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Acrobat 3D Developer Center

Adobe Acrobat 3D

The Acrobat 8 SDK offers 3D developers the ability to tightly integrate the 3D models, contained in 3D annotations, in a PDF with the surrounding 2D document. JavaScript in the PDF as well as the plug-in API can be used to control animation, visibility, color of meshes and a wide variety of other aspects of the 3D model right from the main PDF document. Additionally, if a developer already has a U3D or PRC file, the Acrobat SDK can be used to add a 3D model to the PDF using custom tools rather than the Acrobat 3D tool.

For a complete overview of the JavaScript for Acrobat 3D programming capabilities please see: JavaScript for Acrobat 3D.

For ISVs who are interested in publishing their CAD data to 3D PDF or simply opening a 3D PDF from their CAD application, you have the choice, with Acrobat 3D Version 8, of representing 3D data inside PDF using the U3D or PRC formats.

Acrobat 3D

Using Acrobat 3D 8 and FrameMaker 8


Embed 3D models in technical and instructional design documents.

Acrobat 3D developer documentation

Tutorial: 3D/Forms Interaction (PDF, 1.2M)

This tutorial demonstrates how to set up Dynamic Adobe Form interaction using a simple, hands-on example in which users select parts of a 3D model in a PDF document and add them to a dynamic order form that is attached to the 3D PDF.

Tutorial: Controlling animations (PDF, 3.6M) (Updated April 1, 2008)

This tutorial shows how to use the provided script to easily control the playing of an animation in a 3D scene.

Tutorial: Smooth camera rotation (PDF, 1.4M)

This tutorial shows how to use the provided script to easily control motion of the viewpoint (camera) around the objects in the scene using JavaScript calls.

Acrobat 8.x U3D Support Elements (PDF, 485k)

This document describes the subset of the U3D specification that is supported by Acrobat 8.x.

Creating 3D Annotations Programmatically

Developing Plug-ins and Applications (PDF, 4.6M)

This supporting documentation for the Acrobat SDK sample “Embed3dData” describes how to programmatically create 3D annotations in PDF files using the Acrobat SDK or the PDF Library SDK. It provides code that illustrates how to perform various tasks such as creating a 3D annotation at a particular location on a PDF page, specifying a U3D file as a 3D stream to be used in the annotation, specifying a view of the 3D objects to be displayed by default, specifying a JavaScript file to be used for animation or other purposes, and providing two-dimensional content that can be displayed as a poster prior to activating the annotation.

Connecting Document JavaScript to 3D Views (PDF, 1.8M)

Acrobat 7 Professional contains a new tool, the 3D Tool which allows you to embed U3 (Universal 3D) objects in a PDF document. Once this 3D model is embedded in a PDF, it can be distributed and viewed by anyone with Acrobat or Adobe Reader 7.x