEMS DACH 2020 conference, which was ultimately held online following several postponements. The presentations covered a wide range of topics from the challenges posed by the digital twin to the role of simulation in the platform economy through to a concrete representation of end-to-end digitalization using the system model in systems engineering as an example. You can find out more about these topics in our white paper.
Some of our customers in the maritime industry like MEYER Werft and MEYER Turku are using the coronavirus crisis as an opportunity to rethink their PLM architectures. Our shipbuilding experts made use of a variety of online activities to help them come up with new ideas. At a virtual booth at PI Marine USA, we showcased our integration platform OpenPDM SHIP, which connects shipbuilding-specific development systems with each other or with mechanical CAD systems and all the leading PDM/PLM and ERP systems. You can find more about this in our white paper.
We also presented the results of a cross-enterprise survey on the digital twin in the maritime industry at the start of the 5th Schiff&Hafen Maritim 4.0 conference, which was held online this year. Details of the study, which attracted a great deal of attention, will be provided in the next newsletter.
By Joachim Christ
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Monday, April 13th, 2020
The impact of COVID-19 has left much of the manufacturing and supply chain industry at a standstill. Stock markets have fallen to record lows, unemployment is at an all-time high, entire industries such as the airlines are asking for bailouts, retail shops have closed, and most states have imposed stay-at-home orders.
Prior to the outbreak of the coronavirus in the US, CEOs, CIO/CTO’s and upper leadership sought to drive digital transformation and push towards efficiency and optimization in the workplace. IoT, blockchain and 3D printing were just some of the cutting-edge technologies our leaders focused on with a vision of the ‘factory of the future”.
Perhaps the biggest driving factor now spearheading change isn’t the C-level executive, but rather a global pandemic. The coronavirus has challenged us to quickly adapt to an ever-changing workplace. From remote working and collaboration to staying in touch and keeping a sense of ‘normality’, all aspects of our daily work routines have been affected.
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Monday, January 27th, 2020
Engineers at numerous companies still prepare their 3D data manually in order to make it digitally available to colleagues in purchasing or production planning. Not so at the Brose Group. The manufacturer of mechatronic components and systems for the automotive industry has completely automated the preparation, conversion and provision of CATIA data in JT format using PROSTEP solutions.
With 26,000 employees and annual revenues of 6.2 billion euros, the Bamberg-headquartered Brose Group ranks among the world’s top 40 automotive suppliers. Every second new vehicle that rolls off the production line worldwide is equipped with at least one Brose product to increase safety, comfort and efficiency. The core competence of the company, whose success story began with a crank drive for retracting car windows, is the synthesis of mechanical, electrical, electronic and sensor systems. The product range includes door systems, liftgates, adjustment systems for front and rear seats as well as electric motors and drives for a number of different of uses in vehicles.
The (autonomous) driving experience of the future begins as soon as you get in a vehicle – with doors that open automatically, provided that there is nothing in way, seats that adjust automatically to whoever is driving and a preheated vehicle interior. Door, closure and seating systems are thus becoming complex, mechatronic or even cyberphysical systems whose development not only requires new tools, methods and processes but also a more efficient use of existing information. “Far too much information is still contained in TIFF and PDF/A documents and is therefore not available in digital form to downstream processes,” says Walter Redinger, head of Development and Production Systems/Information Systems at Brose.
The IT department has therefore defined a clear digitalization strategy together with the company’s business operations. In addition to the automation of design processes using assistance systems and the virtual validation of prototypes, it also involves an approach to OEM collaboration that is oriented to a greater extent towards, for example, systems/model-based systems engineering (MBSE) and the use of new technologies such as augmented reality (AR). The objective is to have a digital master that not only includes the 3D models but also the electrics/electronics (E/E) information and software versions and makes all this information digitally available.
Multi-layer PLM landscape
Redinger goes on to say that the key to digitalization is an end-to-end PLM tool chain that covers everything from requirements management to designing the software, printed circuit boards and mechanical components through to test procedures and simulation, including digital production planning and control. “The aim behind this end-to-end digitalization is to integrate the individual disciplines more tightly and enhance the core efficiencies in the processes. This not only requires cultural change in the organization but also places new demands on our PLM landscape.”
