{"id":177341,"date":"2011-11-03T18:02:16","date_gmt":"2011-11-03T18:02:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/?post_type=blog&#038;p=177341"},"modified":"2018-12-18T11:18:17","modified_gmt":"2018-12-18T19:18:17","slug":"3d-pdf-generation","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-desktop\/3d-gis\/3d-pdf-generation","title":{"rendered":"3D PDF Generation"},"author":4331,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_searchwp_excluded":""},"categories":[23771,22941],"tags":[29891,38411,84042],"industry":[],"product":[36991],"class_list":["post-177341","blog","type-blog","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-3d-gis","category-mapping","tag-arcscene","tag-mapping-center","tag-pdf","product-arcgis-desktop"],"acf":{"short_description":"Question: I\u2019d like to be able to generate a 3D pdf from a 3D visualisation I\u2019ve built using 3D Analyst. ","flexible_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"<p><strong>Question:<\/strong>\u00a0I\u2019d like to be able to generate a 3D pdf from a 3D visualisation I\u2019ve built using 3D Analyst. As far as I can tell it\u2019s not currently possible to export directly to 3D pdf, but is there a \u201cgood\u201d way to complete this workflow? (even if it\u2019s using third party software, such as SketchUp, or other tools?)<\/p>\n<p><strong>Answer:\u00a0<\/strong>First, you need to get your data into\u00a0<a title=\"ArcGIS Resource Center: 3D Analyst and ArcScene\" href=\"http:\/\/help.arcgis.com\/en\/arcgisdesktop\/10.0\/help\/index.html#\/\/00q8000000p0000000\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ArcScene<\/a>.\u00a0 Once you\u2019ve symbolised your data in ArcScene so the model is how you want it to appear you click File &gt; Export Scene &gt; 3D which will create a VRML format file.<\/p>\n<p>You can then enact 3D PDF functionality in one of three ways (all require Adobe Acrobat Pro Extended Edition):<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Drag and drop the .VRML file into Adobe Acrobat Pro<\/li>\n<li>Embed a 3D PDF window into a Microsoft Word document<\/li>\n<li>Embed a 3D PDF window into an existing PDF document (e.g. a blank 2D PDF document)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Taking the last option as an example, if you open a blank PDF in Adobe Acrobat Pro, choose Multimedia &gt; 3D tool. Draw a bounding box in your PDf document. Browse to the .VRML file in the subsequent dialog box. The 3D model will appear in the embeded 3D window. You can then save the 3D PDF and distribute.<\/p>\n<p>There are also Export to 3D PDF functions in the\u00a0<a title=\"ArcGIS Data Interoperability\" href=\"http:\/\/www.esri.com\/software\/arcgis\/extensions\/datainteroperability\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ArcGIS Data Interoperability<\/a>\u00a0extension so you can create 3D PDFs directly from ArcGIS.<\/p>\n<p><em>Formerly a Mapping Center Ask a Cartographer \u00a0Q &amp; A.<\/em><\/p>\n"}],"authors":[{"ID":4331,"user_firstname":"Aileen","user_lastname":"Buckley","nickname":"Aileen Buckley","user_nicename":"abuckley","display_name":"Aileen Buckley","user_email":"abuckley@esri.com","user_url":"","user_registered":"2018-03-02 00:15:57","user_description":"Dr. Aileen Buckley is a cartographer researcher and Senior Principal GIS Engineer at Esri. I'm on the ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World Team, making, writing, and talking about maps. I'm also involved in a number of cartographic societies and association, and I'm the chair of the ICA Ethics in Cartography Commission.","user_avatar":"<img data-del=\"avatar\" src='https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Aileen.jpg' class='avatar pp-user-avatar avatar-96 photo ' height='96' width='96'\/>"}],"related_articles":"","card_image":false,"wide_image":false},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.9 (Yoast SEO v25.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>3D PDF Generation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-desktop\/3d-gis\/3d-pdf-generation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"3D PDF Generation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-desktop\/3d-gis\/3d-pdf-generation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"ArcGIS Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/esrigis\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-12-18T19:18:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ESRI\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":[\"Article\",\"BlogPosting\"],\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-desktop\/3d-gis\/3d-pdf-generation#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-desktop\/3d-gis\/3d-pdf-generation\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Aileen Buckley\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/#\/schema\/person\/874953792dea98fe178fbb6a5e8255b0\"},\"headline\":\"3D PDF Generation\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-11-03T18:02:16+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-12-18T19:18:17+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-desktop\/3d-gis\/3d-pdf-generation\"},\"wordCount\":3,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"ArcScene\",\"Mapping Center\",\"PDF\"],\"articleSection\":[\"3D Visualization &amp; Analytics\",\"Mapping\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-desktop\/3d-gis\/3d-pdf-generation\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-desktop\/3d-gis\/3d-pdf-generation\",\"name\":\"3D PDF Generation\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-11-03T18:02:16+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-12-18T19:18:17+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-desktop\/3d-gis\/3d-pdf-generation#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-desktop\/3d-gis\/3d-pdf-generation\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-desktop\/3d-gis\/3d-pdf-generation#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"3D PDF Generation\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/\",\"name\":\"ArcGIS Blog\",\"description\":\"Get insider info from Esri product teams\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Esri\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Esri.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Esri.png\",\"width\":400,\"height\":400,\"caption\":\"Esri\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/esrigis\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/ESRI\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/5311\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/#\/schema\/person\/874953792dea98fe178fbb6a5e8255b0\",\"name\":\"Aileen Buckley\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Aileen.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Aileen.