What Technology Do you Use to Review Drawings Electronically? 25

[Logan82]

Hi!

I find that reviewing PDF drawings of my peers on the computer with Adobe Acrobat is slower or more clunky than just printing the drawing on a 11"x17" paper and reviewing it with a pen and highlighter. For instance, to write a weld symbol on Adobe Acrobat implies to put several lines and perform many mouse clicks, while drawing a weld symbol by hand is very quick. I also feel that printing the drawing enables me to see in a new perspective that makes me see some details that I would not have seen otherwise.

I was wondering if some of you annotate drawings with an electronic pen and a tablet? If so, what do you use?

 

[MJB315]

The only two things that don't disappoint in this world are the Grand Canyon and Bluebeam.

"We shape our buildings, thereafter they shape us." -WSC

 

[Brad805]

What we need is someone like Celt to use his API skills to create a rebar detailing app to function inside bluebeam. That would complete the loop along with the photo linking that pharmEng mentioned.

 

[Trenno]

It would be cool to link in dynamic cells like Excel or even Excel itself into bluebeam.

For example, linking a bluebeam text box to a specific cell within a worksheet.

 

[Trenno]

On the topic of bluebeam... I raised an error to their tech support last year.

It seems measuring between the snap points using Snap To Content is affected by lineweight. It doesn't snap to the centreline, see screenshots below.

 

[Agent666]

Yeah i've noticed other similar things, I would not use the dimensioning for mission critical things, as always seems to have small differences from the source.

Did they ever fix it? (I'm on 2019, which is no longer updated).

https://engineervsheep.com

 

[Logan82]

The only two things that don't disappoint in this world are the Grand Canyon and Bluebeam.

Haha!

What we need is someone like Celt to use his API skills to create a rebar detailing app to function inside bluebeam. That would complete the loop along with the photo linking that phamEng mentioned.

Is the photo linking that phamEng mentioned something that is already built in Bluebeam or is it a user built program with the API?

Can you add more details to what you mean by a rebar detailling app to function inside bluebeam? I am really curious. Would it be to verify reinforced concrete drawings? Or for the field surveyors to take notes for the red lines?

 

[Brad805]

Logan, photo linking can be done with a number of different apps on the market, but the cost per seat is not great for those of us not doing it day in day out. The ones I looked at seemed to be targeted to enterprise clients or large construction contractors. I have worked with a few contractors that are using them and seems to be a nice feature. Last I looked it was a while ago, so maybe there are others now. I suppose one could make it themselves, but you would need to be careful to avoid link problems if not embedded into the file.

Using the API link I think one could create scale drawings of rebar within Bluebeam. Trenno's idea of doing it via excel would work. I would like a little dropdown that would create scale sections of beams/columns/walls.... I don't have the programming skills for that myself. Here is a sample python script DWG via Python. Change a few variables and it creates the drawing automatically.

 

[phamENG]

The one I was talking about is built into their iPad version. It's not a user built add-on.

And come on folks. It's p-h-a-m-E-N-G. There's no 'r'!

 

[structuralCADspecialist]

One firm in my area has a neat take on drawing review: They simply don't.

Bluebeam is awesome, almost too good. It doesn't replace a CAD program as you can't draft quite as quickly in it and as seen above it's not always as accurate. If fractions of inches don't matter than the later is irrelevant. Being on the contractor's side of things, I know better than to let Bluebeam's powerful drawing scaling features dictate the size of something over an actual dimensional value (and will RFI any that are missing, even if I'm confident I can scale it correctly). This is more due to contract concerns opposed to a flaw in Bluebeam itself. I think many are gravitating towards Bluebeam because AutoCAD is over-priced. Cheaper CAD alternatives are getting better and better each year and are actually 'useable' now. Bluebeam with 'CAD' like features including a command line would be something to behold!

Using the API link I think one could create scale drawings of rebar within Bluebeam. Trenno's idea of doing it via excel would work. I would like a little dropdown that would create scale sections of beams/columns/walls.... I don't have the programming skills for that myself. Here is a sample python script DWG via Python. Change a few variables and it creates the drawing automatically.

