Computer Aided Design - Explained
CAD is an acronym that stands for Computer Aided Design. The concept of creating designs virtually using a computer has been alive since the 1960's at the commercial, educational, and government level.
Autodesk brought AutoCAD to market in 1982 mainly targeted at mechanical engineers to enhance drafting or a technical drawing. Design plans are known as "technical drawings" because they describe function and detail of the subject to allow manufacturing, maintenance, and use. Architects also began using CAD when creating design plans for homes and other structures. Unlike paper, CAD drawings are in 2D and 3D to allow an ideal design review for any purpose, and most often from multiple perspectives without more work. |
Computer Aided Design has evolved to be a part of many industries due to the advancement of technology. Faster processing, stronger computer graphics, and the concept of virtual reality allowed CAD to become integral in ways not possible before.
Engineers of all kinds still use CAD to design, but now they also can test their designs in virtual environments and modify them before they are made. Architects can allow clients to walk through their environments in full VR. The industry of Biotechnology or fusion of medicine and engineering is only possible through using CAD to interpret data and allow doctors to design prosthetic body parts, surgical devices, or even use CAD to see scans of the inside of a patient in countless ways non-invasively. Videogames would have never broke into 3D without CAD programs to design their worlds, characters, and objects. |
Every object in the world that is manufactured has come from a CAD design. Every man-made structure from homes, to bridges, to stadiums, or even parks have been designed in CAD first. Outside of the real world, every 3D design for virtual environments such as video-games, movies, television, or other media has been designed in CAD software. CAD is a computer based tool that allows design, testing, simulation, and many other facets of fully understanding someone's idea. Computer Aided Design instruction at Staten Island Tech is fully driven by the evolving usage of CAD in careers that our students seek to have after experiencing an unmatched STEM education experience in our school.
To see what CAD is like at our school, see the "Our CAD classes" section in the CAD AT TECH menu.