Adding U3D Model not supported in most browsers

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Reed
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Adding U3D Model not supported in most browsers

Post by Reed »

I've tried adding a 3D model in U3D format to one of my pages in Flare which would be exported as HTML5. My testing shows it working ONLY in Internet Explorer, but not in Chrome, Firefox or Edge. I really can't include content which is playable in a small fraction of browsers, but this functionality is very important to my company since we sell software that does 3D modeling of Earth Science Data (www.ctech.com).
RamonS
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Re: Adding U3D Model not supported in most browsers

Post by RamonS »

That is a browser limitation and nothing Flare can help with. What might work is including the U3D file in a PDF. I saw on the Adobe site that U3D can be included in PDF, but it might require Adobe Reader. Might also see if it can be converted into something that WebGL can render.
Reed
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Re: Adding U3D Model not supported in most browsers

Post by Reed »

Yes, we are able to create 3D PDF files, but these cannot be viewed in a browser's PDF viewers. They must be downloaded and viewed locally.

We were hopeful that your support of 3D content would be web compatible, but obviously it is not and your response seems to suggest that you don't have any plans or approach to make it compatible across all browsers.

Can you elaborate on the WebGL comment? Is this something Flare can do or a suggestion of something we should undertake on our own?
RamonS
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Re: Adding U3D Model not supported in most browsers

Post by RamonS »

It is up to the browser makers to support these types of files, has nothing to do with Flare.
WebGL is supported by all modern browsers although it appears to be disabled in some cases on Firefox, but it is easily enabled through about:config. I did a web search about U3D conversion to WebGL and it appears as that "U3D" is also a format name used by Unity (gaming) that has nothing to do with the U3D you are asking about. So, I sent you down a wrong path with that one.

I do not know enough about that specific format, but is there any means to display U3D files in a web browser? If yes, then it can be stapled into Flare. If not, you are out of luck.
RamonS
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Re: Adding U3D Model not supported in most browsers

Post by RamonS »

Reed wrote:and your response seems to suggest that you don't have any plans or approach to make it compatible across all browsers.
Rereading this part...I have no ties to MadCap other than that I am a Flare user who was awarded MVP status a while back. That applies for everyone in the forums here. MadCap support might drop in and once in a while when I think support can help someone out I drop support a line, but this is a peer to peer forum. I have no say what goes into Flare and what it should do with file types used in specialized applications.
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