Some 3D Drawings....

A Simple Guide: 12 Steps to Master Auto CAD

01. Getting Stared 

• Auto CAD Interface....

• Navigate the Drawings....

02. Drawing Tools..

• How Auto CAD Tools Work...

03. Precise Input

04. Modify Tools

05. Object Selection

06. Annotation and Styles

07. Drawing Management

08.  Reusable Content

09. Manage Your Standard

10. Design Collaboration 

11. Develop Your Workflow

12. Keep Practicing 

Some Latest .....Drawings...

Some Drawings Files........

Some Example My Housing Plans Drawings Images.....

File formats and versions

Official Name	Version	Release	Date of release	Comments
AutoCAD Version 1.0	1.0	1	1982, December	DWG R1.0 file format introduced.
AutoCAD Version 1.2	1.2	2	1983, April	DWG R1.2 file format introduced.
AutoCAD Version 1.3	1.3	3	1983, August	DWG R1.3 file format introduced.
AutoCAD Version 1.4	1.4	4	1983, October	DWG R1.4 file format introduced.
AutoCAD Version 2.0	2.0	5	1984, October	DWG R2.05 file format introduced.
AutoCAD Version 2.1	2.1	6	1985, May	DWG R2.1 file format introduced.
AutoCAD Version 2.5	2.5	7	1986, June	DWG R2.5 file format introduced.
AutoCAD Version 2.6	2.6	8	1987, April	DWG R2.6 file format introduced. Last version to run without a math co-processor.
AutoCAD Release 9	9.0	9	1987, September	DWG R9 file format introduced.
AutoCAD Release 10	10.0	10	1988, October	DWG R10 file format introduced.
AutoCAD Release 11	11.0	11	1990, October	DWG R11 file format introduced.
AutoCAD Release 12	12.0	12	1992, June	DWG R11/R12 file format introduced. Last release for Apple Macintosh till 2010.
AutoCAD Release 13	13.0	13	1994, November	DWG R13 file format introduced. Last release for Unix, MS-DOS and Windows 3.11.
AutoCAD Release 14	14.0	14	1997, February	DWG R14 file format introduced.
AutoCAD 2000	15.0	15	1999, March	DWG 2000 file format introduced.
AutoCAD 2000i	15.1	16	2000, July
AutoCAD 2002	15.2	17	2001, June
AutoCAD 2004	16.0	18	2003, March	DWG 2004 file format introduced.
AutoCAD 2005	16.1	19	2004, March
AutoCAD 2006	16.2	20	2005, March	Dynamic Block introduced.
AutoCAD 2007	17.0	21	2006, March	DWG 2007 file format introduced.
AutoCAD 2008	17.1	22	2007, March	Annotative Objects introduced. AutoCAD 2008 and higher (including AutoCAD LT) can directly import and underlay DGN V8 files.
AutoCAD 2009	17.2	23	2008, March	Revisions to the user interface including the option of a Microsoft Office 2007-like tabbed ribbon.
AutoCAD 2010	18.0	24	2009, March 24	DWG 2010 file format introduced. Parametrics introduced. Mesh 3D solid modeling introduced. PDF underlays. Both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of AutoCAD 2010 and AutoCAD LT 2010 are compatible with and supported under Microsoft Windows 7.
AutoCAD 2011	18.1	25	2010, March 25	Surface Modeling, Surface Analysis and Object Transparency introduced. October 15, 2010[9] AutoCAD 2011 for Mac was released. Are compatible with and supported under Microsoft Windows 7
AutoCAD 2012	18.2	26	2011, March 22	Associative Array, Model Documentation. Support for complex line types in DGN files is improved in AutoCAD 2012. DGN editing.
AutoCAD 2013	19.0	27	2012, March 27	DWG 2013 file format introduced.
AutoCAD 2014	19.1	28	2013, March 26	File Tabs, Design Feed, Reality Capture, Autodesk Live Maps
AutoCAD 2015	20.0	29	2014, March 27	Line smoothing (anti-aliasing), Windows 8.1 support added, dropped Windows XP support (incl. compatibility mode)
AutoCAD 2016	20.1	30	2015, March 23	More comprehensive canvas, richer design context, and intelligent new tools such as Smart Dimensioning, Coordination Model, and Enhanced PDFs.
AutoCAD 2017	21.0	31	2016, March 21	PDF import, Associative Center Marks and Centerlines, DirectX 11 graphics.

