Software Review: Adobe Technical Communication Suite - Adobe Acrobat 8 3D

This is the final of a series of four reviews that will cover what is contained in the Adobe Technical Communication Suite. Unlike the Adobe Creative Suite, the Technical Communication Suite is geared for technical communicators, help authors, instructional designers, and training professionals. The suite contains four products: FrameMaker, RoboHelp, Captivate, and Acrobat 3D. The goal of this series it to define what each product does and provide information of what the new version brings to the table.

What do you need to run Adobe Acrobat 8 3D? You need Windows, an Intel Pentium III or equivalent processor, Windows 2000 with SP4, XP SP2 or Vista, 512 MB RAM (1 GB recommended) , 800 x 600 (1,024 x 768 recommended), and 1.6 GB hard drive space, NVIDIA or ATI video card with pixel shader support, DirectX 8.1 or 9 is required for video hardware acceleration, and 1024x768 screen resolution.

Adobe Acrobat is a family of computer programs developed by Adobe Systems to view, create, and manage files that are in the Portable Document Format (.PDF). This version, Adobe Acrobat 8 3D is the most specialized of the product family in that, along with having all the features of the rest of the line, it also is capable of rendering 3D images within the PDF file. All versions of the Adobe Acrobat Reader from 7.1 and later are able to view the 3D files.

Acrobat was introduced in June of 1993 for the Macintosh and later for DOS and Windows 3.1. It wasn't until 1994 and version 2 that the reader was released free of charge. Version 8 of Acrobat was released in November of 2006. Adobe Acrobat 8 3D was released on May 31, 2007 and had the ability to produce embedded PRC data; a method to store 3D in a PDF file and Product and Manufacturing Information (PMI) which is used in 3D computer-aided design (CAD) systems.

Adobe Acrobat 8 3D lets CAD, CAM, and CAE users convert almost any CAD file to a compressed 3D PDF file so as to enable 3D based collaboration and CAD interoperability. By having the ability to share Adobe PDF files containing precise geometry and product manufacturing information with other users downstream, lets more users get involved with the manufacturing process without having to purchase CAD translators.

Article Author: T. Michael Testi

T. Michael Testi is software developer, a writer, and a photographer. He also blogs at PhotographyTodayNet and at All This and Everything Else.

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