{"id":1932,"date":"2017-01-03T11:00:38","date_gmt":"2017-01-03T17:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.misumiusa.com\/?p=1932"},"modified":"2023-11-28T14:56:06","modified_gmt":"2023-11-28T20:56:06","slug":"computer-aided-design-pt-1-design-before-computer-aided","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/us.misumi-ec.com\/blog\/computer-aided-design-pt-1-design-before-computer-aided\/","title":{"rendered":"Computer Aided Design Pt 1: Design Before Technology"},"content":{"rendered":"

History of CAD<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The first design drawings can be dated as far back to the 16th<\/sup> and 17th<\/sup> century.\u00a0 Utilizing handmade tools to draw concepts and measurements.\u00a0 Of course, as mankind evolved, so did the tools, eventually developing drafting tables, drawing boards, T-squares, triangles, French curves, and advanced compasses.\u00a0 Up until the early 1950s, all technical drawings were done by hand using these tools.\u00a0 This timing consuming and skillful task required accuracy, a keen knowledge of measurement, and an understanding of geometry.<\/p>\n

\"technical_drawing_instruments_1\"<\/p>\n

Image from Wikipedia<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\"draft-table\"<\/p>\n

Image from Wikipedia<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Until Dr. Paul J Hanratty changed the game by inventing a program that could draw simple lines on the computer when they were the size of a room in.\u00a0 Hanratty then worked with a research team at MIT to expand his work which resulted in a program called Pronto (Program for Numerical Tooling Operations) in 1957.\u00a0 Also at MIT in 1962, the first graphical user interface using a light pen to draw on a cathode ray tube was presented by Ivan Sutherland.\u00a0 This was called \u201cSketchpad, A Man-Machine Graphical Communication System\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"pronto\"<\/p>\n

Image from University of Cambridge<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

In the 1960\u2019s, key breakthroughs were the first digitizer and the first production interactive graphics manufacturing system, DAC-1.<\/p>\n

The biggest jump in CAD was in the 1980\u2019s when Autodesk released AutoCAD in 1983.\u00a0 This was a big step as computers were evolving alongside CAD.\u00a0 With the use of AutoCAD and computers available at a larger scale, design engineering became vastly more affordable.<\/p>\n

3D modeling came into the picture in 1987 with the release of Pro\/ENGINEER.\u00a0 In 1995, SolidWorks was released for use in Windows.<\/p>\n

Cost<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Hanratty\u2019s CAD program cost about $125,000 in the 1970s.\u00a0 Autodesk\u2019s programs were about $1,000 with the release of AutoCAD in the 1980s.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t until the early 2000s that these programs became more affordable with pricing at $895.\u00a0 Now, CAD programs are available at a few hundred dollars with student versions at a discounted rate.<\/p>\n

CADvantage<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The release of SolidWorks and other CAD platforms such as Inventor and SolidEdge was a breakthrough in design as it became available in nearly every design house.\u00a0 Computers became smaller and 3D modeling became more powerful.\u00a0 Even manufacturing benefited from this breakthrough leading to CAM, greatly increasing productivity in the industrial manufacturing market.<\/p>\n

The advantages of CAD became limitless\u2026<\/p>\n