PDF in

manufacturing
The future of 3D documentation

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PDF in manufacturing
The future of 3D documentation
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PDF in manufacturing
A brief history of documents in manufacturing 5
Technical Drawings 5
Digital transformation begins with CAD 6
Introduction of 3D models in design processes 8
PDF: a universally-accepted format 8
Digital distribution & annotation 10
2010s: design engineering goes 3D 11
2020s: PDF extends 3D throughout the product lifecycle 11
The future of manufacturing is 3D PDF 11
From drawings to Model Based Definition (MBD) 12
PDF and drawings 12
PDF and models 14
PDF and product data 15
Applications16
Model Based Definition (MBD) / Drawingless manufacturing 16
Supply Chain Management (SCM) 18
Architectural Design Review 20
Key industry segments 22
Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) 22
Aerospace 22
Defense 24
Manufacturing 25
PDF features, a glossary 27
Example 3D PDF files 36
About the PDF Association & 3D PDF Consortium 36
Supporters of PDF in Manufacturing 37
Anark 37
callas software 37
GEAR.it 37
Intarsys 38
iText Group 38
PDFTron 38
PROSTEP AG 39
SEAL Systems 39
Tech Soft 3D 39
PDF in Manufacturing

A brief history of documents in manufacturing

For millennia of prehistory, manufacturing objec- requires larger organizations, more complex instruc-
tives, plans and processes were entirely contained tions, diverse skill sets, comprehensive quality-con-
within the mind of the artisan, possibly with a few trol and extensive field maintenance. Since the on-
assistants. Training was by apprenticeship, with set of the industrial revolution, each enhancement
skills communicated orally and by demonstration. It in productivity has come with entirely new require-
was not until the 18th century that the factory mod- ments for the creation, conveyance, handling and
el first adopted in Britain at the beginning of the In- management of manufacturing information.
dustrial Revolution began to transform manufactur-
ing worldwide. Manufacturing, in other words, requires lots of
­documents.
The principal feature of factories distinguishing
them from other modes of manufacturing is ma- Technical Drawings
chinery. Machines require extensive, detailed work- Even in the days of artisanal manufacturing, draw-
flows and processes, precisely engineered tooling ings were frequently necessary in order to convey a
and elaborate jigs to perform specialized, often one- customer’s wishes or to train a new apprentice (see
of-a-kind tasks. Accordingly, a critical enabler for Figure 1). The evolution of factories required highly
any manufacturing concern is the ability, as the im- structured technical drawings, fostering a vast range
mortal expression goes, for all concerned to be “on of systems and practices to represent physical
the same page”. settings, structures, machines and processes. Of
course the factory’s own documentation relied on
As manufacturing developed in the 19th century the equally vast range of drawings required for
new factors emerged that demanded more and bet- parts, subassemblies and finished products.
ter means of developing, creating, sharing, annotat-
ing and using manufacturing information. Modern Technical drawing creation and management skills
manufacturing, with its centralization, economies of became essential for communicating throughout
scale and standardization of interchangeable parts, ­research, engineering and industry.

Figure 1: Leonardo da Vinci, Notes and diagrams on mechanics, c. 1500-1505

PDF Association & 3D PDF Consortium  5

PDF in Manufacturing

The need to unambiguously convey precise and Beginning in the 1980s the first two-dimensional
complete information rapidly and accountably led (2D) Computer Aided Design (CAD) systems, Auto-
to the development of many classes of units, CAD and MicroStation, quickly replaced the disci-
symbols, notations, systems for expressing perspec- pline of drawing on paper (see Figure 4).
tive, styles in representation and layout.
Although they allowed for rapid revisions and
thus substantially reduced the need for expen-
sive skilled labor the advantages of CAD over
hand-drawing were limited because these sys-
tems were fundamentally two dimensional elec-
tronic drawing boards. Innumerable opportunities
for ­errors remained in producing cross-section-
al views, first and third angle orthographic and
auxiliary projections. The principles of parametric
­design, introduced in the early 1990s, helped miti-
gate errors by leveraging the logic of the object to
influence specifications.

Figure 2: Technical drawing tools

Through the 19th and into the 20th century these

systems evolved together to emerge as a visual lan-
Content Management
Boeing, GE, Cisco, Ericsson, TE Connectivity,
guage, much of which is now codified in a variety of
Lockheed Martin and the US DoD require im-
ISO and other industry standards.
proved technical data access, collaboration,
and real-time decision making throughout sup-
As mechanisms became more complex the volume
ply-chain, manufacturing and field service oper-
of documentation exploded throughout the entire
ations. Proprietary or ad-hoc tools and technol-
product lifecycle, from research and development to
ogies are difficult to manage, driving the need
engineering, tooling, design, manufacturing, mar-
for more effective standards-based, automat-
keting and maintenance. By the 1940s large institu-
ed solutions to consistently create and manage
tions and manufacturers were building warehouses
the many thousands of Technical Data Packag-
and developing elaborate systems to maintain their
es (TDPs) and other content items these organi-
technical drawings and other documentation.
zations need to share with knowledge workers
along the Digital Thread.
It would take another 40 years before technology
began to provide a revolutionary new answer. Solution: Anark’s Intelligent Information Man-
agement and Visual Collaboration platform en-
Digital transformation begins with CAD ables manufacturers and their supplier commu-
As manufacturers discovered, the cost (in both time nities to easily transform, publish, and manage
and money) and inflexibility of hand-drafted draw- critical engineering, manufacturing, and opera-
ings represented a major drag on every facet of tional data within open standards based 3D PDF
manufacturing, from conceptualization to develop- and browser-based TDPs and digital workflows.
ment, from the supply chain to the production line, Anark Corporation (anark.com)
and even to marketing.

6   PDF Association & 3D PDF Consortium

PDF in Manufacturing

Connecting The Digital ThreadTM

✔ Easily transform, publish, & manage CAD, PLM & ERP data as role-spe-
cific technical data packages (TDPs) & connected digital workflows acces-
sible from virtually any device.
✔ Unite cross-functional teams for improved data access, collaboration,
and real-time decision making throughout supply-chain, manufacturing &
field service.
✔ Connected, secure, traceable visual collaboration, with robust support
for 3D MCAD (with high-fidelity MBD), 3D ECAD, 2D drawings, tabular
data, text, video, audio, images & more.
✔ Most advanced & complete support for automated MIL-STD-31000B
compliant 3D TDP generation.
✔ Flexible deployment, with on-premises, private & public cloud options.

Supply Chain Manufacturing Field Service

Intelligent Information Management

www.anark.com
PDF Association & 3D PDF Consortium  7
PDF in Manufacturing

The most significant limitation of 2D CAD for manufac- that result from such systems are user defined views
turing purposes, however, was straightforward: it pro- of that geometry; 3D viewing systems allow these
vides no means of establising whether parts will fit, or views to be manipulated to accommodate diverse
even that it’s physically possible to assemble them. needs across the manufacturing organization.

Introduction of 3D models in design PDF: a universally-accepted format

processes In the late 1990s Adobe’s Por-
Three-dimensional (3D) CAD systems allow phones, table Document Format (PDF)
cars, aircraft, ships, bridges and buildings to be was adopted worldwide as the
modeled, assembled, and otherwise simulated and de facto digital document for-
validated before technical drawings are released for mat. PDF’s core ­capabilities –
manufacture. including fundamental reliability, support for large
page sizes, pixel-accurate renderings and free view-
In the 1990s, 3D systems made it possible to fully ing software – helped drive adoption in documenta-
­define a component’s geometry within the software, tion, including technical drawings.
so assembly errors could be eliminated in principle.
The orthographic, projected or sectioned drawings Today, almost all 2D drawings are authored in the DWG
(drawing) format but shared as PDF. The advantage
of making and sending a PDF file versus printing and
Sika: Specialty Chemicals shipping paper are too obvious to ignore.

Company But why PDF rather than one of the many compet-
Sika is a globally active Swiss specialty chemi-
ing digital document formats developed during the
cals company. The company is subject to strict
1980s or 1990s? The answer lies not in any single
documentation requirements for products used
aspect of PDF technology but in the collection of a
in construction and has to be prepared to prove
specific set of features into a single format.
test results and laboratory reports at any time.
At a high level the critical PDF feature-set for sharing
Documentation is maintained in a project man-
engineering information depends on a few key attri-
agement system which holds for each project the
butes of the Portable Document Format:
main data as well as various related files in differ-
ent formats, e.g. MS Word, MS-Excel.
◼◼ PDF’s rendering model is multiplatform, broad-
It is important for Sika to have access to complete ly implemented and rock-solid. Different vendors
project data outside of the project management can and do achieve identical results while meet-
system. While this is straightforward for the doc- ing engineering requirements for accuracy.
uments file relations require a more powerful for- ◼◼ PDF’s document model (e.g. resources, pages,
mat. The solution is PDF/A-3, which can combine interactive elements, semantics and metadata) is
associated files into an archive-compatible PDF/A likewise broadly understood and appreciated; us-
file. Office files are embedded with an addition- ers know the format is far more than a TIFF image.
al PDF/A rendition. PDF/A-3 creation is integrated ◼◼ PDF’s wide-ranging set of features, from annota-
into automated processes in the project manage- tions to metadata to digital signatures, PDF technol-
ment system, and relies on callas pdfaPilot. ogy integrates a wide variety of functionality directly
callas software (callassoftware.com) into the document format, so they are fully interoper-
able between diverse software applications.

