Cortona3D-portfolio for Technical Illustrators

Cortona3D products have demonstrated that they deliver better knowledge transfer via rapidly created interactive 3D digital documents than ever before. Global leading companies such as Boeing, Airbus, General Atomics, Pfizer, Loral, NASA, Daimler Chrysler, NIST, Volkswagen, ESA and Ford, to mention a few, have experienced accelerated time to market, improved revenue and product quality, increased organizational efficiency and lower costs.

Cortona3D has an unequaled track record of industry leadership and continuous product improvement. The benefits of our visualization and simulation software extend across a large variety of industries including automotive, manufacturing, consumer electronics, aerospace, high-tech, defense and medical. The portfolio from HICO offers 5 products from Cortona including Cortona2D Editor Pro, RapidIllustrator, RapidCatalog, RapidAuthor and RapidManual.

Source: www.cortona3d.com

Cortona2D Editor PRO

Cortona2D Editor Pro is a graphics editor that supports the creation, modification, and rendering of layered graphic primitives (ellipse, polygon, spline, bitmap, raster). This editor allows authors and illustrators to edit legacy graphics or manually edit 2D graphics created with Cortona3D RapidAuthor.

Significance for HICO: Since its foundation in 1997, HICO has been developing efficient solutions in the context of technical communication. S1000D is an internationally recognized specification for the creation, management and publication of Structured Interactive Electronic Technical Documentation (IETD). With the.

Supported formats:

  • Editing CGM images (CGM v. 4, binary & text encoding)
  • Import: JPEG, TIFF, PNG, Bitmap, and GIF
  • Export: SVG, JPEG, PNG, TIFF, and GIF

Editing:

  • Support for different object types: lines, polylines, Bezier lines, arcs, ellipses, polygons, hotspots, text
  • Selecting, moving, rotating, flipping, and removing objects
  • Editing object properties in accordance with the WebCGM 2.1 profile
  • Combining objects. Ability to use the fragments of raster and vector images
  • Selecting object orientation and size from a built-in list of standard options
  • Snapping objects to the grid, points or segments of other objects
  • Support for property bundles: allows for defining line, fill, text, and marker property sets (bundles), exchanging them between computers, assigning property bundle to object(s), select objects by property bundle
  • Slicing objects, removing object fragments between two crossings
  • Line: style, thickness, color
  • Text: style, font, size, boxed
  • Fills: solid, hatch, and pattern

Other features:

  • Editing hotspot properties
  • Adding layers and editing their properties
  • Adding points and segments to the lines, polygons, and other types of objects
  • Scaling all types of objects
  • Saving and replacing raster images
  • Converting objects
  • Filters by object type (lines, texts, layers, etc.) for object multiple selections
  • A quick preview mode, where all lines have the same thickness

RapidIllustrator

RapidIllustrator is a tool in the Cortona3D RapidAuthor suite tailored to the creation of 2D illustrations from 3D geometry for parts catalogs, procedures and other types of after-sales documentation. RapidIllustrator allows for importing 3D models in various CAD formats including CATIA, NX, JT, SolidEdge, etc. While importing data, 3D models are optimized and a set of representations with various surface qualities is created.

Significance for HICO: Since its foundation in 1997, HICO has been developing efficient solutions in the context of technical communication. S1000D is an internationally recognized specification for the creation, management and publication of Structured Interactive Electronic Technical Documentation (IETD). With the.

Editing 3D models:

  • Create exploded views
  • Create section planes
  • Edit materials
  • Trim items
  • Edit item transparency
  • Add parametric objects such as hose, spring, callout, etc. from the expandable object gallery

Generation of 2D illustrations:

  • Generate 2D illustration from the 3D model with a mouse click
  • Generate callouts automatically
  • Supported formats: CGM, SVG, JPG, and PNG

Update of 2D illustrations:

  • The ability for a semi-automatic update of 2D images when initial CAD-data are updated
  • Publishing
  • RapidIllustrator is supplied along with a specification component of a special type – Generic Illustrations. Custom specifications with custom styles and custom sets of output data can be created on demand
  • Ability to create plugin-free HTML-publications for viewing created 3D/2D illustrations
  • Ability to create PDF publications

RapidCatalog

Cortona3D RapidCatalog is the first ‘out of the box’ toolkit for the fast and easy production of 3D Illustrated Parts Catalogs (IPC) / Electronic Parts Catalogs (EPC) / Online Interactive Parts Catalogs. RapidCatalog uses 3D ‘explosions’ to communicate complex assemblies that everyone can understand. Its interactive environment with drill-down navigation improves the user experience and puts an end to ordering and purchasing errors, inefficiency, and lack of productivity.

