In an attempt to fend off challenges from competitors such as Adobe Systems Inc. and UGS Corp., Autodesk Inc. (San Rafael, CA) recently enhanced CAD viewing and collaboration tools based on its Design Web Format (DWF) file format, adding more robust workflow functions as well as tighter integration with the company's Inventor 11 3D mechanical design software.
The enhancements allow users of Autodesk's collaboration tools -- originally called DWF Composer and later renamed Autodesk Design Review -- to receive Inventor files, make changes in those files, and have those changes incorporated into the original Inventor document. The same sort of two-way, round-trip collaboration is already possible between Autodesk's Design Review and AutoCAD products.
The Autodesk upgrades are the latest salvo in an escalating competition among CAD and digital publishing software vendors to gain control of the market for CAD viewing and collaboration tools, which are used primarily by non-CAD users such as parts suppliers and plant floor workers. CAD vendors such as Autodesk and UGS (Plano, TX) have competed against each other in that market and were joined earlier this year by digital publishing giant Adobe (San Jose, CA), which rolled out a 3D version of its Acrobat application that can be used to view and annotate files from a number of CAD products.
The enhancements to Autodesk's DWF environment were incorporated into a new release of the Design Review software and a new version of Autodesk's 3D design product called Inventor 11 DWF Extension. Besides enabling tighter integration with its DWF collaboration tools and Inventor, the enhancements also allow Inventor users to publish bills of materials complete with structured manufacturing and purchasing information in the DWF format; create DWF files that include multiple designs; and use DWF to publish detailed instructions and animations that can be used by production floor workers. The new Design Review software that is required to take advantage of the collaboration enhancements lists for $199.
At least one Autodesk customer was enthusiastic about the enhancements. Advanced Dynamics Corp. Ltd. (St. Bruno, Quebec), a manufacturer of large paper and metals handling equipment, already uses DWF Composer to share designs with customers and transmit design information to its shop floor. When the company upgrades to Inventor 11 in February, says Advanced Dynamics' CAD manager Patrik Chartrand, it will be able to show customers multiple design views in one DWF file and receive and use annotations from customers directly in Inventor.
Analysts, however, expressed doubts that the tighter links between Design Review and Inventor will allow Autodesk to grab a larger share of the CAD viewing market. Noting that the round-trip collaboration support only applies to Autodesk CAD platforms such as Inventor and AutoCAD, John MacKrell, senior consultant at CIMdata Inc., says the Design Review product is unlikely to win Autodesk many new customers.
"This is really only for Inventor users. It acts a lot like a viewer for a single product," MacKrell says. "That's not a bad thing, but it's not exactly open."
This article originally appeared in the August 2006 issue of Managing Automation magazine.