Export to 3D PDF

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This command allows to export all the objects displayed in the 3D scene, in a 3D context embedded in a pdf file. Such a pdf can be opened with Acrobat Reader for instance. The interaction to handle the 3D scene may differ between Cyclone 3DR and other third party software.

Requirements

No selection is required to launch the command.

  1. Export, you have the choice between:

    1. Create a new pdf, which will contain only one page with a 3D scene, without any title, header or footer.

    2. Insert in an existing pdf, which will append a page in an existing pdf file, created for instance with the command Report Editor or with any other tools (word...). With this option, you have to select the file to append, and define where the new page will be added: at First page, at Last page, or define the page index after which the new page will be added.

  2. Label: if the 3D scene contains some labels, the option is proposed. As the labels in Cyclone 3DR and pdf 3D are not managed in the same way, we can not display the Cyclone 3DR labels as is in pdf 3D. So, in pdf 3D, you will only find a number corresponding to the label ID - without other information - placed in 3D above the object where the label is linked. That is why it is useful to have the details of the label with a report created by Report Editor, then insert the 3D scene in the pdf as a second step. You can define the direction of the lines between the object and the label ID.

  3. Contour lines: if the 3D scene contains some contour lines with texts on it, the option is proposed. In the software, the number of texts on a contour line is dynamic and linked to the zoom factor. In pdf 3D, this behavior is not available. It is therefore necessary to choose the distance between texts. You can also choose the color of the font.

  4. When everything is set, you can launch the export by clicking on Export. You will have to choose the destination file.

Notes

  • The display of texts in 3D pdf is time consuming. So, to quickly display the text and to have a quick refresh of the scene when moving the 3D scene, do not export too many texts.

  • For all objects with additional information, the representation used while exporting defines the exported information.

  • Meshes textured with several images will be split according to texture in the 3DPDF file as this format does not support several textures per meshes.

  • In case of several scenes, the current active one is exported

Tip & Trick

The default camera view in the PDF document is the one used when the user hits the Export button, including the orthographic or perspective setting and the camera orientation with a zoom all.

Technical information

  • After Export, the PDF is open with your default pdf browser. You need a PDF reader to open 3D PDF files. We strongly suggest to use Adobe Acrobat Reader DC as 3D content is not supported by all PDF reader.

Adobe Acrobat Reader DC can be downloaded at this address: get.adobe.com/reader/

  • Entities:

Entities exported

Entities not exported

  • Points, including the 3D text if any

  • Point clouds, including inspection values or real color information if any (Caution! 3D PDF is not optimized for point clouds having more than 2 million points)

  • Meshes, including inspection values, real color information or texture data if any

  • Polylines and set of polylines, including inspection values and the 3D text if any

    • In the case of inspected polylines, the magnification values are kept, as well as the texts defining the deviations if any

    • In the case of polylines with text (contours lines), the texts are also exported

  • CAD Surfaces, Curves and Contours

  • All geometric entities (Line, Circle, Round Slot, Square Slot, Plane, Cylinder, Sphere and Cone)

  • Labels

    • Labels defined in a 2D layout in Cyclone 3DR are converted in 3D labels containing label numbers only

  • The color scale including the distribution curve

  • Clipping plane

  • ViewSet

  • Frame of Coordinate system. Even if a local coordinate system is active, the export is done in the World coordinate system.

  • CloudWorx point cloud (must be converted)

  • The tree structure of Cyclone 3DR as well as the names of the objects are kept so that the objects can be displayed/hidden in an easy way.