@MichaelL witch version of blue beam are you using for your maps?
We’re using Revu Extreme, but it has allot that you may not need. Just for overlays, scaling and markups Standard will do the job.
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I have the standard on my work computer through my employer. But was unable to upload a ortho.
Any tips? Thanks
Its the 2017 Revu version
and I can not transfer to my PC due to it is one computer only. so if i did I would lose it on my work PC
What went wrong? Just wouldn’t open? Sometimes it can take a little while to open, but you should at least get a converting image window.
You can also try right-clicking on the file and converting.
not sure, but mt work laptop sucks. thats one problem, the other is I cant transfer it to my PC.
I did get the converting window.
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ortho is in my blue beam project files but will not open, I think computer is to weak.
What benefits are you getting out of blue beam, trying to decide to buy it for myself, Thanks
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Depending on how big the ortho is be aware that it can spool 2-3x the amount of memory as the file size. A 500mb ortho can take 1.5GB of RAM.
Bluebeam is like Acrobat, but specific to the AEC industry which means it is meant to deal with large construction plans. With this there is the capability to scale sheets onscreen which means you can measure just like you can in DroneDeploy, but you have much greater control of the annotation. It enables transparency, a much wider color palette and visible labels. All of these annotations can be exported as a report in several formats. Second it is much better at overlays and layer management. They use a 3-point alignment process which is MUCH better than the 2-point that DroneDeploy uses. It obviously meant for PDFs so it handles the vector aspect much better and does not require the rendering process like DroneDeploy that honestly is a crap-shoot as to how well it is going to render. Also, with layers we can export a CAD file and it maintains all the layers as they are in the CAD. If you want control over each layer in DroneDeploy you have to use separate imports and have some type of markers (I use the points of the GCPs) in order to get them all aligned.
All that said I have a beast of a machine and I too have trouble with the import sometimes at full resolution or even 2in/px as the sites get larger. I can resort down to 4in/px which is still good enough for what we are doing, but that is one thing that the DroneDeploy web interface has over local viewing in that you are viewing at full resolution. I just wish they would allow us to zoom in just a little further.
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GREAT reply, DD and BLUE BEAM sounds like a good combo. as Blue Beams price points are not real hard to swallow. That and alot of GCs use Blue Beam. Some use Pro Core. But I prefer working with Blue Beam.
My thoughts exactly. There aren’t a whole lot of GC’s that actually run their project coordinator through the Bluebeam Studio, but just about every one I know of now uses Bluebeam instead of Acrobat.
As a side note there is a Bluebeam integration that we developed in the App Market that you might take a look at. I’ve got some issues with it at the end of the day, but I would like to revisit it if you’re interested. Let me know if you get on that workflow.
*Check that. I just realized that you can’t just install it any more. You can get a trial. This leads to one of the things that I didn’t agree with is the fact that it requires a Bluebeam connector license which is not part of a license agreement that you have if you already have Bluebeam. @Jamespipe @jryoo
I thought Blue Beam and Pro Core, Auto CAD etc… was for enterprise users?
You are correct. It does say an Enterprise add-on.
Thanks Michael,
The Bluebeam integration is an enterprise add-on on the DroneDeploy side. It does require a Bluebeam Studio license on the Bluebeam side, which is true for any integration into Bluebeam.
Just to clarify is it a standard Studio license that comes with Revu? Last we spoke I thought it was a special additional license?
So is there a way I can get blue beam and be able to work my exports from DD on it?
I also have Plan Grid, Anything I can do there?
The exports can still be done in Bluebeam. The only reason I tried to point out the add-on is because it allows auto-filing and managment of the DroneDeploy output to a Bluebeam project folder so you don’t ever have to worry about exporting or downloading out of DroneDeploy yourself. They always just show up in the project.
Here is an example of a Bluebeam CAD overlay. Aligned with 3-point on GCP symbols. This line detail and placement accuracy are not possible in DroneDeploy and this can be printed at 300dpi on a large format plan sheet. DroneDeploy’s is 11x17 and poor quality when scaled up.
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VERY COOL! have you ever used Plan Grid? I have both and Blue beam is far better, but I can and did transfer Plan Grid over to my home PC
We use PlanGrid for our plan documents management. Like I said, we only use Bluebeam Studio when required by another party. I find that PlanGrid was built mobile-first and is the leader in plan document viewing by far. Bluebeam is still a local application with no real mobile interface and plan viewing is still sluggish. Bluebeam is far better for this type of editing and management of local files.
I have tried putting orthos in Plangrid and I just can’t quite seem to get them to reveal full resolution. I have worked with them on why it is happening, but they couldn’t figure it out.
Also are you uploading to Blue Beam as a Geo-Tiff or a PDF? I was doing Geo-Tiff
I just right-click on the geoTIFF and open it with Bluebeam. It runs through the conversion. I then save it as a PDF then bring in each overlay and save them as different files. If I have a team or client that is savvy of layers I put everything in one PDF and they can turn them on and off.
Plangrid was uploaded as a PDF. You were uploading the geoTIFF?