1

3DVIA Composer 2012x – Detailed training Advanced V 1.1

By: Virtual Systems 2013

Contact: Support.vsys@volvo.com
 2

About
This material is the detailed training for 3DVIA Composer. It focuses more on how things actually are
done today when creating images with the help of 3DVIA Composer at Volvo, than GUI and basic
movement. The training material for beginners was more of an interface lesson and a quick guide.
Therefore most of the exercises found in this material comes from real usage of 3DVIA, and with that
said we would be happy to get your input if you were to come up with a question, or if you feel that
something is missing in this material, or if you feel that something shouldn’t be in the material. I will
try to update it as frequent as possible.
 3

Contents
3DVIA Composer 2012x – Detailed training Advanced V 1.1 .................................................................. 1
By: Virtual Systems 2013 ..................................................................................................................... 1
About ................................................................................................................................................... 2
Exercise: Adaptation of coordinate system......................................................................................... 5
Unable to change color due to Parent/Child....................................................................................... 6
Grouping with selection sets ............................................................................................................... 8
Grouping by creating a new assembly group ...................................................................................... 9
Alignment .......................................................................................................................................... 10
Pivot alignment ................................................................................................................................. 13
Rendering –Exercise .......................................................................................................................... 14
Digger tool functions ......................................................................................................................... 15
Making a callout using labels in front of the digger 2d image .......................................................... 16
Cutting plane ..................................................................................................................................... 17
Explode and Merge Geometry .......................................................................................................... 18
Security .............................................................................................................................................. 19
Security – 3D Brush ........................................................................................................................... 19
Simplification – Decimation .............................................................................................................. 20
Technical illustration workshop ........................................................................................................ 21
Technical illustration workshop – Profiles ........................................................................................ 21
Technical illustration – Smart outlines .............................................................................................. 22
........................................................................................................................................................... 22
Technical illustrations – DPP views ................................................................................................... 22
Technical illustrations – BOM table................................................................................................... 22
Technical illustration – Exercise ........................................................................................................ 23
High resolution workshop – Service image generation .................................................................... 23
Using styles for service image generation ......................................................................................... 24
High resolution image generation – Exercise .................................................................................... 24
Service Image Toolbar ....................................................................................................................... 25
Service Image Toolbar – Exercise ...................................................................................................... 25
Animation – Animation workshop .................................................................................................... 26
Animation workshop – Exercise ........................................................................................................ 26
Publishing 3DVIA into PPT ................................................................................................................. 27
Tips & Tricks....................................................................................................................................... 29
 4

Ghosting actors ................................................................................................................................. 29

Support .............................................................................................................................................. 30
 5

Exercise: Adaptation of coordinate system

Start by opening the .smg file 9999954-3.smg from the training package
3DVIA_EDU_V1.1\Geometry\Advanced_Geometry\Coordinate_system.

Depending of the source data’s coordinate system you might need to change the up direction for the
scene. Data that has been cross-converted gets the latest format axis which means that if you have
converted data from ProE to Catia it will use Z+ because data coming from Catia uses Z+. Data coming
from ProE uses Y+. This means that in some cases you will need to change the up direction of the
scene. It is not possible to change this direction part by part; instead you must change the entire
scene. If you would like to change the up direction for a single part you will need to rotate and move
the part manually and set a new neutral position for it.

To change the direction, simply press somewhere in the viewport/scene and then go to properties on
the left side and change the vertical axis properties. In our exercise change the Vertical axis to Z -.

Now you can go ahead and close this .smg.

 6

Unable to change color due to Parent/Child

Start by opening the .smg file color_test.smg from the training package
3DVIA_EDU_V1.1\Geometry\Advanced_Geometry\Color_test

Sometimes the converted cad modules come with a predefined color from native data, and it is
troublesome to change the color. This often has to do with the parts/modules color being locked to a
parent assembly. To override it you must change the color to undefined in the correct assembly,
using assembly selection mode, and then change the color in properties.

Have the assembly pane open.

