RPS 3D PDF Tutorial

From Render Plus Systems Wiki

This RPS 3D PDF Tutorial will help you create an interactive PDF document from SketchUp.

Contents 1 Downloads and Installation 2 Initial Usage 2.1 Adobe Version 2.2 File Creation Problems 3 Interactive 3D 4 Page Setup 4.1 Page Modes 4.2 Backgrounds 4.3 Page Settings 4.4 Preview 5 Fonts and sizes 6 Model Setup 6.1 Colors 6.2 Camera Constants 6.3 Lights 6.4 Views to include 6.5 Edge Lines 6.6 Image Quality 6.7 Other Options 7 Margin Setup 7.1 Background Image 8 Document Options 9 Embedding in web page 10 See also 11 Documentation and other tutorials 12 External links

Downloads and Installation

There is a 30 day Trial Version for RPS products. This is a fully functional version, with watermarks or other text added to indicate that it is a trial version.

Follow the links from the Downloads Page to download the latest version.

• See: How to Download and Install

Initial Usage

1. Launch RPS 3D PDF from the Start/Programs menu, or using the icon on the desktop.
2. Load a Sketchup Model.
3. Click Create to create the PDF file.
   (Make sure Open PDF is checked)

Adobe Version

If the PDF loads, but the image appears only as a small grey box, then you are running and old version of Adobe Reader. RPS 3D PDF requires version 7.0.7 or later.

Download the latest version (currently 8.1) from: Adobe Reader

File Creation Problems

If the output PDF file is already open in Adobe Reader, you will need to close it before you can make a new one.

Interactive 3D

If the image appeared properly, then you can spin it by dragging the mouse over the image.

A toolbar will appear above the image:

The three left icons are for: Rotate, Pan, and Zoom.

The "House"" icon will restore the view you were in when you saved the model in SketchUp. Other views are available from the view dropdown. Click them and try them out.

Page Setup

Page Modes

You can make a page in 4 modes:

1. Image only - no background or text.
2. Text Mode - include 3D PDF area and descriptive text.
3. Background mode - insert a 3D PDF area into a background image.
4. Both - use both text and a background image.

Backgrounds

1. To use a background image, select Browse in the background image section.

(This will automatically check the Background Image check box)

Page Settings

Using the Page Setup options you can customize your PDF output.

By changing or leaving out text, you can use more of the page area for your 3D PDF file.

You can specify landscape or portrait orientation, and the size for the logo and image area.

Also, because of the way margins work, if you select a larger page size, and a taller image height, more of the page will be used for the image. This will make the text areas, if they are not blank, smaller.

Preview

Use Preview to check the page layout before creating the model.

Note: If the preview is blank, see if it has multiple pages. If it does have multiple pages, then you need to make the page size larger, or the image height shorter until everything fits one one page.

Fonts and sizes

Font - Click Font to load the font setting dialog - to set face name, font style and size - and to see a preview of the font. Size - Select a size from the drop down if you just want to change the size. Color - click on the color square to change the color of the font.

Model Setup

Colors

We are unable to read the background and default face colors from the .SKP file at this time, so you need to specify them if you have used them in your model.

Camera Constants

• Position Above Model Base Only - for many models -- landscapes, buildings, etc. -- this setting keeps the user from spinning below the building.
• Allow Camera Roll - if checked this allows the camera to twist. This is useful for models of objects. But is often confusing for models of landscapes or buildings.

Lights

This defines what kind of lights will be used when the model is first loaded.

We are working on a new version for which the option File will most closely resemble SketchUp lighting levels. For now, White is good choice.

Views to include

If you check "Model Defined", then each page you have defined inside of SketchUp will create a view for the PDF document.

If you check "Standard", then a standard set of views will be included.

Edge Lines

Normally edge lines are not displayed as part of the Ray Trace rendering.

• Width - sets the width of the edge lines in pixels.
• Orphans Only - includes only edge lines which are not attached to a face. (Some plant components use edge lines, which are not connected to faces, to represent branches and twigs. If you are using these type of plant components (not AccuRender plants), then set Edge lines to display Orphans only.)
• All - include all edge lines
• Include - Orphans only or All only apply if this is checked.

Note: SketchUp has a other edge settings for Profile, Depth Cue and Extension edges. We do not emulate these special edge line settings.

Image Quality

This loads a special dialog to adjust image quality changes.

This was provided to us as part of the U3D file generation software.

Other Options

• Export 2-sides faces - if you have a model where you need to be able to view both sides of a face, then turn on this option.
• Open Progress Message Log
• Use XML Exporter -- There are two ways to read the .SKP file. If you are having problems with a model, check this box and try loading it again.

Margin Setup

This sets up the margins for pages.

You can enter the margins directly, or you can set them visually by dragging the size handles.

Background Image

• Fit to Page - The background image will be stretched to fill the page
• Tile - The background image will be tiles to fill the page.

Document Options

• Document Properties - These appear when the user looks at the PDF Documnet Properties in Acrobat Reader (Ctrl-D)
  • Title
  • Author
  • Subject
  • Keywords
• PDF Document Display Options
  • Hide PDF Menu
  • Hide PDF Toolbar
  • Hide PDF Sidebar
  • Display Fullscreen
  • Hide U3D Image Toolbar - suppress the initial showing
  • Hide PDF Menu

Embedding in web page

3D PDF files can be embedded into a web page using the HTML EMBED format.

<EMBED src="./images/BoulderCourthouseP.pdf" width="500" height="700" href="./images/BoulderCourthouse.pdf"/>

For a sample web page with an interactive 3D PDF file embedded, see: PDF Sample Page

See also

• RPS 3D PDF
• Render Plus

Documentation and other tutorials

• RPS 3D PDF Documentation
• RPS 3D PDF Tutorial - Page Layout

External links

• Forum for IRender nXt.
• Forums for other Render Plus Products - RpTools. RPS 3D PDF, RpReports
• Home Page for Render Plus.
• Image Gallery for IRender nXt Image Gallery.