Universal 3D
Encyclopedia
Universal 3D is a compressed file format standard for 3D computer graphics
data.
The format was defined by a special consortium called 3D Industry Forum that brought together a diverse group of companies and organizations, including Intel, Boeing
, HP, Adobe Systems
, Bentley Systems
, Right Hemisphere and others whose main focus had been the promotional development of 3D graphics for use in various industries, specifically at this time manufacturing as well as construction and industrial plant design. The format was later standardized by Ecma International
in August 2005 as ECMA-363.
The goal is a universal standard for three-dimensional data of all kinds, to facilitate data exchange. The consortium promoted also the development of an open source
library for facilitating the adoption of the format. The library is also well-known for having serious memory management issues.
The format is natively supported by the PDF format and 3D objects in U3D format can be inserted into PDF documents and interactively visualized
by Acrobat Reader (since version 7).
The first edition is supported by many/all of the various applications mentioned below. It is capable of storing vertex based geometry, color, textures, lighting, bones, and transform based animation.
The second and third editions correct some errata in the first edition, and the third edition also adds the concept of vendor specified blocks. One such block widely deployed is the RHAdobeMesh block, which provides a more compressed alternative to the mesh blocks defined in the first edition. Deep Exploration and PDF3D-SDK can author this data, and Adobe Acrobat and Reader 8.1 can read this data.
The fourth edition provides definitions for higher order primitives - curved surfaces.
Adobe Acrobat
and Adobe Reader (since version 7), Photoshop CS3, Poser 7
, DAZ Studio
and MeshLab
support U3D.
3D computer graphics
3D computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data that is stored in the computer for the purposes of performing calculations and rendering 2D images...
data.
The format was defined by a special consortium called 3D Industry Forum that brought together a diverse group of companies and organizations, including Intel, Boeing
Boeing
The Boeing Company is an American multinational aerospace and defense corporation, founded in 1916 by William E. Boeing in Seattle, Washington. Boeing has expanded over the years, merging with McDonnell Douglas in 1997. Boeing Corporate headquarters has been in Chicago, Illinois since 2001...
, HP, Adobe Systems
Adobe Systems
Adobe Systems Incorporated is an American computer software company founded in 1982 and headquartered in San Jose, California, United States...
, Bentley Systems
Bentley Systems
Bentley Systems, Incorporated is a software company that produces solutions for the design, construction and operation of infrastructure. The company’s software serves the building, plant, civil, and geospatial vertical markets in the areas of architecture, engineering, construction and operations...
, Right Hemisphere and others whose main focus had been the promotional development of 3D graphics for use in various industries, specifically at this time manufacturing as well as construction and industrial plant design. The format was later standardized by Ecma International
Ecma International
Ecma International is an international, private non-profit standards organization for information and communication systems. It acquired its name in 1994, when the European Computer Manufacturers Association changed its name to reflect the organization's global reach and activities...
in August 2005 as ECMA-363.
The goal is a universal standard for three-dimensional data of all kinds, to facilitate data exchange. The consortium promoted also the development of an open source
Open source
The term open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology...
library for facilitating the adoption of the format. The library is also well-known for having serious memory management issues.
The format is natively supported by the PDF format and 3D objects in U3D format can be inserted into PDF documents and interactively visualized
by Acrobat Reader (since version 7).
Editions of U3D
There are four editions to date.The first edition is supported by many/all of the various applications mentioned below. It is capable of storing vertex based geometry, color, textures, lighting, bones, and transform based animation.
The second and third editions correct some errata in the first edition, and the third edition also adds the concept of vendor specified blocks. One such block widely deployed is the RHAdobeMesh block, which provides a more compressed alternative to the mesh blocks defined in the first edition. Deep Exploration and PDF3D-SDK can author this data, and Adobe Acrobat and Reader 8.1 can read this data.
The fourth edition provides definitions for higher order primitives - curved surfaces.
Application support
PDF with embedded U3D objects can be created by at least the following list of applications:- Adobe SystemsAdobe SystemsAdobe Systems Incorporated is an American computer software company founded in 1982 and headquartered in San Jose, California, United States...
AcrobatAdobe AcrobatAdobe Acrobat is a family of application software developed by Adobe Systems to view, create, manipulate, print and manage files in Portable Document Format . All members of the family, except Adobe Reader , are commercial software, while the latter is available as freeware and can be downloaded...
Extended allows PDF creation and conversion of various file formats to U3D within the PDF. - Adobe SystemsAdobe SystemsAdobe Systems Incorporated is an American computer software company founded in 1982 and headquartered in San Jose, California, United States...
AcrobatAdobe AcrobatAdobe Acrobat is a family of application software developed by Adobe Systems to view, create, manipulate, print and manage files in Portable Document Format . All members of the family, except Adobe Reader , are commercial software, while the latter is available as freeware and can be downloaded...
Pro allows PDF creation and embedding of pre-created U3D files. - Bentley SystemsBentley SystemsBentley Systems, Incorporated is a software company that produces solutions for the design, construction and operation of infrastructure. The company’s software serves the building, plant, civil, and geospatial vertical markets in the areas of architecture, engineering, construction and operations...
MicroStationMicrostationMicroStation is a CAD software product for 2- and 3-dimensional design and drafting, developed and sold by Bentley Systems. The latest versions of the software are released solely for Microsoft Windows operating systems, but historically MicroStation was available for Macintosh platforms and a...
allows export of PDF containing U3D. - jReality, an open source mathematical visualization package with 3D-PDF and U3D export
- NemetschekNemetschekThe Nemetschek group is world leading vendor of software for architects, engineers and the construction industry. The company develops and distributes solutions for designing, building and managing buildings and real estate as well as multimedia. According to Nemetschek, the company with all of...
