From Cave Art to 3D

Technical Illustration could be thought of as art with a purpose. A good illustrator focuses on the overall communication benefits that the graphics provide and the techniques required to create the graphics. In other words, what are the communication benefits of any new media and how easy it is to use.

28,000 BC - 3000 BC: Chalk, Charcoal and Minerals
Thirty-thousand years ago the urge to draw inspired our ancestors to discover new media. Chalk, charcoal and minerals were used to provide a way to communicate with imagery.

* Benefit - First communications with graphics
* Technique - Rub a stone on a cave wall - pretty tough to create good graphics

3000 BC-1982 AD: Pen and Paper
Historic records show that papyrus (an early form of paper) was being used as early as 3000 BC. This was a significant step forward and provided a way to communicate outside of the cave.

* Benefit - Share graphics across the world
* Technique - Use a pencil, protractor and T-square to hand-draw illustrations

This technique has been used for centuries but even the most stubborn illustrators are unable to deny the benefits of newer approaches any longer. I picked up an old text book titled "Technical Drawing" at Half-Price books (Ever tried to sell books here? Trust me... you're better off donating your books and writing them off for $0.50 each). The book was published in 1991 and out of 1000 pages of pen and paper instructions only a single chapter (35 pages) discussed computers.

1982-2004: Digital Graphics
Finally, with the invention of the internet and 2D graphic software, old pen and paper techniques started to become obsolete.

* Benefit - Share graphics with a global audience
* Technique - Use precise software tools to draw 2D illustrations

We have great book laying around the office that we use as a reference. "The Complete Technical Illustrator" by Jon Duff and Greg Maxson explores topics relevant to technical illustration and does a great job. It is a very practical, hands-on book and you can find the book on Amazon here. The first sentence in the "Introduction" describes the brave new world of technical illustration, according to the author:

"The increased availability of digital graphics tools has inexorably changed the way technical illustrations are made."

The focus of the book is really on how to use 2D based tools, such as Adobe Illustrator or Autocad, to create "3D looking" illustrations. This book does a great job describing some tedious strategies and obscure techniques that can be used to get from A to B, and by following these techniques you can end up with some pretty impressive illustrations. But, how long does it take to create a good illustration this way? Well, it's certainly easier than drawing on a cave wall but it does take a lot of time. Also, what happens when you products change? How do you update the illustrations? Let's just say "it's not going to happen".

Fortunately for you 3D Publishing Software can eliminate these multiple-step requirements and update deficiencies by letting you use the 3D model directly. Read on...

2004-Future: 3D Graphics
3D Publishing is the most beneficial new tool for technical writers and illustrators since the pen and paper. Am I exaggerating? For some, maybe. For many others, probably not.

* Benefit - Share 3D graphics globally
* Bonus Benefit - Update graphics automatically when designs change
* Technique - Reuse the 3D model directly to automatically create illustrations

When 3D publishing software is used, the 3D model can be imported directly. QuadriSpace's products provide a wide range of professional tools that you can use to get the precise viewpoint you desire, the graphical style that your illustration needs, the callouts and text to describe the product, and special tools for creating exploded views easily. The overall effect is that you can import a 3D model and in many cases you can create a whole library of detailed illustrations in a few minutes!

Oh, about updates to your illustrations... for many this is the best part. Since you are using the 3D model as the basis for your illustrations you can easily update entire documents or libraries of illustrations when designs change. It's very simple, just import the latest 3D model and everything is updated automatically.

Cowboy Hats and Other Misconceptions

I was watching the NFL championship games this weekend and was reminded of a past SolidWorks World. In 2004, SolidWorks World was held in Boston during the NFL championship games. After flying in from Dallas, we sat down to watch the championship game with a bunch of raving Patriot fans. Unlike this year, in 2004 the Pats beat the Colts. Immediately after the Patriots won, a lady sitting next to us belted out in the most Boston of Boston accents: "We're going to have to get a caawboy het and some chewing tobaaacco and go to Hugh-ston for the Superbowl."

