Darmstadt, February 2006 - 3D geometry is playing an increasingly important role with regard to the communication and documentation of product data. A large number of companies in manufacturing industries are therefore searching for a “lightweight” 3D format that can be generated, exchanged and visualized with a minimum of effort while offering maximum security. PROSTEP AG, together with Adobe, now offers an extremely elegant solution: Using the software Adobe Acrobat 3D, 3D models created using any CAD system can be embedded in a PDF document and visualized using Adobe Reader. Adobe has named the Darmstadt-headquarter PLM service provider a “Certified Adobe Solution Partner” with the aim of establishing 3D PDF in the manufacturing industries in Germany as quickly as possible.

In the automotive and aerospace industries, with their distributed development processes, there is a great demand for document-based communication of 3D data across PLM system boundaries. It was PROSTEP AG’s years of experience in these industries and its wide-ranging expertise with regard to the data communication processes used by the companies in these industries that prompted Adobe to enter into a partnership with PROSTEP.

According to Dr. Bernd Pätzold, CEO of PROSTEP AG, embedding 3D geometries in PDF documents opens up new dimensions for product lifecycle management (PLM): “3D PDF not only facilitates data communication in areas such as development, sales and purchasing, but also, for example, the creation of product documentation, assembly instructions, spare parts catalogs and ultimately long-term archiving. A large number of companies are already archiving their drawings and other 2D documents in PDF format.”

PROSTEP, together with Adobe and the company Right Hemisphere, is holding a series of one-day workshops in a number of different cities in Germany in order to provide interested parties with comprehensive information on how intelligent 3D documents can be created with PDF, how the tools can be integrated in the document workflow, and what security aspects have to be taken into consideration. The workshops are intended for end users and are free of charge to those attending. You will find more detailed information at www.prostep.com.