differences
Opening the Door to the Virtual Engineering Theatre
Submitted by admin on Thu, 09/03/2009 - 03:11A number of decisions have to be made which directly affect the product's overall and total cost. One of the first decisions that has to be made deals with the initial design. At one time, engineers had to convert from manual design and drafting on a drawing board to 2D CAD. Now we are starting to see a new shift in the field cad design. Within the past decade, the engineering, design and drafting world has been experiencing a shift from 2d to 3d cad. Many inventors and companies still use 2d drawings and are starting to realize the benefit of skipping the 2d step and starting off with a 3d design because 3d modeling can save time and money as well as improve customer relations. This article will explain why inventors should take 3d cad into strong consideration.
These types of transitions occur from time to time and are completely normal. Many engineers will argue with these facts because only about 50% of the engineers out there use 3d modeling software, but the fact still remains that 3d cad models can save time and money in the long run and there are many facts that prove that the assumption that the use of 2d cad drawings is inexpensive is simply a myth.
The truth is that making 2d drawings is fast and easy, but the output is still a 2D drawing, which does not readily work with downstream systems like purchasing and manufacturing. In some cases 2d drawings are sufficient but 90% of the time they are not. In prototyping, for example, a 3d model has to be made because most of the prototyping machines require 3d data. In fact, the majority of the machines used to manufacture parts need 3d cad files and do not read 2d cad drawings because 2d drawings do not contain all information needed to develop a three-dimensional product. http://cadmodels.info/
