It can be tricky to find a technical publishing package that suits all of our requirements.
Many technical illustration/publication packages are very limited in terms of what type of 3D files they can import. From experience, my own preferred tech illustration program from one of the larger CAD companies is locked down so that only files from its own company can be imported.
So if limited import options are getting you down, you may wish to consider investing in RapidAuthor 10.1 suite from Cortona3D.
According to Cortona3D, the new version of its leading authoring tool “enables enterprises to reuse existing product lifecycle management (PLM) data and CAD assets to author lightweight, interactive 3D/2D technical publications.”
Yes, it seems that at least Cortona3D has decided to embrace the future of PLM and model-based design (MBD) by allowing a wide range of file imports, meaning that you, the illustrator, can just import your 3D assets from your PLM system without worrying about file type conversions. And that’s a good thing. Because if you know about MBD, then you know that one of the key goals of MBD is to reduce documentation by utilizing a singular 3D model as the source of all information.
Included in the suite are the following tools: RapidManual (for creating instruction and operation manuals), RapidCatalog (for authoring parts catalogs with exploded views), RapidLearning (for using existing CAD data to create personnel training videos and animations) and RapidIllustrator (for illustration).
Being a technical illustrator myself, obviously the whole package is fairly useful, but of particular interest is the RapidIllustrator tool.
The RapidIllustrator tool can import the following new CAD formats: CATIA V5_6R2017, Inventor 2018, Parasolid v30, ACIS 2017.1 (R27), SOLIDWORKS2018, SolidEdge ST10 and AutoCAD (up to 2018) data—and moreover, a certain amount of 3D editing is permitted in the tool.
Users can create exploded views, change materials, trim items, edit transparency and also add parametric items to the 3D view from an expandable object gallery.
Back to the point of PLM and MBD, RapidIllustrator has the ability to update 2D drawings semi-automatically based on changes to the main 3D file. That’s pretty sweet!
Someone once told me that in the future of PLM systems, there will be no master file in the traditional sense…only a well-managed, collaborative file that acts as the source of all information. OK, I’m paraphrasing a bit, but the point is a valid one.
Although these seem like small changes to a product, they are significant in the sense that Cortona3D has recognized two of the main issues that prevent progress to an idealized PLM system of Industry 4.0: namely, the issue of file incompatibility (Cortona3D sidesteps this by including the 3D files from most of the big CAD names) and the issue of updating documentation to reflect changes to source data (RapidAuthor does this semi-automatically).
Supported 2D formats include CGM, JPEG and PDF, and the suite makes it easy for those wishing to generate 3D PDFs too. And of course, like any PLM-compatible publication package, you can import your bill of materials from an Excel file too.
Anyone interested in playing with the trial version can do so by clicking this link and filling in the download form.