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The History – and Future – of CAD/CAM Technology

Staff Writer
11/5/2019 | 5 min read
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The History – and Future – of CAD/CAM Technology

The fate of the drafter, otherwise known as draftsmen or drafting technicians, provides an excellent example of how a discipline can change as technology evolves.

Before the 1960s, no manufacturing, architectural, or engineering firm was complete without a roomful of drafters concentrating over drawing boards. Their work was entirely manual, drawn with pens and pencils and employing compasses, protractors, and triangles to create highly detailed designs. The job of a drafter was to convert the preliminary sketches of other professionals (such as engineers) into technical drawings.

These highly standardized drawings remained unchanged for centuries – until the introduction of “computer-aided design” (CAD) revolutionized the approach in the second half of the 20th century.

The History of CAD

The phrase "computer-aided design” was coined by Douglas T. Ross, a researcher at MIT in the early 1950s who saw the potential in military radar technology to create designs on a computer display system. Separate research undertaken by Patrick Hanratty at the General Motors Research Laboratories saw the development of Design Automated by Computer (DAC), regarded as the first CAD system to use interactive graphics.

But the first true 3D CAD/CAM (computer-aided manufacturing) program was created between 1966 and 1968 by Pierre Bézier, an engineer at Renault. His UNISURF CAD system transformed design and manufacturing, moving the vehicle design process from manual drawing boards to computer-aided design. UNISURF is regarded as the original model for many generations of CAD programs.

The automation of design tools did not mean that drafters were replaced by coders, especially after the development of SKETCHPAD, a program written by MIT’s Ivan Sutherland in 1963. Instead, this software enabled drafters to feed their design into a computer by drawing with a light pen on a CRT monitor. 

As computers became more affordable and shrank to the size of desktop PCs, the use of CAD/CAM spread beyond the automotive, aerospace, and electronics industries to enjoy near-universal usage. The 1970s and 1980s witnessed the emergence of 3D modeling and 3D designs, with programs including Romulus, Uni-Solid, CATIA, and the well-known AutoCAD system.

By this point, CAD/CAM was also being used to design industrial tools. Manufacturers valued CAM for its precision and ability to optimize the manufacturing process, decrease material waste, shorten turnaround times, and provide clear visualizations.

By the 1990s, algorithms had grown increasingly sophisticated, with engines capable of advanced parametric techniques. By 1994 over one million units of AutoCAD had been sold, with 350,000 users of CAD/CAM reported worldwide.

Today, the CAD software market is faced with the emergence of free and open-source CAD software including LibreCAD and FreeCAD. CAD/CAM is used by drafters across dozens of specialties including aeronautical, architectural, civil, electrical, electronics, mechanical, pipeline, and photovoltaic drafting.

The efficiency and user-friendliness of CAD/CAM software have evolved to the point where the career of the trained drafter may one day be threatened by software that anyone can use.

What’s Next for CAD/CAM Technology?

The following trends may show us where the next great leap in CAD/CAM technology will emerge:

  • Artificial Intelligence: Incorporating AI into design software allows the automation of design tasks, enhances quality control by anticipating design errors and (with machine learning) paves the way for the creation of unique designs without human input.
  • Cloud collaboration: Cloud technology allows CAD/CAM to move beyond a single computer at a workplace to universal access through a Saas (Software-as-a-Service) model. This will mean several people can work on the same project at once while sharing across departments and geographies has become much easier.
  • Virtual reality: VR helmets and VR glasses can be used to take advantage of the life-like visualization offered by sophisticated CAD software. For instance, an architect can now offer a “walkthrough” of a building that exists only as a digital model.
  • Customization: Software providers are moving away from a one-size-fits-all solution to provide the option of configuring CAD/CAM to suit your work environment, and choose only the tools that will be required for a particular job. This may be a way to offer affordability by cutting out dozens of features that the average user may never need.

For observers in other professions worried about the latest software making their jobs obsolete, the decades-long technological evolution of the drafter’s craft shows how smart software can enhance – rather than replace – a profession.

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