The PLM landscape at Brose comprises multiple layers. The PLM backbone is a SAP system that is used to create parts, materials and BOMs, approve drawings and manage changes. It is closely integrated with MS SharePoint, which 5,000 Brose employees worldwide use to handle their customer projects. ENOVIA VPM, the team data management (TDM) system used for mechanical and E/E development to date, is currently being replaced by the 3DEXPERIENCE (3DX) platform. The software developers are currently still using Virtual DOORS software and the Rational Suite set of tools for application lifecycle management (ALM) but will gradually be switching to codeBeamer ALM software solution.
As Redinger says, OpenPDM assumes the role of a hub for connecting the different environments within the PLM landscape. This applies in particular to the successfully implemented project for ENOVIA/3DX-SAP integration, which allows CATIA data to be converted into JT format and made available worldwide. Brose has used the integration platform and PROSTEP’s services in the past, for example to provide joint venture partners with selected data and synchronize it at regular intervals. The solution was also used when the company took over Continental’s electric motor division and the division’s PLM data had to be extracted from Continental’s environment. “PROSTEP is a long-standing and reliable partner with well-functioning tools and very experienced staff,” says Redinger.
3D data for downstream processes
Unlike other automotive suppliers, Brose uses its own CATIA environment for mechanical development rather than the system used by the respective customer. All the engineers at the 25 development sites – i.e. approximately 1,000 employees – use a uniform methodology and apply the same standards, thus making it easier to collaborate on cross-site development projects. “Working in the customer’s environment would be easier for the departments, but would make it more difficult to exploit the synergies offered by standardization and data reuse,” says Redinger. The IT department nevertheless maintains about 30 different customer environments in order to prepare the CAD data and convert it into the respective customer formats. PROSTEP’s OpenDXM GlobalX data exchange platform has been managing data conversion and exchange for a number of years.
Up until now, only 2D drawings derived from CATIA were transferred to the SAP document management system as TIFF or PDF/A and approved there so that they could be made available for downstream processes such as procurement or production planning. Only then did the engineers approve the associated 3D models in ENOVIA. When buyers or suppliers needed 3D models in addition to the 2D drawings to process requests for quotation, engineers had to prepare them, filter out certain details if necessary and convert them to the supplier’s preferred format. The manual processing was not only time-consuming but also had the disadvantage that the purchasing department could never be sure that all suppliers had received the same level of information.
In order to simplify the enterprise-wide use of 3D data, Brose implemented a solution with PROSTEP’s support that automatically triggers JT conversion when 3D data is approved in ENOVIA, or in the future in 3DX, and transfer the JT models to SAP. The solution is essentially based on OpenPDM with connectors to ENOVIA/3DX and SAP as well as PROSTEP’s newly developed batch processing framework (BPF), which manages the third-party converter for converting CATIA data into JT and other formats already available at Brose. When it comes to automatically importing data into the PLM backbone, the data exchange platform accesses SAP web services that ensure that the JT models are correctly linked with the BOMs and can be automatically updated and versioned if changes are made. If a part or assembly is modified, a JT file with a new index is created once the part or assembly has been approved so that its development history is retained in SAP.
PROSTEP has adapted the solution so that the individual process steps, from exporting the data to converting it and importing it into SAP, can be performed in parallel and independently of each other. The reason for this is that Brose also wants to gradually make 3D data from projects launched before the solution went live available in SAP. This will significantly increase the volume of data to be converted. As Redinger says, between 100 and 150 JT files are currently being uploaded to SAP every day.
Savings in downstream processes
Redinger admits that the fact that Brose needs individual parts as well as subassemblies and assemblies converted leads to certain redundancies. “But it has the advantage that the JT models can be exchanged more easily and used for downstream processes. The buyer can send them directly to the supplier, at least when requesting quotations. JT is ideal, especially in the early offer phase, because it is a uniform format with a reduced data volume that does not disclose too much know-how. It is also enjoying growing acceptance in the automotive industry.”
