What is CAD (Computer Aided Design)?
If you have ever had the opportunity to do some sort of major renovation on your home, such as adding a room or expanding your floor plan, chances are you were required to obtain a permit from the city in which you live. To obtain this permit, you were probably required to submit some technical drawings and specifications of your home improvement plans along with a stack of many additional pieces of paper work in order to get the city to approve your plans before you could move forward. In the blink of an eye, you went from choosing paint colors or appliances to needing to know something about the worlds of architecture and engineering. Specifically, to produce the technical drawings you needed, you probably used (or more likely paid someone else to use) something called CAD.
What is CAD? CAD stands for computer aided design. Simply stated, CAD is the term used when architects, artists, or engineers use computer software to make technical drawings of construction plans, among other things. Obviously, prior to the advent of computers and CAD software, these technical drawings, blueprints, and the like were all done by hand. Like a multitude of other things in our lives today, the use of the computer has made the blueprint drafting aspect of design much easier. When producing technical drawings using computer software, the drawings can be easily changed or reconfigured, the scale of the drawing can be easily altered with the click of a button, or portions of a design can be modified and the entire plan will automatically adjust to the changes. When a design plan is ready, it may easily be printed on large format paper using a plotter or other specially designed large format printer.
Computer aided design is also useful in design because the architect or engineer has the option of making a two dimensional or three dimensional design. When using a three dimensional model, the CAD software may have the capability in rotating the design so that it may be viewed from virtually any angle. Where it may be difficult to imagine what a finished project might look like from a two dimensional technical drawing, having the option to view a project as a rotating three dimensional image may be helpful in assisting a client or homeowner in visualizing the architect’s or engineer’s plan. The use of the three dimensional model can also be especially helpful from an engineering aspect in that the computer aided design software may have the functionality of being able to analyze the proposed project’s feasibility, thus pointing out the strengths and weaknesses of the design.
Computer aided design is not just for architectural or engineering applications. CAD can be used in automotive design, conceptual art, shipbuilding, prosthetic design, and aerospace engineering. Additionally, movie makers may employ computer aided design in their special effects and computer animation. Even things that you may not ever consider being designed by CAD had some form of computer aided design in their production, such as product containers, product packaging, or advertising and technical manuals.