The 3D Pub

Last week I wrote a quick blog entry on using QuadriSpace Publisher3D to create an animation from a Power Supply designed with SolidWorks. The creation of the animation took 15 minutes to create including the creation of an exploded view the rapid use of Smart Template Technology to create keyframes and then a quick tweaking of the resulting keyframes. This article can be found here.

Here is the video:

Working on examples for our 2011 release…

Today’s project is to create an assembly animation from a SolidWorks model of a power supply. There are really just 3 steps using QuadriSpace Publisher3D to accomplish this and I will go through each of them in a little detail.

Step 1: Create an Exploded View

First, create an exploded view. Optionally you could use an exploded view imported from SolidWorks, but for this examples, we will create one inside Publisher3D.

In general, this is not the same as a standard exploded view because when you are done parts may overlap some because when we create the animation, they will be hidden and shown as the step-by-step process progresses.  Also the order of the exploded steps is important because in our second step we will make use of this order. Here is the exploded view I came up with:

The rest of this blog posting will discuss commands that start from the “Illustrate” ribbon.  Below is a partial view of the Illustrate ribbon in Publisher3D 2011… take specific note of the “Illustrations” tools and the “Storyboard” tools. Here it is:

Step 2: Automatically Generate a Set of Illustrations

Second, use Smart Template Technology(TM) to generate a series of illustrations based on your exploded view. When the illustrations are generated, the current render style and viewing position will be used for all, so you may want to tweak these properties beforehand. You will find the command “Storyboard Wizard” under the Storyboard pull-down. We pick our newly created exploded view and  it automatically creates a storyboard like this:

Step 3: Make Adjustments to the Illustrations

And finally, tweak each illustration as needed and add markups as desired. For this simple example, I just modified a few viewpoints to better match the action. We can discuss adding markups to each scene at a different time. Another tweak I made was to select a different transistion between each illustration, this was done by right-clicking the transition on the storyboard. I don’t really like when the parts move at the same time that the camera moves, so I selected a transition that moved the parts first, then positioned the camera.

The Storyboard of Illustrations is now ready to be published, so I selected the Publish ribbon and then chose “Movie > Storyboard > Publish Now!”

I’ll post the video to YouTube next week.

This is an interactive 3D document that will be shown at SolidWorks World 2010 booth #117. Even thought this is a 3d LEGO model, this document represents how real-world show floor assembly procedures can be shared. The document in this example was created with Page3D Professional.

After we get back from SolidWorks I’ll put together a couple blogs on exactly how this was created, with videos to help with each of the steps. It only took a few hours to do the entire document. It will take me longer to do the videos, but we’ll show you how soon. Also, we will post the actually interactive 3D document so that you can download the file and interact with it yourself.

BTW, you can buy the lego kit used for this demo here: http://bit.ly/droFt9 …. then use the 3D version of the instructions to put it together quickly.

See you at SolidWorks World (booth #117)!

#1 Register to win a Free iPod Touch

We’re giving away a free iPod touch this year. Simply register with us at the booth to enter you name in the drawing.

#2 Learn how Document3D compares to 3DVIA Composer

You’ll be surprised how affordable our professional products are and we don’t give an inch when it comes to features. In fact, we have a patented approach that combines page design with 3D tools giving a complete solution that results in final documents. Also, be sure to ask about Smart Template Technology.

#3 Race against the clock for more Prizes

Use an Interactive Work Instruction created with Pages3D to put together a Lego model in record time. This example uses a lego model to demonstrate how our customers are creating assembly instructions for the shop floor in the real-world.