Adobe Systems Inc. (www.adobe.com), maker of the ubiquitous Adobe Acrobat and Adobe Reader, has put together a bundle of tools that makes it easy to create, manage and publish technical information and training content across multiple formats and languages.
This type of tool, when incorporated into an integrated 3D information system, can be used by machine shops and manufacturers to provide a wide range of product information, training aids and user assistance programs that are reasonably easy to generate and maintain. Technical communicators can use the package to manipulate, incorporate and distribute interactive 3D models without having to purchase CAD software.Called the Adobe Technical Communication Suite, the package enables technical communicators and instructional designers to create powerful documentation, eLearning courses and user assistance programs that contain both traditional text and graphics along with rich media, including Adobe Flash Player, compatible video and 3D.
The suite includes Adobe RoboHelp 7, a major upgrade to Adobe’s help system and knowledge base authoring tool, as well as Adobe FrameMaker 8, Adobe Captivate 3 and Adobe Acrobat 3D Version 8 software. Product and workflow integration and support for rich media formats -- including Adobe Flash Player compatible video, SWF, MP3 and AVI files as well as industry standards, such as Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF), XML and Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA) , empower authors to deliver compelling information, save time and reduce discrepancies in content.
The package only runs on Windows Vista and Windows XP and sells for $1,599.