Compared to 2D methods

3D photorealistic effects are often achieved without wireframe modeling and are sometimes indistinguishable in the final form. Some graphic art software includes filters that can be applied to 2D vector graphics or 2D raster graphics on transparent layers.

Advantages of wireframe 3D modeling over exclusively 2D methods include:

• Flexibility, ability to change angles or animate images with quicker rendering of the changes;
• Ease of rendering, automatic calculation and rendering photorealistic effects rather than mentally visualizing or estimating;
• Accurate photorealism, less chance of human error in misplacing, overdoing, or forgetting to include a visual effect.

Disadvantages compare to 2D photorealistic rendering may include a software learning curve and difficulty achieving certain photorealistic effects. Some photorealistic effects may be achieved with special rendering filters included in the 3D modeling software. For the best of both worlds, some artists use a combination of 3D modeling followed by editing the 2D computer-rendered images from the 3D model.

3D Modeling Services

concept design, industrial design, architecture, interiors
	3D Modeling Services that we render available come within the wide range of web development techniques intended for best performance and pleasing look of your web site design project. 3D modeling is applicable where it is necessary to convey your company’s original image and boost any advertising campaign through vivacious and smart graphics solutions. Nearly all directions of web site design and web development may be enhanced with modern high tech 3D elements, Logo design especially.
Our design team represents an autonomous unit focusing on Web site design, 3D Modeling Services, Graphics and industrial design. 3D modeling of various objects based on any information such as drawings, sketches, design concepts, or special requirements of customers. 3D modeling services for e-commerce, remote education, internet-advertising. 3D modeling services for concept design, industrial design, architecture, interiors, furniture, etc. Development like order-for-a-design of complex enclosure for consumer & industrial purposes.

Advanced Benefits :

Advanced benefits are more complex, and thus less easy to achieve but at the same time bring great efficiencies in reducing costs and leadtimes. Put briefly, there will come a time when 3D CAD methods can be smoothly integrated with other computer systems within companies - and even the internet. This will enable users to quickly locate the most cost effective components easily, reducing the CAD operators need to search for, and then model them, as well as allowing production and scheduling software to have visibility of bills of material that are evolving as the 3D CAD modeling develops. Although difficult to achieve at present, this will become common place in time, but only for those who work in 3D CAD methods.

2D methods are not able to relay the quality and quantity of design information because 2D methods will always rely on human interpretation or visualization skills to interact with a 2D design. Interpretation, visualization and interaction with a 2D design is always difficult for non design staff and almost impossible for computer systems to extract information, because computers do not have the ability to interpret representative (I.e. incomplete) visual information.

 

Key Benefits :

Using 3D design modeling greatly improves design quality because it is a more complete process than 2D design. As a result, many human errors that can occur with traditional 2D design methods are avoided. In the past problems such as component collisions, incorrect quantities or parts that don't fit, would happen because a designer who works in only 2D is forced to hold much of the information mentally. It is this point that gives rise to errors because the brain CANNOT visualize to exact scale. Reducing human error by using the 3D modeling design methods shown in our 3D CAD manual minimizes the need for re-work because the design quality is greatly improved.

BOM and schedule generation with 2D methods also relies on mental visualization to generate a part count, and thus human error is again a risk when quantifying. With 2D methods, views are visually representative but quantity data from 2D views is poor because projections might show a particular component in several views while other components might be completely omitted to maintain drawing clarity. Using 3D design modeling to get quantity data is easy because items are represented as they occur. Consequently, as long as a CAD 3D design is created as a true to life model, the 3D modeling design represents quantities with exact accuracy. If done correctly - and our 3D CAD manual gives the details how - the CAD 3D modeling method used will give details of blocks and layers (i.e. items) automatically so human error risks when counting quantities become minimal.

Communication of design intent is vastly improved by using CAD 3D modeling. In the past, non technical people interested in a 2D design often had to wait for a prototype before they could truly understand a design. Since cad 3D modeling can be used to generate pictorial views, as well as traditional projections, the design intent can clearly be seen by anyone willing to look. Consequently, it is possible to communicate a 3D modeling design and promote inter departmental understanding earlier in the project cycle, thus creating a time saving. Customer presentations, brochures, manufacturing, and technical publications all benefit. Clearer communication of design intent at the earliest stage is always useful.

The possibilities for concurrent engineering take a real step forward with CAD 3D design because the sheer quality of 3D design modeling data can be instinctively understood and acted on by other departments.

