How To Use the Left-Mouse 3D Probe PDF Menu

A custom 3D probe can be added into the current PDF document as an option in the PDF 3D View Add Additional Controls area. The probe menu normally is positioned just below the 3D view area. The 3D probe is embedded on the PDF page, and goes along with the PDF document itself. It does not require any special plugins or viewing software, it operates directly within the Adobe Reader or Acrobat.

When the 3D probe is added, users will notice new content in two areas:
a) Left mouse clicks in the 3D view scene cause a yellow 3D arrow pointer to appear, marking the last mouse click location.
b) A small rectangular area on the PDF page provides some menus for controlling the probe operation and a text box where probe results appear as text, dynamically updated when 3D positions are selected.

The probe menu operates in two slightly different modes, depending on the presence of geospatial coordinate information in the 3D model conversion. With ordinary CAD models in a simple X,Y,Z coordinate system, the 3D mouse click coordinate location is shown, by simply reporting the X,Y,Z location at the object surface where clicked. Note that any place on the surface may be selected, it does not snap to the nearest vertex. If geospatial coordinate information is present, then several types of coordinate display are possible, selected by a small drop-down selector.

An option for either Full or Compact Mode at the time the probe menu is generated and placed in the PDF, can provide either be a multi-line rectangular box, or all placed on a single horizontal line for compact space mode.

On the left side a drop-down selector allows users to change the way the probe operates and what information is presented.

The Full Tree check box controls what named objects are reported in the second line of the probe. When the left mouse makes a surface selection, the object surface measured can be presented out of the model tree hierarchy as its own local object name, or if Full Tree is enabled, all of the parents above this part in the hierarchy are also shown. This option is removed in the compact mode.

The coordinate system selector will contain a basic X,Y,Z location option if no geospatial data is present, or a longer list of options if available:

 

Flash versus AcroForm mode:

Warning: Flash is deprecated due to security risk and is now withdrawn by Adobe, we strongly advise avoiding Flash and using Acro-Form types.

The custom 3D probe display on the PDF page may be configured to use Flash or ordinary PDF form type display. These make no functional difference to the way measurements are made or reported, only in the way they look on the page. The Flash version has a little more polished visual style. However, Flash player and associated technologies are required to view it, so it adds an extra dependency. The Flash technique is not formally part of the ISO-32000 PDF document standard.