RapidAuthor for Teamcenter 10.1 Now Available, With New 3D PDF Capabilities

Support for S1000D-Issue 4.2 authoring schema, enhancement of interactive 2D/3D graphics authoring, and 3D PDF quality improvements are all included in the 10.1 release of RapidAuthor.

If you’re not familiar with RapidAuthor for Teamcenter, you should check it out. This suite of authoring and illustration applications enables the reuse of CAD data and PLM XML as document content for parts catalogs, manual procedures, and training guides. It’s the ultimate in reuse! RapidAuthor provides optimized authoring for each document type, and you can generate traditional PDF or HTML content with 2D illustrations as well as interactive 2D/3D and text documents which can be viewed in the accompanying free viewer or HTML5. Customers have reported time savings in the technical authoring of between 40 and 80%.

These apps are now all available with node-locked or floating license options. We’ve highlighted just a few of the 10.1 authoring and publishing enhancements below.

RapidDataConverter for Teamcenter

This new product works with RapidAuthor, enabling the import of 3D models in various CAD formats including CATIA, NX, and SolidEdge, in addition to the JT and PLM XML data that are imported from Teamcenter. The application can work with Teamcenter or standalone.

Starting with version 10.1, RapidDataConverter for Teamcenter is also required for 3D PDF publishing – this provides a significant improvement in 3D PDF content quality.

3D PDF Publishing

RapidAuthor users already create plugin-free HTML5 interactive 3D publications and can view them in various browsers and platforms. 3D PDF generation and quality are improved in RapidAuthor 10.1. Users can now author content once, and then reuse and republish it for different formats: PDF, 3D PDF, HTML, and HTML5.

• 3D PDF generation is now based on PRC format instead of legacy U3D format. It allows highly compressed geometric and visual representations to be added to 3D PDF.
• 3D PDF can now include cross sections and orthographic projection in parts catalogs. This functionality requires RapidDataConverter for Teamcenter to be installed.
• Publishing to 3D PDF is now available in 64-bit as well as 32-bit versions of RapidAuthor.

RapidAuthor 3D PDF parts catalogs allow the user to see a cross-section view of parts and assembly.

 Authoring & Illustrating Enhancements 

• RapidAuthor 10.1 now provides support of S1000D 4.2 schemas, as well as 2D PDF output in ATA2200_AIPC and ATA2200_EIPC specifications.
• Callout generation enhancements include the ability to create callouts as objects in Cortona2D Editor Pro, manage the terminator size, provide a ‘halo’ effect and wrap the callout along the model.
• Illustration layers can be managed by part selection or the layers tab, and layers can now be inverted.
• Data import enhancements support visual quality options, visibility defaults, new VMRL geometry node, and excel import options.

3D PDF step-by-step instructions from RapidAuthor allow the reader to select specific animations in scope of individual visibility options, to see other parts in the assembly.

Update Improvements

• Metadata conflicts – which occur when values change in source data and in the project – are highlighted in the Update Wizard and such updates are not accepted by default; the change in the project has priority.
• Users can select which metadata should be updated; metadata which were not changed and buffer metadata are not displayed by default.

RapidAuthor Connector for Teamcenter improvements

RA Connector for Teamcenter 4.1 includes a closer integration to Teamcenter Content Management, which allows the user to use Teamcenter Content Management topic and topic revision as the Cortona3D Item. This enables a seamless editing experience; users can:

• Launch RapidAuthor for editing from Teamcenter Content Management as well as update and import data directly
• Preview the RapidAuthor project content from Content Management preview
• Link the Content Management Topic with Product Items under Teamcenter Structure Manager

For more information, check out the RapidAuthor overview and case studies, or contact your account manager.

About the Author:

Trish Laedtke is the Product Manager for Content and Document Management applications in Teamcenter. Her focus is on integrating tech pubs and supporting roles into the PLM environment and taking advantage of the knowledge stored in Teamcenter to provide more accurate and effective documentation.