Significance for HICO: Since its foundation in 1997, HICO has been developing efficient solutions in the context of technical communication. S1000D is an internationally recognized specification for the creation, management and publication of Structured Interactive Electronic Technical Documentation (IETD). With the.

Benefits:

  • Increase aftermarket revenue and customer loyalty
  • Cut Parts Catalog production and maintenance costs
  • Minimize customer errors and product returns
  • Generate 2D images of your 3D explosions
  • Attach existing CGM images to your parts catalog
  • Minimize support costs as users can self-serve
  • Increase competitive advantage on ‘total product’
  • Lower order processing costs
  • Improve productivity

Creating an interactive 3D online parts catalog:

  1. Create a new Illustrated Parts Catalog (IPC) page
  2. Explode parts using a three-step wizard
  3. Choose the part information to be displayed on the published IPC page
  4. Set explosion triggers
  5. Publish the finished Illustrated Parts Catalog / Electronic Parts Catalog / Digital Parts Catalog as a stand-alone page or integrate into existing systems
  6. Link with third-party ordering and customer support services

The impact of 3D interactive online Illustrated Parts Catalog / Electronic Spare Parts Catalog is powerful and immediate, saving time and money on servicing, spare parts, and repairs.

How does the catalog work?

  • Interactive Bill of Materials link to 3D views – click on either text or 3D object to graphically highlight and verify all associated part details
  • Users can manipulate, rotate and zoom around 3D models
  • Intuitive drill down navigation, user can watch object disassemble and reveal individual parts
  • View all associated metadata of selected part, easily facilitating correct identification of part

RapidAuthor

Quality product documentation is vital to your organization’s success and critical for your customers, suppliers, distributors, and employees. The key to effective product documentation for complex equipment is integrated 3D communications. Whether it’s for maintenance, customer support, operational procedures, or training, 3D communications provide intuitive, knowledge transfer, that users ‘get’ easily. However, traditional product documentation methods are error prone, costly and slow.

Significance for HICO: Since its foundation in 1997, HICO has been developing efficient solutions in the context of technical communication. S1000D is an internationally recognized specification for the creation, management and publication of Structured Interactive Electronic Technical Documentation (IETD). With the.

That is why Cortona 3D RapidAuthor is more enhanced and user friendly:

  • Cost-effective
  • Flexible
  • Effective support documentation
  • Dramatically reducing effort and timelines
  • Intuitive interface (for users with no 3D expertise)

RapidManual

Cortona3D RapidManual is the first ‘out of the box’ toolkit for fast and easy production of 3D Interactive Electronic Technical Manuals (IETMs) / Operating Procedures / Assembly Work (Installation) Instructions, whether for operations, service, maintenance, or repair. RapidManual uses animated 3D simulations to clearly communicate complex mechanical procedures. 3D manuals encourage ‘Visual Know-How’, minimizing translation issues and improving information retention.

Significance for HICO: Since its foundation in 1997, HICO has been developing efficient solutions in the context of technical communication. S1000D is an internationally recognized specification for the creation, management and publication of Structured Interactive Electronic Technical Documentation (IETD). With the.

Benefits:

  • Concurrent Product and Documentation Development speeds Time to Market
  • Better Manuals Increase Revenue Opportunities and Customer Loyalty
  • Re-using existing resources Cuts Costs massively
  • Attach existing S1000D documentation to auto-generate your animation structure
  • 2D CGM image of your 3D view can be generated
  • Share Outputs and Reuse Content in Downstream Processes
  • Achieve Compliance and Safety
  • Easily add audio to your animation

Creating compelling manuals in minutes:

  1. Select the part in either the Cortona3D viewer or from the parts list
  2. Choose an action from an easily extendable library of animation actions such as: ‘loosen/tighten’, ‘connect/disconnect’
  3. Timelines, actions, and viewpoints can be modified, if required
  4. Preview your animation in the 3D viewer
  5. Publish the finished project as a standalone document or integrate it into any external system

More visual, hence more effective manuals and product documentation saves time and money in manufacturing, servicing, repairs and delivers a better ‘total product’.

How does it work?

  • Navigate the product, parts, and assemblies
  • Rotate, zoom and view from different angles
  • Play, pause and skip through simulation to gain an intuitive understanding of the procedure
  • Textual description of procedural step is highlighted as animation is played

About Cortona3D Company

A world leader in 3D visual communication and publishing software, Parallel Graphics Ltd. trading as Cortona3D provides proven tools for transforming design data (CAD) into ‘Visual Know-How’ for product maintenance and training.

About Relationship Between HICO and Cortona