History Of CAD

Although many people think that CAD (Computer Aided Design) software and systems are a relatively new development in design technology the underlying idea for this kind of process dates back a number of years.

It is, for example, thought that the birth of CAD really started in the 1960s when the car, electronics and aircraft sectors started to experiment with the idea of automated 3D design. In this decade Ivan Sutherland also invented the SKETCHPAD at MIT which allowed a user to give a computer graphics instructions via drawing on a monitor with a light pen. This development is held to be the forerunner of modern day CAD processes by many people.

During the rest of the 1960s and the 1970s developments in CAD systems and software continued. At first this kind of process could only be afforded by large corporations who could afford the large and expensive computers necessary to run the associated systems. However, as PCs became more widely available and more powerful it became possible to produce specific CAD systems that could do design work on a smaller and more affordable scale.

By the 1980s CAD systems could add other features to the basic design mix including solid, feature and surface modelling capabilities. Eventually, following the development of PCs it became possible to run CAD software on a standard PC rather than to have to use a high spec system to do this kind of design work.