[NTG-context] 3D PDF support (AKA asymptote support)

[Michail Vidiassov]

Dear Renaud,

On Fri, 5 Jun 2009, Renaud Aubin wrote:

>> Asymptote may be a better choice since it supports newer PRC 3D 
>> format, that is much richer in features and has better prospects when 
>> it comes to support and development by Adobe.
> Ouch, another new 3D format! This will never end. I bet no valuable Open 
> Source modeler (i.e. blender) support this one. The fact that asy 
> supports PRC is good but I have no illusion about the conclusion of the 
> 3d formats' war (just an endless pain for developpers)...

IMHO the major difference is that Adobe Reader is a 3D viewer with quite a 
userbase and lots of support resources behind. While the failure of 3D 
community to accept U3D as 3D JPEG is deplorable, PRC prospects in Adobe 
seem bright - they have bought the format together with the authors, make 
noises about submitting it to ISO, released documentation...

>From my experience of work with U3D, writing an exporter turned out to be 
not that difficult, since for U3D there is VRML-like intermediate text 
format, but figuring out what are the limitations of Adobe viewer takes a 
lot of time.

I do not remember if that applies to Blender, but googling showed me that
in 2006-2007 people asked questions in lists/forums of 3D software 
pieces about 3D PDF output, but neither users were interested, nor 
developers excited.

        Sincrely, Michail