It’s a new frontier of the computer-aided design (CAD) world! Virtual prototyping now offers today’s CAD technicians the chance to model and visualize a system as well as simulate how the system would behave in the real world.
If you pursue CAD training, this kind of technology will let you test everything from mechanical component parts to the structural integrity of architectural designs—with all the real-world testing benefits and none of the real-world building costs.
Kent Wedeking, a mechanical design engineer with Fastek International Ltd., says virtual prototyping technology is revolutionary because it lets CAD technicians “look at the whole system.” It’s now possible for them to design projects that include mechanical information and motion capabilities at faster rates than ever before.
Are you ready to break into this rapidly growing industry? Prepare for your own future by learning about how today’s CAD graduates build virtual prototypes.
1. Defining and Understanding Components of a Design
The virtual prototyping skills you’ll learn in CAD courses can be applied to a wide range of industries, all with career options for CAD technicians. You may find yourself working to design parts for automotive brands, shipbuilding companies, transport firms, and even the aerospace industry. While the applications of virtual prototyping are endless, every project you embark on will begin in the same simple way.
You’ll start by laying out the particular scope and user requirements a project needs to meet. These requirements should be as specific as possible. Let’s say you’re designing a car part. As a CAD professional, you’ll need to ask a few key questions: What is its intended function? What design preferences has your client voiced? What are the goals of this design project? Know your objectives and stick to them!
Once the preliminary design plan is validated by your clients or trusted CAD peers, you’ll be able to get to work creating the various components, like individual geometric shapes, through AutoCAD software.
2. Producing and Combining the Design’s Individual Parts
CAD professionals consider every component of their designs, like pieces of a puzzle, before ultimately combining them into one virtual prototype.
This is done by creating 3D computer-generated geometrical shapes (known to CAD professionals simply as “parts”), a task AutoCAD schools prepare students for in the early stages of their training. To turn the parts into a virtual prototype, they are combined into layers of the same design, in a process referred to as assembly. Once assembled as a 3D model on screen, CAD technicians can test their designs by simulating the real-world ways in which the model would be used and manipulated.
This process of assembling individual parts lets CAD technicians optimize them for different mechanical motions, fit, and function. Once your virtual prototype is assembled and functioning as intended, it will is ready for testing.
3. Adjusting Designs Accordingly, With Knowledge Learned in CAD Courses
Once a virtual prototype is made, a CAD technician is conduct tests on the prototype via AutoCAD software. They can explore various options for design variations, testing and refining until system performance is optimized. The process of prototyping, testing, analyzing, and refining is called iterative design.
At the end of the iterative design process, CAD technicians pass their prototypes along to peers in the engineering and construction industries. These professionals can then start writing in and testing control software, realistic torque and force data, and any other mechanical or electrical considerations that need making before the prototype is ready for the real world.
As an innovator, virtual prototyping will be part of the process that allows you to bring your creations into spaces where they’ll be constructed, used, or lived-in by members of your community.
Are you interested in enrolling in CAD designing courses?
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