Verein Deutscher Ingenieure

3D product modelling - Technical and organizational requirements - Procedures, tools, and applications - Cost-effective practical use
 N VDI 2209

Annotation

Introduction

CAD (computer-aided design) first became available in Europe during the mid-1970s. Initially – in Germany roughly up until the mid-1990s – 2D CAD applications were considerably more widespread than 3D applications (by 85 % to 15 % [66]).

Designers only worked with 3D CAD, if at all, in a number of specialized fields – primarily in areas of application involving geometrically and/or structurally complex products and the technologies required for manufacturing these products (for example, vehicle body construction, aircraft construction, plant and equipment manufacturing, tool- and die-making).

In the 1990s a changeover from 2D to 3D CAD got underway [72; 73; 75] across all industries and fields of application – and is still in progress today. In a survey conducted by the VDMA in 2002 it emerged that 79 % of those asked were already using 3D CAD for product modelling while with 77 % 2D systems were still being used in parallel. 77 % of those asked were using CAD parts libraries, 44 % FEM systems. EDM/ PDM systems for managing the product data were in service with 33 % and project management systems with 35 %. Polls conducted in 1999 by the authors of the present guideline indicated that as many as 25% of the companies questioned (in most cases mediumsized) used 3D CAD exclusively, another 35 % used a 3D tool in some cases and only 32 % were still working exclusively in two dimensions.

On the one hand this has to do with the advances in CAD technology itself. Systems are becoming more and more powerful (for example, solid modelling is virtually a standard feature) and are easier to use while the trend in prices is still downward.