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History of CAD

By julianaholcomb
  • 100

    30,000-10,000 B.C.

    30,000-10,000 B.C.
    The earliest known drawings date from 30,000 to 10,000 B.C.. They were found on the walls of caves in France and Spain. Other examples of early drawing are designs that were scratched, carved, or painted on the surfaces of primitive tools.
  • Sep 15, 1400

    1400's

    1400's
    Modern drawing in Europe began in the 1400's in Italy, during the period known as the Renaissance. Paper had become easier to obtain and had new importance to drawing.
    Among the most celebrated draftsmen (masters of drawing) of this period are Michelangelo and Leonardo Da Vinci.

  • 1600's

    1600's
    The Netherlands had its greatest period of artistic flowering in the 1600's. Rembrandt van Rijn was the most famous painter and print maker of Amsterdam. He was also one of the world's greatest draftsmen. He was able to convey form, movement, and emotion with just a few simple pen lines.

  • 1800's

    1800's
    Many different styles developed side by side during the 1800's. Pencils were first manufactured early in the century. They became the preferred drawing tools of many artists.

  • 1963

    1963
    Ivan Sutherland, a PhD candidate at MIT, submitted his thesis, titled Sketchpad: a man-machine graphical communication system.
    Sketchpad is considered to be the ancestor of modern CAD programs as well as a major breakthrough in the development of computer graphics in general.

  • 1971

    1971
    One of the most influential events in the development of CAD was the founding of MCS (Manufacturing and Consulting Services Inc.) in 1971 by Dr. P. J. Hanratty

  • 1980's

    1980's
    CAD software began in 1980s as a research topic, and blossomed into commercial profit, but the CAD software industry was to end the decade facing the stark reality of harsh commercial competition driven by frenetically commercial product development schedules and unprecedented change in both hardware and CAD software technology.

  • 1985

    1985
    PCs also first appeared in the early 1980s. In 1984 Bentley Systems was founded and released “MicroStation”, In 1985, the first 3D wire-frame CAD software for PCs "CADKEY" was released.

  • 1999

    1999
    in 1999, all the leading vendors had fully implemented Windows look-and-feel CAD software with large assembly viewing capabilities, and sketching.

  • Present

    Present
    CAD/CAE/CAM systems are now widely accepted and used throughout the industry. These systems moved from costly workstations based mainly on UNIX to off-the-shelf PCs. 3D modeling has become a norm, and it can be found even in applications for the wider public, like 3D buildings modeling in Google Maps, house furnishing (IMSI Floorplan), or garden planning. Advanced analysis methods like FEM, flow simulations are an ubiquitous part of the design process.

  • Future

    Future
    Some anticipate 3D modelling without flat screens or mouse pointers, a fully immersed 3D environment where modelling tools include special gloves and goggles. In the future, designing will be closer to sculpting than painting.