8   PDF Association & 3D PDF Consortium

PDF in Manufacturing

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END

[email protected] | www.callassoftware.com PDF Association & 3D PDF Consortium  9

PDF in Manufacturing

◼◼ PDF’s royalty-free nature is a key enabler of the ford or use full-blown CAD systems. Drawings might
technology. Adobe’s original choice in 1993 to be transferred electronically, then printed locally for
not only publish the PDF specification but allow distribution and by designers and engineers. The
3rd parties to implement it freely allowed devel- challenge remained: how to bring all these annota-
opers worldwide to integrate PDF capabilities tions together; to manage and maintain documents
into their solutions. throughout their entire lifecycle without warehous-
◼◼ A free reader has been a critical element of PDFs es of paper and the accompanying labor costs.
success since Adobe chose to ship Reader for free
a few months after PDF’s initial release. The free When PDF was introduced into manufacturing de-
PDF viewer allowed users everywhere to consume sign and workflow, those creating PDF documents
PDF files, creating the marketplace for Adobe’s originally envisioned that they’d eliminate shipping
(and everyone else’s) software to create, modify, and offload printing costs to their end users.
annotate and digitally-sign PDF documents.
Those accepting PDF documents originally assumed
As manufacturing systems and product designers be- that they would simply print what they received.
gan to invest in digital distribution to share printable
drawings and plans throughout their supply chains it For both creator and consumer, PDF’s accuracy in
became clear that PDF’s impact on compressing doc- reproduction, and the relative speed and cost of
ument distribution time and cost was substantial. email vs. overnight delivery, made digital delivery
for local print a worthy solution in itself.
What else could PDF do?
But PDF offered much more. Users discovered that
Digital distribution & annotation the same software they used to create PDF files (in
In manufacturing, master files are fundamental. Be- the 1990s, this was almost exclusively Adobe’s
fore the digital revolution, maintaining expensive Acrobat) was also capable of adding comments to
drawings required elaborate systems of paper-based PDF pages.
annotations to precious paper master files, then end-
less copying and redistribution of changes. The ability to include comments and other markup
in PDF files enabled an entirely new model for design
Even after the advent of CAD and related design and engineering workflows, in which designers were
software, users could not, in many cases either af- empowered to not only rapidly disseminate their con-

Figure 3: A PDF comment (annotation)

10   PDF Association & 3D PDF Consortium

PDF in Manufacturing

tent, but were could also receive recipients’ feedback ◼◼ Transmitting 3D specifications to subcontractors
and comments using the same low-cost PDF technol- ◼◼ Distributing 3D training content to production
ogy and methods (see Figure 3). line workers
◼◼ Incorporating 3D models into 2D planning or
PDF documents enabled two-way and multi-point ­instructional content
communication. Besides text comments PDF users ◼◼ eCommerce
could add shapes, boxes, arrows, text-corrections ◼◼ AR/VR
and highlighting, and return them to the originator, ◼◼ Geospatial applications
or pass along to others for review.
The future of manufacturing is 3D PDF
2010s: design engineering goes 3D 3D design tools are too heavyweight and cumber-
Driven by the wide range of commercial and open some for the majority of 3D consumers, including
source CAD software and increasingly powerful information consumers in the manufacturing space.
desktop computers, following the 2009 economic PDF offers a complete deliverable package for man-
downturn the the manufacturing sector was charac- ufacturing information that meets users’ needs
terized by wholesale adoption of 3D technology in across a broad spectrum of applications across the
design engineering. product lifecycle, from product and assembly devel-
opment to training and disposal.
Today, 2D drawings have become relegated to high-
ly specific applications and tasks. It’s now common- PDF 2.0 (ISO 32000-2) supports both U3D and PRC
place for complete manufacturing design, speci- 3D formats directly within PDF’s framework for 3D
fication, outsourcing, testing, subassembly, final constructs on PDF pages, while extensions to sup-
assembly, packaging and documentation to be port STEP AP 242 (ISO 10303-242) and glTF data are
scoped, planned, designed and tested within 3D sys- under development.
tems before any physical product is made at all.
PDF isn’t just a container for 2D and 3D informa-
2020s: PDF extends 3D throughout the tion; it’s an archival solution for final-form content.
product lifecycle PDF/A-4, a subset of PDF 2.0 supporting long term
Although 3D technology has fully penetrated design preservation of PDF files, allows 3D content and as-
and manufacturing processes themselves, outside sociated JavaScript, making it a viable solution for
of limited high-value applications, 3D has yet to be archiving manufacturing ­content.
applied elsewhere in the product lifecycle.
Manufacturing is getting smarter, with more au-
This is where PDF, which solved the digital distribu- tomation and streamlining added every day. The
tion of drawings problem in the 1990s and 2000s, re- theory and practice of making things will always
turns to meet current needs for distributing 3D infor- rely on broad teams of designers, modelers, en-
mation beyond CAD users. gineers, marketers, production-line supervisors,
assemblers, line workers, maintenance personnel
By delivering interactive 3D models of arbitrary and decommissioning experts. PDF, and 3D PDF
complexity in a 2D document context with ubiqui- in particular, provides the path forward to a ful-
tous free reader support, product designers and ly-integrated platform of technologies capable of
managers can drive new workflows and innovations meeting every workflow and documentation re-
in a wide variety of contexts, including: quirement.

PDF Association & 3D PDF Consortium  11

PDF in Manufacturing

From drawings to Model Based Definition (MBD)

PDF and drawings critical. Drawings are intended to be read and inter-
Engineers have traditionally used graphic drawing preted by an engineer, so they include engineering
sheets (“drawings”), to fully define a product for en- specific terminology and symbols that identify and
gineering processes such as inspection, manufactur- describe all relevant aspects of an object.
ing and assembly, etc. These drawings are two-di-
mensional representations of three-dimensional PDF is an ideal format for drawings because it can
objects. Additional information about the form, fit accurately represent all the disparate data con-
and function of the object is added to the drawing tained in a drawing. Drawings are typically created
to detail all the product information necessary for a using a CAD system, such as AutoCAD, SolidWorks,
manufacturing process. This information is collec- Sketchup or others.
tively known as Product and Manufacturing Infor-
mation (PMI). Engineers and machinists use the PMI Sharing a drawing either requires the recipient to
associated with an object as a visual map accurately use the original CAD software or for the drawing to
manufacture and inspect an object. be converted to a format suitable for sharing.
Drawings can be shared as “dumb” raster images (a
Drawings are often the final deliverable for many rectangular grid of colored pixels) or as “smart”
engineering processes. They represent a contract vector graphics and text that can be be measured
between design and manufacturing, so accuracy is and searched (see Figure 5).

Figure 4: CAD drawing

12   PDF Association & 3D PDF Consortium

PDF in Manufacturing

Table 1: Software support for 2D and 3D PDF export

PDF Export
Company Software
2D 3D
Anark Anark Core MBEWeb X X
Anark Core Server X X
Anark Core Workstation X X
Aras Aras Innovator Visual Collaboration X X
Autodesk 3ds Max X
AutoCAD X
Fusion 360 X
Inventor X X
Maya X
Revit X
Bentley Systems Microstation X
Bricsys BricsCAD X X
Dassault Systèmes 3D Experience X
CATIA V5-6 X
SOLIDWORKS X X
Datakit CrossCad/Plg X X
CrossCad/Ware X X
CrossManager X X
Elysium ASFALIS X
DirectTranslator X
Data Package Studio X
CADvalidator X
PDQchecker X
Graebert Ares Commander X
ITI, a wipro company CADIQ X X
DEXcenter X X
Nemetscheck Group Allplan X X
Graphisoft X X
Vectorworks X X
PROSTEP PDF Generator 3D X X
PTC Creo X X
OnShape X
Siemens PLM NX X
Solid Edge X X
Tech Soft 3D HOOPS Exchange X X
HOOPS Publish X X
Tetra4D Automate X X
Tetra4D Converter X X
Tetra4D Enrich X X
Theorem Solutions Publish 3D X X
Trimble Sketchup X

PDF can store drawings in either raster or vector for- individual objects, measure curves and distances and
mat. Raster drawings are useful for sharing when perform searches within the drawing.
data security is a concern because they contain no
structure or geometry. Vector drawings are better PDF includes additional features that make it easy
suited for interactive viewing and markup; as they to share CAD drawings in either raster or vector for-
contain actual geometry and text so users can select mats, or even combine them as needed.

PDF Association & 3D PDF Consortium  13

PDF in Manufacturing

use advanced 3D applications to create complex

Vector Raster three-dimensional models that are accurate, com-
plete and unambiguous. These models can be
used directly by CAE (Computer-Aided Engineer-
ing) and CAM (Computer-Aided Manufacturing)
software to precisely analyze and manufacture a
finished part.

