Building and infrastructure construction, and product design and manufacturing are all intrinsically collaborative processes. From conception and design on through to project completion and ongoing maintenance, all points in the lifecycle of any building, product, or infrastructure element involve the work of fluctuating teams of designers, engineers, developers, clients, and contractors. Even as the Internet-based project-collaboration tools have made it easier to manage large-scale projects, the collaborative nature of the group endeavor remains unchanged.

Recent studies tell us that for each design creator there are on average 10 consumers of that design information within an extended team, both inside and outside the enterprise. Distributing design information to these team members, and soliciting feedback, has long been a major cost in building construction, infrastructure, and manufacturing projects. The Internet, project collaboration tools, and email have done much in this area by making it possible for architects, cartographers, and engineers to distribute CAD model data to other designers nearly instantaneously anywhere around the world. But while physical barriers to communication among the design profession have been effectively removed, what hasn't changed is the inability of designers to share the full scope of their published work securely, efficiently, and accurately with colleagues, clients, and partners outside the design profession.

The cost of working with paper adds up to millions of dollars in losses every year within building construction, infrastructure, development and manufacturing. Delays involved in physically distributing designs, the difficulty of keeping distributed workers up to date, and the inability to track feedback on paper often result in costly mistakes. Secondary and directly measurable costs for creating and delivering printed designs also remain.

Replacing paper-based processes with electronic processes utilising standard CAD or GIS authoring software often leads to challenges both from a technological sense and in terms of cost/time. In the first instance, it is not practical for professionals who are not CAD users/ designers to purchase, learn, and use sophisticated design applications such as AutoCAD®, Autodesk Inventor®, Autodesk Map® 3D 2005 or Autodesk® Revit®. In the second instance, while paper plans can be printed and sent to dispersed team members, the process is time-consuming, inefficient, and not easily tracked. On a typical large construction project, for example, costs associated with courier services like FedEx can easily reach as high as $500,000. Moreover, any input or changes made to printed designs have to be physically sent back to the designer who then must compile, resolve, and reconcile the various versions. Errors are often introduced when document markups are missed. From a cycle-time standpoint, the traditional paper publish-distribute-markup-return-revise-republish process involves a four-day turnaround or longer.

An alternative method that has been gaining popularity in recent years is for designers to recreate the current paper process in an electronic form using formats such as TIFF, JPEG, CALS, HPGL, and PDF. The drawback is that these electronic paper formats can't capture the intelligence within a design, and don't resolve the costly process issues of tracking, workflow, and accountability. Because they are capable only of presenting 2D images of what are actually complex 3D models, electronic paper formats lack the attributes necessary to serve as an effective medium for sharing design information.

A new standard has emerged, however, that combines the convenience of electronic paper with the rich viewing, tracking, querying, plotting, printing, workflow, and security capabilities demanded by designers. Known as DWF™ (Design Web Format™), this file type was specifically developed by Autodesk as a medium for architects, engineers, and GIS professionals to quickly capture and securely distribute rich design data anywhere it is needed—both within the design profession and beyond. DWF, from the beginning, has been an open standard, providing the specifications and technology for any vendor to develop applications that utilise DWF.

The open, compact, and secure DWF file format enables the efficient distribution of rich design data to anyone who needs it. DWF protects the integrity of the designs, and allows for the precise publishing, rendering and printing of even the most complex 3D designs and models. In fact, unlike paper-centric file formats, DWF can convey the rich design intent of the original CAD model, thereby ensuring that the user is receiving exactly what the author intended. As a format that's ready for viewing, printing, plotting, or placing in a web page, DWF also has distinct advantages over traditional paper-based documents.

