1. Microsoft® Windows® XP or Windows Vista™, Mac OS X (Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro only)
Adobe® Acrobat® 9
Addendum: Reviewer’s Guide for AEC Professionals
The latest release of Adobe Acrobat software, Acrobat 9, redefines the possibilities for creating and collaborating on
This Guide is an high-impact business communications that reach across corporate firewalls to coworkers, partners, and customers
Addendum worldwide. An array of new features—such as the ability to convert popular video formats to Adobe Flash® for easy
integration into Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) files, rapid creation of engaging PDF Portfolios, and use
This addendum should
of Adobe Presenter for developing and delivering interactive content—make Acrobat 9 the most powerful release of
be used in adjunct to
Acrobat to date.
the Acrobat 9 Reviewer’s
Guide, which provides a With Acrobat 9, professionals in sales, engineering, marketing, and many other disciplines can leverage the now native
comprehensive overview of support for Flash to create and deliver interactive PDF Portfolios to unify a range of information including rich video,
the key new and enhanced 3D models, maps, and other engaging content—all combined with a variety of document types—to communicate
features of the product any message to any audience. At the same time, managers across disciplines can accelerate project completion
family. This addendum using advanced collaboration features in Acrobat 9 that enable staff and partners to participate in real-time, digital
details AEC oriented document reviews.
features and describes
Acrobat 9 also targets enhancements important to engineering workflows like IFC import, in-scene commenting in
other important capabilities
3D models, compliance with PDF/E standards, improved PDF publishing from AutoCAD, support for geospatial
that apply to architecture,
information, and more precise document comparison.
engineering and construction
We encourage you to explore how Acrobat 9 is transforming the delivery of impactful communications anytime,
use cases.
anyplace. The new capabilities, as well as enhancements to long-popular features such as document control and
form creation and data capture, deliver unprecedented creativity and ease for sharing relevant, memorable business
communications.

2. 2
Table of Contents
Support for important AEC standards 3
NEW: Support for PDF/E standard 3
Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) Import and 3D Commenting 4
NEW: IFC Import 4
NEW: 3D commenting 4
AutoCAD PDF Maker Improvements 5
ENHANCED: Greater flexibility when creating PDFs in batch 5
ENHANCED: Additional batch conversion improvements 5
ENHANCED: Better performance and smaller file sizes 6
ENHANCED: Global options that improve the one button workflow 6
NEW: PDF Mapping 7
ENHANCED: Forms and Data Collection 8
Collaborate with the Help of Acrobat.com 9
ENHANCED: Shared Review 9
NEW: Synchronize Document Views 9
ENHANCED: Form distribution and data collection 9
NEW: A Better Way to Compare Documents 10
NEW: PDF Portfolios 12
Video and Flash 12
NEW: Embedding video in a PDF 12
NEW: Video commenting 12
NEW: Adobe Presenter 13

3. 3
Support for important AEC standards
About PDF/E
Acrobat 9 provides new support for two recent standards important to the AEC industry: the PDF/E document standard
The PDF/E-1 (ISO 24517-1)
maintained by ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) and the IFC file format (Industry Foundation
standard was developed
Classes) promoted by the IAI (International Alliance for Interoperability). New support for both standards maintains
by a working group led
Adobe’s commitment to promote the open exchange of digital information among AEC professionals.
by AIIM and is based on
Adobe’s PDF Reference
NEW: Support for PDF/E standard
1.6. PDF/E facilitates the
The PDF/E standard is based on the general PDF specification, but focuses on support for engineering workflows.
exchange of engineering
It addresses three primary areas:
documentation in the
architecture, engineering, • Accurate printing of engineering drawings
and construction space as • Incorporation of complex data into a compact PDF including 3D and object-level data
well as in the geospatial and • Support for the secure exchange of annotation and comments
manufacturing industries.
Additional information and frequently asked questions about the new PDF/E standard can be found here
http://www.aiim.org/documents/standards/PDF-E/PDF_E_FAQ-Edits_Jan.pdf
To create PDF documents that are compliant with the PDF/E standard:
1. Choose Edit>Preferences
2. Select the Convert to PDF category
3. Select Autodesk AutoCAD from the list of conversion
types under Converting to PDF
4. Click on the Edit Settings… button
5. Choose PDF/E – 1 in the Adobe PDF Standard: field