Support for complex 3D data was added to PDF

Figure 5: Vector vs raster image 1.6 in 2004 and in the process opened a new way
Hyperlinks and bookmarks can be included for to think about leveraging 3D in engineering docu-
document navigation. Document access can be ments. In the PDF context, 3D models are referred to
controlled using passwords, certificates or dynami- as 3D artwork (ISO 32000:2, 13.6). PDF files contain-
cally using digital rights management (DRM). ing 3D artwork are commonly known as 3D PDF files
Supporting documentation can be attached to a (see Figures 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10). 3D PDF files are pow-
PDF file and the entire contents can be compressed. erful documents that support the following features:
Individual elements of content that cannot be
shared can be redacted. And when you need a paper ◼ 3D artwork is visualized or printed as part of a page
copy, PDF files can be accurately printed as multi- ◼ 3D artwork can be interactive and programmati-
ple-sheet drawings of varying sizes. cally manipulated using JavaScript
◼ 3D artwork can be displayed, or instanced, in
PDF and models multiple places in a document
Manufactured products were originally designed ◼ 2D PDF content such as title block, revision
and drafted using two-dimensional drawing tools. block, list of materials, and other information
Products today are designed using three-dimen- that must be placed on a drawing sheet can be
sional, solid modeling applications. Engineers overlaid on 3D artwork

Figure 6: Paperless Process 3D PDF - courtesy of PROSTEP AG

14   PDF Association & 3D PDF Consortium

PDF in Manufacturing

PDF allows authors to combine dynamic, rich 3D art- The process of creating a 2D drawing from a 3D
work with metadata, text, images, video and forms model is commonly referred to as detailing. De-
in a 3D PDF document. Because they are PDF, 3D tail drawings contain all the information re-
PDF files are compact, secure and easy to share. 3D quired to manufacture the object represented in
PDF documents are completely interactive and can the drawing, including the dimensions, toleranc-
be annotated and measured. This powerful, easy to es, surface finish specifications, material speci-
use format is transforming how we communicate fications required for the current stage of man-
engineering data today. ufacturing. Engineers and machinists use these
drawings as a visual means of defining a prod-
Most 3D CAD applications have some level of sup- uct and how it is manufactured and assembled.
port for creating 3D PDF files. Additionally, there are Many machinists continue to prefer to use a 2D
a number of applications that can create 3D PDF files drawing because:
from the most popular 3D CAD formats without re-
quiring an expensive CAD software license (see Table 1 ◼◼ It is easy to identify the dimensions and
for a list of PDF support in popular applications). ­critical features
◼◼ It is easy to see the machining operations
PDF and product data needed to manufacture the part
While product design has made the transition to ◼◼ Technical drawings often define a legal
3D, manufacturing still relies on 2D drawings to de- ­contract
fine how a product is made. Even though modern
machining systems can use a model’s 3D geometric 3D PDF is the perfect format for sharing 3D models
definition directly there are certain situations where and 2D drawings because models and drawings can
technical drawings are still beneficial: easily be placed together in a single document that
can be securely viewed, marked up and printed. All
◼◼ When a design contains threads these features are supported in a single file that
◼◼ When specific tolerances and dimensions are does not require anything other than a 3D capable
necessary PDF reader for sharing.
◼◼ When surfaces require a specific finish

Figure 7: 3D PDF - courtesy of Theorem Solutions

PDF Association & 3D PDF Consortium  15

PDF in Manufacturing

Applications
Model Based Definition (MBD) Processes such as fabrication, assembly and instal-
/ Drawingless manufacturing lation, quality inspection and in-service support and
With current advances in CAD capabilities, product maintenance require data in the engineering model
definition data previously shown on a drawing sheet and the 3D PDF meets their needs. Some examples:
can now be defined and displayed with a 3D model
using a combination of annotations and views. This ◼◼ A quality inspector will verify that a product con-
allows the 3D model to remain as a master source forms to requirements in the engineering design,
for product definition data and eliminates the need and thus needs access to the 3D shape, toleranc-
for independent drawings. This approach is com- es, process notes or other data from the MBD model
monly referred to as model-based definition (MBD). to perform the inspection. A 3D PDF created from a
MBD CAD model provides this information affordably
In the MBD world, the 3D model comprises the entire to the consumer on a wide variety of platforms.
design and a lightweight 3D PDF exported from the CAD ◼◼ The author of a maintenance instruction needs
system serves the same role as a 2D drawing. Down- to understand the engineering requirements for
stream users of the MBD data need the 3D data but of- assembly when developing the maintenance pro-
ten do not require or want the full capabilities of a CAD cedure documentation. The 3D PDF provides this
system. A lightweight 3D PDF model created from a information with the added benefit that it is in
3D CAD model can support these uses while avoiding a form that may be directly repurposed into the
the cost and complexity of requiring a CAD system. maintenance documents.

Figure 8: 3D PDF Technical Data Package courtesy of Anark

16   PDF Association & 3D PDF Consortium

Case Study: ZEISS PDF in Manufacturing

Using iText to create and archive

ophthalmic reports
As specialists in ophthalmology, microsurgery in 2011, and it is a vital component of the
and other medical growth sectors, ZEISS application’s functionality. FORUM integrates data
manufactures innovative products such as their from both DICOM compliant and non-compliant
range of ZEISS ophthalmology devices. These devices. When a patient undergoes an eye
consist of products and solutions to enable analysis such as a visual field examination or an
efficient diagnosis and treatment of cataracts, angiography, iText is used to format and combine
glaucoma and other retinal disorders. images and other data from the analysis into a PDF
report.
An important focus for ZEISS is the networking
of systems and integrating data management to iText can also combine data from multiple sources
improve medical workflow efficiency. To enable and create custom reports as required. The results
this, ZEISS developed their FORUM family of can then be reviewed by medical professionals,
software applications. FORUM is a scalable and and as reports are produced as PDF/A they can be
flexible data management system that evaluates archived as required by the DICOM regulations.
clinically relevant data from diagnostic devices and
gives direct access to the full examination history PDF/A compliance is a particular strength of iText,
of patients. and it supports all current conformance levels of
the PDF/A specification (PDF/A-1, PDF/A-2, and
iText was chosen as the PDF generation engine for PDF/A-3).
FORUM due to its strong PDF/A capabilities,
a requirement for the DICOM (Digital Imaging and ZEISS recently upgraded to iText 7, taking
Communications in Medicine) standard which advantage of its enhanced features such as the
defines the formats for exchanging medical images. improved document model and layout engine.

Patient diagnosis reports must comply with the “We’re very happy with the PDF/A
DICOM standard to allow them to be shared and functionality provided by iText, and it
archived on a long-term basis. ZEISS has integrated
forms an essential part of our
iText in FORUM since its initial development
DICOM-compliant reporting framework.”
Robert Hien, Lead Software Developer: ZEISS

About iText
iText is a leading technology company in the digital iText has dedicated international teams with offices in
documents space. The company’s flagship product Belgium (Ghent), Singapore, South Korea (Seoul) and in
is an open source software library to create and the USA (Boston).
manipulate PDF documents in Java and .NET (C#).

There are currently millions of iText users, both

open source and commercial. iText’s customers
Get in touch!
(software developers, technology vendors, software www.itextpdf.com
integrators) span the fields of technology, financial, [email protected]
public, government and health care sectors
including many of the Fortune 500 companies.

PDF Association & 3D PDF Consortium  17

PDF in Manufacturing

Compared to traditional drawing based workflows,

MBD reduces time spent on documentation, quality/ CCS
inspection and manufacturing. Because the com- Construction Computer Software (CCS) deliv-
plete product is defined in 3D, the digital definition ers innovative estimating solutions to improve
always matches the visual definition, which is much productivity and visibility across construction
harder to guarentee with drawings. Further, anno- projects. Their Business Challenge: CCS integrat-
tated 3D models are easier to orient and understand ed an add-on to its flagship estimating package
than drawing sheets, reducing the chance for that would let users do quick estimates from
engineering and manufacturing errors. drawings on screen. Initially, CCS went with an
open-source document SDK. But customers up-
Supply Chain Management (SCM) loaded bigger and more complex drawings that
Industries today are more interconnected than ever would crash the viewer or load slowly. Their
via sophisticated global supply chains. Supply chain Solution: In 2018, CCS solved issues with reliabil-
activities include activities from design and procure- ity and UX, and enhanced the competitiveness
ment to installation. Product information is the life- of its flagship software by upgrading to a com-
blood that moves between the various stakehold- mercial-grade PDF SDK.
ers in a supply chain. This information sharing can
PDFTron Systems, Inc. (pdftron.com)
often be a problem as supply chains are fragmented
and data sharing typically involves information from
disparate systems and disciplines. Easy flow of data Having information available as needed is critical for
both inside and between companies is critical to the supply chain. Information sources can be internal or
the success of product development and manufac- external to an organization, saved in different formats
turing. Data sharing often requires users to use the and used on different hardware platforms. Putting that
same software applications or convert their data to information in a single, purpose driven, viewable docu-
a format that can be understood by disparate apps. ment has great benefits. The entire supply chain can ex-

