CAD Software
CAD Software or computer-aided design software also known as computer-aided drafting software,is the use of computer systems to assist in the creation, modification, analysis, or optimization of a design. Computer-aided drafting describes the process of creating a technical drawing with the use of computer software.CAD software is used to increase the productivity of the designer, improve the quality of design, improve communications through documentation, and to create a database for manufacturing.CAD output is often in the form of electronic files for print or machining operations. CAD software uses either vector based graphics to depict the objects of traditional drafting, or may also produceraster graphics showing the overall appearance of designed objects. CAD often involves more than just shapes. As in the manual drafting of technical and engineering drawings, the output of CAD must convey 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, and solids in three-dimensional (3D) space. 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 and technical manuals. The modern ubiquity and power of computers means that even perfume bottles and shampoo dispensers are designed using techniques unheard of by engineers of the 1960s. Because of its enormous economic importance, CAD has been a major driving force for research incomputational geometry, computer graphics , and discrete differential geometry. The design of geometric models for object shapes, in particular, is occasionally called computer-aided geometric design (CAGD). While the goal of automated CAD systems is to increase efficiency, they are not necessarily the best way to allow newcomers to understand the geometrical principles of Solid Modeling. For this, scripting languages such as PLaSM (Programming Language of Solid Modeling) are more suitable.
Uses
Computer-aided design is one of the many tools used by engineers and designers and is used in many ways depending on the profession of the user and the type of software in question.CAD is one part of the whole Digital Product Development (DPD) activity within the Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) processes, and as such is used together with other tools, which are either integrated modules or stand-alone products, such as:
- Computer-aided engineering (CAE) and Finite element analysis (FEA)
- Computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) including instructions to Computer Numerical Control (CNC) machines
- Photo realistic rendering
- Document management and revision control using Product Data Management (PDM).
CAD is also used for the accurate creation of photo simulations that are often required in the preparation of Environmental Impact Reports, in which computer-aided designs of intended buildings are superimposed into photographs of existing environments to represent what that locale will be like were the proposed facilities allowed to be built. Potential blockage of view corridors and shadow studies are also frequently analyzed through the use of CAD. CAD has been proven to be useful to engineers as well. Using four properties which are history, features, parameterization, and high level constraints. The construction history can be used to look back into the model's personal features and work on the single area rather than the whole model. Parameters and constraints can be used to determine the size, shape, and the different modeling elements. The features in the CAD system can be used for the variety of tools for measurement such as tensile strength, yield strength, also its stress and strain and how the element gets affected in certain temperatures.