NDEVR OWL (Online Work Link) is a highly secure hybrid platform for sharing and collaborating on projects and files—especially 3D data—across devices and teams. OWL allows instant viewing and editing of 3D content directly in the browser from anywhere in the world—no login required. OWL gives you complete control over shared links—including who can access them, what editing features are enabled, how long they remain active, and what version of a file is visible. Optionally, customers can host their own infrastructure using the companion NDEVR OWL Server for complete administrative control. Whether you’re managing design revisions or simply sharing a project folder, OWL makes complex data as accessible as a link.
NDEVR-OWL-Client is a module that allows for the encoding and viewing of 3D data from existing products.
The NDEVR-OWL-Server is a lightweight installer that sets up a secure 3D data server and web-based viewer on your internal network—ensuring your data never leaves your organization
OWL Servers can be run from any machine. Each server can be setup with a variety of different behaviors and allow for advanced feature customization and management. Clients can choose which servers to connect to.
Simply select any file. You may also choose to share the current project, if one is open. For read-only shares the file must be supported by the viewer to allow only secured viewing to take place.
Users may select an object name which represents a unique linkable OWL dataset. Each object is owned by you. When creating links for the same object, you may resolve how to update the object
OWL gives you complete control over who can see the data you are uploading. A secure encrypted link ensures that only authorized recipients can view or edit the data.
Users have complete control over what can be done with the data. You may choose to allow people to edit the data, or how long they have access to the data. You may also turn on or off certain permissions such as being able to export the data or allowing someone to use measurement tools.
Data is compressed, encrypted and sent to the requested OWL server. Unless “Public” is selected, the server itself receives only the encrypted data, and a special key is generated locally and used to encrypt and send the data. Without the key, the data cannot be decrypted. Shared users have the link privately encoded and automatically sent to them individually.
Share the link with trusted individuals, or use it internally. Anyone with the encrypted link key can access the data with the selected permissions from anywhere in the world. For link based sharing, no login is needed.
The online viewer is free to use, and capable of rendering complex datasets.
Objects and versions can easily be managed. Permissions can be changed or revoked at any time through the OWL Object Editor. At all points in time you retain secure control of your data.
| Feature | NDEVR OWL | Autodesk Viewer / Forge | Trimble Connect / SketchUp | Unity Reflect / Pixyz |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hosting Control |
Self-hosted or NDEVR cloud |
Fully cloud-managed by Autodesk | Cloud-managed only | Hybrid (cloud + local sync) |
| Security Model |
Proven Secure Encryption | 3rd party OAuth 2.0 standard auth |
User-based permission only | Project-based access |
| Data Ownership |
Full ownership local or user infrastructure |
Hosted on Autodesk servers | Hosted on Trimble servers | Mostly cloud-managed |
| Backend / API |
Full backend extensibility in C++/SQL |
REST APIs; limited customization | Minimal customization | Unity SDK and scripting |
| 3D Format Support |
Hundreds of options. | Strong CAD support (DWG, STEP) | Trimble, SKP | Advanced CAD conversion |
| Collaboration Features |
Comments, Markup, versioning | Comment threads, markup tools | Annotations, access roles | VR previews, Unity scene sharing |
| Offline/Edge Support |
Yes | No | No | Partial (Unity runtime) |
| Performance | Streamed, compressed and encrypted |
Progressive LOD, cloud tiling | Limited optimization | High with custom pipelines |
| License / Cost |
Per-server, no per-user fees | Pay-per-usage API pricing | Per-seat licensing | Per-seat + runtime royalties |
