[Advantages of CAD over conventional drawing techniques]

Advantages of CAD over conventional drawing techniques

Firdaus Khan B Md Rashid Khan
City University College of Science & Technology

[Advantages of CAD over conventional drawing techniques]

Introduction
In the work place, technology has significantly change the way we go about our every day jobs,
in design the introduction of computers and computer software has identified new and exciting
ways to go about the design process. Computers have contributed to design for quite a while by
providing analysis tools, data-bases and computer-aided drafting tools. Since its introduction
1960s CAD tools have been developed to more user friendly programs we use today.
The last 4 decades has been a back and forward process. It has jumped back and forth between
attempts to totally automate the entire design process, to its partial support as a drafting
mechanism, from a representation of objects properties, to complete modeling and visualization
tool.
Design is an intelligent human process activity which requires many skills and lots of
knowledge. Design problems can be solved by individuals or by teams. They may take minutes
or years. Design occurs in a wide variety of domains, ranging from the design of a Nuclear
Power Plant to that of a simple glass bottle. The general design process is often characterized as
mapping needs, functions and structures, this process is carried out by using many different types
of analysis and different sources of information. Hand-drawn plans or sketchers can be all a
computer aided draftsperson or a modeler needs to get to complete a job. On projects without
structural work that dont require permits, even a quick sketch might be sufficient.
This computing evolution has precipitated a fundamental re-evaluation of space and time. The
transition between pre-industrial conditions to a world of computers and cyberspace, taking place
in the best part of half a century, affecting the modern designers concept of space, which has
been an intangible medium for centuries and through constant manipulation and thought, has
distinguished the design profession.
The value of a computer-aided design (CAD) programs depends entirely on what kind of jobs
you do how much design work they regularly involve and the expectations of your client base.
Many consumers cant envision the result of a 3D modeling project, and therefore have a hard
time signing off on a contract. Programs that create realistic two dimensional or threedimensional images of what the client or designer proposes down to the light at different times of
day can help make the sale. Other consumers might not see the charm of a hand-drawn design
and consider CAD drawings more professional. CAD programs can definitely accelerate the
design process, especially if you do a lot of design work or have clients who change their mind
frequently during the design phase. With CAD programs you can change one element of the
design, perhaps lengthening one wall of a room, and the proportions of the other walls, the
materials list and other affected elements update automatically. Even if your company doesnt
create the design, the ability to share files electronically with suppliers, subcontractors and
architects can improve productivity and smooth production.

[Advantages of CAD over conventional drawing techniques]

Advantages of CAD over conventional drawing techniques

In our olden days, engineers, designers and draughtsman were struggling to produce
and submit engineering drawings in their scheduled times. It was mainly due to tremendous
efforts they had taken to produce either new drawings or edited/updated drawings.
Every lines, shapes, measurements, scaling of the drawings - all made them headache to the
design / drafting field. All these difficulties and pressures over-ridden by Computer Aided
Design Drafting (CAD Drafting) technology. Here we look into brief comparison between CAD
Drafting over conventional drawing techniques

1. Lay out the drawing conveniently

When you draft manually, you first select a sheet, which usually includes a pre-printed border
and title block. Then you determine the location for views' plans, elevations, sections, and
details. Finally, you start to draw. With CAD, you first draw your design, or model, in a working
environment called model space. You can then create a layout for that model in an environment
called paper space. A layout represents a drawing sheet. It typically contains a border, title block,
dimensions, general notes, and one or more views of the model displayed in layout viewports.
Layout viewports are areas, similar to picture frames or windows, through which you can see
your model. You scale the views in viewports by zooming in or out.

2. Draw to Scale
The advantages of CAD include: the ability to producing very accurate designs; drawings can be
created in 2D or 3D and rotated; other computer programmers can be linked to the design
software. With manual drafting, you must determine the scale of a view before you start drawing.
This scale compares the size of the actual object to the size of the model drawn on paper. With
CAD, you first decide what units of measurement you will use, and then draw your model at 1:1
scale, should one of the main benefits of CAD.

3. Flexible to organize drawing information

With manual drafting, you can separate information onto individual transparent overlays. For
example, a building plan might contain separate overlays for its structural, electrical, and
plumbing components. With CAD, layers are equivalent to transparent overlays. As with
overlays, you can display, edit, and print layers separately or in combination. You can name
layers to help track content, and lock layers so they can't be altered. Assigning settings such as

[Advantages of CAD over conventional drawing techniques]

color, line type, or line weight to layers helps you comply with industry standards. You can also
use layers to organize drawing objects for plotting. Assigning a plot style to a layer makes all the
objects drawn on that layer plot in a similar manner
4. Establish drafting standards
Manual drafting requires meticulous accuracy in drawing line-types, line-weights, text,
dimensions, and more. Standards must be established in the beginning and applied consistently.
With CAD, you can ensure conformity to industry or company standards by creating styles that
you can apply consistently. You can create styles for text, dimensions, and line-types. A text
style, for example, establishes font and format characteristics such as height, width, and slant.
You can save styles, layers, layouts, title block and border information, and some command
settings in drawing template files. Using drawing templates helps you quickly start new drawings
that conform to standards.

5. Modify the drawing

Revisions are a part of any drawing project. Whether you work on paper or with CAD, you will
need to modify your drawing in some way. On paper, you must erase and redraw to make
revisions to your drawing manually. CAD eliminates tedious manual editing by providing a
variety of editing tools. If you need to copy all or part of an object, you dont have to redraw it. If
you need to remove an object, you can erase it with a few clicks of the mouse. And if you make
an error, you can quickly undo your actions. Once you draw an object, you never need to redraw
it. You can modify existing objects by mirroring, rotating, scaling, stretching, trimming, and
more. You can also change object properties, such as line type, line weight, color, and layer, at
any time.

[Advantages of CAD over conventional drawing techniques]

Conclusion
One of the main reasons you should get familiar with CAD software is that it is
basically everywhere. No matter if were talking about architecture, engineering, design,
cartography, automotive, fashion they all use some form of CAD along the way. In
architecture alone you can post. In the end, its quite clear that CAD has numerous advantages
over traditional design, and it is just a matter of time until it completely takes over, so make
sure you dont let the wind of change catch you unprepared

[Advantages of CAD over conventional drawing techniques]

Bibliography
Ames, Benjamin B. "How CAD Keeps It Simple." Design News. 19 June 2000.
"CAD Software Works with Symbols from CADDetails.com." Product News Network.
11January 2006.
"CASE." SearchSMB.com. Available from
http://searchsmb.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,sid44_gci213838,00.html. Retrieved on
27January2006.
Christman, Alan. "Technology Trends in CAM Software." Modern Machine Shop.
December 2005.
Leondes, Cornelius, ed. "Computer-Aided Design, Engineering, and Manufacturing." Vol. 5
of The Design of Manufacturing Systems. CRC Press, 2001.
"What Do You Mean?" Mechanical Engineering-CIME. November 2005.

[Advantages of CAD over conventional drawing techniques]

Footnotes
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Figures
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