- Abstract
- Construction is an essential factor in the progress of the human civilization. It is in the construction industry that our infrastructure depends upon. The construction life cycle has several phases in it, one of these phases is the design phase. Before the advancement in computing technology - the invention of modern computers - construction engineers do manual designs; that is, through pencil and paper. This method of designing has become unfit as larger more complicated infrastructures and engineering designs develop. Hence, the need for a tool that will help construction engineers in the design phase. On of these helpful tools is the AutoCAD. This paper presented the benefits of the AutoCAD, which is software that can be installed in almost all modern computers. The use of this toll were discussed with focus on why I consider it the most significant technological advancement in the field of construction. The history of its creation was also tackled in order to bring light to the improvements of its functions through time. Accordingly, the AutoCAD software has advanced in its functions such as editing and display or its design viewing functions. This paper also provided focus discussion on the three dimensional display functions of the said software. It was concluded in the end of the paper that AutoCAD is indeed the most significant advancement in technology in the field of construction. It not only made the work of construction engineers much easier by increasing the time efficiency and quality of the design phase, it also improved the entire construction industry.
- I. Introduction
Information technology is improving and advancing most sectors of sciences and its applications. It generally changes almost everything we do in our daily lives. The use of information technology in the construction industry is not well accepted in the past few decades because the advancement of computer technology is slow. However, the fast development of information technology as well as its software uses has a huge impact in the construction industry. It makes designing and analyzing their works very easy and accurate through the use of computer software such as computer aided design and visualization (Winch, 2002).
The information technology also helps the construction industry in creating a quick solution for analyzing cost estimates, structural analysis, facilities management and design appraisal. However, the computer aided design makes the main development for the construction industry. Computer aided design (CAD) is the use of computer software to create, analyze, and optimize the design for the construction of buildings and infrastructures as well as small scale designing (Winch, 2002). In the modern times, CAD finds its use in the construction industry. It is in the curriculum of professionals like construction engineers for construction courses. The largest share for the CAD software market is the AutoCAD by Autodesk. AutoCAD replaces the traditional use of drafting designs which is time consuming and difficult to analyze (Otter, 2013).
The basic functions of the CAD are creating lines and shapes that the user can easily understand, and construct the design they are creating by combining the said shapes and lines. The software also provides the user the editing options for deleting and moving parts of the design. Through the visualization function of the software, the designers can also visualize their designs in three dimensions, and then view the final appearance of their design. In general, the CAD could help the designer to increase their productivity, improve their work, and easily create more sophisticated designs.
- II. History and Development of CAD
The use of computers in engineering is quite popular in the motor and engine designs due to their complexities. This is the reason why it is more practical to manually create designs before – when computers are not as fast the computers today. Another reason is that old computers were hard to operate; hence, it is impractical to use them for simply computation like those in the construction industry (Tornincasa, et al, 2010). With the invention of modern computers comes the invention of AutoCad.
The invention of the 3D AutoCAD or 3D CAD is due to the works of Pierre Bezier in 1968 who is an engineer. He works at an automobile industry, so the computers are highly accessible and affordable for him. The first application of the CAD was to create and design automobile engines and tools for creating the engines. In its early stages, its main commercial market is for the electronics and aerospace designing. When the computers became more affordable, the development of the CAD improved. With the invention of the personal desktop computers, the software for the CAD also developed and its use is expanded to other types of construction businesses (Zeid, 1990).
In 1980, Autodesk offered the first commercial software for CAD, that was later called the AutoCAD. Its first software has limits to two dimensional drafting and modeling which is useful in the traditional drafting and designing methods. The development of the three dimensional designing increase the commercial growth of the AutoCAD, although two dimensional designing is still its main area of application. The start of CAD use in the construction accelerates the designing and learning for most of the engineers (Zeid, 1990). The use of the CAD also expands to other industries, although its major commercial use is the designs for the construction industry. In the modern times, the CAD continue to develop and remove many barriers in the design phase of engineering, so that many users can access the software for CAD.
III. Importance of CAD and AutoCAD in the Development of Construction
The original CAD software or the AutoCAD has the functions for the basic drafting and modeling of designs in two dimensions. Its main objective at that time is to automate a quantity of designer task and activities in the methods of designing and modeling in construction industry. In the modern times, the CAD software especially the AutoCAD can perform almost all the aspects of designing and modeling. The practical use of the CAD ranges from individual benefits up to organizational and business to business level benefits. It can enhance the performance of the individual designers to create a more effective and efficient design. The software also finds its use in documentation, and as a medium for communication, which can enhances the designs as well as the method of the designing cycle (Tornincasa, et al, 2010).
The major advantage of the CAD programs is that tit can produce and correct or adjust the design faster than the traditional manual drafting methods. Note that if the design gets finish in the shortest period of time, the product development can have a substantial range of for enhancing the construction phase. The AutoCAD is one of the most helpful software for engineers. Construction development is almost complete when the early designs are readily available for proper analysis; such as, structural representation and cost estimations. The use of the CAD influences major parts of the construction lifecycle; such as, functionality, quality and costing (Tornincasa, et al, 2010).
The CAD also has a function of creating a digital visualization of the designs which the designers can use to enhance and edit their models. The organization can also use the digital visualization function of the CAD to have their evaluation of the designs for proper construction enhancements. With the use of CAD, the organization can evaluate easily the design and properly analyze its models (Tornincasa, et al, 2010).
