Introduction

Hi, my name is Brian Roberts. I am one of the founders of QuadriSpace, a leader in 3D publishing software. I will be one of the contributors to this blog.

"The 3D Pub" is coming online in order to share ideas and offer opinions about leveraging 3D models for non-engineering uses. Specifically, this blog will focus on using 3D models (that already exist) to create graphics, animations and complete documents.

You might ask, "Aren't there enough 3D CAD blogs out there?"... Well sure there are, but these blogs tend to focus on engineering problems, design issues, what version of SolidWorks is best, why they dislike Autodesk this week, and so on. This is all useful information if you are trying to design a product, choose a CAD system, or learn how to use 3D CAD... but what happens after design? The questions you are sure to ask include...

• How do I get my products assembled?
• How do we put together our documentation?
• How can we improve customer support?
• How can our customers better identify and order spare parts?
  
• How do we present prototypes of our products for market validation?

These questions are not answered by a typical 3D CAD blog (nor are they solved using 3D CAD software). This is where 3D Publishing takes over and where "The 3D Pub" discussions start.

For 3D Publishing, the fundamental question is: Are we doing everything we can to leverage our existing 3D to meet our business goals? When we ask this question, the answer for most companies is "not even close but we'd like to get there" or "I didn't know there were ways to use 3D after design". As you might assume, many haven't even considered how the reuse of 3D can impact the bottom-line. Have you? It's more dramatic than you might think, so I hope you will continue to check back and join me in the coming months as we discuss customer uses, product tips, industry solutions and more on the "The 3D Pub"!