Up to now, it seemed like the PDF vs. DWF debate in the engineering world looked like it might play out sort of like VHS vs. Betamax in the 1980s. Some people liked the ubiquity of PDF; others like DWF (pronounced “dwiff” among engineers) for the way it handles large-format drawings, and 2D and 3D rendering.

Now, sort of like Macromedia built both PDF and Flashpaper capabilities into its new Web publishing system, Bluebeam announced a deal with AutoCAD maker Autodesk to integrate PDF and DWF capabilities into its Pushbutton Plus, the conversion utility formerly known as Pushbutton PDF. Bluebeam plans to release a new version of the software in early 2005 resulting from its new partnership with Autodesk.

“This is a big deal for Bluebeam because it’s very good for our customers,” says Richard Lee, Bluebeam CEO. “We do have some customers who use DWF, a majority using PDF, and some using both. But it also makes us much tighter partners with Autodesk...getting a preview into their future as far as the technologies they are developing and making sure our publishing tool is tied to that as well.”

Autodesk will also integrate Bluebeam’s batch-conversion features into AutoCAD, which will help users of the design software quickly turn large numbers of heavy CAD files into much lighter DWF files for sharing with clients, contractors, coworkers, and reprographers.

While the PDF-vs-DWF debate might seem amplified at times in the tech press as a one-or-the-other type competition, Lee and Bluebeam product marketing manager Cathy Kim say that many engineers use both formats, for different purposes.

Some users believe PDF is great for small-format documents and government work, Lee says, because it’s the electronic document standard for many governments--while DWF plays a big role among engineers sharing their work. A large number of users in the field are using both file formats, Kim adds, sharing DWF in-house for collaboration and PDF for outside circulation.

A few reporters in the tech press have postulated that some parties within the engineering industry were eschewing PDF in order to get the field to use DWF exclusively. Even if it were true, Lee says, it probably wouldn’t be possible.

“There are a lot of different standards out there today,” Lee says. “DWF just happens to be the Autodesk standard. PDF has a 10-year run as far as becoming that archiving and configuration control standard largely because it’s static--it’s the representation of physical paper. Being that that’s what it is, and it takes so long to get government entities to approve standards for archiving and documentation, they’d at least have to push DWF for 10 years before the government would say ‘OK, this is something we can use.’”

Kim adds that Bluebeam’s conversion software makes it so that engineers won’t have to choose between PDF or DWF--and furthermore, it can export documents to other graphic formats such as TIFF, JPEG, and others.

“We provide you with all of these different formats, and you choose which one works best for your company, your clients, and your vendors,” Kim says, pointing out that some of its customers use Pushbutton Plus for general office use as well, converting Microsoft Office and other garden-variety business documents to PDF.