This is a brilliant move for Adobe and a huge coup for Alibre. The next version of Adobe Acrobat 3D is going to turn the 3D CAD status quo on its head. Why? Because this deal busts open the door to editing 3D designs.
Vendors too often shy away from bundling because there is a perception in some quarters that perceived value is reduced. But one look at this deal should dispel that notion. If a user wants to jump into 3D PDF, they can buy Acrobat 3D stand-alone for $995 and then shop for a complimentary 3D CAD product. Or they can buy the Acrobat 3D / Alibre Design Expert bundle for $1995. The potential customer is not an existing 3D CAD user, but one of the 10 interested parties surrounding every current seat of 3D CAD. Retail value is maintained, Adobe gains a new customer and extends the paradigm shift, and Alibre gets a few bucks. Everybody wins.
Why do I think this is a paradigm shift that turns the 3D CAD status quo on its head? Because the new features coming to the next version of Acrobat 3D open the door to 3D design editing. If you create a model and save it to Adobe 3D PDF, and turn on the ability to export data, you no longer have merely a published model; you now have an exported model. Others can receive the 3D PDF, edit the model and return it in an iterative design workflow without a copy of the expensive 3D CAD product that created the original model. This explodes the “CAD as grand master” workflow which has been an impediment to progress in industrial design and most other 3D CAD environments. Someone with the authority to make changes no longer must be content with red-lining a CAD file (or marking up a printout) for someone else to change. I compare this to what happened in publishing when both writer and editor gained the ability to edit articles and set them in type for publishing. Several layers of workflow were eliminated as the creative people were no longer prohibited from directly editing the “product.” It was a huge boost in efficiency and productivity for publishing; direct editing will have the same impact in manufacturing.
Adobe has previously announced that anyone who buys Acrobat 3D now may upgrade at no additional charge when the next version of Acrobat 3D is released early next year. So the lack of the right features in the current version of Acrobat 3D shouldn’t stop anybody interested in this bundle.
Congratulations to Alibre for making the hard financial choices needed to land this deal. I’m sure they had to give up some margin in order to afford adding Acrobat 3D to the package. And congratulations to Adobe for recognizing a great opportunity to bust wide open the market for editing 3D design files.
