Adobe brings whole new meaning to design collaboration

New engineering design collaboration software is being launched that promises to revolutionise the way engineers share and manage information, both internally with other departments and externally with customers and suppliers. 'Adobe Acrobat 3D' is electronic publishing giant Adobe's first push into a vertical sector in its 22-year history - and looks set to do much for improving design and engineering information workflows within manufacturing businesses and supply chains. The first version of the software is being targeted at manufacturing companies, with the architecture and construction soon to follow. The company, which early last year introduced 'Acrobat 7' - software that is able to embed and work with multiple file types, and which also allows comments and mark-up - has further developed its software for engineering companies and their supply chains to make PDFs the mechanism of choice for interaction and exchange of information everywhere. Instead, for $995, you get the ability to save a rendition of a CAD file into a dynamic PDF - everything, that is, except the parametric data (although part structure and hierarchy are retained, tessellated to whatever resolution you need). Then you can send it to any of the billions of users with a free Adobe Reader so they can see and interact with it. Think of the new software as an extension to digital mark-up for non-engineering designers. File sizes are also compressed by around 10 to 15 times. So marketing, purchasing, design, business development and production staff can instantly see a realistic model view with dynamically linked text relevant to them. They can also see animations, and the system lets them link to standard forms, like purchasing requisitions or training documents. Users can manipulate the rendered model for clarity and understanding, and if we're talking about the design cycle, they can also comment, mark-up etc, all in a secure environment that provides full version control. At the receiving end, the software tracks, audits and aggregates comments, with Microsoft Office-like 'find', 'accept' and 'reject' features. Customers, suppliers, even the board can view your proposals - concurrently, in a familiar environment and with easy understanding. The software is a superset of Acrobat 7.0. We're talking about starting with a 3D CAD model - from any of the major vendors - and hugely widening what can be done with it, without paying for a single extra seat of CAD or worrying about the complexity and specialisation of that environment. Mark Wheeler, UK marketing director at Adobe told Eureka: "The software can be used in conjunction with PLM [product lifecycle management] systems by helping to manage purchasing workflows, bills of material and ERP data. Large OEMs are already beta testing it, but SME suppliers will also use the software." Wheeler said that current beta test customers included Honda Racing F1 Team, Renault group, Eaton Corporation, Bradrock Industries and Atrus Incorporated. Wheeler also emphasised that several people can now comment or mark-up a PDF document and the receiver can then aggregate these responses rather than receive several different versions back. Also key is the software ability to pull together data from several different legacy CAD systems into a single PDF document. Wheeler described the PDFs as "becoming a large container for all the files and documents in an engineering project required for handover or sign off". Adobe's message is clear: it wants to collapse development and learning cycles in a universal, comfortable, helpful and safe environment. Safe because, with the features already in 'Adobe Livecycle', document rights are controlled by the sender even after it's long gone, and that mechanism also covers version control and policy management. Adobe already has partnership arrangements with UGS, PTC and Autodesk and is currently in talks with Dassault Systemes regarding support.