topic 3d PDF or other path limiters? in Visualization

3d PDF or other path limiters?

Patrick M — Fri, 17 Jul 2026 18:28:17 GMT

I have a client looking to limit navigability of their BIMx file. The days of being able to 'lock people out' of rooms/spaces that are underdeveloped, or limiting a bimx to specific camera views, seem to be gone.
I'm exploring other options. Obviously saving a fly-through from archicad is still an option. Or the clunky 'record camera path from bimx with quick time' is doable.
But I recall making 3d pdfs or oribitable views with a skydome object back in the day. There was this post (that I can not reply to): https://community.graphisoft.com/t5/Collaboration-with-other/creating-3D-Adobe-PDF-documents/m-p/66276

...

anyone else have tips/tricks that are still doable? or is there a more current solution to 3d pdf (that doesnt involve third party rendering solutions)?

Operating system used: Mac Intel-based

Re: 3d PDF or other path limiters?

CosminF — Fri, 17 Jul 2026 20:02:09 GMT

I might have an alternative that I've been exploring recently with quite nice results, given how low effort they are. So you basically save your model (the smaller/less detailed, the better) as obj.

Then you give that (and maybe a 2d detail/ plan) to ChatGPT and ask it to create a html webpage using a 3D plugin to open that obj model. You can very easily prompt it how it should look (the "web page", what text to be included etc). And by giving it some visual cues it can borrow what you give it so that you keep a visually unified product.

The end result is a local file which can be easily shared and opened on any pc directly in the browser, but it is quite "locked", unless your client is very tech savvy and can open the .obj from within. The 3D module allows for zooming, panning etc, and the 3D textures are quite ok (albeit, some geometry exports triangulated).

There is the issue of this not working natively on phones/ tablets, but I got around this by hosting it on a webpage that you can hide behind a username and password.

Of course, having a link which you can easily share is more user friendly than an html file, but I figured it might be of interest.

Re: 3d PDF or other path limiters?

marcoariveross — Fri, 17 Jul 2026 21:31:06 GMT

Hi
Uff, I used that option back in Archicad 7, I think.

I remember the format was U3D. The limitation was that it only opened in Adobe PDF and not in other applications (I don't know if that's still the case).