Arbortext FAQs

• What’s new with these releases?
• How does Arbortext fit within the PTC Product Development System (PDS)?
• What are some of the additional benefits of these latest Arbortext releases?
• How can I learn more about the new Arbortext software releases?
• When will the Arbortext updates be available?
• Which products are available to me with my existing maintenance contract?
• Are there any pricing changes?
• On which platforms will the new Arbortext releases be supported?

What’s new with these releases?
Arbortext authoring, technical illustration and publishing software now offers greater usability and performance for improving the timeliness and accuracy of technical information for manufacturing and publishing companies. In addition, this release provides enhanced integration across the entire Arbortext product suite—as well as increased Product Development System interoperability with PTC Pro/ENGINEER and PTC Windchill software.

How does Arbortext fit within the PTC Product Development System (PDS)?
Arbortext improves business and product performance through automated, real-time delivery of high-quality, accurate design and technical information that improves product usability and maintenance—such as operation, service and repairs – throughout the product’s lifecycle. Arbortext is integral to PTC’s comprehensive Product Development System, which delivers the key capabilities manufacturers require to realize more value from product development.

Associative, CAD-driven Illustrations. For example, users can now connect to original source 3D CAD data directly in Windchill to initiate illustrations and manage all corresponding associative relationships by leveraging the heightened integration between Windchill PDMLink 9.1 M020 and Arbortext IsoDraw 7.1. Additional CAD formats are also supported in this release of Arbortext IsoDraw.

Expanded authoring. Arbortext Editor 5.4 now offers an ActiveX, “compact” version to offer as a web download as well as having the new ability to download directly from the Windchill “Software Downloads” page.

Technical publishing. What’s more, the management of complex technical content, required output relationships and the execution of technical publishing tasks are simplified in Windchill PDMLink 9.1 and Arbortext Content Manager 9.1. Get more information on the PTC Product Development System.

What are some of the additional benefits of these latest Arbortext releases?
These new Arbortext software versions improve data sharing between applications—resulting in higher quality, more up-to-date technical information reproduced with greater accuracy.

Interoperability benefits include:

• Arbortext Editor 5.4 authors authoring graphic-rich publications can now more easily embed2D and 3D illustrations and animations generated using Arbortext IsoDraw 7.1
• The new integration of Windchill PDMLink 9.1 and Arbortext IsoDraw 7.1 allows illustrators to browse, import and save graphic files using PTC’s Windchill Workgroup Manager for Arbortext IsoDraw 7.1
• The combination of Windchill PDMLink 9.1 M020 (the second maintenance release of Windchill PDMLink 9.1) and Arbortext IsoDraw 7.1 means that the illustration update process is automated when engineering design changes occur at any point in the product lifecycle
• Pro/ENGINEER now allows users to save their native Pro/ENGINEER CAD files to the .iso format directly
• Given the ability to easily manage Arbortext documents and static images as Windchill PDMLink 9.1 objects, Arbortext Editor 5.4 users can browse and search document components managed in Windchill and consequently maximize data reuse

Usability benefits include:

• The ability for more authors to author and edit product information using Arbortext Editor 5.4, which includes a new embedded compact version that can be downloaded “on demand” and integrated as an ActiveX control into a Web-based application
• Arbortext IsoDraw 7.1 provides enhanced image rendering and illustrative capabilities and supports additional CAD formats—including native support for Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire and ProductView files and new support for UniGraphics, SolidWorks, CATIA and JT formats using PTC’s ProductView Adapters
• Arbortext Publishing Engine 5.4, a powerful, intelligent data processing and publishing engine, offers increased automation, queue management and administrative capabilities to accommodate larger volumes of users and/or jobs—as well as to handle a wider range of document types, languages and media formats

Briefly describe the usability improvements in these releases.