By using DWF files instead of paper-based designs, firms can reduce or eliminate many of the hard costs associated with communicating and sharing design data: courier and mailing services; the labor needed to print, organise, sort, and store large document sets; and materials such as paper and ink. More importantly, the DWF format reduces the time it takes to manage the design creation and review processes. Consider its principal attributes:

• DWF offers the benefits of high fidelity, accuracy, and precision, including 3D viewing capabilities, and up to 60 million dpi
• Highly scalable, DWF is an extensible print-ready format that supports multiple pages, passwords, and object properties
• DWF files are highly compressed so that huge design models can be easily shared through email or Autodesk® Buzzsaw®, and viewed with Autodesk® DWF™ Viewer, a small, free*, downloadable application
• With a single mouse-click, users of Autodesk® design applications (AutoCAD, Autodesk Inventor, Autodesk Revit, Autodesk Map 3D 2005) can create DWF files without sacrificing design integrity or printability. It is far easier and faster to publish a multisheet drawing, map, or model into a single DWF with all the sheets and layers preserved than to create a multipage PDF one sheet at a time
• There is no need to purchase another software program since DWF publishing is integrated into Autodesk applications. Furthermore, with the free Autodesk® DWF™ Writer, anyone can create DWF files from any Windows®-based design application, by simply selecting Autodesk DWF Writer from their standard Printer Name drop-down list. The DWF Writer allows users of other CAD applications that do not offer built-in DWF publishing, such as Bentley® MicroStation®, SolidWorks® and Pro/ENGINEER®, to create DWF files
• With DWF, publishers of design data can select the specific design data, layers, views, and plot styles they want recipients to see
• The format supports multisheet drawing sets, so designers can build a complete set of complex design documents or layouts into a single DWF file in one easy step
• DWF files are secure, helping protect the intellectual property of the original design. DWF files include only what the designer intends to share. By default, the precision of a DWF is similar to a paper plot; authors can increase the resolution as appropriate for their audience. Layer information can be turned on or off; object properties or attributes are not included unless published by the CAD user. Password protection and encryption of the DWF file further ensure the security of the DWF files
• DWFs are also ideal for archival use, since they're essentially an electronic plot. Their compact file size require less network storage space than native CAD files such as DWGs and certainly less cabinet space than multiple paper copies of project sheet sets
• Beyond graphics, DWF files can contain rich information from the original CAD model, including drawing and viewport scales, precise design coordinates, assorted views, hyperlinks, sheet details, and XML-based object properties. This means that users can query object information like the dimensions of a door and the part numbers of materials to be used
• The DWF Toolkit enables developers to build applications that read and write multisheet DWF drawings. There's security in knowing that DWF has become an industry standard for design and engineering professionals, and that multiple vendors support DWF now and will continue to do so well into the future

In addition, when an extended team needs to provide input on a design, Autodesk® DWF™ Composer software provides a complete set of review tools that enable users to contribute comments and ideas to DWF files without altering the original data. This high-performance review, markup, measure, printing, and plotting application for digital design data makes it easy for entire teams to work with designs. Familiarity with the originating design application is not necessary, and learning to use DWF Composer is quick and easy for everyone, from construction supervisors and senior executives to engineers and contractors.

For team members who simply need to view or print DWF files, the Autodesk DWF Viewer is a free, downloadable application that provides the same rich visual and print fidelity as Autodesk's advanced design applications. Unlike alternatives such as Adobe® Acrobat® or SolidWorks eDrawings, DWF Viewer is a high-fidelity and high-performance viewer for sharing 2D and 3D drawings, maps and models. Clearly, with its ability to accurately capture rich digital design data in a compact, open, secure, and readily transmittable format, DWF—in concert with the Autodesk DWF Viewer and DWF Composer—is the ideal solution for sharing design information.

Increasingly, designers and project managers are concluding that using printed plans and delivery services to get team input during the design process is simply too expensive and time-consuming. Since many project teams today are already set up on collaboration sites, or are connected via basic email and web access, most architects, contractors, engineers, suppliers, and vendors can be reached whenever and wherever they may be. The question now is how to distribute designs to everyone in a format that will allow them to see and understand the true intent of the designer.

Actual working design files (DWG format) created with an AutoCAD software program can be impractical for a variety of reasons. Security of the designer's intellectual property is a concern with DWG because anyone with the AutoCAD application can edit the file or steal the design. Moreover, paying for everyone on the team to install and then learn to use a sophisticated CAD or mapping application itself would be costly. So, for many in the building, product design, and mapping industries, the choice for a standard design collaboration/management format has been narrowed down to two possibilities: DWF or PDF. Let's consider each format's features and capabilities.

Looking at DWF versus PDF file formats there are some commonalities between the two. Both formats produce self-contained files; support multiple pages, printing, and password protection; and have raster and vector graphic support. With the purchase of Acrobat 6 Professional, users can publish files from AutoCAD; preserve CAD layers; and perform redlines/comments as they can with DWF.

