CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Online Archive
9 August 2004
Product News
IPA v8.0 Provides Text-To-Speech Output For 3D Interactive Manufacturing Documentation
Immersive Design, Inc. ( http://www.immdesign.com/ ) announced that interactive document templates published from its flagship product, IPA v8.0, have incorporated advanced text-to-speech (TTS) functionality. The use of speech output in addition to textual information and interactive 3D graphics adds to the overall user understanding of the documentation and helps reduce implementation errors. Compared to relying on a stack of static 2D drawings for instructions, the use of interactive 3D procedures can cut down misunderstanding, miscommunication, and mistakes for assembly, service and maintenance engineers.
The text-to-speech functionality inside of IPA's interactive 3D publications is another powerful component for communicating assembly and service procedures. This capability will help maintenance workers more easily understand how products and machines operate and are serviced so problems can be corrected rapidly.
Whether using IPA's assembly and service documentation on a desktop machine, laptop or tablet PC, users of IPA templates incorporating the text-to-speech and interactive animation technology take much greater advantage of auditory and visual faculties over documents with written text and static pictures. Because the TTS functionality resides in the document template, the addition of audible instructions is automatic. No additional work is required at creation time. For corporations dealing in a global market, IPA's templates support text-to-speech in 10 languages including French, German, and Spanish.
"For manufacturing companies with the need to reduce errors for assembly and service, the output from outdated tools for technical documentation such as drawing programs for creating black and white line art is often the cause of costly mistakes," said Gregory Smith, CEO of Immersive Design. "The text-to-speech capabilities in IPA produced documents helps increase a user's understanding of the documentation and reduce errors. For companies using IPA, product documentation is a competitive advantage."
Founded in 1995 and headquartered in Acton, MA, Immersive Design is a privately held corporation that develops and markets IPA, interactive 3D authoring and web publishing software used to communicate product designs and to reduce costs throughout a product's life cycle. To learn more about IPA and Immersive Design, visit http://www.immdesign.com/ .
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