Figure 9: 3D PDF Product Definition – courtesy of Elysium

18   PDF Association & 3D PDF Consortium

PDF in Manufacturing

change and re-use the same product data without loss, Measurement and markup
to increase their efficiency and productivity. PDF supports comments and vector markup of
drawings and models. PDF viewers like Adobe Acro-
PDF’s broad feature-set enables the format’s sup- bat provide tools for measuring 2D drawings and 3D
port for rich, highly-structured data throughout the models. Comments, measurements and markups
supply chain. are saved as annotations that do not affect the un-
derlying data. Named 3D views (which can include
Viewing a specific model orientation, zoom level, lighting,
PDF allows you to view the complex network of ta- rendering mode, etc.) allow users to see a model ex-
bles, images, documents, drawings and models actly the way it was viewed when an annotation was
needed to fully define a product. created.
PDF_in_manuf_final_v2.1.pdf 1 2020-04-06 10:49 AM

Case Study :
Fast & Reliable PDF Rendering for the AEC Software Industry
Construction Computer Software (CCS) delivers innovative estimating solutions empowering
companies to increase productivity and visibility, and manage risk across Architecture,
Engineering, and Construction (AEC) projects

CCS integrated an add-on to its flagship estimating software Candy

QTO3 powered by the PDFTron SDK and that would let users do quick
“ If you’re looking for a PDF reader for the
estimates of materials and labor from construction drawings on screen, first time, you better make sure it can
a process known in the industry as quantity takeoff. read 100% of your PDF files. Because if
your clientbase starts relying on that PDF
Initially, CCS went with an open-source document SDK. But due to reader, exactly what happened to us, they
rapid innovation in CAD and BIM software, customers started to still want the absolute best quality. With
upload bigger and more complex drawings that would crash the viewer PDFTron, I absolutely feel we’re in a
or load very slowly due to application memory issues. better position to handle all our present
and future PDF requirements.
In 2018, CCS sought an upgrade that would solve issues with reliability ”
and the UX. And after carefully evaluating PDF SDK vendors, it chose Tony Cornwall
PDFTron SDK for its unsurpassed memory efficiency and reliability, CCS Product & Development Manager
accurate rendering, and full-featured cross-platform offerings.

Business Challenges

Industry evolving towards bigger and more complex drawings

Slow performance and crashes causing user dissatisfaction

Business Outcomes
Learn more about how we solve
Improved load times and eliminated crashes customer challenges by visiting
Increased competitiveness of CCS’s flagship estimating package pdftron.com/customers
PDF Association & 3D PDF Consortium  19
PDF in Manufacturing

Associated files Architectural Design Review

Any necessary data file can be attached to a PDF The construction industry is achieving digitalization
file, making a complete Technical Data Package through a process known as Building Information
(TDP). This enables a PDF file to contain all the Modeling (BIM). The BIM process is centered around
data needed for the recipient to perform a process a 3D model of the structure, including all the sup-
or procedure. porting information necessary to support a facility
throughout its lifecycle. This is similar to the move
Metadata to MBD in the manufacturing industry.
Product information data can be easily added as
metadata to a PDF file. The metadata can be visual- Modern facilities are designed and documented using
ized, saved to an XML file, or processed by an appli- BIM. All the facility definition data is captured in BIM.
cation. Including metadata in PDF files can enable Because BIM is built around a 3D model, facilities can
substantial automation in workflows. be visualized and analyzed at each stage of their lifecy-
cle, from planning to design to building to operating.
Signing and security
Design and manufacturing data are intellectual prop- All architecture projects involve multiple stakehold-
erty and should always be protected. PDF has several ers from different organizations. PDF provides a
security features including access control, digital sig- common, interoperable format that works well with
natures, password protection and encryption. all the various data sources and processes.

20   PDF Association & 3D PDF Consortium

PDF in Manufacturing

PDF files can contain complex architectural, engi- tated, or marked up, without changing the orig-
neering and construction (AEC) component models inal model or drawing data. Because PDF saves
and drawings that can be viewed and understood by camera information with annotations, anyone
all stakeholders, including those that may not have reviewing product manufacturing information
AEC backgrounds. PDF’s ability to contain diverse from the authoritative MBD CAD model sees the
data types enables it to capture the architectural, same scene as the creator of the annotation.
structural and mechanical, electrical and plumbing This capability provides a powerful collaboration
(MEP) features that are required to define a facility tool for use in all phases of building construc-
throughout its lifecycle. tion. Accordingly, PDF technology can be used
for documenting design changes, spatial plan-
Once project data is stored in a PDF file, it can ning, approval/sign off and recording of as-built
be electronically distributed, viewed and anno- structures.

PDF Association & 3D PDF Consortium  21

PDF in Manufacturing

Key industry segments

Architecture, Engineering and Aerospace
Construction (AEC)
The aerospace industry is one of the largest and
The AEC industry tackles some of the most com- most demanding industries in the world today.
plex and difficult engineering and construction Planes, helicopters, rockets, etc. have thousands of
problems in the world. such as skyscrapers, nuclear parts that need to be managed in a highly regulat-
plants and harbors can be exceptionally large and ed environment. Manufacturing of all these parts re-
complex. There are many stages in the lifecycle of a quires one of the worlds largest supply chains. For
building project, from plan, to design, build, operate this supply chain to be efficient, data has to be safe,
and finally deconstruction. There are typically one reliable and easy to use. This is an area where 3D
or more owner/operators and many different com- PDF can be a real solution today.
panies/contractors working on a project. With so
many moving parts, efficient and accurate commu- The aerospace industry is always looking for ways
nication is critical. to reduce costs and improve efficiency. As a result,
they have been one of the early industry adopters
PDF is a common and accepted format in AEC. of MBD. Today, most aerospace companies design
Drawings are most commonly saved in the PDF their parts using 3D MBD. When it comes time to re-
format and these PDF files are then used in every lease those parts to the supply chain, the most effi-
stage of the design and construction process. Be- cient way is to release those parts in a format that
cause PDF is portable, it can be used at the office, can be used to store and view 3D data (solid mod-
factory or jobsite, even in remote locations that
don’t have internet access. PDF files can be used
by anyone, without requiring expensive CAD soft-
ware and training.
Landing gear kinematics
Collins Aerospace Landing Systems need to pres-
ent Landing Gear Design Concepts to colleagues
The worldwide AEC industry is moving to BIM as
and customers. The concepts are modeled as
a way to capture intelligent 3D design and build
CATIA PLM kinematic mechanisms to prove the
it in smarter, more efficient ways. Using 3D mod-
geometry and calculate loads during motion. Pre-
els means that accurate information is available at
viously the designs were exported as large movie
each stage of the building process. Accurate infor-
files and had limited use.
mation saves time, effort and materials. Efficiencies
achieved using BIM provide the means to keep up Solution: Design engineers now prefer 3D PDF for
with an increasingly demanding world. sequence animations of moving mechanisms or
fly-throughs. The compact PRC file size where
3D PDF is a great format for BIM. It can be used to a model can be rotated, certain parts isolated in
collect drawings, 3D models and other documents the mechanism, while playing its range of motion
into a portable, viewable file format. PDF is easily has been game changer. Adding measurements
shared and marked up, making it ideal for many dif- on animation frames easily shows data tied to the
ferent construction workflows such as design and mechanism’s movement.
submittal reviews, requests for information (RFI), PDF3D (pdf3d.com)
quality control (QC) and design handover.

22   PDF Association & 3D PDF Consortium

PDF in Manufacturing

els, PMI, views, etc.) as well as all of the business/­

product data associated with a part. PDF is one of 3D PDF libraries
the few formats that can do all of that. 3D PDF is increasingly being used to share
CAD design information among top manufac-
PDF is also commonly used in aerospace for work turing companies around the globe. Software
instructions and service support documents. These developers like Anark and Theorem help us-
types of documents often include: ers leverage the power of 3D PDF to share data
rich, 3D annotated models (MBD) via techni-
◼◼ Task instructions and sequences cal data packages (TDPs). There are a variety
◼◼ Dimensions, tolerances, surface finish of tools to help software developers create
◼◼ Notes 3D PDF documents. How can companies like
◼◼ Specifications Anark and Theorem be guaranteed that their
◼◼ Photos PDF files are 100% compatible with Adobe
◼◼ Drawings Reader?
◼◼ Models
Solution: Tech Soft 3D is the exclusive provider
◼◼ Video / Audio / Animation
of the 3D PDF Libraries developed by Adobe.
◼◼ Weld symbols
Tech Soft 3D (techsoft3d.com)

Enable your application to publish rich

3D data for almost any workflow including
interoperability, archiving, smart reports,
visualization, and collaboration with
Tech Soft 3D’s HOOPS Publish toolkit.

