3D PDF Export in Inventor - What’s New Inventor 2017

This first post on what’s new in Inventor 2017 looks at the new 3D PDF Export.

3D PDF was implemented by Autodesk based on the feedback from the Autodesk community on the idea station.

Autodesk want your help, if you participate in the Autodesk community and add your ideas or add your kudos to other community member’s ideas you can contribute to making inventor better as well as improve your user and company experience with the product.

See 3D PDF Export in action in the video below.

So why is 3D PDF important to me?

As much as your customers or colleagues need drawings in order to manufacture sometimes it can be hard to visualise or see detail in a design.

Being able to view a design in 3D can be invaluable. With 3D PDF, you can:
• Navigate to pre-saved views of the 3D model.
• Change the View style of 3D views (Solid, Wireframe etc.)
• Mark up 2D and 3D views with your comments
• Take measurements from the 3D Model

So what happened to DWF?

Autodesk have and still utilise DWF format & Autodesk design review in order to provide customers with 3D and 2D information but this can be problematic when customers or colleagues are unable to install design review due to company restrictions.

In this modern age 3D PDF is the universal format for sharing documentation and is typically pre-installed on windows computers. Providing you with the ability to create lightweight 3D PDFs from your designs and drawings makes perfect sense!

What can I export to 3D PDF?

You can export your 3D designs as well as include Design View Representations from your 3D model, and choose critical properties to be included in the PDF.

The export function also allows you to attach additional documentation like Step files or additional 2D Drawings.

When exporting you can choose from provided templates or customise the template to suit your company’s requirements. In order to customise the template you will require adobe professional.

Conclusions

3D PDF export is a great addition to Inventor 2017, it will enable your company to provide customers and colleagues the complete picture on a design.

If your company is interested in modifying the out of the box template but don’t have software or skills in-house please contact us.

Our Graitec professional services team have extensive experience with Adobe software and will be able to assist you.

So check out the video on the new export 3D PDF and look out for our next blog post on what’s new in Inventor 2017! If you have any enquiries, please send us a message: