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History of CAD software

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Main article: Computer-aided design

Designers have used computers for calculations since their invention.[1][2][3][4] Digital computers were used in power system analysis or optimization as early as proto-"Whirlwind" in 1949. Circuit[5] design theory or power network methodology was algebraic, symbolic, and often vector-based.

1940s-1950s

Problems being solved in the mid-1940s to 50s include servo-motors controlled by generated pulse (1949), a digital computer with built-in computer operations to automatically co-ordinate transforms to compute radar related vectors (1951), and the graphic mathematical process of forming a shape with a digital machine tool (1952).[6] These were accomplished through the use of computer software.

Douglas T. Ross coined the term CAD.[7] In 1953, he saw the "interactive display equipment" being used by radar operators and thought it would be just what his SAGE-related data reduction group needed. Ross, along with the people from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Lincoln Laboratory, were the only ones who used the big, complex display systems put in for the pre-SAGE Cape Cod system. Ross claimed that they "used it for our own personal workstation."[8] The designers of these very early computers built utility programs to ensure programmers could debug software using flowcharts 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 flowcharts.[9] Also, once drawn, an object could be reproduced at will, and its orientation, Linkage [flux, mechanical, lexical scoping], or scale could be changed. This presented numerous possibilities to them. It took ten years of interdisciplinary development[10] work before SKETCHPAD, which was sitting on evolving math libraries, emerged from MIT's labs.

1960s

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

In the 1960s, technological developments in the industries of aircraft, automotive, industrial control, and electronics provided advancements in the fields of three-dimensional surface construction, NC programming, and design analysis. Most of these developments were independent of one another and often not published publicly 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. In his 1957 novel The Door into Summer, Robert A. Heinlein hinted at the possibility of a robotic Drafting Dan. However, probably the most important work on polynomial curves and sculptured surface was done by mathematician Paul de Casteljau from Citroen; Pierre Bézier from Renault; Steven Anson Coons from MIT; James Ferguson from Boeing; Carl de Boor, George David Birkhoff and Garibedian from GM in the 1960s; and W. Gordon and R. Riesenfeld from GM in the 1970s.

The development of the SKETCHPAD system at MIT[11][12] by Ivan Sutherland, who later created a graphics technology company with David Evans, was a turning point.[11] 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. In effect, this feature of SKETCHPAD was a prototype for a graphical user interface, an indispensable feature of modern CAD. In 1963, Sutherland presented his PhD thesis paper, Sketchpad: A Man-Machine Graphical Communication System, at a Joint Computer Conference. His Doctoral adviser was Claude Shannon. Quoting Sutherland from the conference: "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 also with the shop tool itself; however, it was a long time before this goal was achieved.

The first commercial applications of CAD took place in large companies in the automotive and aerospace industries as well as in electronics. This was due to the fact that only large corporations could afford the computers capable of performing the calculations. Notable company projects included a joint project between Patrick J. Hanratty from GM and Sam Matsa, Doug Ross's MIT APT research assistant from IBM, 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 Manufacturing and Consulting Services Inc. (MCS) in 1971 by Patrick J. Hanratty,[13] who wrote the system Automated Drafting And Machining (ADAM), 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 of CAD gradually expanded into new areas. The development of CAD software for personal desktop computers was the impetus for almost universal application in all areas of construction.

SketchpadDissertation-Fig9-11

1970s

Other notable events in the 1960s and 1970s included the foundation of CAD systems United Computing, Intergraph, IBM, and Intergraph IGDS in 1974 (which led to Bentley Systems MicroStation in 1984), as well as the Applicon in 1969 and commercial CAD systems from Japanese manufacturers Seiko and Zuken during the 1970s.[14]

CAD implementations have evolved dramatically since this early development. Initially, with 3D in the 1970s, CAD was typically limited to producing drawings similar to hand-drafted drawings. Advances in programming and computer hardware,[15][16], most notably solid modeling in the 1980s, has allowed more versatile applications of computers in design activities.

