SimLab Soft releases today the new major release (3.0) of 3D PDF exporter for SketchUp.

This new release adds many great new features, new features include:

Template Designer

The newly added template designer enables users to create stunning templates easily to be used in 3D PDF export.
Ready templates are included, ready templates can be customized in few clicks to reflect the spirit of the product

Embed 3D PDF files into HTML

The new SimLab 3D PDF exporter for SketchUp plugin gives users the ability to share the generated 3D PDF files on the web.
Users can select any of the provided templates to generate HTML files that include their 3D PDF files.

Merge PDF files

SimLab 3D PDF exporter for SketchUp includes a new tool for merging multiple PDF files. Users can use the merge feature to merge a company’s front page –in PDF format– with 3D PDF models.

Better 3D PDF illustration mode

With the new illustration viewing mode, share your models in a new better look, showing details like never before.

Open After Export

The ‘Open file after export’ option makes it easier for users to view their generated 3D PDF files, without having to search for them.

Floating Licenses

It is now easier for larger teams to use SimLab 3D PDF exporter for SketchUp, by utilizing the new floating licenses

To Download the new version on Windows and Mac, please click here

With the new plugins SimLab Soft makes it easier for SketchUp users to extend their 3D exchange capabilities with other applications including Revit, AutoCAD, and Inventor.

The user will be able to import DWG/DWX and DWF files from other applications.

3D DWG files exported from AutoCAD 2012 and prior are supported.
3D DWF files from the latest versions of AutoDesk products are supported.

The user will also be able to export models from SketchUp to Design review and to other applications supporting DWG/DXF/or DWF

More information is available below:

SimLab DWG Importer plugin
SimLab DWG Exporter plugin
SimLab DWF Importer plugin
SimLab DWF Exporter plugin

Free trials are available.

During the month of September users will be able to get any of the plugins for $49

SketchUp users,

SimLab Composer 2013 for Windows and Mac was released

The new release includes many great enchantments that we hope you will enjoy.
Enchantments in SimLab Composer 2013 include:

**Picking Modes:**The new picking modes in SimLab Composer 2013 are; Pick Edge End Point, Pick Edge Loop, and Pick Center Of Curvature. They take the guessing out of the snap pivot action, and make picking accurate centers a lot easier.

Parallel View: Switching between Parallel and Perspective views, in SimLab Composer 2013 will make it more comfortable to the users especially engineers to accurately fit things together in a scene.
**Spin Mode:**is a new added mode that will make scene navigation easier.

**Template Designer:**With the newly added template designer users can easily create customized templates, that can be used in creating 3D PDF files, and generating 3D HTML files.

3D PDF Enchantments
Template Based 3D PDF: send 3D PDF files customized to your company theme.
3D PDF in HTML: now uses can also share their 3D PDF files on the web, by embedding them into HTML files.
Merging PDF files: merging multiple PDF files into one, is made possible in SimLab Composer 2013.
**Improved 3D PDF file quaulity:**SimLab Composer now generates a smaller 3D PDF file, with improved Illustration mode.
Handling larger files: with adding 64 bit support, and optimizing the 3D PDF generator, SimLab Composer is now ready for the largest models.

3D HTML Export
With SimLab Composer 2013 new 3D HTML export capability users can now publish their 3D models, in HTML format on Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Safari.

**Indigo Renderer Support:**users of SimLab Composer 2013 can enjoy the ability to create best interior rendered scenes, with the new support of Indigo renderer.

Importers/Exporters
New Importes : SimLab Composer 2013 added support to importing DWF and DWFX file formats.
Enhanced Importers: SolidWorks, ACIS, STEP, SketchUp, FBX (2013.1), U3D, PDF.
New Exporters: DWF, DWFX, IGS (Indigo).
Enhanced Exporters: Collada, FBX (2013.1), U3D, PDF.

64 bit support: To handle the most complex 3D models, SimLab Composer 2013, along with all SimLab Soft Importers and Exporters, were restructured and well tested to add 64 bit support.

More information about SimLab Composer 2013 is available here

Tobobo,

First we are thankful for using SimLab 3D PDF, and we are really believe it is the best and it can handle more complex model.
We still are aiming to make it better, please send any files that did not work to support@simlab-soft.com and we will check it for you.

Thanks,

Ashraf

Pilou,

Sorry for that, no we keep it for current users who are not upgrading.

Cheers,

Ashraf

SimLab Soft team is pleased to announce the release of the version 2.4 of SimLab Plugin for Google SketchUp.

