As the outsourcing of production and even product design become increasingly common, manufacturing companies will need an easy way to share design information -- even 3D files -- not only with CAD-savvy engineers but also with non-engineering types at partner companies.
Historically, that hasn't been so easy. The CAD programs needed to view and manipulate 3D files can be expensive and complicated for non-engineers such as marketing and plant-floor workers to use.
But that's about to change thanks to the efforts of CAD vendors and some software providers that traditionally haven't been strong players in the CAD space. Next month, for example, digital content management software vendor Adobe Systems Inc. is expected to unveil a new version of its Acrobat and Reader tools that support the rendering and manipulation of 3D files originally created in a number of formats. With some 1.25 billion free downloads of Reader running on a variety of desktop operating systems around the world, the widely-used tool has the potential to significantly stimulate the use of 3D files and images well beyond the engineering community.
"3D is a richer way of looking at things, but, in the past, the problem has been that CAD programs were too expensive and complex to give to everybody," says Ken Amman, research director at CIMdata Inc. (Ann Arbor, MI). "If Adobe can find a way to open access to more people in a straightforward and inexpensive way, it could open up 3D to being very widely used."
That's exactly how many CAD software vendors see it, and companies like UGS Corp. (Plano, TX) and Solidworks Corp. (Concord, MA) are moving to make sure the 3D files generated by their systems will work with the widely-anticipated Adobe 3D tools. Both companies have already licensed Adobe's PDF libraries and are expected to partner closely with Adobe on the new 3D products.
"We believe [Adobe] can have a significant impact on the ability of people to share 3D content," says Aaron Kelly, director of product management at Solidworks. "We want to work with Adobe because we believe in enabling customers to use the best format for them."
Most CAD software vendors, including Solidworks and UGS, have attempted to stimulate the use of 3D content by non-engineers by offering their own free, downloadable viewers. Those products, however, often support only a single CAD file format and, more importantly, lack the ubiquity of the Adobe Reader. So, for a vendor like UGS, it makes sense to support the Adobe 3D products even if it means endorsing a different company's viewer.
"For us, it's analogous to the companies that give the razors away and charge for the blades," says Chris Kelley, UGS vice president for partner and platform marketing. "We want to help generate as much use of 3D data as possible, which will drive up demand for our tools that generate that data."
Not all CAD vendors see it that way, however. Autodesk Inc. (San Rafael, CA), for example, has no plans to license Adobe's PDF libraries or support the upcoming 3D products because, says Jonathan Knowles, director of worldwide market development for Autodesk collaboration services, the Adobe products are bound to come up short on functionality required by Autodesk's engineering and design-oriented customers. So Autodesk will continue to push its own DWF suite of products, which includes 3D content creation and viewing tools.
"The PDF format was never architected to share CAD data," Knowles says. "If you want to make an e-paper-like thing that mixes text, graphics, and objects, PDF is fine. But not many of our customers want to do that."
This article originally appeared in the January 2006 issue of Managing Automation magazine.