A very impressive and up-to-date approach can be achieved by using 3D CAD modeling - particularly in the eyes of customers. This also applies to individuals because their skills as employees need to be up dated in order to remain competitive in the jobs market.

Advantage & Disadvantage of CAD

In the work place, technology has significantly change the way we go about our every day jobs, in design the introduction of computers and computer software has identified new and exciting ways to go about the design process. Computers have contributed to design for quite a while by providing analysis tools, data-bases and computer-aided drafting tools. Since its introduction 1960s CAD tools have been developed to more user friendly programs we use today.

The last 4 decades has been a back and forward process. It has jumped back and forth between attempts to totally automate the entire design process, to its partial support as a drafting mechanism, from a representation of objects properties, to complete modeling and visualization tool.

Design is an intelligent human process activity which requires many skills and lots of knowledge. Design problems can be solved by individuals or by teams. They may take minutes or years. Design occurs in a wide variety of domains, ranging from the design of a Nuclear Power Plant to that of a simple glass bottle. The general design process is often characterised as mapping needs, functions and structures, this process is carried out by using many different types of analysis and different sources of information. Hand-drawn plans or sketchers can be all a computer aided draftsperson or a modeler needs to get to complete a job. On projects without structural work that don’t require permits, even a quick sketch might be sufficient.

This computing evolution has precipitated a fundamental re-evaluation of space and time. The transition between pre-industrial conditions to a world of computers and cyberspace, taking place in the best part of half a century, affecting the modern designer’s concept of space, which has been an intangible medium for centuries and through constant manipulation and thought, has distinguished the design profession.

The value of a computer-aided design (CAD) programs depends entirely on what kind of jobs you do how much design work they regularly involve and the expectations of your client base.

Many consumers can’t envision the result of a 3D modeling project, and therefore have a hard time signing off on a contract. Programs that create realistic two dimensional or three-dimensional images of what the client or designer proposes down to the light at different times of day can help make the sale. Other consumers might not see the charm of a hand-drawn design and consider CAD drawings more professional. CAD programs can definitely accelerate the design process, especially if you do a lot of design work or have clients who change their mind frequently during the design phase. With CAD programs you can change one element of the design, perhaps lengthening one wall of a room, and the proportions of the other walls, the materials list and other affected elements update automatically. Even if your company doesn’t create the design, the ability to share files electronically with suppliers, subcontractors and architects can improve productivity and smooth production.

Advantages in using CAD

• Reduces conceptional time for new designs
• Products can be created more quickly.
• Costly mistakes in design or production can be avoided.
• Reduced Manufacturing time.
• Documentation can be printed in various forms for multiple users.
• Ease of document reproduction and cloning
• Visualization of complex technical elements
• The quality of designs.
• Clarity of documentation.
• Easier to apply new ideas.

Disadvantages in using CAD

• Training.
• Expansive start up costs (hardware, software, and training).
• Hard to get the conceptional form.

The benefits of 3D CAD design fall into two categories :

3D CAD!

I get criticized for making the distinction between the drawing and the AID. But you just do not create a drawing when you design in 3D. I created manual drawings for years, and the AID is something very different and much, much easier.

On a drawing you design by "drawing" separate orthographic project views on a 2D plane. I even hate to use the 2D reference, since it is so obviously redundant. We did the manual drawings on a drafting board, calling it a 2D drafting board would be just silly. If you could read a drawing you could see the real world 3D part. Today, I have been told of young engineers that need an Isometric view just to understand the part.

For years 3D CAD was in the realm of the draftsman. I would like to say that when Pro/engineer showed up in 1988, that was the time the engineers started using 3D CAD. But it wasn’t so. While on contract at Solar Turbines in 1985 they let all of the 3D CAD draftsman go. They told the engineers that they had to get trained on Computervision CADDS 4X. They balked but Solar management said “Get on the CAD system or you are fired”. I was the last of the contractors left and trained the engineers. They became very good users when they finally put their minds to it.

I was introduced to PC based 3D CADKEY while on contract at Boeing 747 Flight Deck. I was told there was a PC based 3D CAD system on a couple of Compaq’s. It sparked my interest since I was working on the board. CADKEY was 3D wireframe and very similar to Computervison. I was up to speed in 2 weeks of lunch hours and convinced the supervisor to start a test project  We designed the first observer’s station, passing 3D wireframe graphics back and forth to Catia 3 using IGES. We would get the station loft lines from Catia to do our design. I was instrumental in introducing CADKEY into Boeing. They would have been miles ahead if they would have adopted CADKEY instead of Catia.

