Despite the Version 8 tag, this is actually the second release of
Adobe's 3D PDF generator, which features enhanced file format
support, a new interface and extended capabilities.

Adobe is continuing its concentration on the engineering documentation market with the launch of Acrobat 3D Version 8. While Acrobat Professional Version 8 (shipped late last year) really addressed 2D engineering formats and view and mark-up, Acrobat 3D does just what you think it would do it's a specific version of Acrobat Professional V8, that can import, capture an create 3D PDFs.

This is the second version of Acrobat 3D. The first version was based on an open 3D format called U3D, which was originally conceived by Intel. To capture 3D data, Acrobat could cleverly '3D screen grab the Open GL data', load U3D files or automatically convert certain popular formats via drag and drop, on the fly. The format was tessellated, so was an light-weight but not particularly accurate. That version of Acrobat also came with a Toolkit licensed from Right Hemisphere to edit the look of the content and create animations.

Acrobat 3D Version 8, blows that initial release out of the water and makes great improvements in most functionality areas and really takes 3D PDF to another level. U3D remains as one of the key formats embedded within the PDF but after acquiring data translation specialists, TTF, PDF now boasts industrial strength CAD translators and a highly compressed, yet accurate format called PRC. This basically means bigger, smarter models which fit in less space and ultimately will expand the use of PDFs as a format to manufacture from.

This is an interesting border for Adobe to cross. Typically, Adobe has been a document company, in that it creates documents in a recognised open format, keeping the original look and feel. It has not really been about sending data to people to edit or manufacture from. Yet with the new features in Acrobat 3D Version 8, you can send a highly accurate model to someone and they could export it as a STEP or IGES file and actually run a CNC program over it. As the PRC format is an accurate B-rep, it could potentially be loaded into smart tools like SpaceClaim Professional and be edited. Obviously there are ways to secure the use of the data, should it be sent anywhere but in many ways PDF is now (also) a CAD file in its own right.