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Interactive 3D
Interactive 3D


Immersive Design brings the Adobe Acrobat embedded 3D capabilities to life, with user controlled animations, and linked text.

Spare a thought for us poor journalists as we trudge around trade shows, looking at the a couple of tweeks added to this bit of software here, a couple of new functions added to that, a different layout for the tools for another – all of which we are supposed to greet with astonishment and enthusiasm, as though we were being presented with the ‘NEXT MAJOR BREAKTHROUGH’ in software design and were privileged to be at its’ birth. Of course, this doesn’t relate to any of the great new products in this issue – or to any of the hard working exhibitors at the Solid Modelling Show in a couple of weeks time. Perish the thought!

Some products do take you by surprise, though, and none more emphatically than Interactive PDF being shown by Immersive Design at SolidWorks World. It was not just what the software can do, but its potential in the market above and beyond what was being demonstrated by Greg Smith on the exhibition stand. It’s not even unique, as other companies have addressed the same function, albeit in slightly different ways – see Actify in this issue.

In plain terms, Immersive Design has taken the nascent 3D function in the latest version of Adobe’s Acrobat 7, and allowed the software to publish interactive 3D documents in PDF format – viewable by just about anybody who can download the free Acrobat 7 reader form the Internet. Within the PDF document, therefore, viewers can manipulate the 3D image in much the same way as they would using the original CAD software, or using a CAD viewer developed by any number of companies, for which they will have probably had to pay for.

Not only can he rotate, zoom in and out of, and otherwise inspect the model, but he can section the model or remove components to view the insides of a model, or change some of the parameters – colour, lighting etc. And, if the originator of the model sets it up correctly – no more than preparing an exploded view of the model – he can view animated activity that he is able to control using the descriptive text alongside the 3D image!

Think of the many uses for such a tool! Using Adobe’s Acrobat as a design review tool is probably just the tip of the iceberg. Acrobat is so widely used that it is becoming the absolute standard for sending a variety of documents to anybody else, with the assumption that they are bound to have one version of the software installed. You don’t even ask, any more. And with a free reader, anybody can view CAD documents without even needing the CAD software, or the Acrobat PDF composer. Adobe put in the 3D capability, but not being CAD specialists, didn’t really know what to do with it. It has taken companies like Immersive Design to kick the feature into life.

Now interactive 3Ddesigns can be shared by anyone. Maintenance engineers can be presented with animated 3D images on their laptops, and, by clicking in on the instructions for the piece of equipment they are faced with, they can watch an animation of each job unfold before them on the screen. Or they can merely select each component on the accompanying parts list and watch it being highlit on the 3D model. Salesmen can allow their clients to explore the latest car, conservatory, whirlpool – whatever, and allow them to click through the instructions at will – changing the color scheme, opening and closing doors, looking at it from all directions, replacing stock wheels with alloys – puts the buyer in command of the sales situation – supposedly.
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Where can I buy a cheap laptop from?
Where can I buy a cheap laptop from?

It's getting harder to get laptops, according to this slashdot article

However, Adam Secombe provided the following story/answer when looking through auction houses or used computer markets (check your newspaper):

    "Keep this in mind when hunting for your notebook for our purposes, a notebook for wireless routing does not require a working keyboard or screen. During setup both of these items can be plugged in externally and removed once the machine is setup.

    All the same, don't spend extrananous amounts of money on non-working hardware, it might be completely ratshit. $20 for a "condition unknown" notebook is fine.

    The bare minimum I would go looking for is a 486DX of some sort, 8meg should be enough to boot Linux & any modules you require. For our purposes, we can also boot these routers off a single floppy disc - hence your notebook won't require a hard disk either. So if you see something around the place with 2 PCMCIA slots, grab it.

    Most people won't want to frig around with their hardware as much as others, so getting a completly working notebook would be preferable..

    From experience, cheaper notebooks can be found: "right place at right time" sorta thing.

    Go to the Sunday Computer Market . Go to some auctions (non-online), check Saturday's Courier Mail for the auction and inspection time. Again keep in mind that you cannot return an item from an auction, so don't spend too much on something if you don't know what condition it is in.
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Going cheap
Going cheap

It's pretty hard to miss the big, glossy ads for shiny new desktop and notebook computers with their equally large price tags.

