Remotely working, efficient workflow for PDF markups & concurrent eng & drafting? 3

[Agent666]

In this day and age of working remotely, one thing we seem to be struggling with is a workflow that works efficiently with respect to dealing with drawing markups for drafting and concurrently drawing those while engineers continue marking up even more changes.... Rinse and repeat

On recent projects we seem to struggle with so many different pdf sets with different markups from multiple engineers. Maintaining a single pdf markup set seems impossible when everyone needs to either concurrently markup changes or drafters need to draw changes and mark off these changes as having been done....

In an ideal world you'd have some way of accessing the same single pdf version documents all at the same time to maintain one set with all the information in one place, markups from engineers, checking off as done by drafters.

I'm wondering if anyone has struggled with the same thing and found any solutions, workflow or otherwise that work efficiently without creating 101 versions of the same drawing pdfs with 1001 markups and spiralling into some paperless version of hell?

 

[Celt83]

Create a Bluebeam Studio Session with the pdf, in a Session multiple users can be in and marking up the pdf concurrently.

My Personal Open Source Structural Applications:

https://github.com/buddyd16/Structural-Engineering

Open Source Structural GitHub Group:

https://github.com/open-struct-engineer

 

[SteelPE]

I have never used the studio product Celt83 is referring to. I have Bluebeam and like the program. However, I would think having multiple people mark up the same item differently will cause issues.

They only way I can figure out how to handle this is to have a streamlined review process. This would be similar to a set of shop drawings where the engineer marks up the drawings and then the architect marks up the drawings after the engineer. At least this way you are not getting two different markups to the same drawing.

 

[jdcollins]

Our office uses the Bluebeam Studio sessions as Celt refers to even when we were all in the office. Standard markup rules apply, Red markups by engineers are for drafters to complete. Blue markups are notes/directions to drafters. Drafter uses highlight tool to indicate completion. After a new PDF set is made, engineer uses second highlight color to confirm correct. Once a PDF is reviewed as complete, that PDF is removed from the Bluebeam session with all the markups and highlights saved.

The best part is that each markup/highlight is date/time stamped and the username is noted. You can see which page each user is currently viewing, and the markups are essentially done in "real time."

With most of our office working from home, the studio sessions have become essential.

 

[Celt83]

One additional "benefit" of the live session is only the person hosting the session needs to be a licensed Bluebeam user everyone that is invited to the session has full access to markup and dimension tools using either the demo version of Bluebeam or the limited version after the demo period ends. I'm guessing this wasn't intentional but it made live sessions fairly popular so it hasn't been patched out yet.

They've announced plans to go to a pay to use model for Studio but think those plans got pushed out because of the complete S*** Show that Bluebeam 2018 turned out to be.

My Personal Open Source Structural Applications:

https://github.com/buddyd16/Structural-Engineering

Open Source Structural GitHub Group:

https://github.com/open-struct-engineer

 

[jdcollins]

They've announced plans to go to a pay to use model for Studio but think those plans got pushed out because of the complete S*** Show that Bluebeam 2018 turned out to be.

Wow, you ain't kiddin...

We're a couple versions into 2019 and it's still being weird. I've talked with friends who are in software development and they just say, "yeah, sounds about right." Apparently the industry calls it "Failing Forward." It's better to come out with a new horrible product than to appear to be not innovating.

All that said, it's still an indispensable tool.

 

[KootK]

This will be hopelessly low tech but I feel that the real solution to this is the same as it was in the paper age: on large projects, some human with project management skills should be functioning as an information czar of sorts to ensure that everybody's activities are coordinated and, most importantly, not in conflict. In my experience, drafters don't mind flying through a thick stack of markups. Some seem to thrive on it. What they mind is when those mark ups are in conflict and result in unnecessary rework or an inefficient work flow.

 

[Trenno]

We've used Bluebeam Studio before. It worked pretty well for the two week mad dash to the finish line for a Tender issue.

Another handy thing is when amalgamating previous bluebeam markups onto new markups, crtl+shift+v pastes the markup objects in the same location they were copied from. Just makes it easier transferring markups from file to another.

In addition it helps when you are running columns and walls down a set of architectural plans. Either that or you set up multiple layers with each level assigned to a layer.

 

[Agent666]

For some reason I was always under the impression that bluebeam studio was an additional subscription based feature where we'd be getting fleeced of every last dollar we had once we were locked into it.

If that's not the case then it's probably the solution we are looking for. We all have bluebeam, albeit a variety of versions from 2016 to 2019.

We'll look into that, but keep any other advice coming.

 

[JoshPlumSE]

We used BlueBeam studio at my last company. I found it to be very useful. Having multiple people mark up a drawing isn't as problematic as it sounds.

Each person's markups are flagged with that persons name. You can delete your own markups if you realize that it conflicts with someone else's. Sometime's the SEOR will strike out a comment he disagrees with or if he / she comes up with an alternate solution.

In my opinion, it's definitely a good program for productivity. Though it has gotten a lot more expensive recently.

 

[skeletron]

Colours and layers was how we used to do it in Bluebeam.

 

[dik]

I do nearly all my work at home... and for others, a couple of 'shortcuts'... I usually use DoroPDF writer... this is a 'printer driver' that prints a *.pdf file. It's handy... I can print SMath programs or excel files or cad drawings to a *.pdf file. I use Adobe reader for opening *.pdf and edit them and use the 'edit tab' to take snapshots that I print directly as new pdf files and title them SK-001, etc. and can even append the pdf files to other pdf files...

another really handy shortcut I just learned about in Win 10, you can use the <win icon key><Shift> <S> to take a snapshot of an area of your screen and print it to a SK-001.pdf type of file using DoroPDF... just trying to be helpful. It's incredibly useful and fast once you get the hang of it.


Dik

 

[Trenno]

Has anybody successfully managed to automate the creation of clickable hyperlinks between GA plans and sections?

 

[KootK]

What are GA plans? I've certainly received plans from other parties where plan detail cuts successfully linked to the details themselves.

 

[r13]

Agree with SteelPE on this. Too many comments sometimes add to no comment, create confusions, and delay the process.

 

[dik]

General arrangement...


Dik

 

[IDS]

dik - does your pdf printer program have any advantages over the Windows built in print to pdf function?

Doug Jenkins
Interactive Design Services

http://newtonexcelbach.wordpress.com/

 

[kipfoot]

dik (and whoever else might use a similar process): I recommend that you look at pdf factory pro. I use it as part of my everyday workflow. You can print to your letterhead, print to your calculation sheet, drag in signatures, stamps, make simple marks on the sheet, etc. You can find it at fineprint.com

 

[dik]

No idea... works well and easy to use... just like a printer, but prints to a *.pdf file... is fast and I haven't encountered a program that does't treat it like a printer... it just installs itself as a Windoze printer.


Dik

 

[Trenno]

What are GA plans?

Yeah sorry, General Arrangement plans.

So you click the section tag, it automatically jumps to the section, then clicking the original drawing tag within the section title bring you back to the original GA plan.