Press assembly selection mode.
Locate the color that you want to change by selecting the right CATProduct in the Assembly tree. You
can see in the properties tab that you have selected the right CATProduct when you see the green
color. Hint, it is 15048430-6459_1.CATProduct.

Click on the green color box and select undefined.

Now you should be able to change the color

 7

This was the textbook example of how to fix this problem. For an even easier fix we can use the
Service Image Toolbar. It is located under the Volvo Tools tab in the ribbon.

Start the Service Image Toolbar, and select the actor with the color you want to change

Press the “undefine any colors applied on assembly level” button below.

Now this message box should appear and the color should change.

Now you can go ahead and close this .smg.

 8

Grouping with selection sets

Start by opening the .smgProj file EXERCISE-2.smgProj from the training package
3DVIA_EDU_V1.1\Geometry\Advanced_Geometry\Ex2

Grouping is a way to get a better overview on your assemblies and perhaps an easier way of working
with different parts repeatedly.

There are two ways of grouping parts.

The first one is selection sets.
The good thing with selection sets is that it is still possible to get updates on your assembly. This is
because the selection set doesn’t break apart the original assembly. It creates what you could call
shortcut groups of your choice.

Create selection
To create a selection set press the assembly selection button
Select a couple of actors in the viewport or straight from the assembly tree.
Then press the create selection set button.
You could also press Ctrl+alt+S.

Now at the bottom of the Assembly pane you should get a selection set. You could name it after your
choosing.

Now whenever you choose to select this selection set in the assembly pane the containing actors will
be selected and highlighted in the viewport.

Selection sets get listed in the assembly pane if the set only contains geometry actors and in the
collaboration pane if the set contains at least on collaborative actor.
 9

Grouping by creating a new assembly group

The other way to use grouping in 3DVIA is to create a new Assembly group.
When creating a new assembly group you will rearrange the assembly tree, the downside with that is
that there will no longer be possible to get updates on the geometry. The upside to it is that it
probably looks better and by that more easy to use. However the recommendation is to use the
selection set as far as possible and if necessary switch to create a new assembly group, just to work
in a more sustainable way.
To create a new assembly group, right click on the root, and select Create Assembly Group.

Rename the new group to e.g. MyTools

Go to File and Open, go to the Tools folder that was included in the training material.
3DVIA_EDU_V1.1\Geometry\Advanced_Geometry\TOOLSSelect 9810750.smg,
and choose Merge into current document.
Right click the new actor top assembly and cut the selected object.
Right click on the MyTools assembly group and select paste.
Now you have a new assembly group with your tools in it.
Keep your new tools group for the next exercise.
 10

Alignment
If you haven’t done the previous exercises, open the .smgProj file EXERCISE-2.smgProj from the
training package 3DVIA_EDU_V1.1\Geometry\Advanced_Geometry\Ex2. Also, Go to File and Open,
go to the Tools folder 3DVIA_EDU_V1.1\Geometry\Advanced_Geometry\TOOLS that was included in
the training material, and choose Merge into current document.

Sometimes you would like to add tools to your images or animations. Then it is possible to merge
them into your current document. And then alignment could be used to get a good position.

Use Transform  Translate to move the actor closer to the

actors where the tool will be used. In this case, move the tools
so it is closer to one of the bolts on the model.

Select all three parts of the tool

Go to Transform  Align  and press Line/Axis to Line/axis

Now you will need to select to surfaces. Select the diameter of the tool

And select the diameter of the bolt

 11

Usually you get a ghosted preview on how the tool will fit to the bolt. Sometimes it’s in the wrong
direction. Then press shift, and the tool will switch to the other direction.

Now you maybe want to turn the tool. Start by selecting the these two parts of the tool

Select
 12

Rotate from Transform  Move  Rotate and also select Detect Curves

Try to locate this curve:

When located and pressed it is possible to rotate the tool around its axel

To the left in properties you

should be able to visualize the
Angle and if you want you could
select how many degrees you

want the tool to be rotated.

You can now close this project file.

 13

Pivot alignment
The pivot is the rotational coordinate system of a component. It is
an actor property that defines a transformation point, such as the
point about which an actor rotates or where kinematic
constraints are applied.

