Niknaz Aftahi, CEO of aec+tech, reviews ARES Kudo, a cloud-based CAD platform for DWG with advanced Drawings Automation that streamlines DWG drawing generation from BIM data and file conversions (PDF, DGN, IFC, and Revit to DWG). Trusted by industry leaders like PTC Onshape and Dassault Systèmes, it supports collaborative editing and seamless workflow integration. Developers can learn more at the free Graebert neXt event in April.
We are only halfway into the 2020s, yet this decade has already been marked by some unparalleled tech developments in AEC town. Riding on the paradigm-shifting AI wave with an explosion in server infrastructure, more and more workflow innovations in our industry tend to be cloud-native. Furthermore, the shifts and increasing flexibilities in our work cultures are fuelling the need for digital tools and solutions that run entirely in the web browser.
I can hear some of you arguing that cloud-based software is just the same features as traditional desktop software, moved into the browser… but it is well beyond that. It is about improving collaboration and security.
If you have ever used solutions like Google Docs, Salesforce, Slack, or GitHub, you know what I am talking about.
And it is fair to say that the AEC world is late in adopting this approach. Compare AEC with Manufacturing, for example, which already has well-established cloud-based solutions such as PTC Onshape, the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, and Fusion 360, to name just a few…
At AEC+Tech, we have been fortunate to test, review, and host a number of innovative design technology products, spanning early-stage design, massing and form evaluation, performative assessments, collaborative decision-making, or project and facility management, you name it. These tools are extremely competent in augmenting your design process, and solving design-stage or management problems effectively.
But something that these cloud-native workflows lack is the downstream support for drawing creation: as projects progress and become increasingly definitive, the generation of drawings regularly over the many project phases becomes crucial. True, you may harness the cloud capabilities of an AECTech product, work on the fly, and collaborate with your colleagues as you make your decisions. But when you move from design to drawing, you still have to rely on conventional (and often expensive) BIM and CAD solutions to go forward. And the biggest downside of that transition? The workflow has to be detached from the cloud and run on your machine instead, owing to the sheer size of these BIM/CAD software installations.
What these cloud-native design and management software applications need to complement them — and thus complete their workflows — is a robust option for drawings generation. Ideally, this solution would not only run on the cloud, but would also possess features that substantially accelerate and streamline the drawings creation process. And we at AEC+Tech have identified this exact cloud-native drawing creation solution, for developers to reinforce and complete their workflows: Graebert’s ARES Kudo.
ARES Kudo is a DWG-based Online CAD solution available both to end-users and as a CAD development platform. The ARES Kudo platform is used by many leading online solutions, including PTC Onshape, xDraftSight, and Trimble Connect.
What is ARES Kudo?
ARES Kudo is an online, DWG-based 2D CAD solution that runs in your web browser. It is both a robust stand-alone product and a part of the ARES Trinity of CAD software, along with ARES Commander and ARES Touch.
Thanks to a thoughtfully designed user interface that’s very familiar to traditional CAD users, shifting from a conventional CAD product to Kudo has a nearly flat learning curve. Plus, Kudo lets multiple users collaborate on the same file simultaneously — something that conventional tools hardly offer.
What really sets Kudo apart, however, is a unique amalgamation of two powerful elements: a full CAD-on-the-web solution, and Drawings Automation technology. Let’s look at both of these in more detail.
A Complete CAD-on-the-Web Solution
ARES Kudo includes a full DWG editing package that operates on any web browser. It gives you immediate access to all the tools and functions needed to create, edit, and customize drawings. As expected, you can also generate PDF or other outputs from your DWG files.
Plus, Kudo comes with a host of features to work collaboratively as a team in an instant — a signature advantage of cloud-native software. Users can add annotations, comments, and markups while working together on any DWG file. Conflicting changes are never a problem, since access to the editing capability is transferred via permissions from one user to the next.
Moreover, Kudo comes with ARES Online Drawings Automation features, enabling you to compare two DWG drawings to track changes, for example, or extract data from DWG files to CSV for schedules and quantities. Other Automation capabilities include the batch conversion of PDF or DGN files to DWG, which turns these files into drawings that can be edited in ARES Kudo. And Graebert has also announced that it will soon be possible to automatically batch-print Sheet Sets to PDF.
These functionalities make the software much more capable and robust than a conventional CAD solution, and would be a welcome complement to the early-stage design/BIM pipeline of major, emerging AECTech products out in the market.
What also makes ARES Online Drawings Automation unique in the market is the ability to schedule recurring jobs. As an end user, you could use ARES Kudo to schedule a task such as reading all your DWG files each night and converting them to PDF.
And as a developer, you could simply automate many tasks by default, anticipating the needs of your users. For instance, if they upload PDF, DGN, or Revit files, you might expect that sooner or later they will need to markup or edit them — so you could proactively convert these file types to DWG drawings upon import.
Drawings Automation from BIM Data
Perhaps the most exciting feature for developers to adopt into their pipeline is the automated generation of DWG drawings from Revit or IFC projects. Since most early-stage design tools put out a BIM (RVT or IFC) file, instant creation of drawings from this data will be a game-changer for AECTech developers.
