HNC CAD: 2D CAD Concepts -

The CAD environment

There are many differences between the traditional design/drafting office which uses only pencil, paper and modeling materials to visualise and prepare designs, and the office that is able to effectively use the equivalent computerised processes.

The designer who develops concepts and designs for the market place, or a stadium for athletics, or a multi-dimensional ride in a theme park, is able to imagine and conceive of complex designs that are extremely difficult, if not impossible, to commit to paper as technical designs. The designer has to try to compile the design in terms of lines, arcs, dimensions, etc and all onto a rectangle of paper. So the flexibility of the designers mind and physical dexterity of the designers hands have to be tempered with the reality that, what is conceived of in the designers brain, must be detailed in such a way that it can be built by others!

A powerful tool in the designers office is the computer. It is often felt that it is a box of tricks that can do a person out of a job, or that stifles creativity and skill, or a tool that can be of benefit in the design process.

The designer who uses computers in the design process finds that there are pros and cons. The computer used in the design process produces its own environment, which in some ways is similar to the traditional drafting office environment, yet in other ways, vastly different.

We will look at some of these features in this section but the flesh will be put on the bone as we progress through the course.

The main method of visual contact is through the monitor, which at present is normally a near vertical screen of smallish proportions (when compared to the sizes of traditional drafting boards) about an arms length away. 
Perhaps, in the not to distant future, the screen will become more similar in appearance and functionality to the traditional drafting board in providing a large flat surface upon which the design representations can be laid out in a more direct interactive process. Rather than the action, at present, when the design is viewed on the vertical screen but manipulated by the movement of a device placed on a separate horizontal surface.

The outlook for computer aided drafting can only look bright when viewed in relation to the increasing flexibility and assistance it provides the design with.