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Setting 3D views in PDFs

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  1. Acrobat User Guide
  2. Introduction to Acrobat
    1. Access Acrobat from desktop, mobile, web
    2. Introducing the new Acrobat experience
    3. What's new in Acrobat
    4. Keyboard shortcuts
    5. System Requirements
  3. Workspace
    1. Workspace basics
    2. Opening and viewing PDFs
      1. Opening PDFs
      2. Navigating PDF pages
      3. Viewing PDF preferences
      4. Adjusting PDF views
      5. Enable thumbnail preview of PDFs
      6. Display PDF in browser
    3. Working with online storage accounts
      1. Access files from Box
      2. Access files from Dropbox
      3. Access files from OneDrive
      4. Access files from SharePoint
      5. Access files from Google Drive
    4. Acrobat and macOS
    5. Acrobat notifications
    6. Grids, guides, and measurements in PDFs
    7. Asian, Cyrillic, and right-to-left text in PDFs
  4. Creating PDFs
    1. Overview of PDF creation
    2. Create PDFs with Acrobat
    3. Create PDFs with PDFMaker
    4. Using the Adobe PDF printer
    5. Converting web pages to PDF
    6. Creating PDFs with Acrobat Distiller
    7. Adobe PDF conversion settings
    8. PDF fonts
  5. Editing PDFs
    1. Edit text in PDFs
    2. Edit images or objects in a PDF
    3. Rotate, move, delete, and renumber PDF pages
    4. Edit scanned PDFs
    5. Enhance document photos captured using a mobile camera
    6. Optimizing PDFs
    7. PDF properties and metadata
    8. Links and attachments in PDFs
    9. PDF layers
    10. Page thumbnails and bookmarks in PDFs
    11. PDFs converted to web pages
    12. Setting up PDFs for a presentation
    13. PDF articles
    14. Geospatial PDFs
    15. Applying actions and scripts to PDFs
    16. Change the default font for adding text
    17. Delete pages from a PDF
  6. Scan and OCR
    1. Scan documents to PDF
    2. Enhance document photos
    3. Troubleshoot scanner issues when scanning using Acrobat
  7. Forms
    1. PDF forms basics
    2. Create a form from scratch in Acrobat
    3. Create and distribute PDF forms
    4. Fill in PDF forms
    5. PDF form field properties
    6. Fill and sign PDF forms
    7. Setting action buttons in PDF forms
    8. Publishing interactive PDF web forms
    9. PDF form field basics
    10. PDF barcode form fields
    11. Collect and manage PDF form data
    12. About forms tracker
    13. PDF forms help
    14. Send PDF forms to recipients using email or an internal server
  8. Combining files
    1. Combine or merge files into single PDF
    2. Rotate, move, delete, and renumber PDF pages
    3. Add headers, footers, and Bates numbering to PDFs
    4. Crop PDF pages
    5. Add watermarks to PDFs
    6. Add backgrounds to PDFs
    7. Working with component files in a PDF Portfolio
    8. Publish and share PDF Portfolios
    9. Overview of PDF Portfolios
    10. Create and customize PDF Portfolios
  9. Sharing, reviews, and commenting
    1. Share and track PDFs online
    2. Mark up text with edits
    3. Preparing for a PDF review
    4. Starting a PDF review
    5. Hosting shared reviews on SharePoint or Office 365 sites
    6. Participating in a PDF review
    7. Add comments to PDFs
    8. Adding a stamp to a PDF
    9. Approval workflows
    10. Managing comments | view, reply, print
    11. Importing and exporting comments
    12. Tracking and managing PDF reviews
  10. Saving and exporting PDFs
    1. Saving PDFs
    2. Convert PDF to Word
    3. Convert PDF to PPTX
    4. Convert PDF to XLSX or XML
    5. Convert PDF to JPG
    6. Convert PDF to PNG
    7. Convert or export PDFs to other file formats
    8. File format options for PDF export
    9. Reusing PDF content
  11. Security
    1. Enhanced security setting for PDFs
    2. Securing PDFs with passwords
    3. Manage Digital IDs
    4. Securing PDFs with certificates
    5. Opening secured PDFs
    6. Removing sensitive content from PDFs
    7. Setting up security policies for PDFs
    8. Choosing a security method for PDFs
    9. Security warnings when a PDF opens
    10. Securing PDFs with Adobe Experience Manager
    11. Protected View feature for PDFs
    12. Overview of security in Acrobat and PDFs
    13. JavaScripts in PDFs as a security risk
    14. Attachments as security risks
    15. Allow or block links in PDFs
  12. Electronic signatures
    1. Sign PDF documents
    2. Capture your signature on mobile and use it everywhere
    3. Send documents for e-signatures
    4. Create a web form
    5. Request e-signatures in bulk
    6. Collect online payments
    7. Brand your account
    8. About certificate signatures
    9. Certificate-based signatures
    10. Validating digital signatures
    11. Adobe Approved Trust List
    12. Manage trusted identities
  13. Printing
    1. Basic PDF printing tasks
    2. Print Booklets and PDF Portfolios
    3. Advanced PDF print settings
    4. Print to PDF
    5. Printing color PDFs (Acrobat Pro)
    6. Printing PDFs in custom sizes
  14. Accessibility, tags, and reflow
    1. Create and verify PDF accessibility
    2. Accessibility features in PDFs
    3. Reading Order tool for PDFs
    4. Reading PDFs with reflow and accessibility features
    5. Edit document structure with the Content and Tags panels
    6. Creating accessible PDFs
    7. Cloud-based auto-tagging
  15. Searching and indexing
    1. Creating PDF indexes
    2. Searching PDFs
  16. Multimedia and 3D models
    1. Add audio, video, and interactive objects to PDFs
    2. Adding 3D models to PDFs (Acrobat Pro)
    3. Displaying 3D models in PDFs
    4. Interacting with 3D models
    5. Measuring 3D objects in PDFs
    6. Setting 3D views in PDFs
    7. Enable 3D content in PDF
    8. Adding multimedia to PDFs
    9. Commenting on 3D designs in PDFs
    10. Playing video, audio, and multimedia formats in PDFs
    11. Add comments to videos
  17. Print production tools (Acrobat Pro)
    1. Print production tools overview
    2. Printer marks and hairlines
    3. Previewing output
    4. Transparency flattening
    5. Color conversion and ink management
    6. Trapping color
  18. Preflight (Acrobat Pro)
    1. PDF/X-, PDF/A-, and PDF/E-compliant files
    2. Preflight profiles
    3. Advanced preflight inspections
    4. Preflight reports
    5. Viewing preflight results, objects, and resources
    6. Output intents in PDFs
    7. Correcting problem areas with the Preflight tool
    8. Automating document analysis with droplets or preflight actions
    9. Analyzing documents with the Preflight tool
    10. Additional checks in the Preflight tool
    11. Preflight libraries
    12. Preflight variables
  19. Color management
    1. Keeping colors consistent
    2. Color settings
    3. Color-managing documents
    4. Working with color profiles
    5. Understanding color management

