Assessment of 3D viewers for the display of interactive documents in the learning of graphic engineering

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to determine which 3D viewers should be used for the display of interactive graphic engineering documents, so that the visualization and manipulation of 3D models provide useful support to students of industrial engineering (mechanical, organizational, electronic engineering, etc). The technical features of 26 3D visualization software programmes (viewers, publishers, 3D output formats) are examined, to select the three visualization configurations that best meet our needs at the Graphic Expression Department of the University of Burgos (Solidworks plus Solidworks eDrawings; Catia plus Catia eDrawings and 3DXML; several Computer-Aided Design software programmes plus Adobe Acrobat Pro Extended). These are compared using the Quality Function Deployment tool known as House of Quality. The House of Quality has enabled us to identify and quantify the importance attached by engineering teachers to each of their requirements for 3D viewers, and to identify and quantify the technical importance of each of the measurable features of these viewers.