What is CAD?
CAD stands for Computer Aided Design.
Computer Aided Design (CAD) is when people use computer programs or online applications (apps) to help them design new products.
Before computers existed, designers would create drawings and make 3D models of their ideas to help them understand what the finished product would look like.
Now, many products are designed with the help of a computer. Some examples of products that can be designed using a computer are buildings, vehicles and clothes.
Video: Computer Aided Design
Join Emma in the workshop to find out about Computer Aided Design.
Computer aided design, or CAD for short, is when people use computer programmes to design new products.
Before we had modern computers, people had to draw designs by hand and make small models of the products they were creating.
But now, designers like you, can do most of the design work on a computer.
By using computer aided design, you can change the design of a product quickly and test what works and what doesn’t work, before you spend time and money making it.
Let’s say you want to design a chair. Here is our first design idea.
From here, you can change the material the chair will be made out of.
You may want to see what it looks like made of metal, rather than wood. You may want to see what it looks like in some different colours. You can change the shape of the chair. You can widen the seat, or make the legs longer, or shorter.
All of this can be done easily on a computer, or even a tablet or mobile phone.
CAD programmes can allow you to look at a design from any angle and can provide you with all the exact measurements the final chair will have, like size and weight.
CAD can also help you test how a product might be used in the real world.
For example, you could test how strong the chair will be when someone sits on it.
Or you could test if the materials you want to use will be better for an outdoor chair or an indoor chair.
Imagine doing all of this by drawing.
You would have to draw lots of separate images, and the calculations for size and weight would take a very long time.
Computer aided design is used to help design many products that we use,
from the buildings we live in, to the clothes we wear.
Once a product has been designed in a CAD programme, these designs can then be used to actually create the product using computer aided manufacture, or CAM.
Machines aided by computers are often used in factories and workshops to make things because machines can work quickly and accurately.
Computer aided design helps you to design your products and check they will actually do what they are meant to do, before you start making them.
Nice chair, eh?
Why is CAD used?
There are many reasons why CAD is used.
It is often quicker to produce accurate designs using CAD than to produce the same type of designs by hand.
It allows for changes to be made easily to designs, without having to redo hand drawn designs or rebuild 3D models.
It allows designers to view their designs from different angles.
CAD can help designers save time and money after they have first bought a program or access to an online application.
Types of CAD
Image caption, 2D CAD
2D CAD lets people see a flat version of their design or model. This is sometimes a simpler way to design and is often used for designing building floor plans and packaging layouts.
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Who uses CAD?
Computer-aided design is used in a wide variety of jobs but anyone can use CAD.
There are lots of simple CAD programs available. CAD can help you present your ideas for products and designs.
They might be things you want to make, or things you just want to see.
CAD and careers
Take a look at these different careers that use CAD.
Image caption, Architects
Architects design buildings. They need to think about what a building will look like, how much space it will take up and how strong it will be. CAD programs let them see their design, how it will look in its surroundings, and test it for strength.
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