Arbortext Editor 5.4 Highlights

• Improved MS Word copy/paste capability
• More intelligent graphic support for HTML outputs
• Enhanced visual clues for object boundaries
• New support for DITA 1.2 - including greater support for chunking, a new validation tool for specializations and improved performance during DITA composition
• Offline XML editing support for Windchill PDMLink 9.1
• Simplified deployment of Help Center
• More intuitive behavior when creating lists
• More intuitive toolbar provides easier menu access when running the software as an ActiveX control
• Support for hotspots publishing to HTML

Arbortext Styler 5.4 – Highlights

• Formatting improvements that offer improved styling reuse
• Greater control of outputs and increased support for fonts
• User-interface enhancements that reduce click count and provide configurable, unobstructed views of information
• Improved visual clues and more robust impact analysis
• Stylesheet developer improvements that simplify building conditions, improve maintainability and provide more precise control of source edits

Arbortext Publishing Engine 5.4 - Highlights.

• Improved composition troubleshooting
• Expanded review capabilities, such as the ability to preview and print change tracking
• Easier configuration with Resource Manager and Column View tools
• Improved navigation when delivering tutorials and enhanced functionality for supplementing published content
• Streamlined publishing when creating Arbortext Digital Media Publisher 5.4 output, including the ability to preview and publish the output from Arbortext Styler 5.4

Arbortext Advanced Print Publishing 10.0 – Highlights

Arbortext Interoperability

• Now design and repurpose Arbortext Styler stylesheets to create Arbortext Advanced Print Publisher templates
• Extend stylesheets to access Arbortext Advanced Print Publisher’s rich functionality using Arbortext Styler’s ‘source code edit’ functionality
• Alternative print composition engine for Arbortext Publishing Engine

Enhanced Template Coding

• JavaScript language addition to reduce learning time
• Formatting Object Model now provides interface to Arbortext Advanced Print Publisher’s structures for JavaScript

Arbortext IsoDraw 7.1 – Highlights

• Improved rendering performance through faster 2D and 3D file import and handling
• Expanded CAD file format support
• Enhanced standards compliance with support for WebCGM 2.1 DOM
• Improved MS Windows support, with available thumbnail preview in MS Windows Explorer

Arbortext IsoView 7.1 – Highlights

• Expanded interactive viewing and delivery capabilities across 2D and 3D content, such as more intuitive navigation for executing zoom, pan, rotate and annotate operations on illustrations or animations
• Simplified management of animated events (e.g., Start/Stop/Pause operations)

Arbortext Content Manager 9.1 – Highlights

• Support for tracking and management of component-based data
• Simplified document management by enabling users to perform offline editing tasks and synchronize XML content to the content management system’s attributes without affecting the version of an object

How can I learn more about the new Arbortext software releases?
If you are a current PTC customer, please contact your PTC sales representative for more information. For additional online information, please visit the “What’s new with Arbortext?” page.

When will the Arbortext updates be available?
PTC plans to release the new suite of Arbortext authoring, technical illustration and publishing solutions (comprised of Arbortext Editor 5.4, Arbortext Styler 5.4, Arbortext Publishing Engine 5.4, Arbortext Advanced Print Publisher 10.0, Arbortext IsoDraw 7.1, Arbortext IsoView 7.1 and Arbortext Content Manager 9.1) in June 2009. However, the timing of any product release, including any features or functionality, is subject to change at PTC’s discretion.

Which products are available to me with my existing maintenance contract?
Please contact PTC technical support for more information.

Are there any pricing changes?
There are no pricing changes related to the core Arbortext products.

To learn about pricing for the optional Arbortext ProductView Adapter modules, please contact PTC sales.

On which platforms will the new Arbortext releases be supported?

• Platform compatibility information for Arbortext Editor 5.4
• Sun Solaris on SPARC platforms, including Solaris 9 and Solaris 10, will be supported
• Arbortext Adapter for EMC Documentum 5.3 and 6.0 will be supported
• Arbortext Adapter for Oracle CM SDK 9.0.4 and 9.0.5 will be supported
• Platform compatibility information for Arbortext Publishing Engine 5.4
• Solaris 9 and Solaris 10 will be supported
• Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2008 will be supported
• Tomcat 6.0.16 will be supported
• BEA WebLogic 10.2 and BEA WebLogic Express 10.2 will be supported
• IBM WebSphere Application Server 6.1 will be supported
• Sun Java System Web Server 7.0 will be supported
• Platform compatibility information for Arbortext IsoDraw 7.1 and Arbortext IsoView 7.1
• MS Windows Vista will be supported with 7.1 M010