Learn how to set up 3D views in PDFs with Adobe Acrobat. Follow our step-by-step guide and enhance your document visualization experience.

Before you begin

We're rolling out a new, more intuitive product experience. If the screen shown here doesn’t match your product interface, select help for your current experience.

In the new experience, the tools appear on the left side of the screen.

Default view

The default view of a 3D model provides an easy way to return to the starting point whenever you interact with the model. Note that the default view is different from the preview, which displays the 3D model's appearance when it's not activated. The Views menu on the 3D toolbar and the View pane of the Model Tree display the complete list of all available views for the 3D model. Acrobat generates an initial default view when creating a PDF from a 3D model or adding a 3D file to an existing PDF. This default view is independent of any additional default views or views within the 3D file.

The default view has the following characteristics:

  • A perspective projection.
  • The viewpoint is positioned away from the object to ensure that most visible nodes occupy most of the field view.
  • The offset direction and orientation are mainly along the negative X-axis, with a smaller negative Y-axis offset, and a smaller positive Z-axis offset.
  • The camera faces the center of visible nodes, with the Z-axis being vertical and the upward direction being positive in the displayed annotation.

To customize the background color, render mode, and lighting for the default view, follow the steps:

  1. Select the All tools menu from the top left corner. Select the View more option from the left sidebar and navigate to the Add rich media option. Then select the 3D media tool.

  2. Now, you can either drag or double-click the desired location to insert 3D media. This action will open the Insert 3D dialog box. Select the Show Advanced Options box in the Insert 3D dialog box. 

    Select Show Advanced Options

  3. Select the 3D tab, adjust the displayed parameters, and then select OK.

    Adjust-3d-parameters

Create a custom view

Acrobat allows you to create additional views of the 3D model to facilitate navigation of the 3D content. You can personalize the views to show different perspectives like top, bottom, left, right, inside, outside, exploded, or assembled. The customized views can also include various settings such as lighting, camera position, rendering mode, Model Tree state, and transparency and cross-section settings. Precise camera properties can be included in custom views.