The information contained in the 3D models made available in JT format can be used in a number of different downstream processes since relatively few details are filtered out during conversion. Although product manufacturing information (PMI) is not yet embedded, the JT models are extremely helpful to production planners when they want to obtain a quick overview of the shape of certain components without having to always bother the engineers. If, however, the 3D models are to be made available earlier in the process, generating them in JT format would have to performed separate from approving drawings, says Redinger – possibly with a restriction note or for a selected group of users.
In general, all employees with access to the PLM backbone also have access to the JT models. A simple JT viewer is available in SAP for displaying the models. The IT department provides fee-based visualization tools with an extended functional scope to users who want to use the JT data to carry out clash detection analysis for example. However, this only applies to internal users. In the case of suppliers, Brose recommends that they use the free JT2Go viewer. The company’s objective is to get all its suppliers to start using JT over the course of the next few months so that it can do away with manual conversion entirely.
It is not only the engineers who benefit from automatic JT conversion. “We are seeing significant savings in the downstream processes – thanks in part to the format’s clear-cut structure,” says Redinger. He expects additional benefits from more widespread use of JT data in other application scenarios such as review processes, which are currently performed on the basis of CATIA data. The availability of 3D data in SAP lays the groundwork for the digital master, which now of course needs to be rounded off with other information that fills any gaps.
By Udo Hering
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Tuesday, December 10th, 2019
The future of PLM is characterized by smart networked products and new, data-driven business models that extend the product life cycle into the operating phase. For us, this future has already begun with important decisions such as our acquisition of Bartscher & Hasenäcker Consulting and our planned participation in groundbreaking research projects for the validation of autonomous driving functions.
“PLM is back in,” my fellow board member Karsten Theis wrote correctly in the editorial of the last newsletter. But a different kind of PLM that takes into account the challenges of interdisciplinary, model-based system development and the integration of E/E (electrical/electronic) and software development into classical, mechanics-oriented PLM processes. For us as one hundred percent PLM specialists, this means that we have to deal intensively with these challenges and build up additional know-how for E/E and software development.
A few months ago, we took an important step in this direction by acquiring a majority stake in Bartscher & Hasenäcker Consulting. Our new PROSTEP Company specializes in PLM consulting for electrical/electronic and software development and currently supports companies in the automotive and mechanical engineering industries in the design and implementation of corresponding solutions for mechatronic and E/E-dominant products. This will enable us to significantly expand our know-how in an area that is of central importance for the automotive industry, especially with regard to e-mobility and autonomous driving.
Bartscher & Hasenäcker Consulting was founded three years ago and will continue to operate as an independent brand on the market. Together we offer our customers a more comprehensive range of consulting and solutions and address demanding topics such as conception, requirements engineering, software quality assurance or application lifecycle management. We have already proven in joint projects that we can optimally support customers in their daily work with these topics.
We expect the new PROSTEP Company to strengthen our market position as a vendor-neutral PLM consulting and software house. Without know-how in the areas of E/E and software, we will not be able to maintain our claim to be the leading PLM think tank in the long term. The combination of our 25 years of experience in PLM consulting, system integration, migration and collaboration with the special know-how of Bartscher & Hasenäcker Consulting in E/E and software development enables us to support our customers even more comprehensively in digitizing their PLM processes.
In addition, the acquisition of Bartscher & Hasenäcker Consulting strengthens our position in pioneering research projects in Advanced Systems Engineering and in the verification and validation of autonomous driving, in which we intend to participate. We see these fields as a promising market for our PLM consulting and solutions offering, which we intend to develop into a strategic business area, not least with the support of our new colleagues. We will consistently expand our know-how in the areas of Model Based Systems Engineering (MBSE), E/E and software development, but also by hiring additional employees. In keeping with our guiding principle “How Integrate the Future”, they can actively shape the future of PLM at PROSTEP.