4. 4
Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) Import and 3D Commenting
Industry Foundation
Classes (IFC)
NEW: IFC Import
The Industry Foundation
New support for IFC means that intelligent 3D PDFs can be created
Classes (IFC) model
complete with object model information from a variety of Building
specification was developed
Information Modeling (BIM) applications.
by the International Alliance
for Interoperability (IAI) to
To create a 3D model in Acrobat from an IFC export:
facilitate the exchange of
1. Drag and drop the file aquoGB.ifc from the sample files provided
data in the building industry.
onto an open Acrobat window
It is an object oriented
format that applies generally 2. Modify any display or navigation settings in the 3D Conversion
to Building Information dialog and click OK to generate a new 3D PDF file
Modeling (BIM) systems in
3. Activate the model by clicking on it
the AEC industry.
4. Choose the icon to expand and inspect the model tree
Object information is available from the model tree pane.
NEW: 3D commenting
3D commenting takes marking up a 3D model in PDF to another level. Both measurements and
comments can be added within the scene and maintain their context with the elements to which they
are attached. As the model is manipulated, measurements and comments maintain perspective in
relation to the other elements in the scene.
To add a 3D comment
1. Choose the button on the 3D toolbar
2. Click on an element in the model
3. Then enter your comment
To add a 3D measurement
1. Choose 3D Measurement Tool from the 3D
3D comments and measurements remain in context as a model is rotated.
toolbar menu
2. From the measurement toolbar, choose the
appropriate snap and measurement type
3. Then place your measurement by clicking on elements in the model

5. 5
AutoCAD PDF Maker
New Support for
Improvements
AutoCAD 2008
The AutoCAD PDF Maker Acrobat 9 Pro and Acrobat 9 Pro Extended
installed with Acrobat 9 Pro install one-button PDFMakers (toolbar buttons)
and Acrobat 9 Pro Extended within AutoCAD that produce PDF output that
is supported for AutoCAD is more accurate than printing to a PDF. Acrobat
versions 2005, 2006, 2007, 9 provides improvements to the AutoCAD
and 2008. PDFMaker including new support for AutoCAD
2008, greater flexibility when generating from a
batch of files, improvements in performance, and
file size reduction.
ENHANCED: Greater flexibility
when creating PDFs in batch
Acrobat 9 provides greater flexibility and usability
when generating PDF documents from a batch of
CAD files.
To access the batch conversion feature
from AutoCAD
Choose Adobe PDF > Batch Conversion…
1. Choose a uniform page size to be applied to all selected files or set page size based on the page setup of each file
2. Choose a color based or name based plot style to be applied to all files or use plot styles defined for each file
3. Select to output the resulting PDF documents to a single PDF Portfolio
4. Exclude or Include model space from all files with a single click
5. Embedded links between documents and document layers are preserved when referenced files are included within
batch mode
ENHANCED: Additional batch conversion improvements
Batch conversion logging has also been enhanced. In earlier versions, the log file generated for batch conversion contained only
the list of files converted. Now the log file contains additional information including the total time taken for conversion, start
time and end time of the batch process and the settings used for conversion.

6. 6
To access the batch log file
When the batch creation process is complete, click on the Save
Details… button in the Acrobat PDFMaker progress window to
generate a log file.
ENHANCED: Better performance and smaller
Adobe has measured
file sizes
improvements in the
PDF creation using the AutoCAD PDFMakers is faster in Acrobat
area of file size reduction
9 than in previous versions, particularly for files containing
and improved output
images. Additionally, files sizes have been reduced most notably for
performance of 5 – 15% for
documents containing blocks.
each. Files containing blocks
referenced multiple times
ENHANCED: Global options that improve the
will see significant reductions
one button workflow
in size.
New conversion options make it possible to generate PDF
documents from CAD files with no intermediate dialogs. Two new
global options make that possible.
To change conversion settings
1. Choose Adobe PDF > Change Conversion Settings…
2. Select either of the two new convert without prompting
options to convert all layouts or layers
3. Select Exclude Model Space to exclude model space when
converting layouts. Previously, excluding model space required
removing the layout in the conversion wizard

7. 7
NEW: PDF Mapping
Adobe has introduced extensions to PDF 1.7 which enable
support for geospatial information within a PDF file. Acrobat
and Adobe Reader® 9 take advantage of that geospatial
information to extend the reach of mapping information from
GIS systems to knowledge workers in the field.
In Adobe Reader 9 and all Acrobat products users will be able to
find and locate points on a map by interacting with the geospatial
coordinate content. Using the new Geospatial Location tool users
will be able to Measure distances in real-world units. Marking
Locations on a map will retain the geospatial information
associated with the location.
In Acrobat Pro Extended the Geospatial feature set enables PDF
Map creation. Users can open Geo Tiff and geospatially enabled
Jpeg2000 files directly. The Geospatial Registration Tool provides
a way to add geospatial information to a raster based PDF map
file. The entire Geospatial feature set is a platform upon which
Map workflows can be built and enhanced using many of Adobe
Acrobat’s other compelling features.
See the main reviewer’s guide for examples and more
information.

