The use of computer programs and systems to design detailed two- or three-dimensional models of physical objects, such as mechanical parts, buildings, and molecules.
Dictionary:
com·put·er-aid·ed design (kəm-pyū'tər-ā'dĭd) ![]() |
The use of computer programs and systems to design detailed two- or three-dimensional models of physical objects, such as mechanical parts, buildings, and molecules.
| Accounting Dictionary: Computer-Aided Design (CAD) |
Use of a computer to interact with a designer in developing and testing product ideas without actually building prototypes.
| Dental Dictionary: computer-aided design |
The use of computers to assist a draftsman, architect, or artist in the creation of drawing, illustration, or visual art.
| Modern Design Dictionary: computer-aided design |
CAD involves the designer's use of the computer as a versatile alternative to more traditional modes of drawing and modelling and is today an indispensable tool for graphic and product designers, engineers, interior designers, and architects. Its basic two-dimensional graphic origins lay in the United States Air Force's SAGE air defence system in the mid-1950s and was developed at the Massachussets Institute of Technology's (MIT) Lincoln Laboratory. In 1961 Ivan Sutherland, a doctoral student at MIT, first envisaged a computerized sketchpad that would replace traditional modes of design drawing and by the end of the decade the Computervision company had sold the first commercial CAD system for production drafting to Xerox. By this time attention had begun to turn to the possibilities of computer-aided three-dimensional modelling. However, in their early stages of development all CAD applications were phenomenally expensive, as were the large computers that powered them. As a result they were generally restricted to large automotive and aerospace corporations such as Chrysler, Ford, General Motors, and Lockheed. By the early 1970s General Motors had developed the first DAC (Design Automated by Computer) production interactive graphics manufacturing system and in 1975 Lockheed sold software equipment licences to Avions Marcel Dassault (AMD) for purchased CADAM (Computer-Augmented Design and Manufacture). The development of increasingly sophisticated and accessible systems was rapid and, by the 1980s, applications were developed for personal computers. By the late 20th century the dramatically increased speed, enhanced memory, and very much smaller size of computers, together with highly sophisticated and affordable software have meant that basic packages for two-dimensional and three-dimensional graphics became standard in design and architectural studios and education. They are also readily available to everyday consumers using personal computers who are able to use software for designing bathrooms, kitchens, etc. The huge advantage afforded by digital systems for drawing and modelling is that they allow designs to be seen from any angle as well as easily manipulated, whether in terms of choice of colours, textures, or revisions. Such digital designs can be stored electronically and speedily transmitted, with relevant data fed directly into the manufacturing process. See also Computer-Aided Manufacture.
| Columbia Encyclopedia: computer-aided design |
| Wikipedia: Computer-aided design |
Computer-aided design (CAD) is the use of computer technology for the design of objects, real or virtual. The design of geometric models for object shapes, in particular, is often called computer-aided geometric design (CAGD).[citation needed]
However CAD often involves more than just shapes. As in the manual drafting of technical and engineering drawings, the output of CAD often must convey also symbolic information such as materials, processes, dimensions, and tolerances, according to application-specific conventions.
CAD may be used to design curves and figures in two-dimensional ("2D") space; or curves, surfaces, or solids in three-dimensional ("3D") objects.[1]
CAD is an important industrial art extensively used in many applications, including automotive, shipbuilding, and aerospace industries, industrial and architectural design, prosthetics, and many more. CAD is also widely used to produce computer animation for special effects in movies, advertising, technical manuals. The modern ubiquity and power of computers means that even perfume bottles and shampoo dispensers are designed using techniques unheard of by shipbuilders of 1960s. Because of its enormous economic importance, CAD has been a major driving force for research in computational geometry, computer graphics (both hardware and software), and discrete differential geometry.[2]
Contents |
Current Computer-Aided Design software packages range from 2D vector-based drafting systems to 3D solid and surface modellers. Modern CAD packages can also frequently allow rotations in three dimensions, allowing viewing of a designed object from any desired angle, even from the inside looking out. Some CAD software is capable of dynamic mathematic modeling, in which case it may be marketed as CADD — computer-aided design and drafting.
CAD is used in the design of tools and machinery and in the drafting and design of all types of buildings, from small residential types (houses) to the largest commercial and industrial structures (hospitals and factories).