The major development in the different generations of the CAD and the AutoCAD has its major implications in the construction industry. The first generation of the AutoCAD denotes its invention and the first commercial use for the technological advance sector of construction such as electronics, automobile and aerospace. The first generation has the two dimensional designing functions for the easy modeling methods rather than the traditional hand drafting methods. The early stage of the AutoCAD cannot incur major development in the construction industry (Bilasis, 2000).
The second generation of the AutoCAD denotes its development in three dimensional representations or the wireframe representation. However, the designs can only visulaize into two dimensional lines and the third dimension is represented as dots and edges which only engineers and drafting designers can understand. However, it makes the designing and the proper measurement of the models time efficient (Bilasis, 2000).
- IV. AutoCAD and Its Added Functions
The Autodesk added functions to their main CAD commercial software product, so that AutoCAD can provide more benefits compared to the earlier versions of the CAD software. The AutoCAD has significant improve using its boundary representation functions. The boundary representation function can visualize the three dimensions of the designs and the non-expert users can easily understand them. The boundary representation also enhances the geometric modeling of the designs that the users can provide the information to the viewers. With this technology, the AutoCAD becomes a medium for evaluation, for the organization (Bilasis, 2000).
The constructive solid geometry is also a development of the AutoCAD to represent the three dimensional space that the object in the design or model occupy. The AutoCAD incorporates the drafting techniques and the representation models to the constructive solid geometry to allow the users to visualize what part of the design is inner, outer, or in the edges. (Bilasis 2000).
The most useful function of the AutoCAD is the History-based CAD system. This function allows the design engineer to review the entire design process. The AutoCAD remembers the features and designing models of the users so that it can find its applications to other designs and models of the design engineer. The main feature of the AutoCAD is its user friendly and sophisticated modeling techniques. AutoCAD is the most commonly used CAD program to build major infrastructures such as stadium and sky scrapers (Bilasis, 2000).
- V. Three-dimensional Modeling of AutoCAD
The three dimensional modeling of the AutoCAD helps the civil engineers for properly and effectively visualize and document their designs. The use of the AutoCAD 3D software can include modeling and design, construction documentation, surveying, visualization, and structural analysis. The AutoCAD offers solutions to the Building Information Modeling (BIM), which is the main aspect of the designing and constructing phase for the civil engineers. Using the BIM features of the AutoCAD, the design engineers can have an early analysis of their design as well as simulation for enhancing its appearance, performance, and cost of the construction (Otter, 2013).
The AutoCAD also offers design review for the construction modeling such as surveying and quantity analysis. Since most of the modern designs are complex and more sophisticated, the civil engineers could use the AutoCAD for reviewing their designs before major errors occur. The most advanced technology added to the AutoCAD civil 3D is the stormwater analysis and simulation. Stormwater analysis and simulation makes it easier for the civil engineers to create drainage and piping system of the complex water runoff. The visualization features of the AutoCAD can also be used to control the effects of the designs to its surroundings (Otter, 2013).
VI. The Future of AutoCAD and the Construction Industry
With the fast growth of the information technology, the AutoCAD and the other CAD software also being developed to accommodate more complex designs and be used by more users. The AutoCAD include the BIM to its latest software version to have more functions and be used by the designers for their more complex models. The company uses its aggressiveness to develop and improve the AutoCAD software. The trend of the construction modeling is towards three dimensional modeling and the BIM which is already taken by the AutoCAD (Otter, 2013).
The BIM is a method which in the future could be a standard, a policy and a requirement for the construction industry. The AutoCAD made a right choice for including the BIM to the new software to include the sustainability features of the modeling process. The AutoCAD development can easily influence the construction industry in taking more advance steps towards sustainable development (Otter, 2013).
The Autodesk also look forward to the technology of three dimensional printing which can be used by the designers for their ultimate visualization and evaluation of the designs. The three dimensional printing is a technology being developed in the rapid prototyping tools and machine. It is a revolutionary technology for the construction industry which has a large potential for better simulation of the model’s effect to the surroundings (Ball, 2013).
- VII. Three-dimensional Concrete Printing
The three-dimensional concrete printing is a promising technology which the CAD and the AutoCAD could be developed into. With this technology, the printed output could not only be a tool for simulation and evaluation but also it could be the product itself. When this technology is developed, the construction could be performed in a very rapid range of time which also saves money. Three dimensional concrete printing is now a developing technology all over the world. It may revolutionize the construction industry in the future (Ball, 2013).
- VIII. Conclusion
The use of the computer aided design for the engineers and designers also influenced the development of the construction industry. It started by creating faster and more complex designs rather than the use of the traditional drafting methods. The development of the AutoCAD can also characterize the development of the construction industry. The three dimensional modeling of the AutoCAD helped the engineers for the review of their designs though surveying and structural analysis. The AutoCAD also help the organization to evaluate the design through the visualization features of the AutoCAD. The future of the AutoCAD lies on its association of the BMI.
References:
Ball, A. (2013) Preserving Computer Aided Design. Digital Preservation Coalition
Bilasis, N. (2000) Computer Aided Design. Innoregio Project, Technical University of Crete
Otter, C. (2013) AutoCAD Civil 3D. Autodesk
Tornincasa, S., di Torino, P., Abrusi, C. (2010) The Future and the Evolution of CAD. 14th International Research/Expert Conference
Winch, G.M. (2002) Managing Construction Projects: an Information Processing Approach. Blackwell Science, Oxford
Zeid, H. (1990) CAD/CAM Theory and Practice. McGraw Hill
