The 3D PDF Consortium has announced its formal incorporation as of January 2012. The 3D PDF Consortium is a group of end users, software vendors, systems integrators, developers and software toolkit providers whose mission is to encourage the continued development and adoption of 3D PDF as a truly open standard for visualisation, collaboration, data exchange and the long-term archiving of 3D data across multiple industries and disciplines.
‘Until now, the 3D PDF Consortium has been in “start-up” mode,’ said David Opsahl, 3D PDF Consortium executive director. ‘Since October we have been establishing this new member organisation in the professional manner that our members would expect. We are now ready to begin the process of building a high-value organisation deserving of the support of both the end-user and solution provider communities.’
PDF will continue to evolve and be managed through the International Standards Organization (ISO) process – specifically ISO32000. Phil Spreier, manager of Translation Products for Tech Soft 3D, commented that the formation of the 3D PDF Consortium is a crucial step in keeping this high-value standard strong and responsive to industry needs. ‘The 3D PDF Consortium is the ideal forum to both accelerate the adoption of 3D PDF and ensure its continued focus on real-world workflows driven by the entire community, rather than a single entity,’ he added.
One of the major benefits of the 3D PDF platform is the ubiquity of Acrobat Reader, existing on 98 per cent of connected devices worldwide. Not surprisingly, 3D PDF Consortium also enjoys the support of Adobe. ‘Adobe is pleased to be a founding member of the 3D PDF Consortium,’ said Kirk Gould, director of Acrobat Engineering, Adobe. ‘We see the 3D PDF Consortium as a key industry group, helping to drive the adoption of the 3D capabilities of PDF to represent rich content that is connected to a variety of data sources and across diverse media and devices.’
Membership in the 3D PDF Consortium is open to all organisations regardless of size and industry focus. Companies represent a broad spectrum of markets, including discrete and process manufacturing, architecture and building information management, geospatial and medical. The 3D PDF Consortium will hold its first annual meeting in May in conjunction with the 3D Collaboration and Interoperability Conference (3DCIC) in Denver, Colorado.