I saw the writing on the wall. Computervision cost $250,000 per seat with a minimum system consisting of 3 Seats. CADKEY with a PC, 19” Monitor was around $9000. The only difference between both Catia and Computervision and CADKEY was a bit of rudimentary surfacing. Which was soon included in CADKEY. I founded TECH-NET, quickly becoming a CADKEY VAR and proceeded to supply not only Boeing but all of their suppliers in the NW. I think because of Boeing the NW quickly adopted 3D CAD, mostly bypassing the Autocad electronic drawing horror show.

Enter 3D CAD!

In the beginning of 3D CAD it was the same as what I described above. The draftsman did all of the design under the scrutiny of an engineer. An engineer was always involved with the design and was always the last word with approval.

I was introduce to 3D CAD in 1982 with Computervision CADDS 4. 3D CAD was in the realm of the draftsman. Engineers did not have time to learn 3D CAD. Draftsmen continued to do the design and creating drawings. But we did not create drawings we created what I have coined AID (Associated Information Documents). Yes they looked like drawings and functioned the same. They would be checked and corrected by revising the 3D model and AID.

What is manufacturing?

I know this seems like a silly question, but as I read articles from the MSME and PHDs that are so called PLM experts thinking they know how all of this works, it is very apparent to an experienced Draftsman they have no clue. They sit in some ivory tower and just think how it should work. None have ever created a design or a parts list and probably never poured over a drawing seeing how the parts are made. I chuckle how they use BOM (Bill of Materials) never knowing that was basically an architectural term. I never saw it until working with Autocad, and now it seems to be part of the lexicon of industrial/mechanical engineering. Sadly the PLM folks are trying to expand their sphere of influence into manufacturing. But luckily there is much more common sense in manufacturing and they will not fall for their failed solutions.

Manufacturing takes the drawing and creates the parts. When the parts are made they are inspected to the drawing and delivered for assembly.  Manufacturing is not part of engineering or drafting. Once they get the drawings they usually put them in a different format to use in different processes. Many companies have planning groups that manage the manufacturing process.

At assembly, engineering may or may not supervise the process assuring that the assembly meets the functionality of the design. After that engineering will step out of the picture unless there are “Problems”!!

Sometimes engineering is not present at assembly. Imagine an aircraft assembly line. The plane starts down this line. There is a part that doesn’t fit or the assembly instructions are vague. They have a liaison engineer that instantly handles the problem with a temporary fix. Nothing can hold up the assembly line. He/she will write up a rejection tag describing the problem and the fix. This rejection tag is sent to the responsible group.

What is purchasing?

Purchasing is the department that would deliver the drawings to manufacturing, in-house or outside suppliers for quotes. Purchasing would keep track of the revisions and where the parts were used. The drawings would include used on information. For example, Boeing would have the different effectivities (blocks of airplanes) for the different assemblies used. Many times one drawing would have many different configurations for the different airplanes defined as dash numbers. This is another place where PLM has failed. Due to the way the Pro/e paradigm is set up, you have to handle referenced external parts. While this may be advantageous for conceptual design it is a horror show for final released projects and to be used as deliverables. They should be in one single file where all information is available without resorting to the convoluted native file system. I describe a more logical system below.

What is Document Control?

It was basically an admin group that would take the drawing bundle and create the prints, as blue prints or microfiche and deliver to the appropriate areas making the available to all of the other relevant departments such as purchasing, tech pubs and other engineering groups. This group like Drafting was associated with but separate from engineering. Today this is part of engineering included in the PLM system. But it only handled the drawings which were standard deliverables from engineering. PLM handles the native CAD data as standard deliverables. Data inside engineering and documents to deliver outside engineer should be separate and handled by different groups. This is why PLM will never succeed.

What was the drafting group?

What was the drafting group? The drafting group was only composed of draftsman. Sometimes a large company, like Boeing, would place the new engineers in the drafting group for a year to get an understanding of the industry standards. Drafting was all about standards.

The drafting group was responsible for creating the drawings and making sure they were correct and met universal and company standards. Much of the design was done by the drafting group under the supervision of a lead engineer.

