3D PDF
A 3D PDF is a PDF page with a 3D model on it, which can be turned, zoomed and taken apart in the PDF itself: a folded carton to send for approval, say, that folds up when the page opens. File › Export › Export 3D PDF… writes one from a 3D page (it is also in the 3D menu and the 3D page's right-click menu).
Only Adobe Acrobat and Adobe Reader show 3D in a PDF. Most other PDF viewers (web browsers, macOS Preview, most apps on phones and tablets) show the picture of the model on the page instead: the file still opens and prints there.
Options
| Option | What it does |
|---|---|
| 3D format | PRC (ISO 14739-1, the more recent format of 3D PDF; see PRC) or U3D (ECMA-363, the older one; see U3D). Acrobat and Reader show both. |
| Artwork as textures | The artwork printed on the board, shown on the model; otherwise the board's colours only. |
| Picture of the view | A picture of the model as the 3D page shows it now, drawn on the page: shown until the 3D starts, and by viewers that can't show 3D. Off, the 3D area is its background colour until then. |
| Fold animation | The fold, from flat to folded as far as the 3D page is, played when the page opens. |
| Length | How long the fold takes, in seconds. |
| Loop | The fold is played again and again; otherwise once. |
| Page size | A4, A3, Letter or Tabloid, landscape; or A4 or Letter, portrait. The 3D model fills the page within its margins. |
| Title and notes | The drawing's name above the model, and notes below it: which viewers show it in 3D, that the model is in millimetres, and how long the fold takes. |
Your choices are remembered for next time.
What the page holds
- The model, as the 3D page shows it: each panel a part of its own, the outside, inside and cut edges in the appearance's colours, the artwork as textures, and the model shown with it. It is in millimetres, and the PDF says so.
- Its view: Acrobat starts with the 3D page's view (where its camera is, and its 40° perspective), on a light grey background, lit by Acrobat's CAD optimized lights. Acrobat's views list has it as the drawing's name.
- The fold: the 3D starts as soon as the page opens, and the fold plays then (as long as Fold animation is on). With U3D the fold is the model's own animation, which the PDF asks Acrobat to play; with PRC, a script in the PDF moves the panels. Acrobat's 3D toolbar (right-click the model) turns, zooms and plays it again.
- The picture, drawn from the same view: what Acrobat shows before the 3D starts and what other viewers show.
- Dimensions and notes on the model (Dimensions in 3D): drawn in the model as thin dark blue
rods, and listed as 3D measurements with the view (linear, angular, radial and notes, ISO 32000-2); each
VIEWthey name is a view of its own in Acrobat's views list, showing its measurements.
The 3D page's floor and shadows, foil, varnish, emboss and surface patterns aren't in the model.
To email it instead of saving it, use File › Send by Email › Export 3D PDF…: see Emailing exports.
If the model doesn't show
- Open the file in Adobe Acrobat or Reader: other viewers show only the picture.
- In Acrobat or Reader, Preferences › 3D & Multimedia › Enable playing of 3D content must be on; a PDF from somewhere new may also need to be trusted (the message bar at the top of the page asks).
- On older Acrobat and Reader versions, and on Acrobat for phones and tablets, 3D isn't shown at all.