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CAD History

Fifty years of CAD:

F ROM
WOOD BOARDS TO

4D

FLY- THROUGHS

The history of CAD is largely one of visualization, creating better, faster, more accurate ways of envisioning designed constructs
By Viktor von Buchstab enabled engineers, as opposed to computer experts, to do CADD. For much of the 20th century, CAD power remained largely limited by hardware. At the time of the Apollo 13 mission, for instance, NASA had the computer power of an Intel 386. Long before, a way around the expensive CRT displays was the classic flatbed plotter, introduced by CalComp in 1959.

n 1955, Design Engineering advertisements for engineering finery consisted largely of better wooden drafting tables and associated pen-and-ruler paraphernalia. The high-tech bauble of the day was the electric eraser, which at the time seemed like the ultimate in productivity improvement.

The past 20 years has seen a phenomenal advancement in CAD capabilities

1960S: REAL-TIME IMAGES

Meanwhile, computers languished in the dark ages during much of the 1950s. Few had visual displays, and the input was much the same as the output 80-column punched cards, machine-read to decipher their content, although some hardy types learned to read the rows and columns of rectangular holes in the otherwise illiterate bits of cardboard. These, then, were the platforms on which the enormous enabling technology of computer-aided design (CAD) was built from its crude, mainframe-attached, often frustrating beginnings, through computer-aided drafting, computer-numerical-control (and computer-aided manufacturing) and improved 2D and 3D visualizations, to the present divergence with increasingly true-to-life solid models. Today there are even 4D fly-throughs and motion simulations with nauseatingly accurate representations, inducing a form of space sickness as the visual sense disagrees with kinetic inputs. To help make sense of the complex path of CAD development over the past 50 years, Design Engineering presents a chronology of the companies, software and programs involved in making CAD technology what it is today. Much of the CAD/CAM developments for the next two or three decades were hardware-related, paving the way for the connected era that arrived with Unix, then DOS/Windows. In 1962, Denverbased CAD entrepreneur William Barnes began marketing his bundled hardware and CAD code, automated control, as Auto-trol. It was a quick success in CAD, whose proprietary operating system was eventually eclipsed by open systems based on Unix, and later by more universal operating systems from Microsoft. Regarding the switch to Unix, Auto-trol Technology, Calma and Mentor Graphics began shipping Apollo systems [eventually acquired by HewlettPackard] that used a Unix-like operating system <HP-UX> in 1982 and 1983, says David Weisberg, chief industry strategist for Cyon Research, and publisher emeritus of Engineering Automation Report and A-E-C Automation Newsletter. Sun Microsystems and other pure Unix systems [arrived] more like 1984 and 1985. To put this

1950S: THE DARK AGES

Computer-aided design began with the emergence of real-time displays, enabling computer operators to see their creations on screen. By 1955 U.S. military visionaries were hooking up then-avant-garde CRTs to their mainframes. At the time, CAD was a hypothetical application for the computer. It wasnt until 1957 that mathematical genius Dr. Patrick J. Hanratty, reputed father of computer-aided design and drafting, wrote the code that

An avant-garde Moen faucet was created on a current-generation PTC system. Photo courtesy of PTC.

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CAD History

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Profile of a Program
The following is a timeline of IBM and Dassaults CATIA (Computer-Aided Three-Dimensional Interactive Application) evolution: 1976: IBM sells, markets and supports Cadam. 1977: AMD tasks its internal engineering team with creating a 3D interactive program. This is the forerunner of CATIA. 1981: AMD markets CATIA to other companies and industries. 1982: CATIA V1 is announced as an add-on to Cadam, and as an add-on product for 3D design, surface modelling and NC programming. 1984: Dassault Systmes (DS) introduces CATIA Version 2, which integrates 2D and 3D functions. CATIA becomes the worlds leading application for aeronautical design. 1984: CATIA is able to function independently of Cadam. 1985: Launches CATIA V2. 1986: DS secures Boeing as a CATIA user. 1988: Launches CATIA V3. With AEC functionality on Unix and mainframe platforms, CATIA becomes the worlds leading application for automotive design. 1992: DS purchases CADAM from IBM (which purchased the system from Lockheed). 1993: Launches CATIA V4 (Unix-based). 1996: CATIA-CADAM Solutions V4 is available on multiple platforms (Hewlett-Packard, Silicon Graphics, Inc. and Sun Microsystems). 1997: DS acquires SolidWorks. 1997: DS acquires Deneb Robotics, signalling the start of its digital manufacturing strategy. 1998: DS acquires IBM Product Data Management solution, IBMs internally developed PDM system. 1998: DS launches Version 5 of CATIA for native Windows NT and Unix platforms, purchases IBM PDM assets and establishes Enovia Corp. 1998: DS, IBM and Matra Datavision announce a new co-operation. First DS acquires key Euclid Matra Datavision software products, while Matra Datavision becomes a service company supporting DSs CATIA and Enovia products and the migration of Euclid to CATIA. Finally, Matra Datavision becomes an international business partner of IBM to market, sell and support CATIA, Enovia and IBM e-business solutions. Matra also takes over marketing, selling and supporting the Deneb solutions not distributed by IBM. 1999: DS purchases Matra Datavisions development laboratory and acquires a majority interest in Smart Solutions Ltd. (formerly SmarTeam Corp. Ltd.) to strengthen product data management (PDM) capabilities. 1999: DS invests in Invention Machines, a knowledge management software company, and takes a 75-per-cent interest in Smart Solutions, a PDM provider at the lower end of the market. It also acquires Safework, a human modelling software provider. This signals a second step in the companys digital manufacturing strategy. 2000: DS and Intergraph announce a strategic alliance around the shipbuilding industry. The company then acquires EAI Delta, to provide digital manufacturing software focused on factory floor layout. LMS selects the DS V5 platform to build its next generation of virtual prototyping and physical testing software solutions. DS then creates Delmia digital manufacturing, consolidating Deneb, Safework and EAI Delta products. DS also acquires the 3D software component business of Spatial (the ACIS solid modelling kernel rivaling EDS/UGS Parasolid). 2001: DS acquires SRAC, an analysis software company focused on design-centric markets, and Alliance Commerciale Technologique (ACT), a Canadian-based PLM service company.

