Posted on Monday, January 22, 2007 11:39 AM
Nemetschek and Adobe today announced a strategic partnership concerning the use of Adobe PDF for document processes in AEC and Facilities Management. Now that Graphisoft is part of Nemetschek, the announcement means that two of the three top global AEC BIM firms (the other being Bentley) are aligned with Adobe on the use of PDF as their "format of choice" for building industry data exchange. The other leading player in BIM, Autodesk, champions its own document process using its Design Review technology and the DWF file format. It thus appears we have an "us versus them" approach to project document sharing in AEC, with Autodesk on one side and everybody else on the other.
The term "strategic partnership" is generally reserved to describe the highest level of cooperative activity between two companies without one taking an ownership stake in the other. But such terms are not used the same way by all firms. In this transaction, Nemetschek is licensing the Adobe PDF Library Software Development Kit. This probably means Nemetschek is paying Adobe for the license, but such payment is not spelled out in the announcement.
There is no mention of Graphisoft or ArchiCAD in the announcment. Graphisoft has been the leading advocate for the IFC interoperability format from the International Alliance for Interoperability. It offers a "Save As PDF" command based on non-Adobe software. As described in the annoucement, this affects both the VectorWorks line from Nemetschek North America (NNA), and Allplan from Nemetschek's headquarters in Munich, Germany. NNA has already begun by integrating Adobe PDF creation capabilties directly into VectorWorks 12.5; Nemetschek has integrated the technology into Allplan.
"The partnership with Adobe signals our intention to move beyond simple sharing of PDF files over e-mail and web services,” says Sean Flaherty, CEO of Nemetschek North America. "We see PDF and the integration between VectorWorks and the Acrobat product line as way to fundamentally improve the collaboration workflow with CAD and remove much of the current uncertainty when transferring documents between design partners. PDF offers a key advantage over the current translation mechanisms—absolute reliability of data.”
Nemetschek claims that by significantly increasing established PDF functions in BIM software, it will be easier for architects and engineers to exchange drawings and project documents with clients and contractors. The vision is for users to be able to merge design models and drawings, project drawings, and models/drawings from different sources in a single PDF file, regardless of vendor-dependent interface formats.
"PDF files are a little revolution in action, and VectorWorks, with built-in Adobe technology, helps make it happen for us, ” says Tom Greggs, principal, Greggs Building Design, in the Nememschek announcement. "DXF and DWG-based files received from others have created frequent problems for us. Our engineers often use fonts that are not in our system, or their special nested symbols don't scale correctly, or line weights need attention. With PDF files, none of this is an issue, and we find ourselves simply importing and placing those PDF files directly onto our VectorWorks sheets with no issues concerning translation. We now e-mail PDF documents to clients and contractors on a regular basis. This allows us to gain quick approval, despite a client being halfway across the country or a contractor needing clarification on a detail. And plan set distribution has become virtually paperless, as we give our builders and owners the option of sending PDF plan sets directly from us to their preferred printing service. We have also begun archiving plan set sheets in PDF for every project.”
--RSN