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In The Begining

Today engineers use CAD to create, design, and breathe life into solid models by assigning them real world characteristics such as mass, elasticity, strength, and specific material properties.

But 45 years ago, CAD was nothing more than a character in Robert Heinlein's 1956 book, "The Door into Summer," where the protagonist used his computer keyboard and a machine named Drafting Dan to produce drawings.

In 1961, Ivan Sutherland developed this "character" into practical mathematical equations in his thesis, SKETCHPAD. All of the familiar names in the industry, PTC, Autodesk, CATIA, SolidWorks, and Unigraphics have their underpinnings in Sutherland's thesis. "Sketchpad towers over the world of computer graphics like a colossus - dictating all we would ever see in the computer and human interface of which CAD is only a subset," says Joel Orr, a consultant, speaker, and writer, specializing in engineering automation and computer technologies. "In Sutherland's thesis, you can see all of CAD as it exists today."

But it was Pat Hanratty who first brought CAD to the computer. Hanratty, now CEO of Manufacturing and Consulting Services Inc. (MCS), developed the kernel dubbed ADAM. "Adam was a beautiful choice of names because it was progenitor of much of CAD today," says Orr.

Indeed, ComputerVision, one of the original CAD companies and eventually purchased by PTC, incorporated Adam into their software CADDS, which became the first three-dimensional modeling system on the market.

In the '60s and '70s, aerospace and automotive manufacturers saw the potential of such a program, and many developed their own internal computer-aided drafting packages. The developers of these programs are the real founders of today's CAD, says Jon Stevenson, executive vice president and general manager of MCAD for PTC, "because many left these larger companies to start their own business in order to commercialize the technology." These included companies such as PDA and MCS.

But these original CAD and CAE programs were difficult to operate, requiring engineers to memorize long lists of complex command codes. In these early years, it was common practice to wait in line to use a dedicated CAD terminal that sat in a cold, dark climate-controlled room.

As smaller, less expensive computers emerged in the eighties, CAD packages conformed accordingly, targeting a larger computer savvy audience who cried for easier to use programs. In addition, businesses aimed to reduce production costs. CAD companies responded by promising, "Reduce cost by reducing personnel."

CAD, however, couldn't deliver, says Stevenson, because it was still too complicated. "People bought the software anyway because they envisioned its potential." But it couldn't deliver what it claimed.

Two major players emerged out of this decade who laid the foundation in order that CAD might reach its potential. In 1984, Autodesk introduced the first CAD program written strictly for the PC. To form the company, twelve people, while keeping his or her day job, each wrote various software programs. They agreed that whichever program sold, that was the one they would build their business around. AutoCAD quickly became the drawing standard in many architectural and engineering companies. Some CAD companies followed Autodesk's lead, such as CADKEY, who developed the first 3D all-PC CAD product.