  1. Using the Select tool, select the 3D model to enable it.

  2. To adjust the view of the 3D model, right-click on it and navigate to the Tools option. From there, select Show Toolbar. Once the 3D toolbar appears, you can utilize the Rotate, Pan, and Zoom tools to adjust the view.

    Show Toolbar

  3. In the View Properties dialog box, select the display settings to include in the view.

    Properties that are not selected use the settings that were last displayed. For example, if Background Color is not selected, the background color of the view remains the same as the background that was previously displayed.

    The view is listed as NewView in the View pane of the Model Tree. Select it to rename it.

Display a view

To display a view other than the default view, select the view from the Views drop-down menu using the 3D toolbar.

Change the default view

To set your preferred view as the default for your 3D model, right-click the 3D model. Select Views and then select Manage Views. Select the view that you wish to set as your default, and then select Use As Default button. Once done, Select OK.

Note:

To create a new view, select Views drop-down in the 3D toolbar, and select Manage Views. In the Manage Views dialog box, select New View and follow the onscreen instructions.

Change the poster to match the default view

To change the poster to match the deault view, follow these steps: 

  1. Select the All tools menu from the left top corner. From the left sidebar, select the View more option and navigate to the Add Rich Media option. Then choose the 3D Media tool.

  2. Now you can either drag or double-click the desired location to insert 3D media. This action will open the Insert 3D dialog box. Select the Show Advanced Options box in the Insert 3D dialog box, and then select the Launch Settings tab.

  3. In the Poster Image section, select Retrieve poster from default view.

  4. Select OK, and then save the PDF.

This process requires a 3D model with one or more defined views, which you can create. You can associate the view with an existing bookmark by following these steps:

  1. To create a new bookmark, select Bookmark from the right sidebar to open the Bookmarks panel. Select the Add a new bookmark option  at the top of the Bookmarks panel, and type a new name for the bookmark. Then, right-click the bookmark name, and select Properties.  Also, to link a view to an existing bookmark or link, right-click the bookmark or link, and select Properties.

  2. In the Properties dialog box, select the Actions tab.

  3. From the Select Action menu, select Go to a 3D/Multimedia View, and then select Add.

  4. In the Select a 3D View dialog box, select the 3D annotation for the 3D model from the list on the left, and then select a view option on the right:

    Current view

    The link or bookmark created will replicate the 3D rotation, pan, and zoom settings of your document, regardless of whether this view is listed on the Model Tree as a defined view.

    First view

    Changes will be made to the view located at the top of the Model Tree list.

    Last view

    Changes will be made to the view definition located at the bottom of the Model Tree list.

    Previous view

    Moves up the Model Tree list of defined views, one view at a time.

    Next view

    Moves down the Model Tree list of defined views, one view at a time.

    Named view

    Changes to the defined view that you select from the list appearing below this option.
    Note:

    To make a bookmark or link also jump to a specific page and page view, select Go To A Page View on the Selection Action menu, and select Add. Then use the scroll bars and zoom tools to adjust the page view before you select the Set Link button. When finished, select Close in the Properties dialog box.

Add a 3D view to a link

You can add a 3D view to a link by following these steps: 

  1. To create a new link, select All tools, and then select Edit PDF. From the left sidebar, select Link, and then select Add or edit a link. Now drag to create a rectangle anywhere on the page. This action will open a Create Link dialog box. Then, under Link Action, select Custom Link, and select Next.

  2. In the Link Properties dialog box, select the Actions tab. From the Select Action drop-down menu,  select Go To A 3D/Multimedia View, and select Add.

  3. From the Select a 3D View dialog box, select a 3D annotation for the 3D model from the list on the left, and then select a view option on the right. Here's the list of view options and their functionalities.

    Current view

    The link or bookmark created will replicate the 3D rotation, pan, and zoom settings of your document, regardless of whether this view is listed on the Model Tree as a defined view.

    First view

    Changes will be made to the view located at the top of the Model Tree list.

    Last view

    Changes will be made to the view definition located at the bottom of the Model Tree list.

    Previous view

    Moves up the Model Tree list of defined views, one view at a time.

    Next view

    Moves down the Model Tree list of defined views, one view at a time.

    Named view

    Changes to the defined view that you select from the list appearing below this option.
    Note:

    To make a bookmark or link also jump to a specific page and page view, select Go To A Page View on the Selection Action menu, and select Add. Then use the scroll bars and zoom tools to adjust the page view before you select the Set Link button. When finished, select Close in the Properties dialog box.

Delete a 3D view

To delete a view, go to the 3D toolbar, select the Views drop-down menu, and select Manage Views. Select the views you want to remove, and then select Delete View.

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