Global Journal of Engineering, Design & Technology
Open Access

Technology and Types of Computer-Aided Designs

Shangxuan Yu^{* *}Correspondence: Shangxuan Yu, Department of Computer Science, Indiana University Bloomington, Bloomington, USA, Email:

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Description

The use of computers to facilitate the creation, modification, analysis, or optimization of a design is known as computer-aided design. With the aid of this software, designers may work more productively, produce better designs, improve communications through documentation, and build databases for manufacturing.

When incorporated into patent applications, Computer-aided designs (CAD) are beneficial in securing goods and inventions. Electronic files for printing, machining, or other manufacturing processes are frequently the CAD output. It is sometimes referred to as computer-aided design and drafting (CADD) and computer-aided drafting (CAD). Electronic design automation is the practice of using it to create electronic systems. Mechanical design automation, which involves the process of producing a technical drawing with the use of computer software, is a term used in the field of mechanical design.

Types

There are various distinct kinds of CAD, and each one necessitates that the user approach their use and design of virtual components differently.

2D CAD: The makers of affordable 2D systems are numerous, and many of them offer free and open-source software. These offer a method of drawing without all the trouble that hand drafting involved with scale and positioning on the drawing page because these can be changed as needed throughout the construction of the final draft.

3D CAD: In essence, a 3D wireframe is a two-dimensional drawing that has been expanded into three dimensions. The drawing must be manually updated with each line. The finished product has no mass characteristics and cannot have elements that add directly to it, like holes. Although many 3D systems permit using the wireframe model to create the final engineering drawing views, the operator approaches these in a manner similar to that of the 2D systems.

FreeForm CAD: The most advanced technologies give designers the ability to include more natural, beautiful, and ergonomic elements in their designs. Solids and freeform surface modeling are frequently used in conjunction to develop products that are both aesthetically pleasing and functionally suited to the human form and machine interface.

Technology

Originally, computer languages like FORTRAN and ALGOL were used to create software for CAD systems, but with the development of object-oriented programming techniques, this has drastically altered. The foundation of most contemporary freeform surface and parametric feature-based modeler systems is a collection of essential C modules, each with its own API.

A geometric modeling kernel connects a Graphical User Interface (GUI) with Non-Uniform Rational B-Splines geometry (NURBS) or boundary representation (B-rep) data to create a CAD system. The associative relationships between geometry, such as wireframe geometry in a sketch or components in an assembly, may also be managed by a geometry constraint engine.

The associative links' unexpected capacities have given rise to a new type of prototyping known as digital prototyping. Unlike actual prototypes, which require time for fabrication during the design phase. However, when the real prototype has been scanned by an industrial CT scanning device, CAD models can be produced by a computer. Digital or physical prototypes might be originally selected based on specific needs depending on the type of business.

There are CAD solutions available now for all the main platforms. Numerous platforms are supported by some packages. The majority of CAD software does not yet require any specialized hardware. However, some CAD programmes can do computationally and graphically demanding tasks, thus a contemporary graphics card, fast CPUs, and ample RAM may be advised.

A computer mouse is typically used as the human-machine interface, but other options include a pen and a digitizing graphics tablet. A space mouse or space ball can occasionally be used to manipulate the model's view on the screen. Some systems allow you to view the 3D model with stereoscopic glasses as well. A wide range of users can now access technologies that were previously only available for larger installations or specialized applications. These consist of interactive tools like motionsensing technology and CAVEs or HMDs.