in context, consider that the worlds first microprocessor, the Intel 4004, debuted in late 1971, followed 10 years later by IBMs introduction of the first personal computer. Meanwhile, other changes were happening to CAD. In 1963 John Wright founded United Computing, which would later become Unigraphics (now UGS) and a leading name in CAD/CAM. While Auto-trol was still in its infancy, United Computing had begun work on the first coherent CAM tool, UniAPT, a minicomputer-based version of an Automatic Programmed Tool (APT) that computed tool-paths. APT came to the attention of airplane manufacturer McDonnell Douglas, which brought the code in-house along with United Computing. The firm also bought into Dr. Hanrattys ADAM design-visualization code, and soon became a leader in CAD and CAM.

AutoCAD was the original PC-based CAD program.

1970S AND 80S: REAL CAD/CAM DEVELOPS

According to John Baker, UGS product evangelist, NX Product Line, Unigraphics (now NX) actually predates McDonnell Douglas, although they were an early adopter of both UniAPT and Unigraphics. It was originally developed by United Computing, and

october 2005

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CAD History

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Parametric Relations
Much of the history of CAD seems punctuated by Patrick Hanratty, whose work continues half a century later, defining and refining CAD algorithms. However, some three decades after his seminal work, in May 1985, Russian mathematician Samuel P. Geisberg divined the concept of relating the various components of a subassembly parametrically, allowing designers to change components without having to recreate the whole enchilada. Geisberg changed the name to Parametric Technology Corp. in 1987, based on an idea for mechanical computer-aided design software that would revolutionize the industry. Geisbergs company would grow to swallow Computervision in 1997, and introduce a succession of successful programs. Highlights include the launch of Windchill PDMLink and ProjectLink as pure architectural solutions for PDM and project collaboration in 2000; the launch of Pro/Engineer Wildfire in 2002, with improved GUI (in MS Windows motif) and full web-orientation; and the introduction of its Product Development System as an integrated PLM solution in 2003. In 2004 Parametric acquired Ohio Design Automation for electrical CAD (ECAD) integration, and this year acquired Arbortext for dynamic enterprise publishing and Polyplan Technologies for MPM, plus Aptavis Technologies for footwear and apparel design.

first delivered as a commercial product in 1974, says Baker. In 1976 United was acquired by MDC and operated as a wholly owned subsidiary until 1979, when it was merged into MDCs automation division, McAuto. Much later, in 1991, EDS (formerly Electronic Data Systems) bought Unigraphics. But by the mid-70s competition had come to CAD. In 1974, Lockheed developed Cadam (ComputerAugmented Drafting and Manufacturing) a 2D CAD/CAM system. A young Frenchman, Marcel Dassault, then formed Avions Marcel Dassault (AMD) and bought a Cadam license from Lockheed, becoming the first Cadam customer.

Algor's 2003 InCAD technology for direct CAD/CAE data exchange added full associativity with each design change for Autodesk Inventor, Pro/Engineer, Solid Edge and SolidWorks. Full associativity enables changes to CAD geometry to be reflected in the associated FEA model for each design iteration. Now, when engineers make geometry changes in the CAD solid modeller, a new mesh is created and any surface-based loads or constraints, element types, material properties and analysis parameters are automatically updated with each change. Associating the FEA data directly with the CAD geometry saves engineers time doing multiple design and analysis iterations.