This new release enables the user to create 3D PDF files for larger and more complex 3D models.

It enables the user to add Compnay logo, and a preview image to the generated 3D PDF file.

Using the free version of SimLab Composer included with the plugin, users will be able to take 3D PDF files to the next level by including section planes and Scene states to create great interactive presentations.

In this release we decided to combine all SimLab Importers and exporters in one plugin, to make sure a larger number of users will benefit from those capabilities.

You can use the plugin to import SolidWorks 2012, OBJ, FBX, Inventor 2012, ACIS, STEP, SolidEdge, Rhino and U3D directly to google SketchUp.

In addition to 3D PDF, the plugin enables the user to export OBJ, FBX, U3D and OSG from SketchUp.

The plugin enables users to export SketchUp models from SketchUp to be viewed using the free SimLab CAD Viewer application on iPad and iPhone.

The plugin supports SketchUp 8 Free and Pro on Windows and Mac.

The price of a new license of the plugin is $99, each license can be installed on two machines.

Users of any of SimLab Plugins for SketchUp are eligible to upgrade to the latest version for $39

Users of SimLab Composer are eligible for free upgrade, they should install the latest version of SimLab Composer from our website.

More information about the latest version of the plugin is available here

I have to agree it is not the best idea
I usually like to have my 3D PDFs sent by email where they are opened with the full Acrobat reader.

Though there are few factors here.
You need to have acrobat as the default PDF viewer in FireFox, I guess there are some other tools that may be used to open PDF in the browser. maybe installing acrobat 10 simply changed the default viewer to acrobat.
Also the site traffic, when I opened the link in the morning it was fast, and the PDFs were interactive in the web page.

I will prepare an example and I will post it to see if this is what you are looking for.

I am Glad that you like the progress of SimLab Composer, and I hope you will like the power that you will get combining SimLab Composer with the 3D PDF plugin.

Regarding your question, the answer is yes, 3D PDF files can be embedded the same way PDF file are.
Adding something like:

<embed src="3D_PDF_data.pdf" width="500" height="375">

In the html file will embed the 3D PDF file in the web page.

The following site from adobe describes the options you have for embedding a PDF file http://blogs.adobe.com/pdfdevjunkie/2007/08/using_the_html_embed_tag_to_di.html

The new scene state capability introduced in SimLab Composer 2.3, enables SketchUp users to create advanced walkthroughs for architectural models.

Walkthroughs with animation and pre defined locations (rooms for example) can be exported as a 3D PDF file or as a zim file that can be opened using the free SimLab CAD Viewer for IPad.

The file recipient can navigate the model by simply clicking on the image of the view she/he is interested in.

The new tutorial shows how easy it is to create a 3D PDF walkthrough for a SketchUp model.

PDF version of the tutorial can be downloaded here.

SimLab Composer 2.3 introduces new SketchUp integration component, which enables SketchUp user to access all the power of SimLab Composer (Import, export, export to iPad, advanced 3D PDF creation and rendering) from inside SketchUp.

All current and new users of SimLab 3D PDF Plugin(before the end of July) are eligible for a free license of SimLab Composer (3D PDF edition) with SketchUp integration.

Please click here for more information about SimLab Composer/SketchUp integration.

I want to thank Pilou and Ralf, for translating SimLab Composer 2.3 to French and German.
When starting the installation the user now can select the interface language. Available choices today are English, French and German.

After installation the user can change the interface language from Preferences -> Advanced (this is the only option on Mac)
SimLab Composer should be restarted to have the interface updated to the desired language.

We started recently working on an Android option.
We already verified that all the components we need are ready.
But this work is still in early stages. It will need some time to be ready.

The latest release of SimLab Composer (2.3) adds new free SketchUp integration component.
Installing SimLab Composer \ SketchUp integration component (after installing any edition of SimLab Composer 2.3) will add the following menu to Google SketchUp

The new integration adds the following capabilities to SketchUp:

Import 3D models

SketchUp user will be able to import all files formats supported by SimLab Composer directly to SketchUp, this includes FBX, OBJ, STEP, IGES, ACIS, SolidWorks, Inventor, SolidEdge, 3D PDF, 3D XML, U3D, STL

Export 3D models

SketchUp user will be able to export current models to any of the file formats supported by SimLab Composer including FBX, OBJ, U3D, 3D PDF, and STL

Export to IPad

Current model can be exported directly from inside SketchUp as a SimLab Archive file (*.zim) which can be opened by SimLab CAD Viewer on IPad, IPhone and IPod touch

Transfer to SimLab

The user can transfer current SketchUp model to SimLab Composer, this will automatically open SimLab Composer in mini (plugin) mode. The user can use mini mode to assign materials from the material library, to change 3D PDF settings, and to create scene states.