PDF Association & 3D PDF Consortium  23

PDF in Manufacturing

Again, PDF can contain all of this information in a management of the DoD supply chain is critical
secure, easily shared document. for supporting armed forces while helping to en-
sure that the DoD spends taxpayer money effec-
Some of the new work being done in PDF stan- tively.
dards will also benefit the aerospace industry. For
example, the upcoming PDF/A-4 standard will in- The DoD developed the MIL-STD-31000B standard
clude a conformance class that allows 3D data in a to help standardize the distribution of manufactur-
PDF/A-4 file. A forthcoming Technical Specification ing data, including requirements for a technical data
under development that will add STEP AP 242 (ISO package (TDP). A TDP is defined as “the authorita-
10303-242) as an approved format for 3D data in a tive technical description of an item. This technical
PDF file. This will enable MBD data to be archived description supports the acquisition, production,
in a viewable, self-contained and self-described inspection, engineering, and logistics support of the
digital container. item.

Defense The TDP defines the required design configuration

The largest purchasers of aerospace products and/or performance requirements, and procedures
are the defense departments of the worlds gov- required to ensure adequacy of item performance.
ernments. In the U.S.A., the Department of De- ­It consists of applicable technical data such as
fense (DoD) manages the acquisition and man- models, engineering design data, associated lists,
ufacturing of millions of military items. Efficient specifications, standards, performance require-
ments, quality assurance provisions, software doc-
umentation and packaging details.
Spare parts catalogs
Finding the right spare or wear parts in a Technical Data Packages can either include draw-
maintenance manual is time-consuming ings (2D), models (3D) or both. The most recent
and prone to errors. Digital spare parts pro- version of the standard, MIL-STD-31000B, is ori-
visioning makes maintenance technicians’ ented towards using model based definition and
work easier and provides companies with is even published as a 3D PDF file. TDP files that
an incentive for ordering spare parts directly conform with the standard can include, but are not
from the manufacturer of their machines or limited to:
­systems.
◼◼ Models
The 3D PDF solution from PROSTEP makes it ◼◼ Drawings
possible for manufacturers to automatical- ◼◼ Associated Lists
ly create electronic spare parts catalogs that ◼◼ Specifications
contain all the information relevant to ser- ◼◼ Associated Standards
vice regardless of the system in which this in- ◼◼ Quality Assurance Provisions
formation is stored. The solution also allows ◼◼ Software Documentation
their customers to place their orders for parts ◼◼ Packaging Details
from directly within the catalog.
PROSTEP AG (3dpdf.com) MIL-STD-31000B is used by the US Defense Lo-
gistics Agency (DLA) to specify TDPs used in the
management of the global supply chain for the US

24   PDF Association & 3D PDF Consortium

PDF in Manufacturing

Army, M
­ arine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force ing. The first industrial revolution started in 1760
and Coast Guard. The DLA sends MIL-STD-31000B with the introduction of mechanization through
TDPs to suppliers when they contract to acquire water and steam power. The second industrial rev-
parts. Using 3D PDF files provides the DLA and olution in the late 1800’s used electricity to create
their suppliers the ability to easily view their de- mass production and assembly lines. The third in-
sign and manufacturing information, including dustrial revolution saw the digitalization of manu-
PMI. Attaching a fully validated STEP file to the facturing in the late 20th century. In 2020 we stand
fully-validated 3D PDF file provides a full digital at the beginning of the fourth industrial revolu-
and visual product definition that can be used to tion where manufacturing is evolving to smart and
create machine code for automated manufactur- autonomous systems driven by data and machine
ing. Using PDF for procurement has allowed both learning.
the DLA and their suppliers to access, review and
share 3D technical data without the need for large Industry 4.0 combines digital and physical tech-
investments in CAD software and associated train- nologies such as additive manufacturing, robot-
ing programs. ics and artificial intelligence to create intelligent
automated systems. Products are digitally mod-
Manufacturing eled in 3D and reused in each step of the manu-
Manufacturing is in the midst of a digital transfor- facturing process. The model is modified along
mation commonly referred to as “Industry 4.0”, the way to always accurately represent the state
representing the fourth revolution in manufactur- of the physical product. Machines can evalu-

NAVAIR
Case: U.S. Department of Defense Program Offices such as Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR)
H-53 Heavy Lift Helicopters are transitioning to Model Based Enterprise (MBE) processes which re-
quires modern approaches to receiving, generating and validating Technical Data Packages (TDPs).
These standards-based 3D TDPs are less expensive to manage and more effective than traditional 2D
drawings or proprietary formats. Additionally, the Defense Logistics Agency that manages program
data for future provisioning and sustainment needs requires standard formats to ensure long term
accessibility.

Solution: Anark Corporation was a key participant in a Naval Shipbuilding Advanced Manufacturing
Center project to develop an automated system for the creation and validation of TDPs. These ISO
standard 3D PDFs adhere to MIL-STD-31000B, and provide detailed engineering and manufacturing
information for effective model-based collaboration.

Significant cost savings were attributed to diminished reverse engineering and reworkas well as con-
sistent TDP creation resulting in fewer errors and improved requirements communications. This
Anark Core-enabled approach is being applied to other DoD programs in addition to non-defense cli-
ents with similar benefits.
Anark Corporation (anark.com)

PDF Association & 3D PDF Consortium  25

PDF in Manufacturing

ate the digital model in order to make more in-

formed decisions during each stage of the man- Aerospace assurance
ufacturing process to produce higher quality and Modifications to aircraft parts require a rigid de-
better performing end products. sign, manufacturing and quality assurance pro-
cess. Every process step leads to a dedicated ap-
The digital transformation of manufacturing does proval process which is still often paper-based,
not happen by just implementing new technolo- with stamps or wet ink signatures.Such approval
gies and letting them run. Real digital transforma- processes can involve multiple signees at vari-
tion touches many parts of an organization, ous sites. Additionally, the quality of the signa-
including strategy, talent and processes. It pro- ture needs to comply with regulatory require-
vides the capability to have the right information ments specifying a high degree of assurance.
available to the right people at the right time. PDF
is the perfect format for delivering that critical Solution: With Sign Live! Cloud suite, Intarsys

information. PDF can collect data from multiple, gears a component based solution for pure web-

disparate 2D and 3D sources and assemble that based signing with the highest assurance lev-

data into a document that can be used by both el (qualified electronic signature) available for

humans and machines. PDF files designed for workstations (Windows, Linux or macOS) or mo-

custom manufacturing systems can still be easily bile devices (IOS, Android). The unique feature of

shared and viewed using ubiquitous, free soft- this cloud signature solution is that the typically

ware anywhere it is needed: land, sea, sky or highly confidential documents to be signed never

space. leave the company’s private cloud infrastructure.

Intarsys (intarsys.de)

Figure 10: 3D PDF Technical Data Package - courtesy of Tetra4D

26   PDF Association & 3D PDF Consortium

PDF in Manufacturing

PDF features, a glossary

PDF includes a vast array of features, many of which 1:1 scale drawings of large structures such as aircraft
we take for granted: reliable printing, text-extraction and buildings.
and other “everyday” PDF capabilities. However,
PDF also includes specific capabilities of interest to Suitability: Not all PDF processors support the
the manufacturing community. This glossary pro- PrintScaling feature, but mainstream desktop soft-
vides a brief introduction and reference for technical ware does.
investigation.
Applications
Print scaling control ◼◼ Physical systems documentation
Defined in: ISO 32000-2, 12.2 “Viewer preferences” ◼◼ Reprographics
When added to PDF: PDF 1.6 (2004)
Description: The PrintScaling feature allows an au- 3D PDF support
thor to ensure that a drawing or document will print Defined in: ISO 32000-2, 13.6 “3D Artwork”
at full size. When added to PDF: PDF 1.6 (2004)
Description: In the PDF context, 3D models as used
PDF delivers pixel-accuracy irrespective of operat- by CAD software are referred to as “3D artwork”. PDF’s
ing system or application, and even makes possible support for 3D artwork includes the following features:

PDF Association & 3D PDF Consortium  27

PDF in Manufacturing

◼◼ 3D artwork renders within a page; that is, not as Suitability: At the time of this writing complete 3D
a separate window or user interface element. PDF viewing including JavaScript is primarily sup-
◼◼ Views of 3D artwork may be specified, including ported in Adobe’s PDF Reader for Windows and Mac.
a default for initial display, and other selectable
Applications
views may be presented in and printed from a
◼◼ Design and development
user interface.
◼◼ Communications with subcontractors and sup-
◼◼ Authors of 3D artwork can specify rendering, col-
pliers
oring lighting and cross-sectioning as well as ap-
◼◼ Product, tooling and facility design
ply states to individual elements in the 3D art-
work, such as visibility, opacity, position, or
Annotations
orientation.
Defined in: ISO 32000-2, 12.5 “Annotations”
◼◼ If the viewer includes 3D PDF JavaScript support,
First added to PDF: PDF 1.0 (1993)
users can manipulate objects in the artwork, cre-
Description: The annotation mechanism associates
ating dynamic presentations in which objects pan,
an object such as a note, link, a comment or a 3D
zoom, rotate, appear, and disappear, allowing us-
object or movie, with a location on a PDF page. An-
ers to examine complex objects from any angle,
notations generally provide a means of interaction,
orientation or context, including keyframe anima-
e.g., text-entry, clicking a button or highlighting text.
tions played in specific styles and timescales.
◼◼ Conventional (2D) PDF markup annotations may When first introduced in 1993, only two annotation
be applied to specific views of the 3D artwork. types – text and link – were supported. PDF 2.0, pub-
lished in 2017, defined 28 distinct types of annota-
tions including 3D, RichMedia and Polygon, many

3D maintenance manuals with direct applications in manufacturing.