Gizmos are graphic objects that let you manipulate actors in 3D.
Gizmos appear at actor pivot coordinates unless one pivot is
displayed for multiple actors.

The Pivot alignment commands let you manipulate actor pivots.

You can move the pivot by using the pivot alignment toolbar and
then you can align objects that have different coordinate systems.

For this exercise we don’t have any good 3D material. Therefore I want you to watch this 5 min video
tutorial instead.

The tutorial is located in the training package: 3DVIA_EDU_V1.1\Video_Tutorials\3DVIA Composer -

Pivots and Gizmos.mp4
 14

Rendering –Exercise
Start by opening the .smg file 17238623.smg from the training
package:
3DVIA_EDU_V1.1\Geometry\Advanced_Geometry\Silhouette

Render commands let you control scene lightning and rendering

characteristics but here we are going to focus on how to use the
different modes. When selecting a render mode in the mode drop
down menu it will affect all of the geometry of the viewport. To
get different modes on different actors you will first need to
select Custom rendering in the mode menu. When this is done,
select an actor and take a look in the properties tab. scrolling
down you can see that a new property has been added and that is
the Custom rendering. Now you should be able to select different
render styles for different actors.

As you can see on my picture here I have I have first selected

Custom render mode and then selected the layer actor and used
silhouette to show what’s inside of this joystick.

This is not very complicated. You can try it for yourself.

1. First go the render tab.

2. Press the Mode button and choose Custom.
3. Select the layer of the joystick.
4. Go to properties and scroll down to Custom rendering.
5. In the Rendering drop down menu, select silhouette.
 15

Digger tool functions

The Digger tool acts like a magnifying glass to isolate areas of your scene. You can modify opacity,
visibility, and magnification (zoom) and then capture a 2D image.

To display the digger go to the Home tab and press Digger, or press the space bar, or X while in the
viewport. To move the digger around, just drag the digger ring.

Below are the different digger commands.

1. Change of circle radius

Slide bar to change the size of the Digger tool window. Drag the handle bar in or out to
rezise.
2. Change of local zoom/clipping plane/x-ray/onion skin
Changes the effect of the Onion Skin, X-Ray,
Cutting Plane, and Zoom tools. Drag the
Percentage handle around Digger.
3. Display/hide tools
Displays or hides the digger tools.
4. Zoom
Magnifies the objects in the Digger zone. Click
to activate, and then drag the Percentage
handle.
5. Cutting plane
Displays a cutting plane. The cutting plane is
parallel to the screen. Click to activate, and then
drag the Percentage handle.
6. X-ray
Peels the layers of the model. As the depth
increases, actors change to a ghost outline and
then disappear. Click to activate, and then drag
the Percentage handle.
7. Onion skin
Peels the layers of the model. As the depth
increases, actor disappear. Click to activate, and then drag the percentage handle.
8. Light change
Displays a temporary spot light in the Digger zone. To display the light, drag the icon into the
Digger zone. To return to original lightning, drag the tool outside the Digger zone.
9. 2D image
Creates an image 2D panel of the digger zone that you can then drag to a location in the
scene. The image resolution of the 2D image is determined by the High Resolution workshop
resolution settings and scaled for the viewport size.
10. Lock/unlock depth
When locked, Onion skin, X-ray and Cutting Plane tools stay at their original layer depth as
you move the model or Digger in the viewport. When unlocked, these tools update as the
viewport changes.
 16

11. Change center of interest

Changes what is displayed in the Digger zone. To change the center of interest, drag the tool
to the desired location in your scene. To return the center of interest to the center of Digger,
drag the tool inside the Digger window.

Making a callout using labels in front of the

digger 2d image
One user contacted us with a question about how to use
callouts together with the 2D image panel created from the
digger. This is not possible because the 2D image panel doesn’t
hold that kind of information that the callout needs to get
attached to the 2D image. A solution to this could be to create
a label and change the looks of it in the properties tab so it
looks like a callout.

Labels are created under

the author tab and can be
modified in properties.
 17

Cutting plane
Cutting plane commands let you create and manage cross-section
(cutaway) views of your models. The plane can be aligned with
other objects by using 3 points and it is also possible to create
multiple cutting planes.

