Pros and Cons of CAD

This paper describes the pros and cons of computer-aided design (CAD). CAD packages lack features to easily make the intuitive, complex shapes so pervasive in modern products. It is much easier with CAD to create a part with square features and rectangles and straight lines and round things. Even in a current design project, engineers will sculpt the design in clay, scan it with a digitizer, bring it back into the CAD package, then change it into a solid model and refine that. One of the biggest criticisms of CAD systems is that digital design is slower than sketching and that inhibits the brainstorming process. Today’s systems are not equipped to let engineers play with a design. Engineers start with a basic design and they can change parameters as they draw, but cannot change complete concepts midstream or cut and paste ideas between designs. Most CAD packages include features that track design changes so engineers working collaboratively can see what's been changed, where, when, and why.