CAD is mainly used for detailed engineering of 3D models and/or 2D drawings of physical components, but it is also used throughout the engineering process from conceptual design and layout of products, through strength and dynamic analysis of assemblies to definition of manufacturing methods of components.
CAD has become an especially important technology within the scope of computer-aided technologies, with benefits such as lower product development costs and a greatly shortened design cycle. CAD enables designers to lay out and develop work on screen, print it out and save it for future editing, saving time on their drawings.
The people that work in this field are called: Designers, Cad Monkeys, Automotive Design Engineers, and Digital Innovation Engineers.
Originally software for Computer-Aided Design systems was developed with computer languages such as Fortran, but with the advancement of object-oriented programming methods this has radically changed. Typical modern parametric feature based modeler and freeform surface systems are built around a number of key C (programming language) modules with their own APIs. A CAD system can be seen as built up from the interaction of a graphical user interface (GUI) with NURBS geometry and/or boundary representation (B-rep) data via a geometric modeling kernel. A geometry constraint engine may also be employed to manage the associative relationships between geometry, such as wireframe geometry in a sketch or components in an assembly.
Unexpected capabilities of these associative relationships have led to a new form of prototyping called digital prototyping. In contrast to physical prototypes, which entail manufacturing time and material costs, digital prototypes allow for design verification and testing on screen, speeding time-to-market and decreasing costs. As technology evolves in this way, CAD has moved beyond a documentation tool (representing designs in graphical format) into a more robust designing tool that assists in the design process.
Today most Computer-Aided Design computers are Windows based PCs. Some CAD systems also run on one of the Unix operating systems and with Linux. Some CAD systems such as QCad, NX or CATIA V5 provide multiplatform support including Windows, Linux, UNIX and Mac OS X.
Generally no special hardware is required with the possible exception of a good graphics card, depending on the CAD software used. However for complex product design, machines with high speed (and possibly multiple) CPUs and large amounts of RAM are recommended. CAD was an application that benefited from the installation of a numeric coprocessor especially in early personal computers. The human-machine interface is generally via a computer mouse but can also be via a pen and digitizing graphics tablet. Manipulation of the view of the model on the screen is also sometimes done with the use of a spacemouse/SpaceBall. Some systems also support stereoscopic glasses for viewing the 3D model.
Starting in the late 1980s, the development of readily affordable Computer-Aided Design programs that could be run on personal computers began a trend of massive downsizing in drafting departments in many small to mid-size companies. As a general rule, one CAD operator could readily replace at least three to five drafters using traditional methods.[citation needed] Additionally, many engineers began to do their own drafting work, further eliminating the need for traditional drafting departments. This trend mirrored that of the elimination of many office jobs traditionally performed by a secretary as word processors, spreadsheets, databases, etc. became standard software packages that "everyone" was expected to learn.
Another consequence had been that since the latest advances were often quite expensive, small and even mid-size firms often could not compete against large firms who could use their computational edge for competitive purposes.[citation needed] Today, however, hardware and software costs have come down. Even high-end packages work on less expensive platforms and some even support multiple platforms. The costs associated with CAD implementation now are more heavily weighted to the costs of training in the use of these high level tools, the cost of integrating a CAD/CAM/CAE PLM using enterprise across multi-CAD and multi-platform environments and the costs of modifying design work flows to exploit the full advantage of CAD tools.
CAD vendors have effectively lowered these training costs. These methods can be split into three categories:
Computer-Aided Design is one part of the whole Digital Product Development (DPD) activity within the Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) process, and as such is used together with other tools, which are either integrated modules or stand-alone products, such as:
| Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Computer Aided Design (CAD) |
| This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2009) |
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
| CAD (architecture) | |
| CAD (abbreviation) | |
| CAD/CAM (abbreviation) |
| What is the Difference between Computer Aided Design and Computer Aided Drafting tools? | |
| What do you think about computer aided design? | |
| What is computer aided design about? |
Copyrights:
![]() | Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more | |
![]() | Accounting Dictionary. Dictionary of Accounting Terms. Copyright © 2005 by Barron's Educational Series, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more | |
![]() | Dental Dictionary. Mosby's Dental Dictionary. Copyright © 2004 by Elsevier, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more | |
![]() | Modern Design Dictionary. A Dictionary of Modern Design. Copyright © 2004, 2005 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. Read more | |
![]() | Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/ Read more | |
![]() | Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Computer-aided design". Read more |
Mentioned in