Feature 40 years of design
the first parametric 3D modelling systems, with PTC brought to the fore. This represented a paradigm shift in the industry – today, every serious vendor in the CAD market offers such a solution. A few years later came direct modelling systems which have over the years helped to make changing CAD models easy and intuitive, while also making data exchange between the various different CAD systems on the market today much easier.
More recent years have witnessed a host of developments including the emergence of ‘from the ground-up’ 3D solid modelling systems like Autodesk Inventor, for example.
Another key stage in the history of CAD for the manufacturing sector has been the creation of the digital prototyping concept, a revolutionary approach to product development that enables users to design, visualise, and simulate products both rapidly and cost-effectively.
Looking to the future We have looked at some of the key developments in the history of CAD over the last 40 years, but what key trends are likely to shape the CAD market in the future?
the latest advances in user interfaces and the direct feedback on changes made possible by state-of-the-art direct modelling solutions, providing ease of use is increasingly a major focus for design system vendors.
‘In the earliest days, CAD technology was crude – certainly by today’s
standards. Computers and graphics systems were not particularly powerful and CAD software was a new, largely unproven concept’
One of the most hotly debated is cloud computing, which tends to provoke strong views both for and against. However, its supporters claim that using the cloud makes it easier for designers to share designs – and with the onward march of globalisa- tion this is becoming ever more important. By using cloud computing, designers also ensure that they have access to many more tools than would otherwise be the case.
Data management
The success of CAD, and in particular its ability to help design users generate large amounts of drawings and data has, however, brought with it associ- ated problems. In particular, the gener- ation of products with multiple versions and release states and the complex product structures generated by the move to 3D, has made it increas- ingly difficult for users to find the correct design information.
In an age where data growth is becoming an ever more important issue, the advantages of digital prod- uct data cannot be exploited fully without a sophisticated product data management (PDM) system that not only organises the files but also manages the release processes and the permissions assigned to the various internal and external users.
Over time, these solutions have become ever more integrated into the CAD environment and therefore simple to use. They use the graphic facilities these offer for viewing data so that rather than working with abstract num- bers and text attributes, the designer always has a clear idea of the parts and assemblies he is dealing with.
Design Solutions 1971-2011 - 40TH ANNIVERSARY SUPPLEMENT - S9
Manufacturing design has come a long way over the past 40 years
If, for example, they have to conduct complex computer aided engineering (CAE) tasks like a design optimisation through a finite element analysis or a large fluid flow analysis, more computing power will typically be required than it will be economical for manufacturers to use on-site. Instead, it will make more sense for them to out- source those computer intensive tasks to the cloud when they require them and pay only for what they use. This approach can be used not only for analysis or simulation tasks but also for rendering, simulation of animations and many other tasks. Effectively, the cloud provides designers with unlimited computing resource whenever they need it. It also allows designers to try out differ- ent options and find the one which suits them best much more quickly than would otherwise be the case. As we look to the future, it is likely
that further progress will be made in making the design process easier and more flexible for users. There is currently still some way to go but with
Another future focus is 2D, and ultimately even 3D visualisation, which already exists but has not yet found itself widely used in the main- stream CAD arena. Autodesk Inventor now has a real-time ray-tracing feature which provides excellent visual feed- back on the effects of lighting, shade and reflections, for example. We are also now seeing some really
exciting developments in the field of 3D printing. The technology already exists, but in the future it is likely to become increasingly affordable and is therefore likely to deliver the potential to enable manufacturers to generate metal parts directly from 3D CAD data, for example.
The next 40 years
Manufacturing design has come a long way over the past 40 years – from an era when any use of computers was unusual and the vast majority of design work was carried using pen and paper, to an age where 3D design and digital prototyping are now part of their main- stream and have radically transformed the design process for manufacturers the world over. With the advent of exciting new developments in cloud computing, visualisation and 3D printing, the next 40 years look set to be equally if not more exciting, and are likely to completely transform the world of manufacturing design once again.
Autodesk T: 01252 456600
www.autodesk.co.uk Enter 260
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