You set the cutting plane properties in the properties pane.

It is possible to change the cutting plane capping

property to create surfaces where the cutting plane
intersects solid model geometry. To do this select
the cutting plane and go to the properties tab. In
the properties tab scroll to Cutting line and enable
it. Here it is also possible to change colors of the
line. Sometimes this could be error prone. If it
doesn’t work try changing it twice.
 18

Explode and Merge Geometry

In order to test this we have put a small .smg file in the training package. Open
3DVIA_EDU_V1.1\Geometry\Advanced_Geometry\Explode_Merge\Pin.smg and give it a try.

Geometry commands Geometry tab  Geometry let you manipulate geometry actors. Geometry
commands do not affect collaborative actors.

The explode geometry command exposes faces for the selected geometry actors. For example,
explode a part to apply different face colors or textures. Since the explode geometry command
explodes actors surface by surface it could be very time consuming if you have a high detailed
actor to explode. It is also possible to explode geometry by color.

When you have exploded the geometry you might want to merge some of it back. Then you
could look in the assembly tree and see the exploded surfaces, select them and press merge
geometry. Merge geometry merges all geometry of the selceted actors into a new actor. Merging
actors could also reduce the number of actors, which improves the performance. You cannot undo
merges.
 19

Security
We are talking more and more about security and 3D, and what we are allowed to send to others
and not. Therefore this part is named security; however there could be other uses for the following
functionality as well.

The security page on the save as dialog box lets you manage 3DVIA Composer document passwords
and reduce model accuracy for theft protection. Let me first give you a heads up, these security
options in the save as dialog box only works with .smg files. But when you save a .smg file you are
able to choose a password and also reduce the accuracy on the model. This will disable reverse
engineering, and it won’t be possible to get accurate measurements of your model.

A few rows down on the save as dialog box you will find the Right Manager. Right Manager lets you
enable 3DVIA Composer capabilities for .smg files opened in 3DVIA Composer Player. So you could
say that the Right Manager options lets you choose what to send with your .smg if someone opens it
with 3VIA Player. But the right manager has also got some other interesting choices. I.e. we are
available to select an expiration date for our model. It places a time limit for accessing the 3DVIA file,
and when the time expires no user can open the 3DVIA file.

Notice that the right manager options only become available when working with .smg files.

Security – 3D Brush
Sometimes it could be useful to just reduce accuracy or blur one secret part, instead of working with
the reduce accuracy option in the save as dialog box you have the Secure 3D Brush alternative. It
degrades information at the geometrical level while preserving total model coherence. If you try to
measure a model where the 3D brush has been used you will not get accurate values, and some
measurements are not possible.

Important: You cannot undo the effect of Secure 3D Brush.

So don’t save your file after you have tried the Secure 3D
Brush, unless you really want to.

You can find the Secure 3D

Brush under the geometry tab.
 20

Simplification – Decimation
Simplification can be used to reduce the size and improve the graphical performance
of your models.

Important: You cannot undo simplifications once you click Apply All Modifications.

To display this workshop, click Workshops  Geometry  Simplification.

In the Simplification workshop you will find three tools, Decimation, Occlusion and Clones Detection.

Decimation
Decimation lets you reduce the document file size by reducing
the number of triangles in the model. Decimation degrades your
model geometry, but small amount of decimation can typically
be applied without altering the visual quality.

You can prepare your decimation by pressing the initialize button,

and it will calculate the initial display state for all actors. Once
initialized testing different decimation scenarios goes relatively

fast. However this could take quite some time for a large model.

When you work with decimation choose cost in the distribution

function drop down menu, this will reduce the fine details first
and it generally gives better visual results.

Once initialized you can either choose to pull the reduction slider
and choose what percent of the total number of triangles should
remain after decimation, the scene will then update. Or you could
choose to select a desired file size and press enter.

Important: You cannot undo simplifications once you click Apply All Modifications.

Occlusion
Occlusion lets you remove parts from the model based on size or
whether the parts are internal and therefore not visible.