Rendering

SimLab Composer Rendering and Animation editions enable the user to render the current model from inside SketchUp.
Rendering from inside SketchUp utilizes SimLab Composer retain material capability, which means it is enough to assign rendering materials once inside SimLab Composer (plugin mode). Performing a rendering from inside Google SketchUp after that will automatically update materials to high quality rendering materials, which will make working on multiple stages of the model faster and easier.

Following are sample 3D PDF files using the new capabilities of SimLab Composer 2.3

BasicLampExperiment.pdf

HouseNavigation_states.pdf

We are glad to announce a free copy of SimLab Composer 2.3 (3D PDF edition) (value of $99) for each plugin owner from SimLab (3D PDF, importers or exporters) all what you need to do is to send an email to license@simlab-soft with information about the plugin you already purchased and we will be glad to send you a license and instructions.

SimLab Composer can be downloaded from http://www.simlab-soft.com/3d-products/simlab-composer-trial.aspx
SimLab Composer / SketchUp integration can be downloaded from http://www.simlab-soft.com/3d-products/simlab-composer-sketchup-integration.aspx

SimLab Composer 2.3 and the integration plugin are supported of Windows and Mac

Please send any issue you face to to support@simlab-soft.com

Thanks for the great feedback, We will work on addressing those issues in the next update.
The next update will have a better handling o instances.

The update you are looking for, should be available in January. We invested time in handling instances in the SketchUp files, which can be found extensively in Revit models, this update should be ready in January.

The last note was about two new Exporters for (FBX and OBJ)

Those exporters can serve a user who wants to use SketchUp models in other applications that do not have native SketchUp import capabilities

Your request was fulfilled.

We have FBX 2011 and OBJ exporters ready for SketchUp 7, 7.1 and 8.
The plugins should work on Windows with the free and pro versions.

FBX exporter can be found at
http://www.simlab-soft.com/3d-plugins/FBX_Exporter_From_Sketchup-main.aspx

OBJ exporter can be found at
http://www.simlab-soft.com/3d-plugins/OBJ_Exporter_From_Sketchup-main.aspx

Cheers.

Ashraf

Sure we can do that,

We can add a new FBX exporter for SketchUp, this should be available soon.

Create a walk through or animate your SketchUp models in SimLab Composer (animation edition), to create a rendered movie or an animated 3D PDF file.

Submit the created result to the SimLab animation contest to win in one of the two categories
1- Rendered movies
2- Animated 3D PDF files

Each category will have 3 prizes
1- iPad
2- iPod touch
3- iPod shuffle

You do NOT need to buy a license of SimLab Composer to win the prize.

More information are available at http://simlabsoft.blogspot.com/2010/11/simlab-soft-3d-animation-contest.html

@d12dozr said:

About navigating in a 3D PDF, I find those controls to work great for a looking at one part like that motor, but not as well for walking through a house. I'm guessing those controls are part of the Adobe PDF reader, but something like the Walkaround tool in Sketchup would be nice for navigating larger PDF's.

Our aim in SimLab Composer is to make the model designer in control of the animation.

The designer, selects the cameras to be included, and selects if they are animated or not.
The camera can move along a path or it can automatically switch from one room to another.

If the file recipient wants to investigate a view more, he can take control of the current view, after that usually he switches control back to the animation.

The idea simply is to make the designer control the animation, I hope that this helps.

There are two outputs that show animations:

• Rendered movies, which can be exported from SimLab Composer as AVI, MP4 or flash (Those videos can be easily sent in emails, embedded inside a webstie, or shared in youtube)
• Interactive 3D PDF files, all what the recipient will need is the free Acrobat reader which is already available on most machines (Windows and Mac)

In both cases the recipient of the file should not need to download anything.

Regarding a free edition, there is nothing we would love more than having a free edition to allow everybody able to use SimLab Composer, but I do not see this happening in the near future.
Students can get SimLab Composer 2.2 Animation edition for $39, a professional license of 3D PDF edition will cost $99 and for animation edition it is $249.

If you are tight in budget now, download the trial; send me a message, I will make sure to send you an extended trial that you can use for some time.