What is the future of A/E/C collaboration? It very well might be Autodesk’s Freewheel.

Freewheel uses a small bit of embeddable javascript to render a dwf file. I simply upload a dwf file to our website, and then copied and pasted code from the Freewheel website. Freewheel will then render the dwf (2D or 3D) on our website. In this test case, I uploaded a complicated column/joist/girder/beam connection.

Also, try this:This is the same connection I was modeling in Revit. The file is hosted on BJG’s website, but rendered using Autodesk tools. Pretty amazing.

Right now, this offers only review of dwf files. I envision Freewheel evolving into a two way collaborative review workflow. This means markup, highlighting, maybe even adding audio or video notations; the later being important for teams with members on opposite sides of the world. The possibilities are endless.

Now let’s take Freewheel and combine it with Autodesk Lab’s Project Draw, where you can create floor plans and other simple diagrams. Currently, project draw will let you save files and even go offline using Google Gears. The combination of these innovative creations, plus a little extra, might give way to a completely web based design software package. No installs, updates on the fly and completely run off the web.

This is a few years out minimum, but I think it is the natural progression of software. Word, Excel, PowerPoint like programs are already online. See Zoho (fun fact: Zoho is based in Pleasanton, CA, just down the road from our office), Google Docs, and even Microsoft Office Live for examples of the migration of office programs onto the web.

What do you think are some possibilities with Freewheel?