Remove small parts removes parts smaller than the specified percentage of the total scene size.

Remove internal parts will let you remove parts that are internal and therefore not visible.

If 3D is selected occlusion will work like a camera spinning around your model and will let you
remove internal parts, if not 3D is selected you will instead be removing parts on the other side of
the perspective you are seeing your model.
 21

Technical illustration workshop

The technical illustration module enables you to create vector
line art. The possible output formats are .svg .svgz and .cgm.
Vector graphics images portray images using shapes such as
lines, polygons, and text.

Vector images have some advantages over raster images:

You can scale images to any size without losing resolution, and
you can edit the objects that make up the image, and it’s
possible to post process the image in other software’s i.e. Corel
draw.

But on the downside and unlike raster images, vector images

are not suitable for showing subtle changes in lightning,
shading, and coloring, and you cannot control the dots per
inch(dpi).

Technical illustration workshop – Profiles

If you take a look at the profile drop down menu in the
workshop to the right we have some different options. One is
the predefined Volvo line art profiles. These are put here to
help generating consistent illustration quality on the technical
illustrations. There are three different profiles. These are thin,
medium and standard

With thin you get equally thick lines, and it is for non-called-out
background parts. Medium should be used for very small or
high detailed, called out parts. And thick lines from the
standard profile are used for standard called-out parts. Just
remember that there is no possibility to apply a profile to a
single part. It can only be applied to the whole scene. Note!
The profile can only be applied to the full scene, not to specific
parts of the scene, why a less heavy silhouette might be
required sometimes to avoid cluttering of small parts.
 22

Technical illustration – Smart outlines

The smart outlines are something new in 3DVIA and the recommended outline option. What it does
is that it draws center lines for some circular fillets (depending on fillet angle and length) in addition
to sharp-edge lines. Just remember that this option is time intensive for larger models.

Technical illustrations – DPP views

The Volvo DPP views can be found under the home tab and the align
camera drop down menu and is always used when creating images.
They are also put here to help generating a consistent illustration
quality, and there are four different angles.

Technical illustrations – BOM table

A Bill of material (BOM) table can also be included in the vector based
view if you check the BOM table box in the technical illustration pane.
The BOM table can be applied on all visible parts. It is possible to get all parts or just a predefined
selection of your parts in a BOM table. After creating the BOM it’s possible to generate automatic call
outs that refer to the BOM ID:s.

To get a BOM table you need to first press “Show/Hide

BOM Table” at the bottom of the technical illustration
workshop.
Then you need to select the BOM workshop, in the
BOM workshop select what you want the BOM to
apply on you can choose between a selection of your
choice, all geometry, visible parts, or visible geometry.
Be careful choosing too many actors on your first
attempt. Once you are satisfied press “Generate BOM IDs”. If the BOM table doesn’t appear now you
might have to scroll to the bottom of the BOM table workshop and press “Show/Hide BOM table”
again. You can modify your BOM table when it’s selected in the properties pane.

To generate call outs either select parts in the viewport

and press create callouts or, select the parts in the BOM
pane on the left hand side and then press create callouts.
A quick tip on how to easily align callouts is to select all
your callouts and then go to the properties tab and you
fill find different alignment options at Auto alignment.
 23

Technical illustration – Exercise

 Open Geometry of your choice, you can use geometry from the training package.
 Select a good Volvo DPP view for your model in the align camera drop down menu.
 Open the technical illustration workshop
 Try the different Volvo line art profiles by using preview
 When satisfied choose Smart Outlines
 Add a BOM table
 Add Callouts
 Press preview again to calculate the line art image (this can take a while)
 Press Save As and enter a file name and select SVG as the format.

High resolution workshop – Service image generation

The High resolution Image workshop lets you generate High resolution raster images.
The formats are BMP, JPEG, TIFF, PNG.
To display this workshop, click Workshops  Publishing  High resolution image.
Raster images are made up of pixels, with each pixel
assigned a color, position, and opacity. Raster images
have the following advantages over vector images
(as in Technical illustration workshop): They
accurately show subtle changes in lightning, shading,
and coloring, and you can control the dpi (dots per
inch).
However, unlike vector images, raster images lose
quality when scaled, and you cannot edit the object
that make up the image. So it doesn’t work very well
with post processing.
The workshop generates high resolution raster
images up to 8000x8000 pixels. Image resolution
describes the amount of image detail, but with the
higher detail comes larger files in megabytes.

