Computer-Aided Design By: Marco & Osbaldo

What is it? Computer-aided design (CAD) is computer technology that allows you to make designs for technical documentation. Used by engineers, artists, and drafters in order to create 2D/3D models. This eliminates the need for the manual process of drafting.

Who created it? Two people are given credit for the creation of CAD: Patrick J. Hanratty and Ivan Sutherland. Patrick J. Hanratty: in 1957 he developed PRONTO (Program for Numerical Tooling Operations). This was the first commercial CNC programming system. Ivan Sutherland: his Ph.D thesis statement at MIT was titled “Sketchpad: A Man-Machine Graphical Communication System” was the start of CAD.

How has it changed throughout history? Since the first CAD version, CAD has been going through evolution making every version more efficient. It is now a very popular tool used to plan and design products, infrastructures or components. It started with Patrick Hanratty and his creation of PRONTO in 1957. It was the first commercial CNC programming system that was then improved by Ivan Sutherland with his Sketchpad man machine graphical communication system. By the 1960, CAD gained popularity and more companies began experimenting with CAD. By 1970, CAD changed from 2D design to 3D design which allowed for CAD to spread into major companies to facilitate in commercial design. By the 1980s-90s, PC’s became powerful enough to support 3D CAD. This was when we start seeing the emergence of AutoDesk and Dassault Systemes.

What is it like today? CAD started running on UNIX stations but then as PC’s began to gain power CAD began working on personal computers. As years went by, the different versions of CAD were updated to new faster, easier and improved versions. It also gained a digitizer. Now CAD is more efficient and reliable than before. Almost every PC is capable of running CAD now a days which increases its popularity.

What is it like today?

Summary -CAD, Computer Aided Design, is software along with hardware that work together to create 2D and 3D virtual designs that help when creating almost anything. Engineers, Artists, Scientists, and Drafters all use CAD in order to design a special product before actually creating it. CAD started making its way to personal computers about 20 years after its original start. It changed dramatically in those years because at first you needed a special machine to use it but once PC’s developed, they gained CAD support and it became a success. Since then, almost everything in the world has gone through CAD before being mass produced.

Sources A. (n.d.). CAD Software | 2D And 3D Computer-Aided Design | Autodesk. Retrieved February 06, 2018, from https://www.autodesk.com/solutions/cad-software 3. (2014, November 02). The History of Computer-Aided Design (CAD). Retrieved February 06, 2018, from https://3d- innovations.com/blog/the-history-of-computer-aided-design-cad/ Hosch, W. L. (2016, March 01). Ivan Edward Sutherland. Retrieved February 06, 2018, from https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ivan-Edward-Sutherland Cohn, D. (2014, May 21). Evolution of Computer-Aided Design. Retrieved February 06, 2018, from http://www.digitaleng.news/de/evolution-of-computer-aided-design/ Stevenson, J. (2017, June 23). The Hardware Timeline of CAD. Retrieved February 06, 2018, from http://blog.grabcad.com/blog/2013/06/13/the-hardware-of-cad/