1990S: MID-SIZE CAD TAKES HOLD

As CAD giants grew and acquired both major and minor players, compact CAD suites emerged to fill the gap between kitchen CAD and the five-to-six-figure CAD suites. The giants also shrank from the Big Five to the Big Three, as Matra Datavision was acquired by Dassault Systmes and SDRC was absorbed by UGS. While Autodesk dominated the low-end (casually spinning off CadKey via its former employees entrepreneurial imperatives) it gradually grew into the midsize market through its in-house developed Mechanical Desktop, and by acquiring the more popular Inventor series. During the 1990s Bentley Systems developed its MicroStation,

UGS overall structure, including its key acquisitions.

october 2005

Moving to 3D with SolidWorks is easier than a lot of moves you already make.
Like falling behind schedule. Again.

JK Mold Design went 3D. And kicked their business into high gear.
My company was facing stiff competition from high-end complex molds and needed to make the transition to 3D, says John Kreutzberger, owner of JK Mold Design. It only took a couple of weeks to get up to speed with SolidWorks. It didnt take long for me to cut design time by 50% and reinvent myself as a mold designer. Now I can give my customers a greater range of services and output to any file format they need. SolidWorks has not only kept my company ahead of schedule its kept me ahead of the game.
John Kreutzberger
Owner JK Mold Design

Take the SolidWorks Online Tour, learn more about moving from 2D to 3D with the company thats #1 in production, customer service, and sales* Visit solidworks.com/tour .

For details, visit www.solidworks.com/n1in3d. SolidWorks is a registered trademark of SolidWorks Corporation. All other product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. SolidWorks Corporation is a Dassault Systmes company. 2004 SolidWorks Corporation. All rights reserved.

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CAD History

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Current generation CATIA VS embraces the now-familiar Windows look and feel, leading to significant shortening of new operator training and better universal document interchange.

which became far more popular in the AEC market even as Intergraph, by 1990, was noted for bundled systems in integrated CAD/CAM/CAE systems. In October 1997, EDS (which now owned by UGS) integrated its UGS software with Intergraphs Solid Edge an agreement that eventually led to the latters total acquisition. The history of Solid Edge, sharing its Parasolid core with full-size (NX) UGS, closely tracks that companys story.

Meanwhile, ex-Computervisions John Kirschtick was devising more efficient ways of doing business, particularly when it came to designing CAD user-interfaces that embraced the fast-growing popularity of the Microsoft Windows GUI. The company is most well-known for SolidWorks 95, the first true Windows-based solid modelling software on the market, released in 1995. In 1997 Dessault Systmes acquired the company, despite the fact that SolidWorks shares few characteristics with CATIA, having a different solid modelling kernel, limited interoperability and a different market The Autodesk Revolution than its full-size sibling/parent. In 1982 John Walker co-authored AutoCAD and founded San Rafael, Calif.-based Autodesk, Inc. The Nevertheless, the company conbrand eventually grew to uncontested first-place, claiming the largest number of seats of any CAD protinued innovating, introducing gram, excluding the myriad unlicensed pirate seats, which continue to be a thorn in the companys side. eDrawings, an e-mail-enabled In 2004 company sales topped US$1.23 billion. Following is a quick look at the companys milestones. design tool, in 1997, and SolidWorks 2006 this year. 1982: Autodesk is founded and introduces AutoCAD. The company goes public with an IPO of 1.6 million According to SolidWorks CEO shares at $11 per share. John McEleney, the machine 1992: Carol Bartz is named chairman, president and CEO. design sector currently represents 1994: The same year as the company ships its 1,000,000th copy of AutoCAD it acquires Softdesk, and the largest portion of SolidWorks delivers multiple products for vertical market segments. Autodesk also acquires Genius CAD Software business, noting that, In any one and Discreet Logic, and launches Autodesk Inventor for feature-based solid modelling. day, we have 3.2 million hours of 2001: Launches Location Services; acquires Buzzsaw.com; launches Subscription; acquires Media 100 usage 430,000 users designing and Gentry Systems. products eight hours a day. If 2002: Acquires Revit Technology (the parametric building modeller for AEC) and CAiCE Software. you compare those numbers 2003: Acquires truEInnovations, Inc., Linius Technologies and VIA Development. with CADs obscure beginnings 2004: Acquires MechSoft Technology and Unreal Pictures. Later that year, at Autodesk University, the you have some indication of just firm unveils its next CAD strategic initiative, smart components, in which mechanical design conhow significant the technology structs are specified by functional specifications rather than physical dimensions. This means a shaft has become to todays design could now be defined in terms of torque or horsepower spec, rather than shaft diameter. engineers. de
Autodesk recently acquired Compass and exceeds $1 billion in revenue. This August the company announced the acquisition of Solid Dynamics, SA, a French company whose kinematics/dynamics technology allows designers in manufacturing markets to simulate, analyze, test and optimize physical motion and loading in mechanical assemblies.

For more information on CADs first five decades, see earlier stories in December 2002 and August/September 2005 Design Engineering.
october 2005