By Bernd Pätzold, PROSTEP AG
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Saturday, December 7th, 2019
The use of 3D content for technical documentation and after sales was one of the central topics at this year’s tekom annual conference in Stuttgart. PROSTEP presented the new Service Content Portal to visitors to the congress trade fair, which is primarily attended by experts from the world of technical communication. The portal offers the possibility of providing 3D spare parts catalogs and other service documents online on the Web.
At this year’s tekom annual conference, many exhibitors were represented with solutions for the preparation of 3D information for technical documentation and other subsequent processes. Obviously, the topic that PROSTEP has been dealing with for many years is in line with the trend of the times. Our stand was correspondingly well attended, and there were surprisingly many new interested parties who wanted to find out more about our range of HTML5 and 3D PDF-based service content solutions.
The focus of our trade fair appearance was our new service content portal and the extended possibilities of embedding 3D content for the service not only in 3D PDF documents, but also of publishing it in HTML5 format on the Web and thus facilitating access via mobile devices. The solution now offers companies the greatest possible flexibility in the provision of 3D spare parts catalogues and other service documents. Above all, however, it distinguishes itself from other solutions by the high degree of automation with which 3D data from design can be published together with structural information and other metadata. Recently, service engineers have even been enabled to enter comments into the portal, which are linked to the 3D data and stored on a server, enabling feedback from the field to quality assurance or development.
In addition to our service content portal, our 3D PDF-based solution for 3D assembly planning also met with great interest among tekom visitors. It offers machine and plant builders the opportunity to plan assembly at an earlier stage using 3D models from the design department and to calculate assembly costs reliably. Companies can make the assembly instructions available to their assembly workers in paperless form and even illustrate the assembly of complex assemblies with the aid of 3D animations. The high degree of automation of the solution, which can be easily integrated into the existing IT infrastructure, not only accelerates the creation of assembly instructions, but also their updating after changes.
By Timo Trautmann
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Sunday, December 1st, 2019
3D PDF Customer Experience Day: a platform for sharing information and experience
PROSTEP organized its first 3D PDF Customer Experience Day, held at PERCUMA, an event location in Eppstein, Germany, with the aim of promoting an exchange of information and experience relating to 3D PDF technology. Customers and interested parties had the opportunity to learn first-hand about the potential benefits of 3D PDF-based applications and talk to the speakers and other participants in a relaxed atmosphere.
Short presentations, live demonstrations and plenty of opportunities for networking and an exchange of information and experience were the main highlights of an event that was intended to be different. PERCUMA, with its relaxed ambiance and its comfortable seating areas, provided the ideal setting. The new format was very well received by the participants. An intensive exchange of ideas after the user presentations in the morning and during the discussions in the Worldcafé at the end of the event rounded off the day.
The 3D PDF Customer Experience Day focused on the experience of companies that use PROSTEP’s service content solutions for a variety of different applications in the product lifecycle and in some cases achieve significant savings. ATOTECH Deutschland, for example, generates the multilingual spare parts catalogs for its electroplating systems largely automatically. This has not only dramatically reduced the effort involved in preparing the documents but has also made it easier for customers and their own service engineers to identify the spare parts that they need. This means that today hardly any incorrect orders are placed.
Versatile technology
André Hieke’s presentation on the use of 3D PDF in manufacturing at Siemens LDA in Nuremberg illustrated the versatility of the technology. The manufacturer of large electric motors and converters initially introduced our service content solution to automate the creation of customer-specific offer documents in the pre-sales phase. Due to its success, the application is now also used for the paperless provision of manufacturing documents. Siemens LDA originally wanted to replace the drawings with JT models containing product manufacturing information (PMI) annotations, but these were too awkward to handle. The advantage of the 3D PDF documents is that they can be displayed on touch screens and are easy for technicians to understand, said Hieke. In the future, Siemens LDA also plans to use the solution to integrate measuring machines in quality assurance.
If 3D information is to be provided automatically to downstream processes, 3D PDF technology needs to be integrated in the existing PLM and ERP landscape. Together with SEAL Systems, PROSTEP has created an integration solution for the automotive supplier Röchling, which Dr. Uwe Wächter from SEAL Systems presented to the participants. It allows CAD models to be automatically merged with classification information and parts lists from SAP in compact 3D PDF containers and made available to other departments once a certain status has been reached. The product data sheets improve communication between the engineering department and other departments that do not have CAD workstations, but which want to take a look at the design data at an early stage.