Breton is a leading supplier of stone process- Many of the standard annotation types may be dis-
ing systems at a global level. Their machines are played in an open or closed state. When closed,
accompanied by thousands of multilingual use they appear on the page: an icon, a box, or a rub-
and maintenance manuals, whose production ber stamp, depending on annotation type. When the
and distribution is a long, challenging process. user interacts with the annotation it exhibits its as-
sociated object, such as by opening a small popup
Solution: Breton was looking for an all-digital pro-
window displaying a text note, or by activating 3D
cess compliant with regulatory requisites gov-
controls, or by allowing the user to add a reply to an
erning the safety and usability of contents, and
existing note.
chose the ECM MobileReplica® for the DocMobile
suite installed in all the systems. All the manuals Suitability: PDF annotations are well-supported
are filed as PDF/A-3, ensuring they can be opened most PDF viewers, even if creation or editing tools
and printed over time, and can include addition- aren’t provided. It’s often possible to add basic an-
al content such as 3D geometries, multimedia notations using free viewers.
files and metadata. The ECM uses semantic anal-
Applications
ysis and deep learning to create powerful search
◼◼ 3D content and rich media content (audio / video)
indexes, offering users quick access to contents
◼◼ Text, drawing and redaction markup
from consoles, tablets and PDAs.
◼◼ Collaboration and interchange
GEAR.it s.r.l. (gear.it/mr)

28   PDF Association & 3D PDF Consortium

PDF in Manufacturing

Associated files Digital Signatures

Defined in: ISO 32000-2, 14.13 Defined in: ISO 32000-2, 12.8 “Digital signatures”
When added to PDF: PDF 2.0 (2017) When added to PDF: PDF 1.3 (2000)
Description: The associated files mechanism is a Description: Digital signatures are useful in verify-
means of a) associating content in other formats ing a document’s integrity by leveraging verification
with objects in a PDF document, and b) identifying information generated by a signer. The signature
the relationship between the PDF document and may be mathematical or biometric in nature, includ-
the associated objects. A wide variety of PDF objects ing a handwritten signature, fingerprint, or retinal
may be associated, including the PDF file itself, or scan. The method of authentication is implemented
specific pages, graphics objects, structure elements by a signature handler.
(tags) or annotations, including 3D annotations.
Digital signature support in PDF enables several
Suitability: PDF 2.0 or PDF/A-3 software is required types of activities:
to fully leverage the associated files mechanism.
◼◼ adding one or more digital signatures to a
Applications ­document
◼◼ Drive workflow processes ◼◼ verifying the validity of a previously-signed
◼◼ Facilitate indexing, search, data mining, ex- ­document
traction and archiving ◼◼ Tamper-proofing
◼◼ Facilitate content reuse

Digital Signature and PDF

Sign Live! cloud suite gears

ETSI and eIDAS compliant electronic signing Highly scalable architecture

of PDF and PDF/A documents (CAdES, XAdES, Documents to be signed never leave your
PAdES and DTS) company realm
Longterm validation profile (LTV, Evidence Powerful Web service API for easy integration
Records) with business applications
Pure web-based solution (zero installation)
Support for smartcards, HSMs and remote
signature services
Support of Cloud Signature Consortium API PDF Association & 3D PDF Consortium  29
www.intarsys.de
Founding member of Cloud Signature Consortium
PDF in Manufacturing

Suitability: Digital signatures are supported on sev-

eral mainstream desktop applications. Digital signatures
Applications The Smart Certificate 2.0 platform developed by

◼◼ Sign-offs CVTrust utilizes iText’s advanced PDF technology

◼◼ Authoritative logging transmission or receipt of to integrate blockchain-verified digital signatures

documents, drawings, etc. into documents. It enables their users to check

◼◼ Records management documents in a click or via QR codes to verify the

information is certified and can be trusted.

Encryption Solution: Offering a safe and secure way to au-

Defined in: ISO 32000-2, 7.6 “Encryption” thenticate documents, digital signatures can be
When added to PDF: PDF 1.1 (1994) essential for manufacturing contracts, invoic-
Description: A PDF document can be encrypted to es, NDAs etc. iText 7 enables mass generation of
protect its contents from unauthorised access. The PDF documents and handles the addition and
PDF specification provides a number of options for appearance of digital signatures inside the PDF.
the encryption handler to cover a range of back- With PDFs digitally signed with iText, it’s a cinch
wards-compatibility scenarios and other options. to share certified and trusted documents with the
Encryption can be managed via passwords or certif- people that need them, wherever they might be.
icates.
iText Group (itextpdf.com)
Suitability: Most PDF processors support PDF en-
cryption with at least older key specifications such
as AES 128-bit. PDF 2.0 processors support AES 256 Applications
bit encryption. ◼◼ Supplemental (including source file) delivery
◼◼ Machine-readable delivery
Applications
◼◼ Case files (collations of arbitrary content)
◼◼ Distribution of sensitive content
◼◼ Distribution of secured content within an “unen-
Forms
crypted wrapper”
Defined in: ISO 32000-2, 12.7 “Forms”
When added to PDF: PDF 1.2 (1996)
Embedded files
Description: In PDF, an interactive form is a col-
Defined in: PDF 2.0, 7.11.4 “Embedded file streams”
lection of fields and controls across one or more
When added to PDF: PDF 1.3 (2000)
pages that allow for gathering information from
Description: This feature allows arbitrary files to be
users and importing or exporting data from the
embedded directly within the body of the PDF file,
document. PDF forms are often augmented with
turning the PDF file into a self-contained unit that
JavaScript to validate user data, perform calcu-
can be stored or shared as a single entity.
lations, show or hide individual fields or buttons,
Suitability: Although inappropriate for delivery and more.
of executable content, embedding files of various
Suitability: Although PDF forms themselves are
types in “container” PDF documents is a common
generally supported in most desktop and server ap-
modality for retaining 3D and other content (Ex-
plications, support for PDF’s JavaScript capabilities
cel spreadsheets, movies, subassembly documen-
is less widespread.
tation, etc.) within a single PDF for use in a wide
­variety of manufacturing workflows.

30   PDF Association & 3D PDF Consortium

PDF in Manufacturing

Applications Description: After 14 years of development

◼ ◼ Collecting inputs from end users as a proprietary format, Adobe turned the
◼ ◼ Transacting data with remote servers “PDF Reference 1.7” over to ISO in 2007. This docu-
◼ ◼ Interactive visual effects on PDF pages ment, adapted to meet ISO’s requirements, became
ISO 32000-1 in 2008.
ISO-standardized PDF
The process was smoothed by the fact that ISO stan-
As of 2020 ISO standards for PDF technology in-
dardization for PDF-based technology began almost
clude:
10 years earlier with PDF/X and then PDF/A.
Table 2: PDF Standards
Why do ISO standards matter?
Standard Common name
An open, democratically-managed standard elim-
ISO 32000 “the PDF specification”
inates vendor control and lock-in, ensuring an
ISO 19005 PDF/A “archival”
ISO 14289 PDF/UA “universally accessible” equal playing-field and a healthy ecosystem of
ISO 15930 PDF/X “exchange” for prepress developers providing support to end users. ISO
ISO 16612 PDF/VT “variable and transactional” standardized technology is completely open and
ISO 24517 PDF/E “engineering” royalty-free; anyone can use the specification to
ISO 23504 PDF/R “raster” develop PDF software.

F
PD

PDF Association & 3D PDF Consortium  31

PDF in Manufacturing

JavaScript Applications
Defined in: ISO 32000-2, 12.6.4.17 “ECMAScript ◼◼ CAD drawings (e.g., to separate structure, plumb-
Actions” ing, electrical and other systems)
First added to PDF: PDF 1.3 (1998) ◼◼ Layered artwork
Description: JavaScript actions provides a wide ◼◼ Maps
range of programmable interactive features in the ◼◼ Multilingual content
PDF context, including the ability to execute com-
mands to change the PDF file’s contents, fill, pro- Outlines
cess and submit forms data, and manipulate 3D Defined in: ISO 32000-2, 12.3.3 “Document outline”
models. When added to PDF: PDF 1.0 (1993)
Description: Outlines allow the user to navigate in-
Suitability: The vast majority of PDF documents
teractively around the document as well as perform
and drawings do not require JavaScript, but many
other actions. A hierarchy of outline items (common-
interactive PDF forms and 100% of 3D PDF doc-
ly known as “bookmarks”) serve as a visual table of
uments require not only JavaScript support, but
contents representing the document’s structure.
support specifically for 3D PDF Java­Script.
The user may interact with individual items to dis-
Although a key technology for websites and appli-
play or hide its immediate children in the hierarchy,
cations in every sector, using JavaScript always re-
or activate the item, causing the viewer to display
quires attention to security; JavaScript in PDF is no
the destination or trigger the action.
exception. Most PDF viewers, if they support PDF
JavaScript, ensure that questionable actions, such Suitability: Although outlines are well-support-
as external calls or attempts to access local files, ed on the desktop and mobile devices many web
should be approved by the end user. browsers continue to ignore this feature.