The irony of this situation makes me laugh everytime I think about it. Here is a nice lady with a strong stereotypical Boston accent joking about a stereotypical Texas scenario. Now, QuadriSpace is based just outside of Dallas, I am University of Texas alum and I don't know anyone who wears a cowboy hat. But that doesn't matter... the perception of Texas is big hats, big boots, big hair and big attitude. Sometimes you just can't get past the misconceptions (In this case that's ok...)

Anyway, I wanted to address a misconception that many people have about 3D Publishing. In talking with customers, invariably we are asked "how is 3D Publishing software different from my 3D CAD tools or this simple 3D viewer?". On the surface there are similarities, i.e they all interactively rotate, pan and zoom 3D models. But the difference between these various types of products lies in the answer to the following questions:

• What is the software designed to accomplish? What features support this goal?
  
• What is the end result of using the software (i.e. what is the user creating)?
  
• Is it easy for the user of the software to accomplish his or her goals?

Myth #1: My 3D CAD tool does it all
Let's start with 3D CAD tools. Here is part of the definition of CAD from Wikipedia:

"CAD is used to design, develop and optimize products, which can be goods used by end consumers or intermediate goods used in other products."

In other words, 3D CAD tools create 3D models of products. That's the goal, that's the purpose. The creation of 3D models is an art of it's own and requires users to learn and master various tools and techniques. Also, the user interface for 3D CAD is designed to support engineers and their 3D creation needs. In general, this UI is absolutely the wrong interface for 3D publishing.

I have seen publishing departments that purchase seats of 3D CAD software solely for the purpose of creating images for use in manuals. This is equivalent to using a shovel to chop down a tree. Why not use an axe? An axe is designed to chop down trees, it does a better job and is much easier for the user to get the job done. Using the right tool for the job is what I am talking about and this is where 3D Publishing software shines.

Myth #2: 3D Viewers are "good enough"
3D Viewers are designed to simply view 3D models. Most viewers do not have a saved output because they are designed to only "view" the 3D model, not much more.

Very few viewers support any of the features needed to effectively publish 3D. Consider this... does your 3D viewer allow you to publish PDF documents with interactive 3D views? Does the 3D viewer allow you to capture and manage illustrations and then update these seamlessly as the original CAD design changes? Does the viewer allow you to create step-by-step procedures? How about rendering high-resolution images or storyboard out an animation? Does the viewer let you use a BOM to assign callout numbers for illustrations? Does the viewer publish to multiple output formats? Does it publish at all? I am certain you have never seen a viewer that supports document authoring or page design using 3D.

Myth #3: Peyton Manning can't win big games
Ummm... anyone watch the AFC championship game yesterday...

Solution: 3D Publishing Software
In order to qualify as 3D Publishing software an application should reuse 3D models to create graphics, or animations or documents for public or internal distribution. 3D Publishing software does not create models and does much more than simply view the 3D model.

Overall, 3D Publishing supports import of existing 3D (in various formats), manipulation of the 3D and meta-data to easily create things like exploded views, bill-of-materials, illustrations, etc. The end result of using 3D Publishing software is a deliverable in a format that is easily shared. The more publishable formats the better... interactive, web, printed, animated, etc.

And maybe the most important aspect is that 3D Publishing software is designed to be used by people comfortable with programs like Microsoft Office. Including 3D in a document should be easy and natural and the best 3D Publishing software provides complete page design tools with integrated 3D support (only QuadriSpace products accomplish this!).

So what can you do with 3D publishing that you can't do with other software?

• Layout and create multiple page documents
• Publish graphics, animations and documents from a single source
• Directly include meta-data from the 3D CAD file in a document or table
• Reuse 3D directly without the overhead of "3D creation" tools
• Update entire documents as your 3D design changes
• Publish to print, web, Flash, movies, 3D PDF, Exe's, CDs, etc

Read this post in Italian.

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"!