[AG-TECH] Thoughts re. Adobe Acrobat "Shared Reviews and Web Conferencing"?
R. P. Channing ["Rick"] Rodgers
rodgers at nlm.nih.gov
Fri Jan 26 10:22:26 CST 2007
Dear AG Colleagues,
It's with some risk that I append the following commercial blurb from
Adobe. My goal is
*not* to act as a commercial flac, quite the opposite. I wonder if
anyone has experience
with or thoughts about Adobe Connect (formerly, Macromedia Breeze). In
particular, I
can envisage folks coming up to me and asking why we are bothering with
AG when they
can use something like Connect (yes, it may be apples and oranges, but
you can bet we still
get questions like this). It will likely be helpful for us all to frame
some good
responses to questions like this, in advance. I look forward to your
comments!
Cheers, Rick Rodgers
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Acrobat Insider #14: Enhance Online Collaboration with Shared
Reviews and Web Conferencing
Date: Thu, 25 Jan 2007 18:24:56 -0500
From: Cadalyst Magazine <info at cadalyst.com>
To: Richard Rodgers <rodgers at nlm.nih.gov>
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Acrobat Insider for AEC
Come Together Right Now
Acrobat 8 Professional enhances online collaboration with shared reviews
and Web conferencing
*by Michael Dakan*
In last month's /Acrobat Insider/ (Issue #13
<http://listmgr.questex.com/t/2330396/44740303/774779/0/>), we took a
first look at the newest version of Adobe^® Acrobat^® --- Acrobat 8
Professional --- and learned about PDF Packages, which make it easier
than ever to combine multiple files into a single PDF document. In this
issue, we explore online collaboration.
With the release of Acrobat 8, Adobe has made big strides toward
improving and shortening the time lag inherent in most forms of
electronic collaboration among team members. In fact, with Acrobat 8,
you can *collaborate in real time and share reviews, discussions, and
decision-making instantaneously* thanks to the new document Shared
Review tools and the integration of Adobe Acrobat Connect^(TM) software.
Saving Time and Effort with Shared Reviews
Previous versions of Acrobat offered an email-based document review
process (see / Acrobat Insider/ #2
<http://listmgr.questex.com/t/2330396/44740303/774779/0/>) in which all
comments and markups are sent via email back to the review initiator,
who can then incorporate the comments back into the original document.
An updated version of the file containing feedback and action items can
be distributed and shared with the other reviewers. This process can be
fast and is certainly better than the now-archaic exchange of paper
copies and hand-drawn red-line markups.
But shared reviews in Acrobat 8 are even faster. Comments and redlines
can be stored in a common shared location, and they appear right away
along with the original documents as soon as they are posted and another
reviewer or team member looks at the files. The review initiator doesn't
have to go through the extra step of incorporating comments back into
the originals before they can be seen by others. This makes the process
almost real-time (truly real-time if both the initiator and reviewers
happen to be online at the same time).
Start a shared review by clicking the option on the Getting Started page
or selecting the command on the Review & Comment menu.
Start a shared review by clicking the option on the Getting Started page
or selecting the command on the Review & Comment menu. This displays the
Review & Comment page, shown above.
And shared reviews can save reviewers time as well. Because they can see
everyone else's feedback, reviewers needn't repeat comments and markups
if they see that another team member has already noted a discrepancy or
error. They can simply add a note concurring with a previous comment or
mention disagreements with previous comments to foster further discussion.
You can set up a shared review on a location accessible to team members
such as a shared network folder, a SharePoint workspace, or a WebDAV
server. To start a shared review, choose the Review & Comment option on
the Getting Started page or use the command on the Review & Comment menu.
Web Conferencing with Adobe Connect
A really valuable and significant addition to the Acrobat 8 family that
offers readily available real-time collaboration to Acrobat users is
Adobe Acrobat Connect. Acrobat Connect and Acrobat Connect Professional
are re-branded versions of Macromedia^® Breeze^® , which Adobe gained in
its merger with Macromedia. Adobe has lowered the price of admission to
Web-conferencing collaboration and brought the solution into the Acrobat
family of products. Connect is now integrated into the entire Acrobat
family, including the upcoming release of Adobe Reader^® 8.
In a Web meeting, you invite attendees to your personal meeting room,
where you can share your computer screen or an application.
In a Web meeting, you invite attendees to your personal meeting room,
where you can share your computer screen or an application. You can also
turn over control to an attendee to share their screen, admit or deny
others attempting to join your meeting, and more. To start a meeting,
use the Start Meeting page, shown above.