However, PDF falls short compared to DWF in terms of a number of key capabilities for the design industry. While DWF was designed specifically for sharing rich design data, PDF was designed for textual-based document exchange. Today, Autodesk provides a better format for distributing and sharing engineering design data with DWF. DWF provides

• Accuracy, Fidelity, and Data Richness: DWF is built to support real-world coordinate measurement and understands that the world is 3D, not 2D. DWF files can be produced at a much higher precision than PDF, which is required for accurate presentation and measurement of engineering designs
• Performance and Scalability: DWF files are normally much smaller than PDFs—a design saved in DWF will average 1/3 to 1/10 the size of a corresponding PDF. The benefits of superior compression are diverse. DWF files transmit faster through email and over enterprise networks. DWFs also take up far less space than PDFs, saving on storage costs and reducing disk demand. In addition, DWF viewing technology renders large models faster, and allows real-time manipulation of huge data-sets through the use of spatial indexing technology not available with PDF
• Productivity and Workflow: DWF supports advanced markup, measurement, and workflow features not available with PDF. DWF includes markup remarks, timestamps, history, and status information and supports standard engineering markup symbology to improve communication. DWF measurements reflect real-world units, rather than paper distances and on a viewport-aware basis without requiring user calibration. The Autodesk DWF Composer and AutoCAD applications fully leverage DWF intelligence with markup browsing and round-trip markup workflow
• 3D graphics: DWF provides 3D capabilities in order to best capture and communicate the design intent of engineering models, including model or assembly structure and component properties. Users of Autodesk design applications, including Autodesk Inventor® 9, Autodesk Architectural Desktop, and Autodesk® Building Systems, can now, or will soon be capable of sharing 3D DWFs with their project teams

As the analysis above shows, DWF has clear advantages over PDF. In fact, in the areas that are most crucial for accurately conveying rich design information—view and print fidelity, compression, and scalability for design data, and design intelligence including 3D—PDF falls short. Without these critical functions, the PDF format is not optimised for designers to leverage all the capabilities of CAD applications. And in the larger picture, PDF prevents designers from sharing the full intent of their work with the extended team.

DWF, on the other hand, is specifically designed to meet the unique needs and demands of the design profession, and to facilitate the sharing of design information with extended teams. As an evolutionary enhancement to current processes, DWF requires little, if any, learning curve and no investment in new publishing applications. Moreover, by leveraging the model information, object properties, automatic hyperlinks, and other details that give CAD designs their depth and complexity, DWF enables all members of the extended team to understand the intent of the CAD designer. The clear advantages of DWF over PDF include

• DWF functionality lets nondesigners see the full integrity of the designer's work with complete fidelity, including 3D designs
• DWF is noneditable, so it protects the designer's intellectual property and ensures that the user sees exactly what the designer intended
• With richer design data, the level of information and knowledge available within the team is elevated and the decision-making process improves
• The more compact DWF file sizes help to boost productivity and efficiency because they transmit and download faster, and allow for faster application functions such as pan, zoom, and print
• Total cost of ownership is lower for DWF in at least two ways:
  • DWF files can be created from Autodesk publishing applications at no extra charge, but to create PDFs from AutoCAD or other design creation applications requires the additional purchase of Acrobat 6 Professional
  • The smaller DWF file sizes place less of a burden on system, bandwidth, and storage resources, leading to cost savings over the long term

Autodesk DWF Viewer vs. Adobe Reader

Just as the DWF file format has many advantages over the PDF format, so does the Autodesk DWF Viewer provide more benefits to design teams than does Adobe® Reader®. Both are simple, free applications that allow users to view and print their respective "published" formats, but there the similarities end. Autodesk DWF Viewer uses the same printing and rendering engines as Autodesk design products. DWF Viewer provides full visual and print fidelity for designs and drawings and easier navigation tools and enables users to print to original scale or specified scale. Not so with Adobe Reader. Moreover, while it is relatively easy for an AutoCAD user to create a PDF and quickly distribute it, much of the detail of the original file will be lost when published to PDF and viewed in Adobe Reader. Autodesk DWF Viewer, on the other hand, provides easy access to information-rich 2D and 3D design data to anyone who needs it. DWF Viewer includes the complex information embedded in design files, including detailed information about each sheet within the DWF file and access to object properties published from applications like Autodesk® Architectural Desktop and Autodesk Map 3D. Put simply, the depth and scope that are essential to accurate engineering and architectural designs simply cannot be rendered in the Adobe Reader.

