State of Art of Computer Aided Design

The use of computers to facilitate or assist design has been around since the mid-20th century. The term
“Computer Aided Design” (CAD) emerged in the 1950s and is commonly credited to Douglas Ross, a
computer scientist who was working at MIT when the acronym was coined.

Computer and Hardware Development for CAD:

1943: The first general purpose computer was developed in 1943 through the combined effort of US Army
personnel and the University of Pennsylvania’s Moore School of Electrical Engineering. It was named the
ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer) and was used principally to calculate ballistics for
US Army artillery shots.

1953: The first graphics formed through mathematical equations took place roughly ten years later and
involved the use of a computer numerical control machine and a cutting tool These early CNC machines
translated time and position inputs (x, y, and z coordinates) to make cuts in the form of common shapes
(the earliest “graphics”).

1964: In the early 1960s the first commercially available Computer Aided Design (CAD) systems were
coming out on the market. The first of these were used by large aerospace, engineering, and information
technology companies like Lockheed, General Motors, and IBM. One of the first computerized graphical
display systems, the “DAC-1” (which stood for Design Augmented by Computer) came out in 1963 as part
of a joint project between two of the aforementioned companies (GM and IBM). GM unveiled the technology
in 1964 used it for nearly a decade until it was eventually replaced by a superior iteration.

CAD Software Development:

1963: CAD took an enormous step forward with the introduction of SKETCHPAD in 1963 by Ivan
Sutherland, then working at MIT. Also known as “Robot Draftsman,” Sketchpad was a novel step forward
in the field of human-computer interaction and was a major breakthrough in computer graphics in general.
Of the major advances include the introduction of a graphical-user-interface GUIA graphical user interface
allows users to interact with a computer device through visual aids (icons). This is contrasted with the more
traditional method of computer interaction using text. and object-oriented programming.

1971: Another major step forward involved the introduction of Automated Drafting And Machining (ADAM).
ADAM was a CAD system designed by Dr. Patrick J. Hanratty whose company, Manufacturing and
Consulting Services (MCS), provided the software for major companies like McDonnell Douglas and
Computervision.

1970s: 3D CAD was first introduced in the 1970s but not in a widely distributed fashion. Most design at this
time was still being done with pencil and paper.

1980s: Solid modeling was the major CAD advancement made in the 1980s. Significant software offerings
included the well known 2D system known as “AutoCAD.”

1990s to today: Solidworks, an updated version of which we currently use at Creative Mechanisms, was
first introduced in the 1990s. According to Tony Rogers, president of design shop Creative Mechanisms,

“We started with the first version of Solidworks around 1995. The progress in 3D CAD was gradual where
the step towards Autocad in the 1980s was much easier. In 2D CAD you were drawing the same way you
always had. It 2D CAD took almost the same amount of time as doing 2D drawings by hand with the big
difference being that changes were much faster and easier to make. 3D CAD was an entirely different way
of thinking and working so it took much longer for everyone to adapt to it.”
Present
CAD/CAE/CAM systems are now widely accepted and used throughout the industry. These systems moved
from costly workstations based mainly on UNIX to off-the-shelf PCs. 3D modeling has become a norm, and
it can be found even in applications for the wider public, like 3D buildings modeling in Google Maps, house
furnishing (IMSI Floorplan), or garden planning. Advanced analysis methods like FEM (Finite Element
Method as for structural analysis), flow simulations are a ubiquitous part of the design process. CAM
systems are used for simulation and optimization of manufacturing, and NC code is created and loaded to
NC machines.