*What is Acrobat Connect?
*Connect is both a product and a service that can enable you to share
your screen or a specific application with team members and clients. You
can present designs, gather feedback, provide training and support, and
do almost anything you can do together in front of a computer.
*How does it work? *
To have your own personal Web meeting room, you just have to establish
an Adobe Connect account for a monthly or annual fee. Thereafter, you
have access to your own personal Web address for a meeting room that's
available 24/7 with no prior setup necessary to reserve a meeting room
or pre-schedule a meeting. And Acrobat Connect uses the ubiquitous
Reader and Flash^® Player, so your team members and clients don't need
any additional software or plug-ins. The address is readily available at
the click of a button for ad-hoc, spontaneous Web conferencing to
discuss a design or construction detail, specification section, or
project schedule.
You can begin a Web conference while you're already on the phone with a
client, consultant, colleague, or contractor. Or you can prearrange a
group meeting at your convenience. You can also connect a webcam to your
online session for more personalized face-to-face meetings. Users can
initiate an Acrobat Connect Web meeting with just one click, or join in
an ongoing meeting at any time, using only a Web browser and Flash^®
Player software.
Start an Acrobat Connect meeting by clicking the Start Meeting button on
the Acrobat toolbar.
You can start an Acrobat Connect meeting from within Acrobat or any
Microsoft Office application by clicking the Start Meeting button on the
Acrobat toolbar.
*Is it expensive? *
When I was doing a lot of software training and support consulting for
architectural firms, Acrobat Connect could have saved me and my clients
considerable time and travel expense for meetings, training sessions,
ongoing lunch-time seminars, and more. A basic Acrobat Connect account
costs only $39 per month or $395 per year. That's less than an hour per
month of billable time, or less than a single plane ticket per year for
an out-of-town on-site meeting. For this price, you get your own private
Web meeting room with capacity for 15 participants at once, a
whiteboard, a chat window, a notes window, screen or application
sharing, and integrated video. This is all hosted on Adobe servers, so
there's no user IT or network administration expense. And because
Connect is easy to set up and use, there's minimal user training. (For
more information on Connect, including pricing, visit the Adobe Connect
website <http://listmgr.questex.com/t/2330396/44740303/804158/0/>.)
If you plan to host larger Web meetings or want more customization
options, Adobe offers * Acrobat Connect Professional
<http://listmgr.questex.com/t/2330396/44740303/804159/0/>*, the
enterprise-level scalable version of Connect. It includes an unlimited
number of meeting rooms with a capacity of up to 2500 participants at a
time, integrated audio and VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol), the
ability to record sessions for on-demand playback, custom window
layouts, and a custom collaboration application software developer kit
(SDK). Connect Professional can be hosted by Adobe or licensed and
hosted on your own Web servers.
I think the integration of Acrobat Connect with Acrobat 8 is one of the
most exciting and cost-effective new features to appear in recent
upgrades to the Adobe Acrobat family of products. You will undoubtedly
find many ways to quickly get a payback on the modest investment and
minimal setup.
__________________________________________________________
Tips and Tricks
*Converting DWG files to PDF format without AutoCAD*
Using Adobe Acrobat 8 Professional, you can convert AutoCAD^® DWG files
to Acrobat PDF files from a workstation that doesn't have AutoCAD
installed. You can do this one at a time by dragging and dropping each
DWG file into Acrobat Professional. Or you can select multiple DWG files
at once, select Combine supported files in Acrobat, and directly create
a merged PDF file or a PDF Package from your selected DWGs.
A limitation to this functionality is AutoCAD ARX (AutoCAD Runtime
Extension) applications, such as Autodesk^® Architectural Desktop, which
must be running in AutoCAD to properly display the ARX objects. To
convert these types of files without the ARX application, you can save
the files to straight AutoCAD files, such as R14 format, which converts
ARX objects to AutoCAD primitives.
__________________________________________________________
*About the Author *
/Michael L. Dakan, AIA, is an architect, author and independent AEC
technology consultant. Twice monthly he writes /Cadalyst's AEC Tech News
<http://listmgr.questex.com/t/2330396/44740303/544729/0/> /e-mail
newsletter. Contact him at michael.dakan at cadalyst.com
<mailto:michael.dakan at cadalyst.com>./
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JANUARY 2007
IN THIS ISSUE
Using shared reviews and Acrobat Connect to make online collaboration
with Acrobat 8 software easier than ever.
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