Autodesk DWF Composer vs. Adobe Acrobat Professional

The same issues of designer intent and viewing/printing integrity also hold true in the case of the reviewing applications of Autodesk and Adobe, Autodesk DWF Composer versus Acrobat 6.0 Professional. Created to help speed the document review process, Acrobat 6.0 Professional offers similar redlining tools and pan and zoom capabilities featured in DWF Composer. Yet Acrobat Professional was built as a general application to serve the needs of business executives, creative professionals, and administrative staff across a range of industries. As such, it not only lacks the key plotting and visual rendering elements of DWF Composer and DWF Viewer, but it also lacks the specialised attributes that are vital to efficient design collaboration in the construction, mapping, engineering, and manufacturing sectors.

When redlining, marking-up, measuring, plotting, printing, or even creating new DWF files, Autodesk users are assured of the highest fidelity. What's more, Autodesk users get the same viewing capabilities as the software that the design was created in—with dynamic pan, zoom, and 3D orbit. Team members can measure design elements right from the data and be assured of accuracy.

The markup and revision processes are also dramatically improved with Autodesk DWF Composer. Users can create smart markups with tools that snap to the underlying objects, easing the speed of design reviews. More importantly, any markups made in DWF Composer can be brought back into the AutoCAD 2005 family of products, for the complete round-tripping of markups, annotations, and other changes back into the original application, streamlining the design review process. DWF Composer also supports advanced sheet set organisation and workflow capabilities, allowing users to fully control the design review process with the team. Redlines and markup are saved back into a DWF file, along with detailed information including author, status, history, and remarks for each annotation. The designer can review markups directly within AutoCAD to determine how best to modify the original drawing.

For a more-detailed comparison between viewers, please see the Viewer Comparison Matrix available online at http://south-apac.autodesk.com/viewercomparison.

Because the Autodesk and Adobe solution sets share many attributes—free downloadable viewer applications, for instance—it would seem at first glance that there would be little difference in the value they deliver over time. A closer look, however, reveals significant differences. First, the file formats. As mentioned above, PDF files and DWF files created from the same design file are not even close in size: DWFs are on average less than one-third the size of PDFs. Considering that a large construction project can easily generate 150,000 documents, the much larger sizes of PDFs are likely to require added storage capacity, bandwidth, and system resources, inevitably resulting in greater costs. Also, DWF publishing is a native feature of all Autodesk design applications and is free to non-Autodesk applications with the Autodesk DWF Writer, a downloadable application available at http://south-apac.autodesk.com/dwfwriter. To create PDFs from an Autodesk publishing application, however, the user must purchase Adobe Acrobat 6.0 Professional. Also, it must be added that the DWF Composer reviewing tool is far less expensive than Acrobat Professional and is fully integrated with the AutoCAD 2005 family of products. Lastly, it is important to note that Autodesk provides a fully open specification and technology solution, providing the ability for users to develop applications to read, write, create, view, query, and print DWF files. Autodesk is committed to making these developer tools accessible to customers and partners.

A feature-by-feature comparison of the DWF and PDF file formats, along with the Autodesk and Adobe viewing and reviewing applications, shows that only the Autodesk offering provides unique capabilities and advantages to building, mapping, and product design project teams. Only with DWF can designers capture and securely communicate the full extent of their work with colleagues inside and outside the enterprise. DWF files are smaller and require fewer resources to transmit, review, and store. Users of Autodesk design applications do not need to invest in any other application in order to create DWF files. The viewing application, printing engine, and reviewing tool for the DWF format are better equipped for the specific needs of the building and engineering industries because they allow for the viewing, markup, and printing of both 2D and 3D drawings, maps, and models. With regard to total cost of ownership, the Autodesk solution set is far less expensive than the alternative. In short, the DWF file format is the ideal medium for packaging, delivering, and collaborating on intelligent design information.

*This product is subject to the terms and conditions of the end-user license agreement that accompanies download of this software.