Drafting was responsible for releasing completely defined and checked drawings to manufacturing. This was a standard process that may be composed of many drawings that made up the assembly. The drawing was taken around for review and approval by specific engineering groups, such as manufacturing, materials and stress analysis. The title block had all of the basic information of the drawing. The drawing name and number and space for approval signatures. It also included UOS (Unless otherwise specified) information, such as tolerancing, view orientation and used on. When the title block was signed off the engineering was complete and it was delivered to Document Control who created the blue prints and delivered it to the relevant groups, like purchasing, manufacturing or out to suppliers for bids plus the blueprint centers. Then the originals were stored in vaults. Yes, actual vaults.

What is the Checker?

The checker was an experienced draftsman whose only purpose was to check the drawing. He/she would mark every dimension and note with a red or yellow marker. Nothing was not marked. When the checking process was done it was given back to the original draftsman to do the corrections. This process was as important as the design and drawing. This is not some quick review this is a time consuming review of the design itself. If this step is bypassed or ignored the resulting costs for a missed error are 10 fold. Below I have described the revision process handling errors. Just think of the cost of a bad titanium part? It has always been a rule "Measure twice, Cut once". All draftsman knew and appreciated this, learning many lessons from the Checkers input. Murphy's law was the draftsman's arch enemy!

The draftsman learned from every job. Soon he/she became very knowledgeable in the standards of their industry. They became the designers of the products. Every large manufacturing company had a drafting group. Even though the drafting group was part of engineering it was basically separate with its own responsibility.

This is another reason for creating a complete AID (drawing) from our parts instead of allowing the minimizing of the information to manufacturing that is now being promoted by MBE. It is much easier to review and check. I will go into this later.

What is a drawing?

A drawing is a document that describes the part/assembly in an orthographically projected format. These were the reason draftsman were here. They were time consuming and an engineer’s time was much more valuable than doing grunt design and detailing.

This document was used to convey the information to manufacturing. It was in a standard format that was developed over centuries. When done correctly stood alone without a need for any additional information, explanation or clarity.

There was also a standard procedure for handling the drawings. The draftsman would work with an engineer or designer or develop the design himself/herself. He/she would actually do the design on a layout (a drawing with no set standards) then do the part drawings or give the layout to other draftsmen to create the part drawings. The drawings had to be detailed to meet a certain standard. Even though the draftsman may have had decades of experience it still had to be checked.

History

Designers have long used computers for their calculations. Digital computers were used in power system analysis or optimization as early as proto-"Whirlwind" in 1949. Circuit design theory, or power network methodology would be algebraic, symbolic, and often vector-based. Examples of problems being solved in the mid-1940s to 50s include, Servo motors controlled by generated pulse (1949), The digital computer with built-in compute operations to automatically co-ordinate transforms to compute radar related vectors (1951) and the essentially graphic mathematical process of forming a shape with a digital machine tool (1952). These were accomplished with the use of computer software. The man credited with coining the term CAD. Douglas T. Ross stated "As soon as I saw the interactive display equipment, [being used by radar operators 1953]. The designers of these very early computers built utility programs so that programmers could debug programs using flow charts on a display scope with logical switches that could be opened and closed during the debugging session. They found that they could create electronic symbols and geometric figures to be used to create simple circuit diagrams and flow charts. They made the pleasant discovery that an object once drawn could be reproduced at will, its orientation, Linkage [ flux, mechanical, lexical scoping ] or scale changed. This suggested numerous possibilities to them. It took ten years of interdisciplinary development work before SKETCHPAD sitting on evolving math libraries emerged from MIT`s labs. Additional developments were carried out in the 1960s within the aircraft, automotive, industrial control and electronics industries in the area of 3D surface construction, NC programming and design analysis, most of it independent of one another and often not publicly published until much later. Some of the mathematical description work on curves was developed in the early 1940s by Robert Issac Newton from Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Robert A. Heinlein in his 1957 novel The Door into Summer suggested the possibility of a robotic Drafting Dan. However, probably the most important work on polynomial curves and sculptured surface was done by Pierre Bézier, Paul de Casteljau (Citroen), Steven Anson Coons (MIT, Ford), James Ferguson (Boeing), Carl de Boor (GM), Birkhoff (GM) and Garibedian (GM) in the 1960s and W. Gordon (GM) and R. Riesenfeld in the 1970s.

The invention of the 3D CAD/CAM is attributed to a French engineer, Pierre Bezier (Arts et Métiers ParisTech, Renault). After his mathematical work concerning surfaces, he developed UNISURF, between 1966 and 1968, to ease the design of parts and tools for the automotive industry. Then, UNISURF became the working base for the following generations of CAD software.

