WHAT ARE THE ADVANTAGES OF

USING COMPUTER AIDED DESIGN

(CAD) OVER MANUAL DRAFTING?
The image representing a sample CAD drafting work which shows dimensions,
notes and how to use legends in CAD Drawings.
ONE OF THE BENEFITS OF CAD IS TO
DRAW TO SCALE
The advantages of CAD include: the ability to producing very accurate designs;
drawings can be created in 2D or 3D and rotated; other computer programmes can
be linked to the design software. With manual drafting, you must determine the scale
of a view before you start drawing. This scale compares the size of the actual object
to the size of the model drawn on paper.

With CAD, you first decide what units of measurement you will use, and then draw
your model at 1:1 scale, should one of the main benefits of CAD.

LAY OUT THE DRAWING

CONVENIENTLY: ANOTHER MERIT OF
CAD
When you draft manually, you first select a sheet, which usually includes a pre-
printed border and title block. Then you determine the location for views' plans,
elevations, sections, and details. Finally, you start to draw.

With CAD, you first draw your design, or model, in a working environment called
model space. You can then create a layout for that model in an environment called
paper space.

A layout represents a drawing sheet. It typically contains a border, title block,

dimensions, general notes, and one or more views of the model displayed in layout
viewports. Layout viewports are areas, similar to picture frames or windows, through
which you can see your model. You scale the views in viewports by zooming in or
out.
CAD IS FLEXIBLE TO ORGANIZE
DRAWING INFORMATION
With manual drafting, you can separate information onto individual transparent
overlays. For example, a building plan might contain separate overlays for its
structural, electrical, and plumbing components.

With CAD, layers are equivalent to transparent overlays. As with overlays, you can
display, edit, and print layers separately or in combination.

You can name layers to help track content, and lock layers so they can't be altered.
Assigning settings such as color, linetype, or lineweight to layers helps you comply
with industry standards. You can also use layers to organize drawing objects for
plotting. Assigning a plot style to a layer makes all the objects drawn on that layer
plot in a similar manner.
ESTABLISH DRAFTING STANDARDS
Manual drafting requires meticulous accuracy in drawing line-types, line-weights,
text, dimensions, and more. Standards must be established in the beginning and
applied consistently.

With CAD, you can ensure conformity to industry or company standards by creating
styles that you can apply consistently. You can create styles for text, dimensions,
and line-types.

A text style, for example, establishes font and format characteristics such as height,
width, and slant. You can save styles, layers, layouts, title block and border
information, and some command settings in drawing template files. Using drawing
templates helps you quickly start new drawings that conform to standards.

DRAW EFFICIENTLY
With manual drafting, you use drawing tools that include pencils, scales,
compasses, parallel rules, templates, and erasers. Repetitive drawing and editing
tasks must be done manually.

In CAD, you can choose from a variety of drawing tools that create lines, circles,
spline curves, and more. You can easily move, copy, offset, rotate, and mirror
objects. You can also copy objects between open drawings.

DRAW ACCURATELY
With manual drafting, you must draw objects carefully to ensure correct size and
alignment. Objects drawn to scale must be manually verified and dimensioned.

With CAD, you can use several methods to obtain exact dimensions. The simplest
method is to locate points by snapping to an interval on a rectangular grid. Another
method is to specify exact coordinates. Coordinates specify a drawing location by
indicating a point along an X and Y axis or a distance and angle from another point.

With object snaps, you can snap to locations on existing objects, such as an
endpoint of an arc, the midpoint of a line, or the center point of a circle. With polar
tracking, you can snap to previously set angles and specify distances along those
angles.
VIEW YOUR DRAWING
With manual drafting, the size and resolution of your drawing is fixed.

With CAD, the size and resolution of your drawing can be changed as needed. To
do detailed work, you can increase display size by zooming in. You can zoom out to
display more of the drawing. To move to another section of a drawing, you pan the
drawing without changing magnification. You can zoom and pan to create the best
working conditions. This can be invaluable when working on large and detailed
drawings, such as this health spa plan.

CREATE DIMENSIONS AND TEXT

With manual drafting, if you resize any part of the drawing, you must erase and then
redraw the dimensions. Changing text can often involve re-lettering the whole
drawing.

With CAD, you create associative dimensions and text on the layout in paper space.
Associative dimensions are tied to the underlying model. Changes to the model
automatically update the dimension values. Standard types of dimensions include
linear, radial, ordinate, angular, baseline, and more. You can easily revise the
content, font, size, spacing, and rotation of text in dimensions and notes.

MODIFY YOUR DRAWING

Revisions are a part of any drawing project. Whether you work on paper or with
CAD, you will need to modify your drawing in some way. On paper, you must erase
and redraw to make revisions to your drawing manually.

CAD eliminates tedious manual editing by providing a variety of editing tools. If you
need to copy all or part of an object, you don’t have to redraw it. If you need to
remove an object, you can erase it with a few clicks of the mouse. And if you make
an error, you can quickly undo your actions. Once you draw an object, you never
need to redraw it. You can modify existing objects by mirroring, rotating, scaling,
stretching, trimming, and more. You can also change object properties, such as
linetype, lineweight, color, and layer, at any time.
DISADVANTAGES OF CAD DRAWING /
DRAFTING
In my experience and opinion, rather advantages, CAD drafting does not have any
disadvantages to expose except one - the affordability of software.

1. Most popular CAD software like AutoCad, ProgeCAD, Microstation are high
priced for individuals. Alternatively, individuals can try free opensource CAD
drafting software QCAD, LibreCAD and OpenSCAD.

2. Every new release of the CAD software, operator has to update their skills.

3. Improper use of blocks and layers make updating and modification of the
drawings a cumbersome task for another person.