How CAD Goes Beyond Drafting
Unless you’ve been living in a cave for the past few decades, most design professionals are familiar with CAD, or computer-aided design. For years, CAD has been used to create 2D and 3D designs, such as layout design and 3D CAD modelling services. Over time, 2D CAD drafting services and architectural CAD services have gone beyond drafting building floor plans and outdoor landscapes. Layouts that contain vector graphics are used to scale those layouts for different sizes, used for proposals or construction drawings.
Beyond drafting, CAD design services has been involved in other applications, such as:
Vectors in 3D CAD allow designers to create complex 3D shapes, such as polygons, Bézier curves (parametric curves used in computer graphics) and other rounded shapes, that can be moved, rotated, enlarged and modified.
When creating a 3D model, colors, gradients or designs can be added that can be applied using a process called texture mapping. Several CAD programs include a feature that can adjust lighting and a timeline used to create 3D animations.
The use of CAD software, such as SolidWorks, CATIA. Autodesk’s Inventor, Rhino. SketchUp Tinkercad, Sculptris, Blender, etc., result in:
The software also considers how different materials interact with each other:
Producing Product Design
Several industries have adopted CAD as part of the product design process. Using CAD in product design involves:
Designers brainstorm ideas to create original concepts. Once concepts are selected, they are fleshed out more fully, and drawings and prototype versions of a product are created, helping identify any issues with the product. Then, the model is ready, and the product can be produced.
Beyond 2D drafting, product designers create 3D models, whose properties match those of the intended object. Designers use CAD software to analyse this model without having to create a physical prototype. The design can be tested on how it will react to heat, pressure, physical stress and other conditions. So, CAD software:
One of the prime reasons for using CAD in product design is that it enables the creation of production-ready designs.
What does this mean regarding a product’s lifecycle? Will CAD tools help us beyond design?
Whether it’s product design or modelling or analysis, the advantages of CAD go much beyond drafting. The benefits of computer-aided design in general terms can be summed up as follows:
Benefits of CAD Software
1) Increase productivity:
2) Improve design quality:
3) Creating documentation:
4) Creating manufacturing database:
5) Archiving design data and drawings:
We can conclude that using CAD software for product design, architectural drawing services, mechanical CAD drafting services (M&E CAD drafting services) or residential CAD services can enhance products and projects alike. Using a reliable, experienced and cost-effective design partner with proven expertise in architectural drafting services can be of valued support while delivering large projects.
XS CAD has valuable experience providing cad modeling services, 2D drafting services, AutoCAD drafting services, and other construction drawing services for designers, consultants and manufacturers. Our range of services for consultants, contractors and manufacturers across the world include architectural drawing services, mechanical CAD drafting services (M&E CAD drafting services) construction drawing services, BIM coordination services. We create these models and drawings using Revit, AutoCAD and BIM Collaborate Pro for cloud collaboration.