It is argued that a turning point was the development of the SKETCHPAD system at MIT by Ivan Sutherland (who later created a graphics technology company with Dr. David Evans). The distinctive feature of SKETCHPAD was that it allowed the designer to interact with his computer graphically: the design can be fed into the computer by drawing on a CRT monitor with a light pen. Effectively, it was a prototype of graphical user interface, an indispensable feature of modern CAD. Sutherland presented his paper Sketchpad: A Man-Machine Graphical Communication System in 1963 at a Joint Computer Conference having worked on it as his PhD thesis paper for a few years. Quoting,"For drawings where motion of the drawing, or analysis of a drawn problem is of value to the user, Sketchpad excels. For highly repetitive drawings or drawings where accuracy is required, Sketchpad is sufficiently faster than conventional techniques to be worthwhile. For drawings which merely communicate with shops, it is probably better to use conventional paper and pencil." Over time efforts would be directed toward the goal of having the designers drawings communicate not just with shops but with the shop tool itself. This goal would be a long time arriving.

The first commercial applications of CAD were in large companies in the automotive and aerospace industries, as well as in electronics. Only large corporations could afford the computers capable of performing the calculations. Notable company projects were, a joint project of GM (Dr. Patrick J.Hanratty) and IBM (Sam Matsa, Doug Ross`s MIT APT research assistant) to develop a prototype system for design engineers DAC-1 (Design Augmented by Computer) 1964; Lockheed projects; Bell GRAPHIC 1 and Renault.

One of the most influential events in the development of CAD was the founding of MCS (Manufacturing and Consulting Services Inc.) in 1971 by Dr. P. J. Hanratty, who wrote the system ADAM (Automated Drafting And Machining) but more importantly supplied code to companies such as McDonnell Douglas (Unigraphics), Computervision (CADDS), Calma, Gerber, Autotrol and Control Data.

As computers became more affordable, the application areas have gradually expanded. The development of CAD software for personal desktop computers was the impetus for almost universal application in all areas of construction.

Other key points in the 1960s and 1970s would be the foundation of CAD systems United Computing, Intergraph, IBM, Intergraph IGDS in 1974 (which led to Bentley Systems MicroStation in 1984).

CAD implementations have evolved dramatically since then. Initially, with 3D in the 1970s, it was typically limited to producing drawings similar to hand-drafted drawings. Advances in programming and computer hardware, notably solid modeling in the 1980s, have allowed more versatile applications of computers in design activities.

Key products for 1981 were the solid modelling packages - Romulus (ShapeData) and Uni-Solid (Unigraphics) based on PADL-2 and the release of the surface modeler CATIA (Dassault Systemes). Autodesk was founded 1982 by John Walker, which led to the 2D system AutoCAD. The next milestone was the release of Pro/ENGINEER in 1987, which heralded greater usage of feature-based modeling methods and parametric linking of the parameters of features. Also of importance to the development of CAD was the development of the B-rep solid modeling kernels (engines for manipulating geometrically and topologically consistent 3D objects) Parasolid (ShapeData) and ACIS (Spatial Technology Inc.) at the end of the 1980s and beginning of the 1990s, both inspired by the work of Ian Braid. This led to the release of mid-range packages such as SolidWorks and TriSpective (later known as IRONCAD) in 1995, Solid Edge (then Intergraph) in 1996 and Autodesk Inventor in 1999. An independent geometric modeling kernel has been evolving in Russia since the 1990s. Nikolay Golovanov joined ASCON Company in 1994 from the Kolomna Engineering Design Bureau and began development of C3D – the geometric kernel of the Russian popular CAD system, KOMPAS-3D. Nowadays, C3D (C3D Labs) is the most valued Russian CAD product in the category of "components", i.e. products designed for integration in the end-user CAD systems of Russian and global vendors.

Software

CAD software enables engineers and architects to design, inspect and manage engineering projects within an integrated graphical user interface (GUI) on a personal computer system. Most applications support solid modeling with boundary representation (B-Rep) and NURBS geometry, and enable the same to be published in a variety of formats. A geometric modeling kernel is a software component that provides solid modeling and surface modeling features to CAD applications.

Based on market statistics, commercial software from Autodesk, Dassault Systems, Siemens PLM Software and PTC dominate the CAD industry. The following is a list of major CAD applications, grouped by usage statistics.

