Computer-Aided Design (CAD) is used in creating, modifying, and optimizing designs, which are known to increase a designer’s productivity, help a company deliver peculiar designs, and create a separate database for manufacturing. In addition, designs created using CAD software help protect and patent products for different applications.

CAD Software is mainly used for design automation in the mechanical and design industry with different computer software. It also uses many vector-based graphics, which have depths of traditional drafting techniques and showcases the natural appearance of different mechanical objects.

CAD is also important in different sectors of the design industry, like automotive, aerospace, architectural design, industrial modeling, prosthetics, and many other industries. Due to the different driving forces, creating discrete differential geometries, computational geometry, and computer graphics are essential.

Types of CAD Software

There are seven different types of CAD software, each of which requires a unique operation to design the best virtual components.

2D CAD

Various free and open-source programs offer the most lower-end 2D programs. These programs also provide a unique process for creating a unique drawing and manufacturing approach without the fuss of placing a drawing sheet and drawing over it. One of the significant importance of 2D CAD systems is that the programs can be adjusted while creating the final draft of the design.

3D CAD

The 3D wireframe for CAD is an extension of the 2D systems, which follows a three-dimensional approach. Every line is inserted manually into the drawing in this particular system, and the final product does not contain any mass properties. It does not have any features which can be directly added to it, for instance, holes, and hinges.

Any operator who works with 3D systems follows a similar approach to 2D systems.

However, many designers also make use of the wireframe model to engineer their designs in the right way. They also use this software to create 3D dumb solids and form basic three-dimensional shapes like spheres, rectangles, prisms, and many more solids. Again the 3D solid modeling can be divided into two different types:

• Parametric modeling makes use of the user’s design intent. It allows the objects to be elastic, which means further modifications can be made to an already-created object by slightly changing the original parts and features.
• Explicit or direct modeling allows editing of the geometry of the design. In this type, a sketch is generally created to create a geometry that can also be incorporated into other sketches to create new geometries.

Freeform CAD

These are the top-end systems of CAD that helps in incorporating more ergonomic and aesthetic features into machine designs. In addition, these programs are often combined with different solids to form the best and most versatile designs.