When working with the high resolution workshop it

is possible to create detail view jpegs. When pressing
the detail view radio box as you can see on the right,
the Preview button changes name to create, and you
get an image crop box in the viewport that you can
resize. When the create button is pushed a detail
view image 2D panel is created and added to your
3D scene.

It is possible to get a preview of the scene when the

detail view is cleared. The preview generates a JPEG
preview image using your current workshop settings
and displays it in your computers JPEG-viewer
application.
 24

When creating images using the High resolution image workshop we also have 3 different Volvo
profiles. These are: SID(TIFF), SID(JPEG), and GRIPS(JPEG & TIFF). These are here for a consistent look
when publishing to either SID or GRIPS.

Using styles for service image generation

The styles tab lets you view the style gallery, apply styles to actors, and subscribe actors to styles.
Use the styles workshops to create your own styles and manage styles.

However if you take a look at the thumbnails in our styles tab we have a couple of predefined Volvo
styles which already are available to use. We especially have our 4 different focus colors for service
images.

When selecting an actor notice that only styles that is applicable to the selected
actor is shown in the styles menu. I.e. select a normal geometry actor, and take
a look at the styles menu. Now you should only be able to see the 4 different
focus colors.

However, if I decide to add a label from the author tab I would get the
Reference letter style in the styles menu.

If you select an actor that is subscribed to a style, you can see that the style of the selected actor is
highlighted in the styles menu. However if auto subscribe is cleared the style is applied but the actor
will not be subscribed to the style. What auto subscribe does is that when an actor is subscribed to a
style, the actor automatically updates when the style is modified.

If you select an actor you are able to create a new style that uses the selected actor’s properties.

High resolution image generation – Exercise

 Open Geometry of your choice, you can use geometry from the training package.
 Select a good Volvo DPP view for your model in the align camera drop down menu.
 When satisfied choose a render mode for your model at Render  Mode  Mode
 Try out the Volvo service colors on
your model
 When satisfied choose Smart Outlines
in the Render  Mode  Outline
Style tab
 Open the technical illustration
workshop
 Create a detail view
 Set a Volvo output profile SID/GRIPS
 25

 Set the High resolution image to remove ground and to use white background
 Preview your image
 Press Save As and enter a file name

Service Image Toolbar

A new feature in the 2012x version of 3DVIA Composer is the Service Image Tool Bar which was
created in house at Volvo to support and streamline SEIMs work. The toolbar has been very well
received by the users, and is today not only used by SEIM but also from other groups using 3DVIA at
Volvo.
To display the toolbar, click Volvo Tools  Service Image Tool Bar.

The idea with the toolbar is to reduce the amount of clicks and also
store the most commonly used commands at the same place.
I.e. with the press of one button (Turbo button) you can actually
perform several steps in the image creation process. It does the
following in just one click: Applies proper Paper size, Switches to
Flat- Tech mode, Switches to Smart- Outlines mode, Applies ISO3
DPP View, Applies Dark-Blue color. But all of these commands can
also be found separately in the toolbar.
Besides these mentioned commands the toolbar also has a symbol
library. From the symbol library you can add arrows, reference
letters, callout boxes and motion lines. One of the biggest reasons
for the Toolbar to hold its own arrows is that when working with
3DVIAs arrows they zoom with you as you zoom in. The arrows
added from the toolbar stay at a constant size. Therefore it is
recommended to use the toolbar arrows instead of 3DVIAs.

When hovering over the different Toolbar commands it will display

boxes that tell you what the command does. Besides that the
toolbar has its own help tab where you can watch video tutorials
that describe the different commands.

