Acrobat 3D versions 7 and 8 are both bundled with the 'Acrobat 3D Toolkit' which is an oem-version of Deep Exploration. A3D v7 bundled DeepEx 3.5 and A3D v8 bundled DeepEx version 4.0. DeepEx and the 3D toolkit therefore have almost complete overlap and the specific differences between A3D v8 and DeepEx 5.0 are:
1) All of Acrobat 3D v8's PDF capabilities 2) The new features of DeepEx 5 vs DE4
A3D v8 enables conversion of 3D CAD data to PDF where it can be stored as eitther precise B-Rep using the PRC format introduced w/A3D v8 or tessellated geometry using U3D. Also, Acrobat 3D v8 is built on Acrobat 8 Professional and is bundled with the Adobe Forms designer. This enables A3D v8 to integrate 3D content with 2D content inside a single, compound PDF document that may include static forms, digital signatures, digital rights management, comment and markups, etc. DeepEx does not provide any such document based capabilities.
Jim Merry, VP 3D PDF, Tetra 4D, jim [dot] merry [at] tetra4d [dot] com
1) All of Acrobat 3D v8's PDF capabilities
2) The new features of DeepEx 5 vs DE4
A3D v8 enables conversion of 3D CAD data to PDF where it can be stored as eitther precise B-Rep using the PRC format introduced w/A3D v8 or tessellated geometry using U3D. Also, Acrobat 3D v8 is built on Acrobat 8 Professional and is bundled with the Adobe Forms designer. This enables A3D v8 to integrate 3D content with 2D content inside a single, compound PDF document that may include static forms, digital signatures, digital rights management, comment and markups, etc. DeepEx does not provide any such document based capabilities.
Jim Merry, VP 3D PDF, Tetra 4D, jim [dot] merry [at] tetra4d [dot] com