Applications Applications
◼◼ Manipulation and interchange of 3D models ◼◼ Intra-document navigation
◼◼ Operating interactive content (buttons, anno- ◼◼ Launching actions (show/hide annotations,
tations and form controls) launch URL, etc.)
◼◼ Executing business logic (e.g., show or hide an
area of a form) PDF/A (archive)
◼◼ Calculation and input validation Defined in: The ISO 19005 family of specifications
When published:
Optional content ◼◼ ISO 19005-1, 2005
Defined in: ISO 32000-2, 8.11 “Optional content” ◼◼ ISO 19005-2, 2011
When added to PDF: PDF 1.5 (2003) ◼◼ ISO 19005-3, 2012
Description: Authors can configure optional con- ◼◼ ISO 19005-4, 2020 / 2021
tent groups (OCGs) to label and control the visibil-
Description: Archives of PDF documents must re-
ity of sections of content in a PDF document.
main useable across multiple generations of tech-
Suitability: The optional content feature is often nology. The inclusive, feature-rich nature of PDF im-
identified as “layers” in the desktop applications plies that some constraints are necessary to ensure
that support this feature. suitability for long-term preservation. Future use de-
pends upon maintaining their visual appearance as

32   PDF Association & 3D PDF Consortium

PDF in Manufacturing

well as their higher-order properties, such as the log- PDF/UA

ical organization of pages, sections, and paragraphs, Defined in: ISO 14289-1
a machine recoverable text stream in natural reading When published: 2014
order, and a variety of administrative, preservation Description: PDF/UA is a subset of ISO 32000 de-
and descriptive metadata. fining how to represent PDF documents in a man-
ner that allows the file to be accessible to users with
PDF/A defines constraints on PDF required to meet
abilities. PDF/UA leverages tagged PDF (see below).
these objectives. The various parts of PDF/A provide
distinctive functionality: Suitability: PDF/UA is supported by a range of PDF
creation and accessibility remediation software.
Table 3: PDF archival standards
Applications
Standard Purpose ◼◼ Document accessibility and reuse
PDF/A-1 primarily intended for scanned docu-
ments, based on PDF 1.4
PDF/A-2 supports transparency effects, ­based on
PDF/X
ISO 32000-1 Defined in: The ISO 15030 family of specifications
PDF/A-3 adds the ­ability to embed arbitrary files When published: 2001 (PDF/X-1a) – 2008 (PDF/X-5)
PDF/A-4 based on PDF 2.0 (ISO 32000-2), ­includes Description: The oldest ISO-standardized PDF sub-
support for 3D content and JavaScript
set. PDF/X facilitates the exchange of graphics, in-
Suitability: PDF/A-1, -2 or -3 are great choices for cluding various requirements specific to high-end
long-term preservation of 2D content. PDF/A-4 is ide- printing environments common to manufactured
al for engineering and manufacturing applications products.
requiring an archival format.
The latest version, PDF/X-6, is due to be published in
Applications 2020 or early 2021.
◼◼ Highest degree of reliability
Suitability: PDF/X is supported in the printing
◼◼ Long-term preservation
­industry worldwide.

PDF/E (engineering) Applications

Defined in: ISO 24517-1 ◼◼ High end printing applications
When published: 2008
Description: PDF/E is a subset of PDF based on
Adobe’s PDF 1.6, and is designed to be an open ex-
change format for engineering and technical doc-
umentation. It defines core features of a format for
the creation of documents used in geospatial, con-
struction and manufacturing workflows. The spec-
ification also supports interactive media, including
animation and 3D.

Suitability: PDF/E-1’s uptake was limited; the speci-

fication is made obsolete by PDF/A-4.

Applications
◼◼ Distribution of technical documents

PDF Association & 3D PDF Consortium  33

PDF in Manufacturing

Product Representation Compact (PRC) STEP

Defined in: ISO 14739-1 Defined in: ISO 10303-21
When published: 2014 When published: ISO 10303-242, 2014
Description: PRC is one of two 3D formats (the other Description: The ISO 10303 standards are collec-
is U3D) native to PDF 2.0 (ISO 32000-2). It is an accu- tively known as STEP. Shared definitions are defined
rate, highly compressible format optimized to sup- in the lower numbered series (10303-21, 10303-27,
port different representations of a 3D CAD model. etc.) and are collected and extended in function-
al groups known as “Application Protocols” (APs).
PRC was developed from inception as a file format
For example, the STEP standard used in MBD, ISO
capable of representing 3D model data from all of
10303-242, “Managed model based 3D engineering”,
the popular CAD authoring applications. PRC data
is commonly referred to as STEP AP 242.
files contain product structure data and can op-
tionally contain precise 3D geometry, visualization, STEP provides a mechanism to describe product
metadata and Product Manufacturing Information data throughout the product’s life cycle in a sys-
(PMI). 3D models can be stored within PDF as accu- tem-independent fashion, including a basis for shar-
rate BREP geometry, tessellated data or both. Be- ing product databases. The STEP standards are un-
cause of this, PRC models can be both visualized by der continuous review and development to ensure
people and exported from a PDF for use in CAD, CAM compatibility with modern technologies.
and CAE systems.
Usage is broadly distributed, as the model address-
Suitability: PRC is the best format to use for repre- es most domains relevant to 3D applications in
senting three dimensional technical data in a PDF manufacturing, including mechanical and electri-
document. It offers the following advantages over cal design and analysis of geometry, dimensions
U3D: and tolerances. STEP files can include domain-spe-
cific data types to support specific industries such
◼◼ Data structures for CAD data including assem-
as aerospace, automotive, heavy engineering, con-
blies, precise geometry, tessellation, PMI, text,
struction, energy, healthcare and more.
annotations, etc. U3D is limited to mesh data.
◼◼ Better compression than U3D. Suitability: Support for including STEP AP 242 in PDF
◼◼ International standard (ISO 14739) 2.0 is currently under development as ISO TS 24064.

Applications Applications
PRC is well suited for communicating technical data ◼◼ Model Based Definition (MBD)
for most general ­engineering processes including: ◼◼ Smart Manufacturing
◼◼ Supply Chain Integration
◼◼ Reporting
◼◼ Engineering Data Exchange
◼◼ Design review
◼◼ Long Term Archiving (LTA)
◼◼ Quality planning and reports
◼◼ CAE reports
Tagged PDF
◼◼ Supply chain collaboration
Defined in: ISO 32000-2, 14.8 “Tagged PDF”
◼◼ Training
First added to PDF: PDF 1.4 (2000)
◼◼ Archiving
Description: Tagged PDF is a stylised use of PDF
that uses a set of standard structure types and at-
tributes to add semantic markup to page content

34   PDF Association & 3D PDF Consortium

PDF in Manufacturing

(text, graphics, images, annotations and form fields) XMP (eXtensible Metadata Platform)
for extraction and reuse for other purposes. Defined in:ö ISO 32000-2, 14.3 “Metadata”
When added to PDF: PDF 1.4 (2000)
Suitability: Developed in part to support accessibil-
Description: PDF’s document information dictionar-
ity requirements for users with disabilities, tagged
ies provided the means of including metadata such
PDF is appropriate for workflows that require repur-
as document title, author, and creation and modi-
posing of PDF content.
fication dates in PDF files since the first days of the
Applications format. Starting with PDF 1.4 PDF files could include
Tagged PDF can be leveraged in manufacturing in XML-based metadata streams at both the document
the following ways: and object levels using the eXtensible Metadata
Platform, or XMP.
◼◼ Indexing, search and data-mining systems
◼◼ Semantic grouping of distributed content XMP provides a rich, machine-readable mechanism
◼◼ Enabling document reflow for use on mobile devices for metadata in the PDF document context. XMP al-
◼◼ Enabling accessible documentation for employ- lows a document’s title to be stored in more than
ees and end users one language, or allows a document’s authors to be
represented as a list. XMP is also extensible, allow-
U3D ing for the use of
Defined in: ECMA-363
Suitability: XMP is commonly supported by both
When published: 2006
PDF writers and processors.
Description: No longer in active development, the
Universal 3D File Format, or U3D, is a compressed Applications
binary 3D file format that can be embedded in PDF ◼◼ Identification, categorization and association
documents beginning with PDF 1.7 (ISO 32000-1).
U3D and PRC together represent the historical foun-
dation of 3D interactive data in the PDF context.
U3D was designed as a general-purpose visualiza-
tion format with features such as key-frame ani-
mation. The format is optimized to store triangle
meshes, lines and points with hierarchical structure,
metadata, color and texture.

