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Perhaps the biggest shift in CAD come in 1987 when a relatively unknown company, Parametric Technology Corporation, unleashed a parametric 3D feature-based system in Pro/ENGINEER. PTC set the standard for CAD companies for years to come. Today it is the most widely used 3D-design system, boasting over 250,000 seats.

David Weisberg and Stephen Weisberg write in their book, "Technology Trends in Design Automation": "For the first time, users could effectively work with feature-based parametrically-driven solids models. Drawings became a byproduct of the design process. A critical element of this step in the evolution of mechanical design technology was the concept of using a single geometric database for all applications. During its first decade, PTC rocketed from an unknown startup to a company whose annual revenues exceeded $800 million." Today, the company's revenues exceed one billion annually.

To top off the '80s, engineering drawings were linked to solids models, and on-screen menus emerged as indispensable tools. And to aid in the exchange of information between proprietary CAD systems, the industry adopted IGES and STEP as standards.

Reduce time to market

As companies became concerned with reducing time to market in the nineties, users wanted a CAD that was more of a production tool. PTC responded. The company spent the better part of the last decade capitalizing on their parametric associative solid modeling software.

The old guard CAD companies struggled to follow suit as they had old product architectures that couldn't be extended to support parametric design. By the mid '90s, however, many vendors succeeded in grafting parametric capabilities on the side of their existing packages, many of which are still being used for production design tasks.

Two major technology advances occurred in the mid-1990s?the Internet became mainstream and PCs became less expensive and increasingly more powerful.

With these developments, came corresponding CAD packages. When TurboCAD started in the early '90s, its goal was to bring 3D modeling to the masses, making it both affordable as well as easy to use. Close on its heels came Solid Edge, soon followed by SolidWorks. Numerous CAD companies sprung up such as IronCAD and Think3, with varying success.

But PTC wasn't idle during this time. Seeing the impact of the Internet on commerce, design, and manufacturing, they bought Windchill, a web-based collaboration and management technology in 1998, which became the first e-business solution for product development.

Innovation and Collaboration

Today, time to market is passe. Product innovation is the key. "The Internet changed all expectations," says Stevenson. CAD packages today have to be more than glorified drafting aids. They have to address the business initiatives of customers and consumers alike.

Designing by objectives, virtual prototypes, reusing existing designs, simulation, multiple CAD platforms, and instant communication are keys in today's CAD market.

Recognizing this, PTC introduced associative behavioral modeler with Pro/ENGINEER 2000i in May 1999. With the behavioral modeler, engineers could build relationships, behavior, specifications, and associations into design, infusing models with "life." A computer model subjected to various constraints and conditions will act and react as it would in the real world, enabling an engineer to see exactly what he or she is designing. In addition, behavioral modeling also offers potential designs based on the information provided.