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Aileen Buckley\"},\"description\":\"Dr. Aileen Buckley is a cartographer researcher and Senior Principal GIS Engineer at Esri. I'm on the ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World Team, making, writing, and talking about maps. I'm also involved in a number of cartographic societies and association, and I'm the chair of the ICA Ethics in Cartography Commission.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/buckley.aileen\/\",\"linkedin.com\/in\/aileenbuckley\"],\"honorificPrefix\":\"Dr.\",\"honorificSuffix\":\"PhD\",\"gender\":\"female\",\"award\":[\"Chair of the ICA Commission on Ethics in Cartography\"],\"knowsAbout\":[\"Cartography\",\"GIS\"],\"knowsLanguage\":[\"English\"],\"jobTitle\":\"Research Cartographer\",\"worksFor\":\"Esri\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/author\/abuckley\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"3D PDF Generation","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-desktop\/3d-gis\/3d-pdf-generation","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"3D PDF Generation","og_url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-desktop\/3d-gis\/3d-pdf-generation","og_site_name":"ArcGIS Blog","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/esrigis\/","article_modified_time":"2018-12-18T19:18:17+00:00","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_site":"@ESRI","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":["Article","BlogPosting"],"@id":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-desktop\/3d-gis\/3d-pdf-generation#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-desktop\/3d-gis\/3d-pdf-generation"},"author":{"name":"Aileen Buckley","@id":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/#\/schema\/person\/874953792dea98fe178fbb6a5e8255b0"},"headline":"3D PDF Generation","datePublished":"2011-11-03T18:02:16+00:00","dateModified":"2018-12-18T19:18:17+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-desktop\/3d-gis\/3d-pdf-generation"},"wordCount":3,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/#organization"},"keywords":["ArcScene","Mapping Center","PDF"],"articleSection":["3D Visualization &amp; Analytics","Mapping"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-desktop\/3d-gis\/3d-pdf-generation","url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-desktop\/3d-gis\/3d-pdf-generation","name":"3D PDF Generation","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-11-03T18:02:16+00:00","dateModified":"2018-12-18T19:18:17+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-desktop\/3d-gis\/3d-pdf-generation#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-desktop\/3d-gis\/3d-pdf-generation"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-desktop\/3d-gis\/3d-pdf-generation#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"3D PDF Generation"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/","name":"ArcGIS Blog","description":"Get insider info from Esri product teams","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/#organization","name":"Esri","url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Esri.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Esri.png","width":400,"height":400,"caption":"Esri"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/esrigis\/","https:\/\/x.com\/ESRI","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/5311\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/#\/schema\/person\/874953792dea98fe178fbb6a5e8255b0","name":"Aileen Buckley","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Aileen.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Aileen.jpg","caption":"Aileen Buckley"},"description":"Dr. Aileen Buckley is a cartographer researcher and Senior Principal GIS Engineer at Esri. I'm on the ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World Team, making, writing, and talking about maps. I'm also involved in a number of cartographic societies and association, and I'm the chair of the ICA Ethics in Cartography Commission.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/buckley.aileen\/","linkedin.com\/in\/aileenbuckley"],"honorificPrefix":"Dr.","honorificSuffix":"PhD","gender":"female","award":["Chair of the ICA Commission on Ethics in Cartography"],"knowsAbout":["Cartography","GIS"],"knowsLanguage":["English"],"jobTitle":"Research Cartographer","worksFor":"Esri","url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/author\/abuckley"}]}},"text_date":"November 3, 2011","author_name":"Aileen Buckley","author_page":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/author\/abuckley","custom_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Newsroom-Keyart-Wide-1920-x-1080.jpg","primary_product":"ArcMap","tag_data":[{"term_id":29891,"name":"ArcScene","slug":"arcscene","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":29891,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":3,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":38411,"name":"Mapping Center","slug":"mapping-center","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":38411,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":35,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":84042,"name":"PDF","slug":"pdf","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":84042,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":6,"filter":"raw"}],"category_data":[{"term_id":23771,"name":"3D Visualization &amp; Analytics","slug":"3d-gis","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":23771,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":687,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":22941,"name":"Mapping","slug":"mapping","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":22941,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":2692,"filter":"raw"}],"product_data":[{"term_id":36991,"name":"ArcMap","slug":"arcgis-desktop","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":36991,"taxonomy":"product","description":"","parent":36981,"count":325,"filter":"raw"}],"primary_product_link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/?s=#&products=arcgis-desktop","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog\/177341","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/blog"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4331"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=177341"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog\/177341\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=177341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=177341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=177341"},{"taxonomy":"industry","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/industry?post=177341"},{"taxonomy":"product","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product?post=177341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}