Suitability: Unlike PRC, U3D lacks the CAD spe-

cific data structures for geometry, topology, text
and PMI. In PDF, U3D is best suited to animation in
3D PDF.

Applications
◼◼ Technical publications
◼◼ Marketing Materials

PDF Association & 3D PDF Consortium  35

PDF in Manufacturing

Example 3D PDF files

This PDF includes a variety of 3D PDF examples pro- ◼◼ Anark: “NAVAIR Hydraulic Manifold Additive
vided by sponsors. Manufacturing 3D PDF TDP.pdf”
◼◼ PROSTEP: “Paperless_Process.pdf”
You’ll need a PDF viewer capable of displaying the ◼◼ Tetra4D: “TDP_Creo_2020.pdf”
attachments panel in order to access these files. ◼◼ Tech Soft 3D: “Hammer_Drill_N327.pdf”

If your PDF viewer supports attachments, click here to display attachments.

Click here to return to the bookmarks panel.

About the PDF Association & 3D PDF Consortium

About the PDF Association About 3D PDF Consortium

With staff in Europe, the US and Australia the PDF The 3D PDF Consortium is a non-profit, corporate
Association is a non-profit international collabora- membership organization comprised of end-user
tion of member organizations and individuals ac- companies, independent software vendors (ISVs),
tively learning from and supporting each other in and systems integrators (SIs) who are committed to
the development, promotion and use of ISO-stan- driving the adoption of 3D PDF-enabled solutions
dardized PDF technology. for the communication of complex 3D data.
pdfa.org 3dpdfconsortium.org

36   PDF Association & 3D PDF Consortium

PDF in Manufacturing

Supporters of PDF in Manufacturing

Anark pose PDF files for print production and electronic
publishing. Businesses and government agencies all

ANARK
®
over the world rely on callas pdfaPilot future-proof,
fully PDF/A compliant archiving. Software vendors
Anark is a leading provider of intelligent information such as Adobe, Quark, Xerox and many others have
management (IIM) software and solutions for tech- understood the quality and flexibility provided by
nical industry. Anark Core transforms technical data these callas tools and have incorporated them into
into use-case-specific content, offering managed ac- their solutions.
cess and visual collaboration from nearly any device, callassoftware.com
with modern digital workflows — yielding faster iter-
ations, reduced material waste, and higher-quality
products and services with substantial cost savings. GEAR.it

Anark serves companies in aerospace, automotive,

energy, high-tech, transportation, marine, and med-
ical equipment, with a worldwide network of tech- GEAR.it was founded in Italy in 2003, based on a
nology and implementation partners. Anark helps project by people accustomed to applying creativity
market leaders such as GE, Boeing, Lockheed Mar- and imagination to software design and dedication
tin, Allison Transmission, Johnson & Johnson, Cis- to developing applications for the mobile world.
co, Ericsson, and TE Connectivity with their Digital Since 2012, we’ve been offering the global mar-
Transformation, leveraging smart technical content ket RadaeePDF SDK, one of the most widely known
to streamline procurement, manufacturing, and applications for creating, editing and viewing PDF
field service operations. Anark is Connecting the documents on Android, iOS and Windows operating
Digital Thread™. systems. Clients from over 40 countries appreciate
anark.com what we do and the technical support we offer. Our
developer library is present in more than 6000 appli-
cations for Android, iOS and Windows.
callas software
Our know-how allows us to assist companies by
offering our ready-to-use products or developing
sound, high-performance bespoke applications.
callas software finds simple ways to handle complex From smartphones to tablets, as well as PCs and
PDF challenges. As a technology innovator, callas WebTV, our MobileReplica® product manages PDFs,
software develops and markets PDF technology for offers an advanced search engine based on seman-
publishing, print production, document exchange tic analysis and deep learning, makes them multi-
and document archiving. callas software was found- media tools, integrates with CRM, CVS and ERP and
ed in 1995 and is based in Berlin, Germany. interacts with QR, NFC/BL and iBeacon.
gear.it/mr
Agencies, publishing companies and printers use
callas pdfToolbox to preflight, correct and repur-

PDF Association & 3D PDF Consortium  37

PDF in Manufacturing

Intarsys PDFTron

intarsys AG is a leading manufacturer of PDFTron is a premier global provider of indus-

high-quality state of the art software products try-leading, standards-compliant digital doc-
and components for the creation and monitoring ument technology. With an extensive set of
of electronic signatures, seals and timestamps to PDF, CAD, and MS Office capabilities, PDFTron’s
be used in document signing, electronic identi- cross-platform technology powers complex en-
fication (eID) and for document monitoring and terprise workflows, as well as, widely used com-
conversion to PDF/A as well as for long-time pres- mercial applications on web, mobile, desktop
ervation of digital documents. intarsys offers and server platforms. With PDFTron’s high-level
solutions at the highest technical standard run- of performance, reliability, speed and accuracy
ning on the major operating systems. on all types of files (including complex and large
PDF drawings), PDFTron has become a primary
Customers of intarsys include most trust service resource for developers in virtually every indus-
providers in the D-A-CH region as well as large try vertical - including the AEC/PLM space, power-
companies like Lufthansa Technik, T-Systems, ing leading solutions by Autodesk, Nemetschek,
Swisscom, the AOK Heath Insurance and the Ger- Aras, Trimble, Bentley, Oracle Aconex, and many
man Federal Printing Office. Physicians, court others.
marshals, attorneys, clinics, and medical labora-
tories rely on the signature software of this Karl- To learn why PDFTron SDK is the #1 choice com-
sruhe specialist company. mercial PDF SDK, please visit us at pdftron.com.
intarsys.de Also, check out XODO (www.xodo.com), the high-
est rated PDF productivity app on Google Play de-
veloped by PDFTron. PDFTron is headquartered in
iText Group Vancouver, Canada, with offices in San Jose, USA.
pdftron.com

iText is a global leader in innovative award-winning

PDF software. It is used by millions of users – both
open source and commercial – around the world
to create digital documents for a variety of purpos-
es: invoices, credit card statements, mobile board-
ing passes, legal archiving and more. Our diverse
customer base includes many of the Fortune 500
companies – ranging from the technology, financial,
travel and healthcare sectors, to small companies
and government agencies. Headquartered in Bel-
gium, iText also has offices in Asia (Singapore and
South-Korea) and in the USA (Boston). 
itextpdf.com

38   PDF Association & 3D PDF Consortium

PDF in Manufacturing

PROSTEP AG SEAL Systems has developed tools for the profes-

sional generation and conversion of data formats
from many applications and applications. The pri-
mary goal is the generation of archive and standard
PROSTEP is the leading specialist for the digital formats. Additional functions such as OCR and digi-
transformation of your business processes. We use tal signature complete the portfolio.
the original 3D PDF technology from Adobe Systems sealsystems.com
for paperless processes including all kinds of infor-
mation. Merge 3D models from any CAD system,
2D documents of any kind and metadata from your Tech Soft 3D
PLM and ERP systems in intelligent 3D PDF docu-
ments or HTML5 web pages that can be viewed with
Adobe Reader or any web browser. PDF documents
can even be used for long-term archiving. At Tech Soft 3D we are driven to fuel innovation with
unmatched 3D technology by building Strategic
Based on PDF or HTML5 technology we offer ready Technology Partnerships. In other words, we really
to use solution bundles, e.g. Digital Data Package, enjoy helping others be successful, delivering tech-
Assembly Planning, Service Content parts cata- nology which enables companies to innovate, com-
logue. pete, and win in their markets. Development teams
3dpdf.com leveraging Tech Soft 3D’s software development
toolkits can quickly add value to an existing prod-
uct or aid in the creation of a new application with
SEAL Systems HOOPS Exchange for CAD data access, HOOPS Visu-
alize for native 3D visualization, HOOPS Communi-
cator for 3D web visualization, and HOOPS Publish
for creating interactive 3D PDFs.
SEAL Systems is a leading international provider Techsoft3d.com
of information and document distribution and the
market leader for output management. PLOSSYS®
is installed as an output management solution for
Office, CAD, PLM, DMS and ERP over 1600 times
worldwide. Corporate output management enables
printing and distribution from ERP, PLM, CAD sys-
tems, Windows and terminal server environments
– also in the cloud. Especially in the conception and
implementation of SAP add-ons, SEAL Systems has
gained experience and developed solutions in over
1100 projects.

Efficient direct publishing can be carried out with

the Digital Process Factory® (DPF). Information pro-
cessing processes are thus easily designed, imple-
mented, distributed and controlled. In addition,

PDF Association & 3D PDF Consortium  39

PDF in manufacturing
© PDF Association – 2020
Landgrafenstrasse 14  ·  10787 Berlin, Germany
www.pdfa.org · [email protected]

© 3D PDF Consortium – 2020

3855 SW 153rd Drive, Beaverton, OR 97003 USA
3dpdfconsortium.org · [email protected]