Pros and cons of cad software

Easy to edit : When you are making designs, you may find the need to make alterations. When you are using computer-aided design software, it will be much easier to make any changes because you can fix the errors and modify the drawings easily. Decrease in error percentage : As the CAD software makes use of some of the best tools, the percentage of error that occurred because of manual designing is significantly reduced.

Decrease design effort : When it comes to the amount of effort that was needed for the sake of designing the different models, it has been reduced significantly because the software automates most of the task. An informal poll by Mechanical Engineering of approximately 25 engineers revealed that they have mixed feelings about CAD. Their comments inspired us to ask three prominent CAD users what they perceive to be the positives and negatives of the software today. Less experienced engineers can create designs that look perfectly manufacturable on screen, but can't actually be made.

For instance, CAD allows users to simply mate two parts. With today's surfacing and other improved computer-aided design tools, engineers can more easily depict curved surfaces. It can't be built. The flip side is that the software can make a bad engineer a good one. The pace of change in technology is quite rapid and that necessitates constant skill upgrading.

Because CAD makes it so easy to make changes, the frequency of making changes goes up. There is an urge to change every tiny aspect if it seems not perfect. With hand-sketched models, the process of making even a small change is quite involving.

Hence, managers or engineers would think hard about any change that they wished to make. But, with CAD, engineers can keep making changes and the resulting process may not be the most efficient.

The ease of making changes does not affect managers and engineers only. It also affects the designers who make the drawings. Because making changes becomes so easy with CAD, the designers might also have a tendency to relax a bit. The drafters who would hand-draw models knew them inside out.

The CAD designers may not have such depth of understanding about the model that they are creating. Since CAD files are digital, there may be a chance that the files get corrupted or the hard disk develops problems.

While it is a good idea to have backups, technology can sometimes fail abruptly and that can cause plenty of problems in terms of lost work.

With physical drawings, one can always store them somewhere. But with digital, one has to rely on the memory driver or servers to ensure safe storage. CAD software packages essentially rely on the computer to do most of the work. One only needs a designer to operate the software. With CAD being quicker than old-fashioned hand-drawing, one designer can make more models in a given amount of time using CAD than a drafter on a drawing board.

Fewer jobs get created and that does not help the economy. Your email address will not be published. Sign me up for the newsletter! Posted on June 19, We may earn money from your clicks, at no extra cost for you.

We are also affiliates of numerous other programs. Outbound clicks may earn the site money. We may get compensated in other ways too. For example, you can see extensive adoption of CAM in textiles. Before CAD, a particular design change would have required a drafts person to completely redraw the design to the new specification. CAD software allows designers to tinker with designs and make small changes on the fly, which is one of the advantages of CAD in textiles.

It can also be used to simulate the behavior of the design in software. For example, CAD software can be used to simulate the airflow around an engine. This allows for greater flexibility in the software design process.