FUTURE TRENDS of COMPUTER AIDED DESIGN

Computer-aided Design (CAD) refers to the use of computer systems in assistance of the creation,
modification, and analysis of a design. Once seen as a specialty task for advanced research and
development, computer-aided engineering (CAE) including simulation and optimization today has widely
changed the dimension of engineering. Traditionally, engineers in Structure field have used laboratory
testing to investigate the structure systems subject to the expected wind/earthquake any other loads and
to develop appropriate design rules. Laboratory testing was also used to develop new products and
systems. However, such reliance on time consuming and expensive laboratory testing has hindered
progress in this area. The product manufacturers and designers often decided on conservative designs in
order to avoid expensive and time-consuming laboratory testing. However, advances in the field of
computer aided engineering during the last two decades have changed this situation significantly in many
engineering industries. In the building industry, the use of advanced finite element tools has not only allowed
the introduction of innovative and efficient building products, but also the development of accurate design
methods. Finite-element analysis (FEA) has evolved into a mainstream part of the design process, and its
impact can be measured in everything from the integrity of airframes and construction of complex structure
to the packaging of appliances to the reliability of cell phones and the driving power of golf clubs.

Once seen as a specialty task for advanced research and development, computer-aided engineering
(CAE), including simulation and optimization, today is widely used to accelerate the product-development
process. Simulation's importance in validating and improving the design of various products has
heightened over decades. Simulation is moving up the line toward the front end of the design process.

Today, for example, instead of crashing SUVs into barriers multiple times to determine how they react,
engineers carry out virtual crash tests on high-performance computers, changing designs to improve the
safety of occupants and thereby dramatically reducing the number of costly physical tests and design
iterations. Increasingly, simulation has moved up the line toward the front end of the design process. Now
engineers are employing CAE software to create initial designs and to optimize products-removing material
from the proposed product to reduce its weight without sacrificing strength or performance. Simulation in
the Driver's Seat By turning to simulation and optimization as the design is being formulated, engineers are
contributing to resolving many challenges in new-product development, including:

 Creating products that are more sustainable and energy-efficient.

 Enhancing performance and ergonomics.

  Improving value and affordability.

 Providing differentiation and excitement.

Simulation now is in the driver's seat, pushing product-development timelines, creating innovative concept
designs and improving product quality and reliability along the way. At the same time, the emergence of
software tools that automate best practices in design and analysis and that establish customizable workflow
processes for product engineering has enabled engineers to focus on higher-value tasks in their
organizations. Rather than spending the majority of their day inputting data and validating their models,
they now are free to innovate new designs, new offerings and new capabilities for their products. Engineers
now can make more informed design decisions because they can view data in new ways that often are
more graphical and interrelated. And they can apply technology in new ways to create entire new categories
of products -- from tablet computers and natural-gesture game machines to crossover vehicles and electric
powertrains. The Future: Achieving Innovation Intelligence The trend for growth in simulation appears to
have no end in sight. Simulation will reach a broader audience, with more ways for people throughout an
enterprise to interact with designs and interpret them using advanced data mining and advanced analytics
techniques once reserved for business intelligence. Process automation will occur on a more pervasive
level, as non-value-added tasks are automated. Probability will play a greater role in improving product
quality, as simulation software incorporates more stochastic elements. Simulation will be available
everywhere, with cloud-based software and computing that enables employees to communicate among
disciplines while paying for only the time that they use the simulation software and hardware resources.
Fortunately, an exponential increase in compute power will permit this increase in simulation and slash the
time required to design, optimize and validate future. Perhaps of greatest importance, however, is that
professionals will be rethinking the boundaries of industrial design and engineering. With technology
already available, CAE increasingly will become the starting point for ideation and problem-solving, and the
same suite of software will carry the engineer through the generation and selection of design alternatives,
optimization, validation and communication throughout the enterprise. The future for simulation is exciting
and will continue to play a bigger role in shaping the way products are designed from the inception stage
to the end product. And to bring all idea into reality CAD exploration and its optimization in unavoidable.

Work Cited:

https://en.m.wikiversity.org/wiki/Computer-aided_design/History,_Present_and_Future

The History of Design, Model Making and CAD- juraj zovinec-author-Creative Mechanisms
Engineering Staff and the original publish date was Dec 3rd 2015.

The Computer-Aided-Engineering Revolution Is Here, Jeff Brennan, chief marketing officer and
director of worldwide operations, Altair Engineering Inc.