Computer-aided design (CAD) is fast-paced and ever-evolving. At the forefront of this industry and its changes is the AutoCAD software company, a trusted leader in CAD development whose products you’ll find in every successful CAD technician’s toolbox.
CAD professionals use AutoCAD to bring their design visions to life, with precise, interactive, and state-of-the-art digital drafting tools like the 3D-modelling Fusion 360 program. If you’d like to become a CAD technician, but you’re unfamiliar with this kind of software, check out this video to see what Fusion 360 is all about:
The newest version of AutoCAD Fusion 360 does all this and even more, offering new and exciting ways for students and professionals to improve their designs, manage their projects, and communicate their visions to their clients.
Here is a quick guide to some of Fusion 360’s newest updates, and how they’re set to impact future CAD careers like yours.
Update 1: Enhancing CAD Courses with Better ‘Iterative Design’
In CAD, iteration is essentially a new draft or reworking of a designer’s particular project. For example, an architectural project’s first iteration may involve weight-bearing pillars, while its next iteration may see the pillars swapped for a wall. But what if they decide later that the pillars were a better option? They might have to digitally tear down the wall and rebuild the pillars from scratch.
The current Fusion 360 offers “iterative design” – the option to build upon an iteration without entirely replacing it, or having to start from the beginning. The software now includes an interactive “design timeline,” where designers can revisit and work with any iteration of the particular project throughout its chronological history. This means those who pursue CAD courses today are offered an all-new, better and sleeker way of visualizing and customizing their design process.
Update 2: Taking CAD Technician Careers to the Cloud
“The company has realized that to serve our customers better, we have to get ahead of and embrace how changes are happening,” says Kevin Schneider, Fusion 360’s director of product development. He believes the Cloud will be integral to the future of CAD, especially when it comes to collaborative projects.
Whereas before Fusion 360 designs could only be saved and stored in the Cloud, new updates let CAD technicians access the Cloud to collaborate and work on the same projects from separate workstations (whether the workstations are in different offices, time zones, or even countries).
AutoCAD technicians can work simultaneously and remotely on a project.
This Cloud-based software quite simply speeds up the design process of every CAD technician career professional, allowing software developers and designers to collaborate and deliver their creations at a pace that wouldn’t be feasible otherwise. Users can work on projects simultaneously, seeing each other’s changes and suggestions in real-time and moving forward with greater ease and speed.
Update 3: Helping CAD Technicians Impress Clients with Animation and Simulation
“Millennial clients are more inclined to buy aesthetics, so styling is seeping into every stage of companies’ product development efforts,” Schneider explains.
Fusion 360’s new animation and simulation enhancements can show clients and engineers how elements of the project come apart and fit together, and realistic projections of the final product. They also help CAD technicians foresee and avoid any structural issues and identify flaws before prototyping.
Smaller but still noteworthy updates to this Fusion 360 release are added keyboard shortcuts, enhanced features for the 2D drawing space, and the ability to apply new patterns to design components. With AutoCAD software more advanced and accessible than ever before, there’s no better time to begin a CAD career of your own.
Are you interested in mastering these skills to become an AutoCAD technician?
Visit Digital School for more information or to speak with an advisor.
