The new release of 3DVIA Composer is packed with some great new features.
Create interactive content easier than ever with interactive storyboards. Simply drag and drop views onto the viewport or a part and your document instantly becomes interactive.
Quickly align annotations with the innovative magnetic lines. Watch the annotation snap into place and have full control over the spacing and angle.
Be able to create cross hatching lines per part with cutting planes to make your patent graphics clear and concise.
Increase the quality of your marketing images with the new blurred mirror effect. This allows the human eye to better differentiate between the models from their reflection while giving your images that extra touch.
Check out some more features and see what our friends over at 3DMojo.com have to say about the new release by clicking here.
As SolidWorks users or 3D CAD users we understand the benefits 3D design. We see a higher efficiency, better visualization and improved quality. However, we are still using SolidWorks drawings, 2D screenshots and photos for our documentation. What benefits can 3D provide for documentation? Can we see similar results in other departments outside of engineering? Garth Coleman from 3DVIA recently discussed similar questions in an article in from the 3DMojo.com blog here.
We have seen an ever growing need for better product documentation. Customers are demanding more clear and concise documents. Customization for specific customer segments is sometimes required. This becomes very challenging as products are becoming more complex and resources and budgets are limited.
I recently presented a webinar hosted by Hawk Ridge Systems on creating electronic work instructions (EWI). (I would be happy to share this with you, just leave a comment to this post.) In the content I presented an Interactive Electronic Technical Manual (IETM) using 3DVIA Composer and PowerPoint. There is a great article about IETMs and their use from the Technical Communications Center” blog. Beckman Coulter has used an IETM produced by 3DVIA Composer to increase productivity on the manufacturing floor by 22% and up. With the interactive capabilities the need for a human trainer was eliminated. The IETM was produced in less time than it took to create their 2D documentation. Another strong benefit is the opportunity to create the documentation in parallel to the design cycle using the 3D data rather than at the end. This allows for product release dates to be accomplished on time and sooner.
3D has changed the way we design and continues to do so to this day. We are pushing the boundaries in design and continue to do so. We need to all step back and take a look at where else we can benefit from the use of 3D, Hollywood sure has.
With 3DVIA Composer we are typically creating documentation of new products and procedures. However, what happens if we would like to reuse an existing document within the 3DVIA Composer content? This content can be viewed with the 3DVIA Composer Player which is a free viewer that provides an interactive 3D experience for the user. So we would like to create a 3D experience while still having access to our 2D documents. We can create interactive events within 3DVIA Composer that can pull up a file on our local system, a server or from an FTP site. We can also create an interactive event that could go to a specific web page. Another option would be to incorporate some of the legacy content as pictures or images panels in 3DVIA Composer.
To create an interactive event you must first choose what you want the user to click on or interact with. You can create events for both geometry actors (parts) as well as collaboration actors (annotations). In this example I am using a geometry actor. For this event I use the “pulse” property so the actor flashes in the player interface. If we apply this in the animation mode the “pulse” property will automatically pause the animation giving the user time to interact with the 3DVIA Composer content. Then, using the “link” property the user can browse to a PDF file that is the legacy content we wish to provide the user when they click on the actor. When the user views the Composer content in the free 3DVIA Composer View and they click the actor it will open the PDF in its own window.
The other option is to use a 2D or 3D image panel within our views and animations. With these image panels we can use legacy image files to incorporate into our 3D document. This strategy can also be used when we do not have a complete 3D model of our products.
For more information on how to use Interactive links more effectively in 3DVIA Composer take a look at our training schedule. Our training schedule can be viewed at http://www.hawkridgesys.com/training/schedule. We offer great 3DVIA Composer training classes at locations all along the west coast.
