Hello everyone.  I'm wondering about the different viewer alternatives existing on the market for the SmarTeam WebNavigator ?

The default viewer is the AutoVue viewer (19.1 SP2) from Cimmetry Systems.

We are using it for all Office documents consultation (doc, xls, tif, pdf, ...) but its use is very limited in different cases : consulting big documents with many pages (extremely slow, no possibility to reach directly a specific page), zooming deeply on drawings (tif format) cause bad page refresh, ...

Moreover, we have discovered a bug to display some type of documents normally compatible with AutoVue.  When we try to consult a Rich Text Format (.rtf) document, the viewer displays a white page... (stranged ?)

For CAD documents (Catia V5 and V4), we are using the Catia DS Viewer (R17) working fine with .cgr files but however very limited :

- Measurement and dimensioning too limited

- Tolerancing and annotations (FT&A) not shown on 3D models

For pdf file, I have eared that some companies use the Acrobat Reader pluggin (Ocx) directly.  This the best solution for that type of documents but is it still possible with the last versions of Acrobat Reader ?

I would be very interested to have some experience sharing about this problematic.

Thank you

Since I worked recenly with a team of Catia Designers and have done research into various CAD viewers I feel I can comment relavently.  Adobe Acrobat 3D is what I have decided is the most appropriate viewer.  I created an Acrobat 3D model from a Catia 3D model two weeks ago.  I find the package to be almost scary powerful.  One can get manufacturing data including accurate measurements and produce STL format files from the Acrobat 3D models.  Since the latest Acrobat PDF viewer is free and downloadable, anyone can view the Acrobat PDF files you produce.  Some functionality is only available to those with the Acrobat 3D software installed, including producing markups and cutting the assembly in half to view interior parts, but those with the full-up package can provide those type of views.

There is an issue with using SmarTeam with Adobe Acrobat 3D, at least with the version of SmarTeam that was available to me.  Acrobat did not like that Vault system and could not access subassembly parts.  It may be that that SmarTeam version is old and did not take into account the Acrobat software that is much newer.  That is a common problem with software as new releases come into being.

Since Catia is relaively expensive for the various add-on modules and upgrades, many Design groups are slow to make upgrade purchases. 

I got around that problem by using a STEP translation of the Catia 3D model and bringing it into Autodesk Inventor and producing the Acrobat 3D file from there.  Unfortunately the STEP process stripped out pertinent Assembly Tree Subassembly data.

It may be possible to use Save Management to make a copy of all subassemblies into a folder that bypasses SmarTeam and print an Acrobat 3D file that contains the Assembly Tree data.  I do know that Acrobat advertises compatibility with all major CAD software and that it works well with the packages I have tried including ProE, AutoCAD with Mechanical Desktop and Inventor. 

My vote for your problem is Acrobat 3D, but you will have to research the SmarTeam issue.  Adobe is very accessable when you are trying to purchase their software and will provide expert advice via their sales staff.

I hope this helps,

Randy Van Nostrand

Thank you for your answer Randy.

 I have thought to use Acrobat 3D but I see 2 major problems to use it :

1. We cannot convert our CAD authority data because :

- We cannot use converted files (STEP, STL, IGES, ...) for manufacturing because the measurements will never have a 100% accurary contrarily to the native files (CATIA).

- We cannot duplicate all our files because there is a risk to have inconsistency between the original file and converted files caused by a bad synchronization.

- We cannot convert authority data for manufacturing from our customers.

2. Is The use of the Acrobat 3D also available with the SmarTeam Web Navigator/Editor.  The majority of our users are using SmarTeam Web for consulting documents.  Have you experienced it with the SmarTeam Web ?

 Thanks,

Patrick

Try Connexus as an alternative to the expensive 3D viewers:  http://www.inflow-tech.com/connexus.html

My company implements SmarTeam, and the majority of our most successful customers use Connexus as a publishing tool, viewer, and data exchange engine (i.e., integration of shop orders with the correct release drawings in SmarTeam).  Aside from its stability and ease of use, its biggest benefit is that you can roll Connexus out to as many users as you like for no additional cost...there is a cost for the printing and publishing engine, but viewers use standard "free" viewers such as Acrobat Reader and eDrawings.

 I'm happy to help if you need more information.

Thank you for your answer.

I will have a look on your proposal but could we implement it also to use with the SmarTeam Web Navigator, used as a plug-in ?