3D or 2D design for an engineer, which is better?
The most popular program for engineers is Autocad. Autocad is used at most enterprises to some extent. But autocad is a program primarily for 2D design, that is for creating flat drawings. (By and large, the autocad is nothing more than an electronic culmination), 3D modeling in autocade is weakly expressed. The use of a three-dimensional auto-cad in the field of engineering in factories I have not met. Three-dimensional autocad is better used in the design of buildings or furniture.
In this way, many engineers now still only paint in the auto-cadre, especially the older generation. In addition, many enterprises now have archives with drawings in dwg format. At the same time, no doubt everyone says that the future is for 3D engineering and that it is good. However, they continue to draw in the autocade. Most enterprises use both 2D and 3D design programs, who likes what, but can not refuse from the auto cadence.
But 3D modeling programs such as solidworks, autodesk inventor, NX are used only to create 3D models (Type to rotate, look at the model and that's it) In the best case, the 3D model is used for strength calculations. To create a paper 2D drawing, take the necessary parts from the 3D model and convert it to the same autocad, and in it already perform the old-fashioned nonparametrized drawing, not related to anything else with the 3D model.
But this is not the right approach. And I think that you can not break the created 3D model and its 2D drawing (dy the way, you can order 2D design there: ). This I understood after I started making drawings in the inventor program. When you change the 3D model, the 2D drawing also changes. Thus, 3D modeling programs control the engineer from errors, which can not be said about autocad.
However, is it worth it in this case to abandon the auto-cadence? And then I think a lot depends on the specifics of the enterprise. Since there is a production where in 3D to design by and large there is nothing. For example, when cutting sheet metal on laser cutting machines (unless you need to calculate a metal scan). Or other flat designs.
Advantages of 3D designing:
- The main advantage is that you can visually see the projected model. In particular, it is convenient for large, complex assemblies;
- Another advantage is that from the model it is easy to get the necessary views and cuts to create a drawing;
- You can also easily calculate the volume, mass and other physical parameters of the projected part. You can also use the created model to calculate for strength;
- 3D CAD programs are parametric, so you can easily change and edit the finished model in them.