Fundamentals of CAD

Introduction
• Computer aided design involves any type of
design activity which makes use of the
computer to develop, analyse or modify an
engineering design.
There are several fundamental reasons for
implementing a computer aided design
system
• To increase the productivity of the designer
• To improve the quality of design
• To improve communications
• To create a data base for manufacturing
 The design Process
• Before examining the several facts of CAD, let us first
consider the general design process.
• The process of designing something is characterized by an
iterative procedure, which consist of six steps or phases
– Recognition of need
– Definition of problem
– Synthesis
– Analysis & Optimization
– Evaluation
– Presentation
The Application of Computers for Design

• The various design related tasks which are

performed by a modern computer-aided design
systems can be grouped into four functional
areas
– Geometric Modeling
– Engineering Analysis
– Design Review & Evaluation
– Automated Drafting
 Geometric Modeling
• In computer aided design, geometric modeling
is concerned with the computer compatible
mathematical description of the geometry of
an object.
• The mathematical description allows the
image of the object to be displayed &
manipulated on a graphic terminal through
signals from the CPU of the CAD system.
 Engineering Analysis
• In the formation of nearly any engineering design
project, some type of analysis required.
• The analysis may involve stress-strain calculations,
heat transfer computations, heat transfer
computations or the use of differential equations to
describe the dynamic behaviour of the system being
designed.
• The computer can be used to aid in this analysis work.
•
 Design Review & Evaluation
• Checking the accuracy of the design can be
accomplished conveniently on the graphics
terminal.
 Automated Drafting
• Automated drafting involves the creation of hard-
copy engineering drawings directly from the CAD
data base.
• In some early computer aided design departments,
automation of the drafting process represented the
principle justification for investing in the CAD
system.
• CAD Systems increase the productivity in the
drafting function by five times over manual drafting.
Computer Graphics Software & Data Base

• The CAD hardware would be useless without

the software to support it.
• In this concept discusses some of the issues &
methods related to the software &
accompanying data base for interactive
computer graphics & computer-aided design.
 Introduction
• The graphics software is the collection of programs written
to make it convenient for a user to operate the computer
graphics system.
• It includes programs to generate images on the screen, to
manipulate the images, & to accomplish various types of
interaction between the user & the system.
• In addition to the graphics software, there may be
additional programs for implementing certain specialized
functions related to CAD/CAM.
• These include design analysis programs & manufacturing
planning programs.
 The Software Configuration of a Graphics
system
• In the operation of the graphics system by the
user, a variety of activities takes place, which can
be divided into three categories:
– Interact with the graphics terminal to create & alter
images on the screen.
– Construct a model of something physical out of the
images on the screen. The models are sometimes
called application models.
– Enter the model into computer memory and/or
secondary storage.
• In working with the graphics system the user
performs these various activities in combination
rather than sequentially.
• The user constructs a physical model & inputs it to
memory by interactively describing images to the
system.
• The reason for separating these activities in this
fashion is that they correspond to the general
configuration of the software package used with the
interactive computer graphics systems (IGG).
The graphics software can be divided into three
modules according to a conceptual model.

• The graphics package (graphics system)

• The application programme
• The application data base
FUNCTIONS OF A GRAPHICS PACKAGE

• Generation of graphic elements

• Transformations
• Display control & windowing functions
• Segmenting functions
• User input functions
 Generation of graphic elements

• A graphic element in computer graphics is a basic

image entity such a dot, line segment, circle. The
collection of elements in the system could also include
alphanumeric characters & special symbols.
• There is often a special hardware component in the
graphics system associated with the display of many of
the elements.
• This speeds up the process of generating the element.
• The user can construct the application model out of a
collection of elements available on the system.
 Transformations
• Transformations are used to change the image
on the display screen & to reposition the item
in the data base.
• Transformations are applied to the graphic
elements in order to aid the user in
constructing an application model.
 Display Control & Windowing functions

• This function set provides the user with the

ability to view the image from the desired
angle & at the desired magnification.
• In effect, it makes use of various
transformations to display the application
model the way the user wants it shown.
 Segmenting functions
Segmenting functions provide users with the
capability to selectively replace, delete or
otherwise modify portions of the image.
The term segment refers to a particular portion
of the image which has been identified for
purposes of modifying it.
 User input functions
• User input functions constitutes a critical set
of functions in the graphics package because
they permit the operator to enter commands or
data to the system.
CONSTRUCTING THE GEOMETRY

• The use of graphics elements

• Defining the graphic elements
• Editing the geometry
 The use of graphics elements

• The graphics system accomplishes the

definition of the model by constructing it out of
the graphic elements.
• These elements are called by the user during
the construction process & added, one by one,
to create the model.
 Defining the graphic element
• The user has a variety of different ways to call
a particular graphic element & position it on
the geometric model.
 Editing the geometry
• A computer –aided design system provides
editing capabilities to make corrections &
adjustments in the geometric model.
• When developing the model, the user must be
able to delete, move, copy & rotate
components of the model.
 TRANSFORMATIONS
• Many of the editing features involve
transformations of the graphics elements or
cells composed of elements or even the entire
model.
• In this section we discuss the mathematics of
these transformations.