For many people, though, new features such as turbo-powered graphics cards and high-speed processors are the only way to play the latest 3-D games or edit home movies and make DVDs.

These users may have plenty of money but, at the end of the day, not everyone needs a $4000 PC to check their Hotmail account.

But there's a good question - how much do you really need to spend? $2000, $1500 or $750?

It's fair to say that for standard letter writing, bookkeeping, surfing the internet and checking your email, you don't need to spend anywhere near that much.

How does $220 grab you?

That's the price I found on a refurbished IBM 350MHz Pentium II computer with 15-inch monitor and 3GB hard-disk drive on eBay. But for that price, what sort of guarantee can you get? And what can you do if it stops working two hours after you've brought it home?

Second-hand computers can be a real goldmine for the bargain hunter, but they can be a world of trouble to the novice. The tricky thing here is the hard-disk drive.

Most hard-disk drives will run for at least five years but there are no guarantees and it depends as much on the amount of work it has done in the past, as well as how mechanically sound it is.

The best tip is to assume your computer's hard-disk drive will fail at some time, usually when you can least afford it.

Where to look

While online auction sites can be a great place to find bargains, tread carefully if you're looking for a computer.

First, you don't always get the full picture of what you're getting for your money - a small out-of-focus shot of a computer without an accurate description is as worthless as a tick on a dog.

Second, computers generally don't travel well through the mail and they sometimes struggle to survive a courier delivery in one piece.

And then when you receive it, what sort of warranty do you have? In the end, it can be very little if anything at all and getting your money back can be an arduous task.

But those low prices are very alluring so if eBay is still your favourite, choose a system that's local to you - that way, you may be able to arrange to pick it up in person.

There are other auction sites worth shopping at for bargains, too. Laptop.com.au has a range of notebook computers starting from $299 for a 120MHz Toshiba Satellite Pro 430 and that includes a one-year warranty. Grays Online specialises in clearing ex-sale items direct from major vendors including Sharp and Dell. Dell in particular clears many computers here and these are recent premium desktops and notebooks that are mostly ex-demonstration models. At the time of writing, Dell had 56 lots available with $9 starting prices including a 1.8GHz Pentium 4 desktop (no monitor) for $334. Although this includes no warranty, you can purchase a warranty from Dell separately by giving the company the serial number of the product purchased.

AuctionTrader is a similar service to Grays Online but often deals in liquidation stock and operates from Collingwood, Victoria. Again, you have to register but there appear to be some real bargains; for example, a new Athlon XP 2000+ desktop PC with CD burner and everything except a monitor for $450. Check carefully whether the product carries a warranty - some do, some don't.

Other bargain zones

When you can, see the second-hand computer in person. And a great place for this is your local computer market.

Computer markets are popping up all over Australia - local computer retailers banding together with rows of trestle tables breathing new life into local shopping malls.

One is the Sunday Computer Market at Westfield Shoppingtown on North Rocks Road at North Rocks.

You'll not only find many new and second-hand parts but a number of second-hand systems.

There are also monthly computer fairs that are held around NSW including Parramatta, Wollongong and Newcastle.

Perhaps the largest of those takes place at the University of NSW's Roundhouse. The next UNSW markets will be held on April 13 and May 4.

These markets consist of small traders selling their wares at discounted prices.

They are run by Computer Fairs Australia.

If you're after cheap Apple computers, try Macs As New (www.macsasnew.com.au) - you'll find a range of ex-demo, second-hand and refurbished notebooks and desktops all with warranties. One offer at the time of writing was a 650MHz iMac with a modem and CD-ROM drive for $650 with a three-month warranty.

If you're a university student, you could also check with your student council about when market days are held or other students who are ready to upgrade.

If you already have a spare monitor, you can often buy the computer system itself and save even more money.

With the number of ex-lease corporate, government and home PCs for sale growing at a seemingly exponential rate, computer recyclers are starting to pop up in most states.

For example, Australian Computer Recyclers in Victoria specialise in taking these old systems, refurbishing them and selling them at low prices.

One system ACR had on its website at the time of writing was a 400MHz Pentium II desktop PC with a 15-inch monitor, CD-ROM drive, 6GB hard-disk drive, modem, speakers and Windows XP with a three-month warranty for $649.

If you're familiar with a computer system, you can build your own. Many of these same places also offer second-hand computer parts at low prices, which you can then put together yourself.
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