The Changing Face of CAD.................................
Some of us started out striking lines with pen on mylar or pencil on vellum. When CAD arrived, all of that changed. In the beginning, CAD was just a "digital" equivalent to drafing. One still needed to know drafting practices. A designer was still "striking lines" but, now it was on a computer screen. This tranition was (and still is for some), painfull at first. But, time changes all of us. Some of us embraced the new technology faster and more willingly than others.
Then there came a major enhancement, solid modeling. Now, we could design in a way closer to how we think. We can now design and develop a complete machine in a virtual 3D environment. Designs can now be checked for fit and function in fraction of the time it used to take in 2D. As with any change, there is resistance. With CAD software evolution, newer and more efficient tools & methods of designing were made avalible. By adding these new tools, the software has become increasingly more complicated. Even design terminology has changed. "Feature-based, parametric modeling, etc." are just a couple of new terms for the design to understand. Simply adding a dimension in a 2D CAD program became appling parametric (number or equation driven) constraints.
Now we have yet another change in how we design. With the rise of "Information Technologies" in the 1990's, CAD software has now become
Some of us started out striking lines with pen on mylar or pencil on vellum. When CAD arrived, all of that changed. In the beginning, CAD was just a "digital" equivalent to drafing. One still needed to know drafting practices. A designer was still "striking lines" but, now it was on a computer screen. This tranition was (and still is for some), painfull at first. But, time changes all of us. Some of us embraced the new technology faster and more willingly than others.
Then there came a major enhancement, solid modeling. Now, we could design in a way closer to how we think. We can now design and develop a complete machine in a virtual 3D environment. Designs can now be checked for fit and function in fraction of the time it used to take in 2D. As with any change, there is resistance. With CAD software evolution, newer and more efficient tools & methods of designing were made avalible. By adding these new tools, the software has become increasingly more complicated. Even design terminology has changed. "Feature-based, parametric modeling, etc." are just a couple of new terms for the design to understand. Simply adding a dimension in a 2D CAD program became appling parametric (number or equation driven) constraints.
Now we have yet another change in how we design. With the rise of "Information Technologies" in the 1990's, CAD software has now become
