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October 30, 2006
Today's documents
Today's documents: This link goes to a PDF subsection of issue #3 of MAKE magazine... I heard of it from John Nack this weekend, but didn't click through until the mention from Tim O'Reilly today. I'm linking to it because it's a good example of what documents are becoming, and I think it would repay you the few minutes of time it requires to examine. Requires Adobe Reader or Acrobat v7.08 or above. You already see in here how the entire 120-page magazine can be re-encapsulated as a 15-page subsection... that's nothing new. But look at the realtime 3D rendering employed to make the spudgun construction clear. Hit the "explode/implode" buttons to see an animated construction sequence (interactivity via Acrobat's internal JavaScript engine). Drag the mouse to rotate around model center; SHIFT-drag to scale; control-drag to pan. Click the little "measure" icon next to the magnifying glass to pull up live dimensioning info. Try the "model tree" icon to the right of the preset views to show or hide individual parts which make up the model -- context click a part in the list to zoom in and view just that element. Change the lighting or rendering style to get a clearer view of a particular part. The realtime 3D rendering lets you play with the model, and the interactive experience conveys a lot more than static illustrations alone can tell. The 3D engine inside Adobe Acrobat is being heavily adopted in manufacturing now, and by this time next year I suspect we'll see much more use of it in consumer materials. A document isn't just a piece of paper someone wrote, or some text layout anymore... a document is a packet of diverse media types, developed by a group, which maintains a living connection with its creator. But don't listen to me, just take a few minutes to play with MAKE's spud gun plans, think about the possibilities... this technology is a vital part of the total Adobe technology platform now, and so it's another integrated tool you can use in your own work, today.
Posted by JohnDowdell at October 30, 2006 12:32 PM
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