CAD Drafting Services will never lose its importance – Here is why!

CAD Drafting Services will never lose its importance – Here is why!

CAD, or computer-aided design is a software which aids in creation, analysis or optimization of any design, product or a structure. CAD was first developed in the year 1957.  Firstly, Pronto was established followed by Sketchpad, ADAM and IGES. However, the major revolution came with AutoCAD in 1982, as it was the first 2D design CAD software made for PC instead of mainframe computers.  AutoCAD completely elevated the way buildings and products were designed. It provided designers, architects or engineers a way to reduce the number of error, improve visualization, save time etc.

With the advent of BIM Services however, there is a general question about CAD being replaced. There are some obvious advantages that BIM offers over CAD but, that doesn’t mean that CAD has become obsolete. It still offers certain features which still makes it essential in the construction sector. Below we look at the CAD and why it still very much important.

1. CAD is a good starting point:

CAD is easier to operate than BIM. For people like architects, engineers and designers who are used to thinking spatially and also have considerable training and background in design can without much difficulty learn CAD. It also has many tools which are quite similar to the ones that a person uses on computer like cut, paste, copy, and delete. It also provides a host of tools to create lines, spline curves, circles etc. It is easy to copy objects and move, offset, rotate, and mirror objects in CAD. Finally, CAD makes it possible to ensure conformity to company or industry standards by creating styles which can be applied consistently throughout the project. This in no way means that a layman can operate CAD, it simply means that compared to BIM software CAD has a shorter learning curve.

2. CAD falls in comfort-zone for many AEC professionals:

Just as its easier for novice designers to use CAD, there are experienced professionals for whom CAD has become a comfort zone. For those who have been using CAD for a long period of time change could be difficult. They have certain ease and expertise when it comes to operating CAD which could also translate to speed in work and reduction in errors. It also could require time and money to migrate to BIM software as they need to learn a completely new software.

3. Cost-effectiveness in small projects:

BIM has more than proved its mettle when it comes to large projects where various multi-disciplinary teams need to work together. However, when it comes to smaller projects within one field CAD Services might prove to be more cost-effective and time saving. With smaller projects the budget is less and hence it means that the penalties for mistakes is also small. Moreover, when it comes to CAD there is an availability for cheap and economic labour.

4. Increased productivity in conceptual planning:

When it comes to creating quick sketches during the initial phase of the building design in order to gain the basic idea of scale of the project CAD can be more time saving as it allows to create accurate drawings in 2D or 3D which can then be rotated as required. To create a 3D model could be time consuming when everything is just in the very initial stages, here CAD can be used to quickly created 2D drawings or 3D models which can be used for preliminary meetings between the teams as well as for presentations with stakeholders. CAD also makes it easy to modify and share its drawings ultimately aiding a seamless and accurate construction process.

5. Paper to CAD conversions:

CAD files over paper drawings are easier to share and they are better for documentation and preservation for the future. Instead of digitally remaking the already existing paper drawings it is possible to scan them and convert them into CAD files. The recent version of AutoCAD has a system which can convert these scanned images into AutoCAD files or the designers and engineers can also make use of any raster to vector conversion software.

Conclusion:

Thus there are a variety of reasons which prove that CAD is going nowhere and it is still highly used in the construction sector. It is important to state that how much ever the technology may evolve or newer things may come into play, CAD may not be eliminated completely.

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