ARES Kudo stands out due to its capabilities to read and extract building information and properties along with other data associated with BIM objects. This is possible because it imports entire BIM projects rather than just their geometry. Having immediate access to comprehensive building data — encompassing dimensions, thermal properties, schedules, material, colour, texture, costs, etc. — enhances the process of creating drawings, and enables Drawings Automation.
Upon importing a BIM project, Kudo reads the properties of the objects, and based on the nature of the project, automatically creates all the drawings you need (think plans, sections, and elevations). It then adds smart dimension chains, annotations, and labels on your drawings, by reading the attributes of the associated BIM objects. Simply speaking, this significantly reduces the manual input for drawing creation when compared with programs like Revit.
Integrating ARES Online Drawings Automation into your AECTech product will unlock a more complete pipeline for users to start from early-stage design and go all the way to enriched drawings — all on the cloud.
How Does the New ARES Online Drawings Automation Work in ARES Kudo?
As most cloud-native solutions do, Kudo executes the automated tasks on a distant server. Consequently, you don’t have to wait until the job is done; you can work on something else with your computer while the automation progresses.
Plus, you can batch-process multiple files and schedule recurring tasks with ARES Kudo. For example, you could set it to launch your desired Drawings Automation routines every night, and track the progress of your BIM project as it evolves.
Developers using ARES Kudo as a development platform can create their own custom settings for the drawings the automation produces. You could achieve, for example, four different styles of drawings from the same geometry. When comparing the four drawings below, you can see how the representation of the walls, the dimensions, and the labels are different in each one, thanks to the high degree of customization possible.
Furthermore, developers have access to the ARES Online Drawings Automation technology, which can be used independently or in conjunction with the online CAD features provided by the ARES Kudo Development Platform for DWG editing. This integration allows for the creation of custom solutions tailored to specific needs for online DWG editing.
For AECTech companies creating software/solutions for design, BIM, project and facility management, cost estimation, and so on, the possibility to focus almost entirely on the 3D features and automate all the 2D afterwards is certainly innovative. As a process running automatically in the background and in real time, with the user designing in 3D with BIM or uploading a RVT/IFC file, Kudo solves a crucial problem — enabling developers to upscale and mainstream their technology to a broader audience.
How is the ARES Kudo Development Platform Benefiting Developers Already?
Join the Developer Workshop co-hosted by Graebert and Martyn Day from AEC Magazine
- The ARES Kudo Online CAD Development platform
- The new ARES Online Drawings Automation technology for developers
- Examples of integrations with industry-leading solutions
Panel discussion with industry experts:
How Cloud and Drawings Automation Are Transforming the CAD Industry
Drawings Automation in Link with Snaptrude
While the Drawings Automation technology in ARES Kudo is being officially introduced at the Graebert neXt event in April, it was previously introduced in the desktop version, ARES Commander. It has also been used to complement the BIM-based workflow of the AECTech product called Snaptrude: a cloud-native, BIM-based collaborative design platform. Read this previous article to learn more and see this integration in video form: “Drawings Automation for BIM Projects (AEC Magazine, March 27, 2024).”
This partnership stands as testimony to how well ARES Kudo integrates with other developers’ tools, and to the vast possibilities it opens up for collaboration to upscale and mainstream the use of new AECTech solutions.
10 Years of Collaboration with Onshape
Onshape is a fully cloud-based 3D CAD platform that revolutionizes product design by enabling real-time collaboration and eliminating the need for traditional file-based workflows. A key component of Onshape’s functionality is its Drawings module, which is based on Graebert’s ARES Kudo technology.
This partnership integrates Graebert’s advanced online CAD technologies into Onshape, enabling users to create detailed 2D drawings that are automatically synchronized with their 3D models.
15 Years of Collaboration with Dassault Systèmes for DraftSight
The partnership between Graebert and the industry-leading 3D giant behind SOLIDWORKS and CATIA, Dassault Systèmes, around DraftSight began roughly 15 years ago. It soon blossomed into a hugely successful story, yielding a 2D DWG-based CAD desktop application that quickly amassed a massive user base reaching more than 10 million users worldwide.
Over time, this collaboration expanded beyond the core desktop product into integrations with other popular Dassault Systèmes products like GEOVIA, ENOVIA, HomeByMe, 3D ContentCentral, SOLIDWORKS PDM, and now, importantly, the 3DEXPERIENCE online collaboration platform.
This year, the desktop-based higher-end version, DraftSight Premium, is also introducing Graebert’s BIM drawings automation features. Most recently, the partnership produced xDraftSight — a fully cloud-based version of DraftSight built on Graebert’s ARES Kudo engine. Accessible through a web browser as part of the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, xDraftSight enables users to edit DWG drawings online with the same capabilities as the desktop, while enjoying seamless integration with Dassault’s cloud data and collaboration tools.
To sum up,
ARES Kudo and the online CAD development platform associated with it offer an array of new possibilities for AECTech product developers. Needless to say, Kudo may be the most robust cloud-native drawing tool out there. Its bespoke BIM automation features, coupled with its ability to complement other products’ workflows and project pipelines, positions it as a strong, indispensable player in this area.
With an increasing number of developers and companies exploring partnerships to nest Kudo’s capabilities in their pipelines, it is set to disrupt conventional workflows — for the better. With all the new collaboration and opportunities unfolding as we speak, these are some very exciting times for the AECTech space!
