Tara4

     CAD (computer-aided design) is the modern form of drawing. Computers are now used to design materials. Drafting was used before CAD became popular in the early 1980s. People had to sit down at a drawing board, or a drafting table. Then, to make a design, they had to measure precise objects and physically draw them. This allowed for many mistakes. CAD is so much easier. It is also much more efficient.
     You basically start with a blank computer screen. The CAD program you are working with determines how you go about designing. Easy shortcuts are available. In construction, if you are designing a building similar to one you have already done, you can simply copy the old drawing into a new file and make the appropriate changes. Entering measurements, sizes, and distances, is also a snap. The computer does it almost all of the work for you.
     CAD is not just used in construction. The CAD computer programs vary widely. Machines and machine parts are designed in this manner. It is used in fashion and interior design. CAD can be used to show land elevation, or topography. Engineering, automobile design, and the design of airplane wings all benefit from the aid of computers. CAD serves many purposes and is widely used.
     CAD is simply mathematics. Geometric shapes are created by calculation. The drawings are composed of points, lines, and planes. Measures, distance, and congruency are highly important. It is also important that some lines are parallel and others perpendicular. This involves figuring slope and using ninety-degree angles. Slope is crucial to the practicality of design, such as making a roof slope a certain direction at a certain rate. This ensures that rain will not remain on the roof, but will run off.
     CAD can create two- and three- dimensional objects. When making a two-dimensional design, only the x- and y- axis is used. This changes with three-dimensional objects. When designing these, the z-axis is introduced. Coordinate points are then (x,y,z). Angle congruency, angle addition, and angle measurements are used a lot. Proportions and scales are other forms of mathematics used in CAD. Scale is the ratio of enlargement or reduction in a drawing. Objects must be enlarged to show detail. Objects must be decreased in size, because a blueprint that was the building�s actual size would be difficult to read and impossible to build from. The scale is shown on every design. Simple math, such as addition or subtraction, is combined with more complex mathematics to create wondrous designs.
     Some other mathematics involved in CAD is paraline drawings. Included in this category is the oblique drawing. One face of the object is drawn directly onto the picture plane. Lines are drawn from the plane at thirty or forty-five degree angles. A diametric drawing is somewhat similar to an oblique drawing. However, the object is turned so that only one corner is touching the picture plane. Usually, angles are equally divided on either side of the object and have measurements of forty-five degrees. The easiest and most popular type of paraline drawing is isometric drawing. It is a form of diametric drawing. All of the axes are simultaneously turned away from the picture plane. All angles have a measurement of thirty degrees. Also, the legs are equal in length at the given scale. Therefore, the proportion ratio is 1:1:1. Trimetric drawing is another form. It exposes two sides of an object, but not at equal angles to the plane. Usually, one angle is thirty degrees with the other measuring sixty degrees.
     There are also different forms of perspective methods. The one-point perspective is probably the least complicated. The primary force of the object is placed directly on the picture point. All of the adjacent planes converge at the vanishing point, which is located on the horizon line.   It is possible to draw two- and three- point perspectives, as well. Depending on the shape you are working with, the formula for finding such things as area, volume, perimeter, and altitude may change. Some shapes used in CAD are squares, rectangle, triangles, circles, ellipses, arcs, and chords. Trigonometric functions may also be used.
     I enjoyed working on this project very much. My favorite part of our topic was looking at blueprints. I looked at plans for two certain buildings, Beltservice and Nations Bank, now known as Bank of America. It is amazing how much work and planning actually goes into building something, especially a building of large size. There are different types of blueprints. The CAD machine does not actually make these. A tracing is printed out from the CAD machine. The tracing is then run off on a blueprint machine, which produces the blueprints. The kinds of blueprints include the site plan, grading plan, elevation, renderings, and many more. I like renderings best, because they show a three- dimensional view of two sides of a building. This helps you to visualize what the actual building will look like. I feel that from this project on CAD, I have learned a lot more about mathematics, especially geometry. I now know what CAD is, how it is used, and how diverse it can be. CAD was a very good choice for a project, because it was complex, yet interesting.