1. 10/03/03Designed by Barry Forbes Graphic Communication Advantages & Disadvantages of CAD

2. 10/03/03 Designed by Barry Forbes Computer Knowledge n You will need to know about a number of things to do with computers: –Advantages & disadvantages of CAD (Computer Aided Drawing) and CAG (Computer Aided Graphics). –Input & Output devices and their uses. –Some commands and techniques of using 2D & 3D CAD packages.

3. 10/03/03 Designed by Barry Forbes Advantages of CAD n Reduced storage space required. n Previously, paper drawings would have required whole rooms to store the drawings for a building. n Now this information can be stored on a single disk.

4. 10/03/03 Designed by Barry Forbes Advantages of CAD n Corrections can be made easily. n Before, whole drawings may have had to be reproduced on paper if a mistake has been made. n Now a single line is deleted and redrawn in the correct place.

5. 10/03/03 Designed by Barry Forbes Advantages of CAD n Repetitive parts of the drawing can be saved and imported as part of a “drawing library”. n Paper drawings require objects to be redrawn each time manually which is time consuming. n Being able to call the parts in from a library saves the user time.

6. 10/03/03 Designed by Barry Forbes Advantages of CAD n It takes less time to produce drawings using CAD systems than traditional manual drawing methods.

7. 10/03/03 Designed by Barry Forbes Advantages of CAD n Drawings offices often produce their drawings using a standard layout so that people can immediately identify the drawings as belonging to that particular company. n Templates can be set up on a computer to make this easier.

8. 10/03/03 Designed by Barry Forbes Advantages of CAD n No matter what size of drawing is being produced CAD systems van be used to produce them accurately. n Grid Snap, Zoom and Attach commands are 3 examples of methods of producing accurate drawings easily.

9. 10/03/03 Designed by Barry Forbes Advantages of CAD n CAD systems can be linked with CAM machines to produce objects straight from the drawings. n This is referred to as CAD/CAM n CAM stands for Computer Aided Manufacture. n This is a cheaper and quicker method of producing the final product.

10. 10/03/03 Designed by Barry Forbes Advantages of CAD n Because 3D CAD designs are so realistic and can be made to look like the actual material they will be made from, clients can see exactly what is being made so a physical model is not required, reducing costs and the time it takes to design a new product.

11. 10/03/03 Designed by Barry Forbes Advantages of CAD n Designers can use powerful CAD computer packages to make virtual reality simulations of the layout of their buildings. n This means that the client can have a “look around” the building before it is built and changes can be made at this early stage. n This results in a faster design of the building and a higher quality end product. n It is also cheaper to make any changes at this stage rather than while the building is being constructed.

12. 10/03/03 Designed by Barry Forbes Advantages of CAD n On an ever greater scale, the Internet can be used to share plans and designs with anyone in the world that also has an Internet connection. n This means that specialised work can take place between different countries quickly and cheaply.

13. 10/03/03 Designed by Barry Forbes Disadvantages of CAD n Initial costs of buying a computer system are high. n As computer systems can be used to produce quicker CAD drawings less people need to be employed. n CAD/CAM systems also means less people need to be employed. n It takes a long time to make CAD drawings of the existing drawings a company already has.