i-model plug-ins for Adobe Acrobat and Adobe Reader

I have also downloaded the plugin and it seems installed in Adobe Reader X as I have an extra menu "i-model".

But I have no FILE>CREATE,  only FILE>CREATEpdfOnline in Reader.

Is FILE>CREATE only available in Acrobat?

The text in www.bentley.com/.../imodel+plugin+adobe+reader.htm leads me to believe it should be availble also in Reader?

The plug-in is compatible with both Reader and Acrobat, but only Acrobat is allowed to add/comment on content contained in a PDF. You can reader-enable a PDF for commenting in Reader, but that is as far as that functionaltiy goes.

At this time, you would use Acrobat to add an i-model via the plug-in and use the plug-in via Reader to view and interact with the i-model in the PDF.

HTH - John

Hi guys, I'm the lead developer on the project and wanted to throw in a bit of input here.

First, no you can not create an i-model PDF in Adobe Reader.  (Or any PDF for that matter.  This is an Adobe limitation.  We actually build two separate plugins because of this.  They are largely the same, but anything having to do with PDF creation is removed from the Reader plugin because that functionality isn't available.)

Second, we have no official plans as of now to enable outside developers to create i-model PDFs.  That being said, the data stored inside the PDF isn't obfuscated in any way.  If you examine the PDF structure you could very easily figure ways to recreate it.  However, I did look at the PDF library you mentioned and I highly doubt you could use it to do the job.  It doesn't seem (on first glance) to provide you very low level access to PDF structure.  In other words, you can create an Annotation with it, but only certain types and you can't create COS objects yourself.  (These are the fundamental building blocks for PDF structure.

Other libraries MAY work.  Certainly if you had access to Adobe's PDFL library you could do this, but that is an expensive proposition.

I have subscribed to this thread should you have any further questions.  Don't hesitate to ask.

I just downloaded the imodel plug in for Reader and I downloaded acrobatX. However, the *.dgn file extension doesn't show up when I go to create a new pdf to load an imodel into? The imodel help file leads me to believe that I should find the *.dgn format? What gives?

Also, how is creating an imodel different from printing a 3d pdf?

Thanks for any help.

Dale,

The i-model plug-in only supports i-models and not general DGN files. Since i-models are self-contained and fit PDF files better as stand-alone deliverables we thought it best to limit the plug-in to just these files. Sorry if the help wasn’t clear.

As for the benefits for using i-models in PDF, there are three notable advantages. The first is that i-models will generally be smaller than 3D PDF’s and will result in better performance for larger models. This allows you to deliver bigger and more finely detailed 3D information in the context of standard project deliverables.  

The second advantage is that i-models contain rich component information and are better at presenting that component information than 3D PDF. This provides you with the ability to provide contextually rich 3D data with your project deliverables.

Finally, i-models in PDF provide consistent interactive model viewing resulting in easier to interact with model and locate information across interfaces. Recall that i-models can be displayed in Windows Explorer, and Outlook using the Bentley DGN Reader iware app as well as reviewed and analyzed with Bentley Navigator. This allows you to leverage your usage in i-models across a number of different interfaces and deliverables.

All that being said, I’m sure that there will be cases where 3D PDF may suit your needs just fine. However, we will continue to enhance the i-model plug-in and as i-models continue to grow in richness so will the PDF files that use i-models to represent project data.

HTH - John

Chris and John

The text on the i-ware page seems a bit missleading,

Also - when I installed it it choose Adobe Reader and installed ok . But how do I get it installed in Adobe Acrobat 8 Professional on same machine?

Thomas - The i-model plug-in supports versions 9.0 or 10.0 of Adobe Acrobat or Reader. I don't think it will integrate with Adobe Acrobat 8.

-John

I downloaded a trial of Acrobat X. I created an imodel in uStn with the idgn suffix. I can open that read only model in in uStn but not in Acrobat which doesn't recognize the file type.

I'm pretty confused.

Acrobat/Reader won't open an i-model directly. The plug-in only allows you to embed and interact with i-model in a PDF file. If this isn't the issue, then it may be because you installed Acrobat/Reader after you installed the plug-in. If that is the case, just reinstall the plug-in and Acrobat/Reader will be updated. If neither of these cases are the issue then please let us know the steps to reproduce and the i-model as a test case.

Acrobat/Reader won't open an i-model directly. The plug-in only allows you to embed and interact with i-model in a PDF file. If this isn't the issue, then it may be because you installed Acrobat/Reader after you installed the plug-in. If that is the case, just reinstall the plug-in and Acrobat/Reader will be updated. If neither of these cases are the issue then please let us know the steps to reproduce and the i-model as a test case.