Service Image Toolbar – Exercise

 Try the turbo command and the different commands on
the toolbar one by one.
 Add different symbols and motion lines from the symbol
tabs.
 26

Animation – Animation workshop

Animate commands let you animate your scenes. 3DVIA Composer uses key-framed based
animation, which lets you build animations by arranging actors and taking snapshots at moments in
time, called key frames.

The timeline is active in animation mode only, if you are in view mode switch to
animation mode in the upper left corner of the viewport.

Animations in 3DVIA do not record changes to actor visibility commands. To hide or show actors in
animations, while in animation mode show all actors that participate in the animation, and then set
actor opacity keys as needed. After you finished an animation, it is strongly recommended that you
clean unused keys.

Usually when you start the animation mode Auto-Keys is already selected. Auto-Keys create keys
when you move the timeline and then translate (move) an actor. It is possible to copy the keys. If you
don’t like the auto-keys you could turn them off and work with manual keys instead. These could be
found to the right of the Auto-Keys.

If you select the timeline and use the scroll wheel you can see that it is possible to zoom in and out of
the timeline. It is also possible to filter on actors in the timeline by selecting an actor and then
pushing the button to the right:

Another useful button and key is the camera key. The camera key creates a key at the
current timeline location with camera location and target you select.

Animation workshop – Exercise

 Open Geometry of your choice, you can use geometry from the training package.
 Move the cursor in the timeline to where you want to place the first position for your animation
 Select the actor you would like to move, use Translate command and move the actor, a key
frame is created
 Go to value 0 on the timeline (axis) and set the camera key, go forward to the created key frame
and move turn your actor and create a new camera key
 Test to move camera view, earlier on the timeline (axis) Play
 Select next Actor, set new Key frame (on previous timeline axis) then move the Actor and create
a new Key frame
 In the Author tab  Path, you can change the animation path/movement of the Actor
 Change linear Path to the curve Path  use properties  Path.
 27

Publishing 3DVIA into PPT

It is also possible to embed the 3DVIA player into a PowerPoint presentation. This could be useful
when you want to show/discuss something on a meeting. It is only possible to embed .smg files in
PowerPoint..

To embed the 3DVIA player start

by going to the Developer tab in
PowerPoint, and press the more
controls button.

Select 3DVIA Composer Player ActiveX.

Now you will get a crosshair. Use the crosshair

and draw a box from left to right. This box will
display the 3DVIA player.

Right click on the box and select 3DVIA Composer

Player ActiveX Object, and then Properties…

While in properties stay on the General tab and in

the File name box press …
 28

I.e. choose the Beginner.smg that is in the 3D training material, and press OK

To visualize the embedded 3DVIA player you need to enter the presentation mode in PowerPoint.

If the player window stays black just push the application preferences
button

Select hardware support and choose standard and then press OK, now the
picture should come back.

If you are more interested in how to embed the 3DVIA player check the tutorial video in the
training material. The video has a much more detailed review. 3DVIA_EDU_V1.1\Video_Tutorials\
How_to_embed_the_3DVIA-Player-into_PPT_ActiveX.mp4
 29

Tips & Tricks

Ghosting actors
Let’s say that you want to have ghosted fainted
lines in your technical illustration. Then you could
just chose to ghost the actor with the Ghost
Selection command in the home tab.

However in some post processing programs the ghosted lines doesn’t show up. There technically
there but doesn’t show up.

Instead you could turn down the opacity of the actor, and you could get really nice ghosted faint
lines.
 30

Support

 Support

– Located under the Volvo Tools tab you will find the 3DVIA Help button.

– It’s a link to Virtual Systems teamplace, and we handle all the support, and education
related to 3DVIA.

– In the teamplace under the Support tab you can add your support case.

– Under the learning tab in Virtual Systems teamplce, you will find useful learning
material PDF:s and video tutorials.

– You can also use F1 for help, when inside 3DVIA Composer session.

– There is also a support e-mail address: support.vsys@volvo.com

– FAQ

– Knowledge map

 External info

- http://www.youtube.com/user/3DVIAComposer?feature=watch

- http://www.3dviacomposer.com/try/tutorials_started.php

- https://www.3dviacomposerforum.com/

- http://www.3dvia.com