Timo Trautmann from PROSTEP used additional practical application examples to illustrate the data-related potential that can be exploited using 3D PDF. KHS, a manufacturer of filling and packaging systems, for example, expects 3D PDF-based assembly planning to result in considerable time savings.
Thanks to a database containing the most common assembly activities, costs and times, it enables not only more efficient and, more importantly, earlier planning but also the automatic derivation of assembly instructions in multiple languages. In addition, individual assembly steps can be animated interactively and displayed using the standard Acrobat Reader.
New possibilities in the web
In one of the two live demonstrations, Andreas Vogel from Theorie3.De showed how easy it is to animate 3D PDF documents or embedded 3D models using 3D PDF Pro to create virtual assembly instructions. In the second demonstration, Timo Trautmann used the example of a service content portal to show how 3D spare parts catalogs can be published in the web in HTML5 format. The portal now also gives service engineers the option of entering comments that are linked to the HTML5 file and stored on a cloud server. As Trautmann pointed out, this is a lean solution that does not require a separate database.
PROSTEP will continue to develop the functionality of its 3D PDF-based service content solutions. The roadmap envisages, for example, the capability to enrich the maintenance portal with sensor data gathered during operation in order to provide support for digital twin applications. Kristian Haizmann from INSYS MICROELECTRONICS explained to the participants how integration in the real world of production will be implemented. The company manufactures routers for industrial data communication in which the digital twin can be mapped in order to support predictive maintenance by evaluating sensor data locally (edge computing) for example.
The basic PDF technology itself is also evolving, as Ulrich Isermeyer from Adobe Systems illustrated in his presentation. Adobe now makes key features and workflows such as the annotation and signature of (scanned) PDF documents available in the cloud. PDF documents can also be displayed better on mobile devices. Liquid PDF ensures that they are converted to HTML5 format for display in Adobe Reader.
In the Worldcafé, the participants discussed fundamental questions such as the future of the documents and the purpose of 3D in the service department. Regardless of the technology employed, the use of 3D information in the service department often fails due to the companies’ lack of resources and the users’ lack of know-how when it comes to data preparation, concluded Andreas Vogel. Peter Pfalzgraf from PROSTEP summarized the results of his panel discussion as follows: “As long as the 3D master is not yet complete, documents will still be needed. They play a key role for archiving in particular.”
By Harald Blümel
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Tuesday, November 19th, 2019
With the appointment of Dr. Karsten Theis as a new member of the Executive Board, PROSTEP has initiated a generational change in management just in time for the company’s 25th anniversary. In an interview with the PROSTEP Newsletter, Theis explains how the PLM consulting and software company will position itself to be prepared for the challenges of the digital future. “We Integrate the Future” remains the company’s DNA.
An Interview with Karsten Theis
Question: PROSTEP sees itself as a 100-percent PLM specialist. Is this the right way to prepare for the future?
Theis: What we mean by 100% PLM is the digitalization of the entire product lifecycle from development to production and operation through to service. This vision is exactly what the market is demanding and what we – and only we – are able to deliver in this form. Our core focus lies in the integration of complex processes and systems – including at a cross-enterprise level. The market for such solutions is growing strongly because the topic of integration is becoming ever more important. Digitalization, Industry 4.0 and IoT are bringing new players whose systems have to be integrated into the existing processes and IT landscapes. I therefore think that we are very well positioned for the future.
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Monday, October 21st, 2019
Exporting and converting CAD data has always been a complex and expensive process… but is there an easier way to share data? These days, if you know where to look, CAD conversion can be both efficient and economical. Of the available conversion software on the market today, PROSTEP’s conversion solutions are the least expensive and most advantageous. PROSTEP software converts CAD data from any authoring system (AutoCAD, Creo Parametric, CATIA, Solidworks, etc.) into a lightweight, shareable 3D PDF file.
