New business partnership will help Lattice’s digital mock-up tools produce interactive 3D PDF documentation, and give Tetra’s customers better tools for preparing design data for downstream use.

Lattice Technology and Tetra 4D today announced a partnership to integrate Lattice’s digital manufacturing, digital mock-up (DMU) and technical illustration authoring solutions with Tetra’s 3D PDF publishing solutions. Both companies see the partnership as an opportunity to give their customers a more streamlined path to transforming internal 3D design data into external PDF-based documentation.

Specifically, the two companies will enable Lattice Technology’s XVL Studio and Tetra 4D’s 3D PDF ConverterT software to work together to transform 3D design data into interactive 3D illustrations which are then published to 3D PDF.

“This is a win-win for customers of both products,” says Lattice Technology General Manager Bill Barnes.  “Combining the power of the ultra-lightweight XVL format with the ability to easily create 3D PDF documents will provide our customers with a superior experience.”

Lattice had been working on 3D PDF output when Adobe first introduced the technology, but development stopped when Adobe went into hiatus on development. Barnes said when Adobe handed over development of 3D PDF to Tetra, Lattice immediately set about reviving its plans and sought out the partnership with Tetra.

“By integrating our products, Tetra 4D customers will have a powerful solution for advanced preparation of their 3D data and creation of technical publications prior to publishing to 3D PDF.  This integration will be highly beneficial to many of our existing customers,” adds Greg Baker, President of Tetra 4D.

Lattice Technology and Tetra 4D will first demonstrate the capabilities of the forthcoming integration later this week at a reseller seminar in Paris.