CAD Modelling
Computer-aided Design (CAD) modelling is used to design virtual models of articles and objects before they are physically made. CAD modelling enables designers and engineers to visualise their products and iron out any design problems before manufacturing them.
CAD used to be the domain of large engineering and design departments, but the technology has become more accessible and today, there is affordable CAD modelling software available that works on a desktop PC. Now, anybody can make simple CAD designs on their computers.
CAD modelling has become an integral and important part of engineering courses. Engineering students learn to apply the software to contrive intricate 3D models and even animations. In fact, very advanced CAD modelling is used by automakers to model (in real-time) how a car's structure would crumple in a collision, long before a single panel has been welded.
Although CAD modelling may be very fast and efficient, the associated hardware and software might also be very expensive. However, one CAD modeller replaces several pen and paper draftsmen and the speed and efficiency afforded by the technology more than compensates for the high initial capital outlay.
Almost all the products we touch and see every day were designed using CAD techniques. Computer screens, cellular phones and sunscreen bottles are all CAD modelled. CAD modelling extends to moviemaking too, with many of the CGI (computer-generated imagery) films now on circuit utilising CAD modelling techniques to create the lifelike three-dimensional characters.
Three-dimensional architectural CAD modelling is used to visualise houses before they are built. Ratios, spaces and volumes can be precisely reproduced to show up problem areas and to indicate to the architect whether his ideas are practical. The architect may also place his structure in a surrounding, 3D-modelled countryside among other CAD-modelled structures to see what the finished product would look like when erected in its natural environment.