Acrobat Goes 3D

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For a format that is, well, bulky and dull Pdf files have remained unchallenged for an incredibly long period of time. So after 15 years of depressing my Inbox it’s nice to know they might finally be entering the 21st century.

As the shot above illustrates, 3D Graphics are coming in pdf files in a big way. We’re talking the full shebang: rotation, zooming and annotation. So naturally enough, the big win here is going to be for CAD gurus who can finally go to town on presentations, and company announcements may get a lot more interesting (please God, make it so!).

The software that will create these visual splendours is ‘Adobe Acrobat 3D’ (a boring, if unambiguous name), while Acrobat Reader 7 will simply require a free upgrade to make it compatible with the finished pages. Unfortunately, an evil marketing phrase has sprung up to advertise this highly promising advancement: Adobe Acrobat 3D ‘should help democratise 3D’ says the company in its release… all together now: one; two; three *cringe*…

Getting past this hideous piece of advertising waffle however (and if you can), developers will be keen to know AA 3D will be shipping this month for $995 and will first be available in English, French (mais non!) and German (zeek… no too easy, so I’ll desist). A Japanese version will follow in February. Windows 2000 and XP users and IBM AIX 5.2, HP UX 11.0, SGI IRIX 6.5 and Sun Solaris 2.8 lovers are also covered. If you aren’t in this list (and ffs, if not, why aren’t you?) then you’re stuffed, sorry…

Link:
Adobe UK

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