1980s

In 1981, the key products were the solid modeling packages – Romulus (ShapeData) and Uni-Solid (Unigraphics) based on PADL-2, and the release of the surface modeler CATIA (Dassault Systemes). Autodesk was founded in 1982 by John Walker, which led to the two dimensional system AutoCAD.[17] 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, in other words introducing parametric modeling.[18]

Spoon sh

1990s

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 were 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.[19]

2000s

Availability of free and open-source CAD software and high costs of advanced and 3D CAD software may restrain the growth of the CAD software market in coming years.[20][failed verification] Free and open-source CAD software packages include BRL-CAD developed for the US Army,[21][22] LibreCAD,[23] FreeCAD,[24][25][26] and others.[27]

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Chronology

CAD software:

References

  1. ^ "History of CAD/CAM". CADAZZ. 2004.
  2. ^ Pillers, Michelle (March 1998). "MCAD Renaissance of the 90's". Cadence Magazine. Archived from the original on 2007-04-22.
  3. ^ Bozdoc, Marian (2003). "The History of CAD". iMB.
  4. ^ Carlson, Wayne (2003). "A Critical History of Computer Graphics and Animation". Ohio State University. Archived from the original on 2004-07-05. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  5. ^ illustrated symbolic diagram File:Biquad circuit.gif
  6. ^ Susskind, Alfred K.; McDonough, James O. (March 1953). "Numerically Controlled Milling Machine" (PDF). Review of Input and Output Equipment Used in Computing Systems. International Workshop on Managing Requirements Knowledge. New York City: American Institute of Electrical Engineers. p. 136. LCCN 53-7874. Retrieved 2015-02-24.
  7. ^ Ross, Douglas T. (17 March 1961). Computer-Aided Design: A Statement of Objectives. MIT USAF 8436-TM-4.
  8. ^ "oh178dtr.pdf" (PDF). umn.edu.
  9. ^ Hurst, J. (1989) Retrospectives II: The Early Years in Computer Graphics, pp. 39–73 in SIGGRAPH 89 Panel Proceedings, ACM New York, NY, USA, ISBN 0-89791-353-1 doi:10.1145/77276.77280
  10. ^ Lincoln Writer, Scopewriter pp. 3–17 Weisberg, David E. The Engineering Design Revolution.
  11. ^ a b Yares, Evan (February 13, 2013) 50 Years of CAD. DesignWorld
  12. ^ "Looking Back: The TX-2 Computer and Sketchpad 82" (PDF). Lincoln Laboratory Journal. 19 (1). 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-11-07.
  13. ^ "MCS Founder: Patrick J. Hanratty, Ph.D., President and Founder". mcsaz.com. Archived from the original on 2005-02-09.
  14. ^ "1970s: CAD tools appear" (PDF). Semiconductor History Museum of Japan. Retrieved 27 June 2019.
  15. ^ Akeley, Kurt (1981) Issues and Directions for Graphics Hardware Accelerators Archived 2014-10-19 at the Wayback Machine. Eurographics Digital Laboratory, diglib.eg.org.
  16. ^ Computer Graphics (4/5/1984). archive.org
  17. ^ Satheesh Gopi, September 2009. Basic Civil Engineering. Pearson Education India. p. 309. ISBN 978-81-317-2988-5.
  18. ^ Elliot J. Gindis, 2011. Up and Running with AutoCAD 2012: 2D and 3D Drawing and Modeling. Academic Press. p. 716. ISBN 978-0-12-387031-5.
  19. ^ Yares, Evan (April 2013). "Russian CAD". Design World. 8 (4). ISSN 1941-7217.
  20. ^ "CAD Software Market Size, Share | Industry Analysis Report, 2023". www.psmarketresearch.com. Retrieved 2019-08-31.
  21. ^ "BRL-CAD, the world's oldest open-source software system". www.army.mil. Retrieved 2019-08-28.
  22. ^ "Linux Today - Free and Open Source CAD Software for Linux". www.linuxtoday.com. Retrieved 2019-08-28.
  23. ^ Guy, Jack Wallen In DIY IT; January 27, in Enterprise Software on; 2012; Pst, 12:39 Am. "DIY: LibreCAD offers basic CAD tools for free". TechRepublic. Retrieved 2019-08-28. {{cite web}}: |last3= has numeric name (help)CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  24. ^ Guy, Jack Wallen In DIY IT; November 1, in Enterprise Software on; 2011; Pst, 6:20 Am. "DIY: Try FreeCAD, a cross-platform CAD solution". TechRepublic. Retrieved 2019-08-28. {{cite web}}: |last3= has numeric name (help)CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  25. ^ "Linux Today - FreeCAD - A 3D Modeling and Design Software for Linux". www.linuxtoday.com. Retrieved 2019-08-28.
  26. ^ By (2014-02-06). "3D Printering: Making A Thing In FreeCAD, Part I". Hackaday. Retrieved 2019-08-28.
  27. ^ By (2015-05-29). "Otherworldy CAD Software Hails From A Parallel Universe". Hackaday. Retrieved 2019-08-28.
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