I'm able to program similar things with AutoLISP, an older API programming interface but geared specifically for AutoCAD. All input can be done by a dialog box within AutoCAD itself, no script editing required from the user's side. A rectangular beam is easy enough. Same goes for a slab of arbitrary width. Thing was that I found it didn't take that long to draft manually anyways, so nobody bothered to use it. I created a dynamic block library which proved to be much more popular.

 

[Logan82]

Brad805, so you would use Bluebeam to make new drawings for construction, as an alternative to AutoCAD? I don't understand how it can be useful, since you already have AutoCAD which appears to me as better to make new drawings. From what I understand I thought of Bluebeam as being useful for annotating already existing drawings.

@phamENG: Edited sorry haha!

 

[Brad805]

Logan, I am not thinking of it as an alternate to CAD. I do a lot of sketching in Bluebeam making markups and it is annoying to have to create a separate CAD file to paste a reasonable sketch in the markups. Say you are at the preliminary stage of a design, and your tech sends you a plan to markup. Instead of a hand sketching all the different sections I create it in bluebeam. Being to scale helps avoid questions later.

 

[phamENG]

While there would be some potential benefits to having a CAD capable Bluebeam, I'd be really worried about entering into a 'jack of all trades, master of none' scenario. I'm happy to have separate specialty software that each does its intended job really well. I'd rather invest in a decent pen tablet to hand draw electronically.

Logan - no worries. Just seemed like a lot of people were throwing the r in the past couple of weeks.

 

[sandman21]

While there would be some potential benefits to having a CAD capable Bluebeam, I'd be really worried about entering into a 'jack of all trades, master of none' scenario. I'm happy to have separate specialty software that each does its intended job really well. I'd rather invest in a decent pen tablet to hand draw electronically.

Logan - no worries. Just seemed like a lot of people were throwing the r in the past couple of weeks.

We used a pen tablet but it had a very unnatural feel to it. Clearly not saying that they cant be used as graphic artists use them all the time. However, after so many years directly drawing on paper it was very hard to transition to using the pen tablet. Depending on the size and model the price to get a pen display is not much more and can be used a another monitor. If you are going to do the pen tablet I would suggest the least expensive version you would want and give a try.

 

[phamENG]

Thanks, sandman21.

My mistake - I meant pen display...or pen tablet with screen...or whatever you want to call it. I agree with the "old" tablets - tried one once and it was not a pleasant experience.

 

[Logan82]

Pen display we use is XP-Pen Artist 24 Pro.

Is the XP-Pen Artist 24 Pro plug and play with Bluebeam or do you need to install plugins or drivers? I am asking because I can't install any plugin or driver on my workstation, unless it was verified by a committee.

 

[KootK]

The pen for my Samsung tablet is quite good for sketching in Autodesk sketchbook.

Is that an S7 with the S-Pen? I'm demoing one of those right now. I'm really just looking for the ability to freehand sketch to scale like I can by hand. Preferably, with the ability to make it appear as though I've used a ruler here and there. I did the sketch below just now in under 60s. It doesn't show below but, on screen, the graph paper has gradations between the major lines which I'm able to adjust for different scales. I'll check out Autodesk sketchbook too.

 

[Celt83]

As a heads up Sketchbook is no longer part of Autodesk and unfortunately no longer free for the advanced tools like ruler, french curve, etc. unless you already have the autodesk variant installed.

Try out Medibangpaint its free and has a ruler tool you’ll just need to roll your own graph paper background, Link

My Personal Open Source Structural Applications:

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

Open Source Structural GitHub Group:

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

 

[Celt83]

Logan:
For the Xp pen tablet or any other tablet for that matter you would need to install their drivers for full functionality.

My Personal Open Source Structural Applications:

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

Open Source Structural GitHub Group:

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

 

[phamENG]

Sketchbook is no longer part of Autodesk and unfortunately no longer free for the advanced tools like ruler, french curve, etc. unless you already have the autodesk variant installed.

Great. I guess I'm stuck with my Note 10+ for life...

 

[Jacob Henry]

I heard about Bluebeam. I am not aware of this software but I think this is better than others. I will try this soon.

https://mwi.solutions/technologies/wms-wcs-and-oms-software/