1. List FIVE(5) advantages of using CAD compared to conventional methods.

[CLO1]

1) Increase in the productivity of the designer: The CAD software helps designer in
visualizing the final product that is to be made, it subassemblies and the constituent parts.
The product can also be given animation and see how the actual product will work, thus
helping the designer to immediately make the modifications if required. CAD software helps
designer in synthesizing, analyzing, and documenting the design. All these factors help in
drastically improving the productivity of the designer that translates into fast designing, lower
designing cost and shorter project completion times.

2) Improve the quality of the design: With the CAD software the designing professionals
are offered large number of tools that help in carrying out thorough engineering analysis of
the proposed design. The tools also help designers to consider large number of investigations.
Since the CAD systems offer greater accuracy, the errors are reduced drastically in the
designed product leading to better design. Eventually, better design helps carrying out
manufacturing faster and reducing the wastages that could have occurred because of the
faulty design.

3) Better communications: The next important part after designing is making the drawings.
With CAD software better and standardized drawings can be made easily. The CAD software
helps in better documentation of the design, fewer drawing errors, and greater legibility.

4) Creating documentation of the designing: Creating the documentation of designing is

one of the most important parts of designing and this can be made very conveniently by the
CAD software. The documentation of designing includes geometries and dimensions of the
product, its subassemblies and its components, material specifications for the components,
bill of materials for the components etc.

5) Creating the database for manufacturing: When the creating the data for the
documentation of the designing most of the data for manufacturing is also created like
products and component drawings, material required for the components, their dimensions,
shape etc.

2. List the hardware for a CAD system. [CLO1]

a) Microsoft Windows XP (Professional, