What’s next for CAD?

What’s next for CAD?

As I consider this question I can’t help but think back to some of the neat features I’ve seen and used in other CAD programs. So before I address the future features that CAD programs might have I will digress to my past CAD history another day and try to remember some of the favorite things in programs I’ve used.

1. In the Applicon Bravo3 software we had mouse gestures. Hold down a mouse button and draw a ‘Z’ on the screen and you zoomed to that location. Draw a ‘C’ to center the view at the point where you drew the ‘C’. Draw an ‘F’ to fit the screen. There were many more and you could even create your own gestures.
2. Also in the Bravo3 software there was an interface programming tool called ‘Flexible Interface Tool’ or FIT. It must have been very easy to use as I remember writing several programs. I wrote programs to generate the flat layout of sheet metal cones and square to round transitions. I even wrote a game that ran inside of the CAD program. I tried to duplicate these programming feats in Autolisp and DCL and most recently VBA but either I’ve gotten too old to learn or I just can’t grasp the new programming languages.
3. In AutoCAD, I really liked typing the commands using their alias. I was faster at this than my co-workers trying to find the correct icon. I know this really old school and the closest thing we have now is the keyboard shortcuts which are okay but I really do miss the command line.
4. In SolidEdge from the start we could save a dxf of the flat pattern from the sheet metal environment. You didn’t have to place the flat on a drawing view and then do a save-as. I am glad to see that SolidWorks finally has this ability.
5. When we switched to SolidWorks we also acquired the 3Dconnexion spaceballs. They have revolutionized the way I do CAD.

These are just a few of the things I can thing of on the fly…Share your thoughts. I’ve always wished that somehow we could put together all the best things from the different programs and make a new CAD program. We could call it:

Bravo! Auto Solid Works with an Edge

Next BLOG – What the Future Holds for CAD

Just changed the Blog settings so that anyone can post a comment. No registration required.