8. 8
ENHANCED: Forms and Data Collection
Acrobat 9 delivers improved forms capabilities that enable
any member of a project team to create, distribute, and collect
responses using fillable PDF forms. Enhancements like the new
form creation wizard, updated tracker, new distribution options
through Acrobat.com, and flexible new response files give
designers, project managers, and construction managers simple
and effective tools for data collection.
Now AEC professionals can enable bidding, change
management, and contract management workflows using
company specific layouts without being dependent on complex
IT implementations.
See the main reviewer’s guide for a detailed description of each
component.
The new form wizard makes creating fillable forms from PDF, Word, Excel, or even
scanned documents easy.
Responses are nicely organized and managed in a single PDF file.

9. 9
Collaborate with the Help of Acrobat.com
What is Acrobat.com?
AEC professionals can use Acrobat.com as a resource for a variety of activities including sharing and storing files during design
Acrobat.com is a collection
review cycles and enabling documents for real-time collaboration. The hosted services can even be used as a central source for
of beta hosted services that
distributing forms and collecting responses to enable budgeting, bidding, and change management workflows.
customers can opt to use to
further improve how they
ENHANCED: Shared Review
work inside and outside
their organizations, across
Shared reviews can be enabled through Acrobat.com removing the complexity in getting project partners connected across
geographies and corporate
firewalls. See which participants have already reviewed the document through Tracker. Eliminate delays and confusion by
firewalls.
synchronizing all comments in a central location. Enable more efficient design reviews, streamline submittal approvals, and
speed up lease and contract negotiations by enabling shared reviews through Acrobat.com.
NEW: Synchronize Document Views
Getting on the same page can be difficult, especially when that means describing elements of a large format CAD file or 3D
model to remote colleagues over the phone. With the new real-time collaboration capabilities in Acrobat 9, project team
participants can co-navigate a document, drawing, or 3D PDF file, and literally get on the same page. A document enabled
for collaboration with Acrobat 9 can be shared with others using the free Adobe Reader 9.
ENHANCED: Form distribution and data collection
The forms distribution wizard in Acrobat 9 offers a new option for distributing and collecting responses through
Acrobat.com. Now AEC and other business professionals have a simple alternative for enabling centralized distribution
and data collection workflows.
See further details on each of these capabilities in the main reviewer’s guide.

10. 10
NEW: A Better Way to Compare Documents
AEC professionals are consistently distributing and reviewing revisions to previously issued documents. Whether they are
full-sized drawings or lengthy text-based specifications, identifying the changes between revisions can be a time-consuming
process and can have significant implications when changes are missed.
Acrobat 9 includes the ability to compare two versions of a document whether those documents are delivered as PDF, scanned
from paper-based originals, or converted from another file format.
In addition to text- and image-based examples in the main reviewer’s guide, we’ve included a drawing comparison example here.
To compare the two drawing files
1. Drag and Drop each of the following files onto Acrobat in order to open them as separate documents
a. 07-D2 Floor Plan Drawing_rev1.pdf
b. 07-D2 Floor Plan Drawing_rev2.pdf
2. Choose Document>Compare Documents…
3. If the two documents are not already selected
for comparison, choose them from the pick lists
4. Leave the Document Description option set
to Scanned documents
5. Click the OK button to begin the comparison
6. When the comparison is complete click on
the “Get started: first change is on page 1” link on
the summary page or navigate to page 2.

11. 11
To step through each of the changes
1. Expand the Comment pane by clicking the
icon on the left side of the work area to
see a list of the identified changes
2. Change the page zoom percentage to
3. Click on the first change identified in the
comment pane to display a highlighted area
in the document.
4. Click on the highlighted area to see the
original text or drawing element.
5. Repeat steps #3 and #4 for the other changes.
Changes are identified on the drawing and organized in the comments pane.
To generate a summary of changes
1. Cl