Create documentation for manufacturing 
and after-sales support

Smart and powerful just like your work

We believe that the reuse of existing 3D engineering and product data is the best way to produce intelligent and high-quality technical documentation. And we believe that the development and update of a classical document database cost companies a lot of energy and effort.

We can do better.

Meet RapidAuthor, Cortona3D authoring suite for creating:

• 3D interactive parts catalogs
• 3D interactive manuals
• 3D interactive job cards
• 3D interactive training courses

Reuse existing resources

RapidAuthor tools enable organizations to reuse existing CAD data, associated Bill of Materials, 2D illustrations, PLM data, and other assets for technical authoring to generate lightweight, interactive 3D publications.

RapidAuthor becomes a single reconciled data source where you can centrally manage all of the resources for faster production and update of technical publications.

We used to manually import, edit, redraw and page-reference many iterations of engineering drawings, parts lists, and instructions from many sources. These formerly took two writers and several illustrators two years to complete. What we once redrew and re-described, we now import and link. The result is substantial cost savings.

Leading manufacturer of aircraft engines and components

Accelerate your workflow and go to market faster

Manufacturing companies have to wait for the technical documentation to be finished before they can really ship or support the product. Traditional authoring processes are labor-intensive. The tech pubs team is usually forced to create text manually, recreate illustrations, take digital photographs, or create some kind of flash animation. More issues may arise when producing documentation in other languages and multiple formats. Accelerated product volume and complexity can lead to product launch delays, where the launch is reliant on the technical documentation that is ready.

You can go to market faster by reducing the time needed for creating and updating technical documentation. RapidAuthor allows technical authors to reuse existing CAD data for technical authoring, skip a lot of work they did manually before, and generate future updates and revisions of technical documentation more effectively.

• Automatically generate DPL tables for parts catalog, callouts, and hotspots from existing CAD data
• Automatically generate 2D graphics from 3D models with a mouse click
• Automatically generate relevant text using Simplified Technical English based on the 3D model and chosen action
• Automatically create the structure of the procedure based on the existing manual
• Automatically create an assembly procedure from аn existing disassembly procedure and vice versa
• Update documentation semi-automatically based on changes to the main 3D files or PLM data
• Reuse content components and eliminate cut-and-paste practices

Immediately, we cut authoring from eight hours per page down to one hour. Cortona 3D gives us a unified authoring space where we import UGS Teamcenter or other CAD graphic sources and Excel parts lists. We give parts and assemblies interactive 3D capabilities and can crosslink any item to any other item. We enable users to filter by model, service bulletins, and user codes to enhance search and ease of use. The tool also supplies digital output in SGML, HTML, and XML.

Leading manufacturer of aircraft engines and components

• More than 15 CAD formats are supported: NX, CATIA, Creo, Solid Edge, SolidWorks, JT, 3DXML, Rhino, AutoCAD, Inventor, IGES, STEP, ACIS, Parasolid, VDA, etc.
• Protect company’s intellectual property: imported CAD data will be significantly simplified allowing free distribution of technical publications over the dealer and service network
• Support for industry standards: choose a specification and generate a corresponding structure of technical publications that complies with S1000D, DITA, or ATA standards
• Authoring of multi-language publications: English and Russian are provided out-of-the-box for RapidAuthor; English, German, French, Russian, Chinese, Korean, and Japanese are provided out-of-the-box for RapidAuthor for Teamcenter; other languages are available via customization
• Easy to use and intuitive: no CAD or 3D experience required
• Single authoring environment: work with 2D graphics, 3D animations, and text in one tool

For more information about the solution:

Publishing process →

Integration capabilities →

RapidAuthor →

Case studies →