Adobe Acrobat

2009-01-11 16:01:15

LeonJ

Registered: Jan 7 2009

Posts: 2

I am using Adobe Acrobat 9 Extended Pro, through AutoCAD 2008 and/or AutoCAD 2009 to create 3D PDFs. The problem that I am having is that when the AutoCAD 3D model is large or complex, say greater than 5mb, the result when I create an 3D Acrobat PDF is a jumble of random shapes.

An example result from a screen snapshot in Acrobat 9 Exteneded Pro is:

[img]http://users.qld.chariot.net.au/~barrahunter/01.jpg[/img]

This is what the image should have been (this is a screen snapshot in AutoCAD 2009):

[img]http://users.qld.chariot.net.au/~barrahunter/02.jpg[/img]

I've tried creating the 3D PDF's on various computers, one of which has a 256mb Nvidia Quatro FX 570 graphics card. I've tried adjusting both the settings in AutoCAD and Acrobat 9 Extended Pro, with no luck. All of which have produced the same results.

I can produce smaller, less complex files from AutoCAD 2009 to Acrobat 9 Extended Pro, with no problems at all. (I have seen complex 3D PDF's on various websites, but maybe they were created through other programs, like 3D StudioMax etc)

With the example Ive shown above, the only way I have discovered to get around the problem is as follows. I create a dwf file from AutoCAD 2009, (this being the competitor to Acrobat PDF's). This generates a portable 3D file that end users can see, rotate, measure and print without having AutoCAD 2009 but have to download a dwf viewer. This file is much smaller than the original AutoCAD 2009 file. Say a 5mb file is reduced to a 1mb file. Then from this file I can create an Acrobat 9 Extended Pro 3D PDF file. The trouble with this is that the end result has lost any layer definition, therefore the power of telling your client to turn of various layers to show project aspects is lost.

I believe this problem lies within Acrobat 9 Pro Extended. I am unsure if anyone else has experienced this problem, i have done numerous searches, both on AutoCAD forum sites, within this site and google. And yes I have seen and followed the AutoCAD 2008 and 2009 setting adjustments shown on the Acrobat website (regarding OpenGL settings). I am posting for help on this site, getting help through the Acrobat site is too hard, and they steer you here anyway.

Please let me know if you have experienced anything similar. Maybe Ive got to wait for a software update? Thanks.

My Product Information:
Acrobat Pro Extended 9.0, Windows

2009-04-06 06:30:51

jim_merry

Registered: Jul 18 2007

Posts: 58

Looks like a bug with the AutoCAD converter. Any chance you can share the data file causing the problem with us for analysis by the Adobe development team? If so, please wrap the files up in a PDF Portfolio and email to jmerryATadobeDOTcom ( please replace the AT and DOT with @ and .).

Jim Merry, VP 3D PDF, Tetra 4D, jim [dot] merry [at] tetra4d [dot] com

2009-05-13 11:15:14

lkassuba

Registered: Jun 28 2007

Posts: 3636

Have you tried to install the 9.1 patch under Help>Check for Updates? AutoCAD 2009 support was added in 9.1.

Lori Kassuba is an AUC Expert and Community Manager for AcrobatUsers.com.

2010-01-20 13:34:59

Gav

Registered: Jan 20 2010

Posts: 1

I know this is an older post, but I have a user that also is having problems creating a pdf from autocad 2009 civil 3d/Land Desktop. The computer had acrobat 9 standard before and worked perfectly. We removed it and updated the computer with CS4 Design premium suite (the one with acrobat pro.) Ever since all the pdf's coming out of autocad have been of very poor quality. Letters are missing some parts of them etc. I doublechecked the settings against another computer that has 9 standard and they seem to be the same. We tried:
remove and install of cs 4 suite and updated to the latest version. - no change
remove fonts and copy from working computer (c:\windows\fonts) - No change
printing at high quality settings - takes longer but no change

I'm at a loss. Is there a way to remove any and all settings from the pdf printer that is listed in windows? I'm thinking there is some kind of corrupted setting that is messing everything up.

They are urging me to buy pdf complete since it works on another person's computer. I don't want to resort to that.

Help.....!

2010-06-24 18:04:01

BIMTIM

Registered: May 3 2010

Posts: 10

Leon J

I am a Revit user and have only found 1 way to retain naming metadata in 3D pdf. I does however require a 3rd Party software package Deep Exploration. They have managed to refine their dwf interpreters to retain the naming metadata of each 3D element, and in revit's case retain the object classsification in tree form.

I would post a piccy if there were an upload function.

Workflow:
Save 3D.dwf
Open .dwf in Deep Exploration
Save as; 1-u3d or 2. as 3Dpdf(with preconfigured template)

Works well except that Deep Exploration costs 6 time more that acrobat pro extended...

If at first you don't succeed,
Try harder, untill you bleed!!?!

2010-06-25 00:40:08

UVSAR

Registered: Oct 29 2008

Posts: 1357

BIMTIM: That workflow, using DE as a proxy translator, is what I always recommend when the direct approach fails. DE's translation engines are designed to cope with pretty much anything you can throw at them, and if push comes to shove you can always fix issues in DE before exporting again.

2010-06-25 04:48:36

BIMTIM

Registered: May 3 2010

Posts: 10

UVSAR wrote:

DE is a great product. However, it has trouble with large architectural projects.

There are a few trasnlator issues, specifically with .dwf

There are some seriuos bugs with materials when outputting to .pdf

Oh yeah, Right Hemisphere (DE makers) despise 3D.pdf and recommend ANY of the other 80+ formats/solutions they offer.

Peace

If at first you don't succeed,
Try harder, untill you bleed!!?!

These forums are now Read Only. If you have an Acrobat question, ask questions and get help from one of our experts.

AutoCAD 2008/2009 problem creating complex 3D PDF's