Computer-Aided Design (Cad)

CAD is used in the design and development of new products in a variety of applications both at home and on a commercial/industrial basis. Examples of typical CAD applications include:
- aerospace
- architecture
- car/vehicle design
- construction (e.g. roads, services, surveying, tunnels, bridges, etc.)
- consumer goods (e.g kettles, toasters, etc.)
- digital circuits
- factory layouts (e.g. ergonomics)
- fashion design
- garden/landscape gardening
- heating systems
- interior designs (houses, offices, etc.)
- lighting systems (e.g. to get lighting effects at a concert)
- machinery design
- plant design (chemical, nuclear, etc.)
- ship building
CAD systems usually require considerable processor power and a number of input and output devices; for example:
- large screens
- light pens
- devices such as trackerballs, mouse and graphics tablets
- plotters to draw scale and full size drawings
- high specification graphics cards
- spacemouse/spaceball
- some systems support stereoscopic drawings where 3D spectacles can be worn and the user sees a 3D image
The features usually found in a CAD package include:
- wire frame
- 2D and 3D modelling
- library of parts which can be used in new drawings
- validation and verification of designs against original specification
- ability to link with computer-aided manufacture (CAM)
- facility to calculate the mass of the actual object once built
- facility to calculate the cost of producing the article
- features such as rotation, colour, zoom, etc.
- simulation of designs without the need to build a prototype
- create engineering drawings from solid models
- import and export to allow the exchange of data with other software packages
- kinematics (i.e. check moving parts in assemblies don’t interfere with each other)
- routing of cables and hoses

There are many advantages and disadvantages of using CAD rather than manually producing drawings using pen and paper: advantages of CAD