Differences between Autodesk Freewheel and Project Freewheel

Since we are showing Project Freewheel in the Autodesk Labs booth at AU, a Frequently Asked Question I get is:

What are the differences between the two Freewheels?

Yes there are two Freewheels. Although we at Labs work very diligently to ensure that Project Freewheel is always available, some customers had angst over basing their businesses on someone's "science project." So we set up an instance of Freewheel that has 24/7 monitoring by the same team who ensures Buzzsaw up time.

Name	Project Freewheel®	Autodesk® Freewheel®
URL	freewheel.labs.autodesk.com	freewheel.autodesk.com
Version	1.0.9.59	1.0.0.27
Strategy	exposure of viewing and other technologies that may or may not eventually be incorporated into Autodesk® Freewheel®	reliable DWF-based viewing without the need to install additional software
Monitoring	monitored by the Autodesk Labs team	monitored by the Autodesk IT Operations team
Emphasis	exploration of sharing design data over the web to a variety of platforms	software as a service - in this case, a free service
Features	Upload via ShareNow, File Open (DWF, DWFx), Email, Print, Autodesk login, My Designs (view, delete), My Sessions, Zoom (In, Out, Fit), Pan, Full Screen/Restore, 3D Orbit (improved feedback cube), Navigation Wheels (3D and 2D), Collaboration (Share, Join, Markup List) Markup (Sketch, Highlight, Callout), DIV-based mashup, watermark, Customize UI (mode, CSS, UI, TOOL), JavaScript API, Project Draw integration	File Open (DWF), Email, Print, Zoom (In, Out, Fit), Pan, 3D Orbit
Support	Autodesk Labs Project Freewheel® email address labs.freewheel@autodesk.com or Freewheel® discussion group http://discussion.autodesk.com/ forum.jspa?forumID=251 or news://discussion.autodesk.com/ autodesk.freewheel	Freewheel® discussion group http://discussion.autodesk.com/ forum.jspa?forumID=251 or news://discussion.autodesk.com/ autodesk.freewheel
Blog	It's Alive in the Lab http://labs.blogs.com Scott Sheppard	Beyond the Paper http://dwf.blogs.com Volker Joseph

The original Freewheel focused on viewing. To collect feedback from you on aspects other than viewing, we added functionality.

• We support design upload via the 3D/2D ShareNow add-into make it one-click simple to see your designs go from AutoCAD, Inventor, Revit, or Design Review to Project Freewheel. The thinking is that once you have your design in Project Freewheel, you can start a collaboration session with others. You and the other people will only need to use their browsers. Is this a useful idea? Let us know at labs.freewheel@autodesk.com.

• We support use of the Autodesk login to track your designs and electronic review sessions as via My Designs and My Sessions. This gives you the power to manage your data. For example, you can delete your designs when they are no longer needed. Is file management something you need? labs.freewheel@autodesk.com

• You can hold electronic review sessions with sharing in real time. People can join and participate interactively or add markup comments using sketch, highlight, and callout on their own time. Either way, the review session stays on the web much like a wiki. Is the real time approach beneficial? This differs from the time honored Design Review-based process.

• In the interest of helping you work with your designs, we added the Full Screen/Restore capability, improved the feedback cube for 3D orbit, and added the Navigation Wheels for 3D and 2D. Do you like these? labs.freewheel@autodesk.com.

• To provide more flexible ways to integrate your designs into other technologies, we removed the IFRAME requirement and allowed DIV-based mashup. Towards this end, we provided ways to customize the UI and work with an API. Do you have some examples you would like to share? labs.freewheel@autodesk.com

• For situations where you wish to create new designs using your existing designs as a base, we provided Project Draw Integration. What do you think about using Project Draw as a review tool? labs.freewheel@autodesk.com

Continuing to look for your feedback (in person this week!) is alive in the lab.