Allplan allows export of PDF containing U3D. - AVEVA Review allows exportation of 3D models to 3D PDF and U3D formats.
- PdftexPdfTeXThe computer program pdfTeX is an extension of Knuth's typesetting program TeX, and was originally written and developed into a publicly usable product by Hàn Thế Thành as a part of the work for his PhD thesis at the Faculty of Informatics, Masaryk University, Brno...
with the movie15 package. - SolidWorksSolidWorksSolidWorks is a 3D mechanical CAD program that runs on Microsoft Windows and is being developed by Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks Corp., a subsidiary of Dassault Systèmes, S. A. . SolidWorks is currently used by over 1.3 million engineers and designers at more than 130,000 companies worldwide...
allows saving of files to 3D PDF containing U3D. - 3DVIA Composer3dvia composer3dvia composer is a vector-based CAD by 3dvia for creating 2D and 3D technical illustrations....
allows exportation of 3D models to 3D PDF and U3D formats. - Siemens PLM SoftwareSiemens PLM SoftwareSiemens PLM Software is a computer software company specializing in 3D & 2D Product Lifecycle Management software. The company is a business unit of Siemens Industry Automation division, and is headquartered in Plano, Texas....
Process Simulate allows export of U3D files. - ESKOArtwork "Studio" a Plugin for Adobe Illustrator, allows export of U3D files.
- Pro Engineer Wildfire Allows saving of files to 3D PDF and U3D formats.
- Right Hemisphere Deep Server allows export of PDF containing U3D.
- GraphisoftGraphisoftGraphisoft SE develops Building Information Modeling software products for architects, interior designers and planners. The company is headquartered in Graphisoft Park Budapest, Hungary. Graphisoft has subsidiaries in Germany, USA, UK, Spain, Japan and representative offices in Russia and Singapore...
ArchiCADArchiCADArchiCAD is an architectural BIM CAD software for Macintosh and Windows developed by the Hungarian company Graphisoft. ArchiCAD offers specialized solutions for handling all common aspects of aesthetics and engineering during the whole design process of the built environment — buildings, interiors,...
allows export of U3D files. - PDF3D SDK toolkit generates 3D PDF, U3D (with Right Hemisphere Compression) and PRC (file format)PRC (file format)PRC is a 3D file format that can be used to embed 3D data in a PDF file.This highly compressed format facilitates the storage of different representations of a 3D model. For example, you can save only a visual representation that consists of polygons , or you can save the model's exact geometry...
. - Adobe SystemsAdobe SystemsAdobe Systems Incorporated is an American computer software company founded in 1982 and headquartered in San Jose, California, United States...
PhotoshopAdobe PhotoshopAdobe Photoshop is a graphics editing program developed and published by Adobe Systems Incorporated.Adobe's 2003 "Creative Suite" rebranding led to Adobe Photoshop 8's renaming to Adobe Photoshop CS. Thus, Adobe Photoshop CS5 is the 12th major release of Adobe Photoshop...
CS3 and CS4 Extended are able to export a 3D Layer as a U3D file .
Adobe Acrobat
Adobe Acrobat
Adobe Acrobat is a family of application software developed by Adobe Systems to view, create, manipulate, print and manage files in Portable Document Format . All members of the family, except Adobe Reader , are commercial software, while the latter is available as freeware and can be downloaded...
and Adobe Reader (since version 7), Photoshop CS3, Poser 7
Poser
Poser is a 3D CGI rendering and animation software program optimized for models that depict the human figure in three-dimensional form, mostly used to pose and animate the figures in a similar way as a mannequin...
, DAZ Studio
DAZ Studio
DAZ Studio is a 3D figure illustration/animation application released by DAZ 3D Inc. It is compatible with most files intended for use by Poser. It is available free of charge . Version 1.0 was released in Fall 2005. Version 4.0.0.335 is the current release as of June 29, 2011...
and MeshLab
MeshLab
MeshLab, is a free 3D mesh processing software program; MeshLab, started in late 2005, is an open-source general-purpose system aimed to help the processing of the typical not-so-small unstructured 3D models that arise in the pipeline of processing of the data coming from 3D scanning...
support U3D.
See also
- COLLADACOLLADACOLLADA is a COLLAborative Design Activity for establishing an interchange file format for interactive 3D applications. COLLADA is managed by the nonprofit technology consortium, the Khronos Group....
- PRCPRC (file format)PRC is a 3D file format that can be used to embed 3D data in a PDF file.This highly compressed format facilitates the storage of different representations of a 3D model. For example, you can save only a visual representation that consists of polygons , or you can save the model's exact geometry...
- X3DX3DX3D is the ISO standard XML-based file format for representing 3D computer graphics, the successor to the Virtual Reality Modeling Language . X3D features extensions to VRML X3D is the ISO standard XML-based file format for representing 3D computer graphics, the successor to the Virtual Reality...
- 3DMLW (3D Markup Language for Web)3DMLW3DMLW is an XML-based Markup Language for representing interactive 3D and 2D content on the World Wide Web. It serves as a cornerstone for a broader platform also referred to as 3DMLW.3DMLW platform=...
- LibHaruLibHarulibHaru is a free, open source, cross platform library for generating PDF files for applications written in C or C++. It is not intended for reading PDF files. libHaru can be used as a static library or as a dynamic library. It is the only free, open source C or C++ library for PDF generation...
External links
- ECMA-363: Universal 3D File Format official specifications of the format
- The U3D Sample Software development formerly www.3dif.org
- Embedding interactive 3D object in a PDF using MeshLab and U3D, Visual Computing Group. ISTI CNR. Example of an embedded U3D in a pdf.