Commercial (market leaders)

• Autodesk AutoCAD
• Autodesk Inventor
• Dassault CATIA
• Dassault SolidWorks
• Kubotek KeyCreator
• Siemens NX
• Siemens Solid Edge
• PTC Pro/ENGINEER (now renamed Creo)

Commercial (other)

• IronCAD
• ProgeCAD
• SpaceClaim
• Rhinoceros 3D
• VariCAD
• VectorWorks
• Cobalt
• KOMPAS-3D

Free and open source

• LibreCAD
• FreeCAD
• BRL-CAD
• OpenSCAD
• NanoCAD
• QCad

CAD Kernels

• Parasolid by Siemens
• ACIS by Spatial
• KCM by Kubotek
• ShapeManager by Autodesk
• Open CASCADE
• C3D by C3D Labs

Draftsperson: Job Description, Duties and Requirements

Job Description

Drafters concoct technical drawings used to create various products and structures. Their work informs the construction of buildings, electronic equipment, aircraft and infrastructure. Many drafters operate CAD (computer-aided design and drafting) systems. However, knowledge of traditional pencil-and-paper drafting techniques is still useful for professionals in the field. Drafters are divided into categories by specialty, such as:

• Aeronautics
• Architecture
• Civil engineering
• Electrical devices
• Electronics
• Mechanical equipment
• Fuel pipelines

Job Duties

A draftsperson's key duty is to create drawings, by hand or using CAD, which are infused with whatever technical details are appropriate to the project. For instance, architectural drafters lay out interior building arrangements when they create plans. Civil drafters create maps of proposed road construction that account for local topography.
Electronics drafters render circuit schematics for manufacturing appliances and digital technology. Similarly, drafters in the electrical industry diagram wiring and system connections so installers have the project specifications they need to properly perform their task.

List of Courses

Introduction to Drafting Course

This course introduces students to the fundamentals of becoming a draftsman. After becoming familiar with basic drafting terminology, students begin developing multi-view drawings and learning about projection methods, auxiliary views and section views. Lettering, tolerance, metric construction, technical sketching and orthographic projection are also covered.

Computer Aided Drafting (CAD) Course

The use of CAD technology has become the standard for draftsmen in the creation and manipulation of architectural, mechanical and electrical designs. CAD concepts include formatting drawings; storing and retrieving files; rotating, placing and scaling objects; using layers and coordinate systems; and adding text and dimensions. Students leave the course with a working knowledge of a typical CAD system.

Blueprint Reading Course

A blueprint reading class gives students a working knowledge of the conventions and dimensioning practices of this integral part of the drafting and design process. The curriculum focuses on the comprehension of blueprint terminology, orthographic projections, exploded views and assembly drawings, as well as machining specifications and title block information.

Descriptive Geometry Course

This course provides the aspiring draftsman with practice solving problems in three dimensions. The curriculum includes studies of lines, points, angles, intersections, planes and revolutions. Students complete all assignments using CAD technology.

Architectural Drafting Course

Students learn about the architectural design elements of building construction from site development and plot plans to foundations, floors and interior elements. Students study architectural drafting procedures and practices, including reading and understanding various standard architectural drawings, elevations, details and sections. Students are usually given the opportunity to design and draw plans for a building that can be part of their professional portfolio.

Mechanical Drafting Course

This course focuses on mechanical drawing problems, including the representation of gears and cams, perspectives and isometric projections. Students have the opportunity to draw from schematic diagrams using drafting aids and templates. Mechanical drafting courses sometimes cover electrical drafting, in which case the curriculum includes electronic circuit board design, logic and embedded systems.

Essential Information

Draftsman courses are typically offered by the drafting, design or engineering departments of technical or community colleges. Classes are available in several areas of drafting, including architectural, mechanical, civil and electrical drafting. Typically, drafters take these courses as part of an associate's degree program in drafting.
Here are some major concepts found in draftsman courses:

• Drafting terminology
• Working with CAD software
• How to read blueprints
• Descriptive geometry
• Architectural drafting
• Mechanical and technical drafting

Draftsman Courses and Classes Overview

Draftsman courses train students to draft, or draw, blueprints for a wide variety of buildings, products and machines in two or three dimensions, often using computer programs designed for this purpose. Courses in drafting are typically found as part of 3-year degree programs. Read on to explore some typical courses in this field.