The Bluebeam guidebook : game-changing tips and stories for architects, engineers, and contractors

327 Pages·2018·8.95 MB·English

by  Attebery

The Bluebeam Guidebook

The Bluebeam Guidebook
Game-Changing Tips and Stories for

Architects, Engineers, and Contractors

Rachel Attebery
Jason Hascall
Cover images: Top Image: © Photography is my life/Getty Images
Bottom Image: © Vasko/iStockphoto
Cover design: Wiley
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Copyright © 2018 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey
Published simultaneously in Canada
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:
Names: Attebery, Rachel, 1990- author. | Hascall, Jason A., author.
Title: The Bluebeam guidebook : game-changing tips and stories for
architects, engineers, and contractors / Rachel Attebery, Jason Hascall.
Description: Hoboken, New Jersey : Wiley, 2018. | Includes index. |
Identifi ers: LCCN 2017056760 (print) | LCCN 2017056891 (ebook) | ISBN
9781119393962 (pdf) | ISBN 9781119393955 (epub) | ISBN 9781119393948
(paperback : acid-free paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Building information modeling–Computer programs. | PDF
(Computer fi le format) | Bluebeam Revu. | BISAC: TECHNOLOGY & ENGINEERING
/ Construction / General.
Classifi cation: LCC TH438.13 (ebook) | LCC TH438.13 .A88 2018 (print) | DDC
720.285/53–dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017056760
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To my wife, Dr. Jenny Johannes-Hascall, for her consistent support
and persistence in demonstrating to me that we are each capable
of more than we imagine.
—Jason
Always, First, and with Love, the time and effort and any success
of this book is dedicated to my Savior, Jesus Christ.
Always, Second, and with Love, this book is dedicated
to my husband Aaron who is made of the ingredients of support,
understanding, and partnership.
Always, Third, and with Love, this book is dedicated to my family
and close friends who have been excited for me and supported me
and “that Bluebeam thing” even though they never really knew
what it was.
And fi nally, this book is dedicated to every person with a compelling
sense of “surely there must be a better way.” You’re right. I hope
this book gives you some tools, and I hope to learn something new
from you soon.
—Rachel

Contents
Foreword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix

Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii

Chapter 1: Taking the Leap: Switching from Red to Blue . . . . . . . . . . 1

Products and Feature Comparison . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

License Pricing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Value Proposition. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

For IT. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Training. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Chapter 2: Doing Red in Blue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15

Changing Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Tabs and Toolbars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Creating PDFs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

PDF Document Actions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Chapter 3: Redlining. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37

The User Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Chapter 4: Redlining Together . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .67

Getting into Studio. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Sessions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Projects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

Managing Notifi cations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .104

Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .104

Chapter 5: Management of Change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .105

Digital Slip Sheeting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .105

Bluebeam Sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .114

Tags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .123

Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .135

Chapter 6: Issuing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

Stamps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .137

Flatten . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .142

vii
Contents
Digital Signatures. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .143

Document Management Systems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .152

Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .154

Export . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .156

Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .157

Chapter 7: Measuring and Estimating. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159

Calibration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .159

Measurement Tools. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .161

Estimating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .174

Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .187

Chapter 8: In the Field. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .189

Revu App for iPad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .189

Mobile Access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .208

Field-Generated Documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .210

Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .224

Chapter 9: Go Digital, Document Assembly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .225

PDF Forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .225

Functions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .233

Batch Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .238

Document Security. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .256

Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .258

Chapter 10: Go Digital, Engineering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .259

Measuring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .259

Sketching. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .262

Comparing Documents. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .268

Layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .276

Batch Sign & Seal. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284

3D PDFs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .288

Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .294

Chapter 11: Possibilities and Potential . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .295

Recent Bluebeam Trends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .295

Recent Industry and Technology Trends. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .298

Untapped Potential. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .301

Future Possibilities and Potential Impacts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308

Conclusions and Final Thoughts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .310

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .313

viii
Foreword
Innovation is not an end in and of itself. Its value is derived from its application and mass
adoption—otherwise, it has no context, no sustainability, and thus no meaning. Let’s con­
sider this statement—context is to exist in a place; sustainability is to persist over time; and
meaning is to infl uence culture. To exist in a place, innovation must resolve its value within
an industry sector(s). To stand the test of time, innovation must inspire long-term change and
transform behavior. To infl uence culture, innovation must be at scale to shift a community
from what is to what could be. Therefore, the value of innovation is rooted in its impact on
the many and not the few or the one.
Logically, to promote adoption by many individuals, one must overcome natural barri­
ers to change, which in a knowledge-centric economy are the new, the unknown, and the
uncomfortable. The solution to breach these change barriers is mass education—education
to promote a better understanding of technology and to empower individuals to adapt to
change, not fear or oppose it. This is what Jason and Rachel provide—fi rst-hand knowledge
from the context of AEC project experience with the goal to educate and in so doing, pro­
pel the community forward.
Through practical, step-by-step instructions and case studies, this guide will allow indi­
viduals to capture the often-elusive value of technology—its application and adoption in the
marketplace. The stories told within the case studies alone are knowledge gold as we consider
the amount of time it would take to learn from successes and failures without standing on
the shoulders of Jason and Rachel and the others who contributed their stories to this book.
Ultimately, this knowledge transfer will allow teams to move up the learning curve quicker
and focus th eir efforts on value-added work, not the trivial or mundane. Rachel and Jason
clearly understand what is driving the industry today—commoditization of technology and
obsolescence of human capital—and have concluded that to transform the AEC industry,
knowledge must be open sourced, and real value is the impact of networked individuals
working together, not simply the results from individual performers.
This is a magnanimous position to take as they have effectively captured years of expe­
rience into a guidebook designed to support collaborators and competitors alike. Could this
generosity be rooted in the position that they will grow from the experience of knowledge
sharing and to improve, they must embrace competition and continuously redefi ne their
comparative and competitive advantages? Maybe.
Regardless, by shifting up the learning curve, one of Rachel’s goals for the industry is
met—to transfer the knowledge of more experienced professionals to the next generation
and potentially fi ll the ever-growing knowledge gap between generations. However, her ulti­
mate goal goes beyond knowledge transfer to the intersection of human experience with
artifi cial intelligence (AI)—to improve cognition of learning machines. This vision might fl y
in the face of Jason’s concern that the human component of work might be rendered irrel­
evant with advanced AI, but peering into the future, one can also postulate that AI would
ix