Adding hyperlinks to objects in 3D PDF

Question

Hi everyone,
I'm trying to figure out if 3D PDF has the capability to import a number of individual machine models (made in SolidWorks) to create a 3D layout of a facility, and then make it so people viewing this layout can click (or doubleclick) on a machine and have that open a web page (or another .pdf file)...are there javascript routines that get called when one of the objects is clicked/doubleclicked? If so, can that script be used to open up a url?
Any help would be appreciated,
Thanks,
Jon Fournier

Answer 1

On second thought, here is the an example code for adding hyperlinks to objects. It will be very tedious to do this for a huge number of parts. If metadata could be stored (no such luck) in the u3d file, this process would be very easy.
- Greg
http://www.immdesign.com
The u3d file and pdf example are available using the links:
http://www.immdesign.com/templates/hyperlink.pdf
http://www.immdesign.com/templates/robotHand.u3d
Parts of the code below were given to me by Grayson Lang.
The code below must be added as a document level javascript
use the menu - Advanced->Javascript->Document Javascript...
// -------- Start of Document Script
initialize3D = function ()
var a3d = getAnnots3D(0)[0];
var c3d = a3d.context3D;
if ( a3d.activated )
app.clearInterval( timeout );
c3d.runtime.doc = this;
c3d.runtime.app = app;
var timeout = app.setInterval( "initialize3D()", 200 );
// -------- End of Document Script
// -------- Start of 3D Script
// Save this code in as a .js file and use it as the default
// script when inserting the u3d file into your PDF file
// ugly code to add hyperlinks on selection of an object
// this will only work with URLs and will not work for
// just openning any old file
// format for the hyperlink array -
// hLinks["the object's name"] = "file URL"
var hLinks = new Array;
hLinks["fingertip-1"] = "http://www.immdesign.com"
hLinks["fingertip-2"] = "http://www.myroombud.com"
hLinks["fingertip-3"] = "http://www.adobe.com"
function onSelection( objName ) {
if ( typeof( hLink = eval( "hLinks['" + objName + "']" ) ) != 'undefined' ) {
if (runtime.app) { runtime.app.launchURL(hLink); }
// ack! we have to create our own "pick" function since there is no way
// to get the selected object from the Acrobat pick right now
var downX = -999999999999;
var downY = -999999999999;
var mouseDown = 0;
myMouseHandler = new MouseEventHandler();
myMouseHandler.onMouseDown = true; //this prop is true by default
myMouseHandler.onMouseUp = true; //this prop is true by default
myMouseHandler.onMouseMove = true;
myMouseHandler.reportAllTargets = false;
myMouseHandler.onEvent = function(event)
// capture mouse down location
if ( event.isMouseDown ) {
downX = event.mouseX
downY = event.mouseY
mouseDown = 1;
else {
// check if mouse up is the same location as mouse down
if ( event.isMouseUp ) {
if ( downX == event.mouseX && downY == event.mouseY ) {
if ( event.hits.length ) {
objName = event.hits[0].target.name;
onSelection( objName );
downX = -999999999999;
downY = -999999999999;
mouseDown = 0;
//Register the handler and turn the mule on
runtime.addEventHandler(myMouseHandler);
// ------ End of 3D Script