CAD conversion to a lightweight, portable format is an important part of the product lifecycle management process, as it is the method by which you render your data shareable downstream.
The purpose of CAD conversion is to translate your data into a more readily readable format, and you want to keep things simple for the recipients of your data. You want said recipients to access your data files without having to purchase, install and learn to use an entirely new program. You want to convert your data into the most versatile, lightweight, accessible file format available… a 3D PDF file.
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Monday, July 15th, 2019
On 23 October 2019, PROSTEP will be hosting the first ever 3D PDF Customer Experience Day at PERCUMA, an event location in Eppstein, Germany. The new event is all about comparing notes with leading industry representatives, who be sharing on their experiences with 3D PDF technology. They will subsequently be available to answer any questions participants might have. Places are still available.
Although networking and sharing experiences will play an important role at the 3D PDF Customer Experience Day, there will be no shortage of information. Customers and experts from PROSTEP will explain to participants how 3D PDF technology can be used in different areas of application – from the offer phase to the provision of technical data packages for manufacturing and assembly through to the creation of spare parts catalogs in the service department – and the savings that can be achieved by automating the preparation and provision of information.
Among other things, André Hieke from Siemens will report on how Siemens Large Drives Applications (LDA) is using 3D PDF to provide offer documents for customer-specific configurations of large electric motors and converters almost at the touch of a button. Christian Thomas from Atotech Deutschland GmbH, a manufacturer of electroplating systems, will explain to participants the advantages of the technology when it comes to the automatic preparation and provision of spare parts catalogs. And Patrick Stockden from MEYER WERFT will describe how the shipbuilder intends to optimize production processes by dispensing with paper drawings.
Leading 3D PDF experts such as Ulrich Isermeyer from Adobe Systems and Andreas Vogel from theorie3.De will provide participants with an overview of the advantages of 3D PDF technology, the wide range of possible application areas it offers and the new functions, e.g. for publishing information in the Internet. You will also gain insight into the progress being made with regards to ISO standardization, which makes the PDF standard an even more versatile tool, e.g. for the long-term archiving of product data.
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Saturday, June 1st, 2019
Peter Pfalzgraf, head of the Products business unit at PROSTEP AG, has been named president of the 3D PDF Consortium. The global initiative is committed to establishing and further developing 3D PDF, and the PDF format in general, as an open standard for visualization, data communication and long-term archiving. The appointment of Pfalzgraf underscores PROSTEP‘s long-standing commitment to the dissemination of 3D PDF technology.
The 3D PDF Consortium was originally founded at the suggestion of Adobe to demonstrate the openness of the 3D PDF format. Thanks to its collaboration with the PDF Association and, in particular, recognition by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) of the Consortium as the US TAG Administrator for the PDF ISO standard , it has become the world’s most important organization when it comes to PDF standardization. In addition to Adobe and other leading software vendors – including the PLM consulting and software company PROSTEP – its members include large industrial companies such as Boeing.
On the one hand, the 3D PDF Consortium involves itself with the further development and consolidation of the various ISO PDF standards for archiving (PDF/A), engineering (PDF/E), electronic signatures (PSdES) and universal access (PDF U/A), which have been created within the framework of the ISO 32000 standard for the full function PDF. On the other hand, it provides software houses and industrial companies with support when implementing the 3D PDF standard. The 3D PDF Implementor Forum is a collaborative testing program designed to ensure the quality and usability of 3D PDF in engineering workflows by means of joint testing.
An important activity performed by the 3D PDF Consortium is the planned extension of the 3D PDF format that will allow STEP AP242 data to be embedded directly in 3D PDF documents without conversion to the internal PRC or U3D format and to be viewed with Adobe Reader. As Pfalzgraf says, “We expect this to lead to even broader acceptance of 3D PDF, especially with regard to the long-term archiving of 3D data. This option is of particular interest to manufacturers of products with very long lifecycles and strict obligations to provide documentation, such as the aerospace industry.” The 3D PDF Consortium therefore wants to work more closely with LOTAR International, an initiative for long-term archiving and retrieval launched by leading aircraft manufacturers.
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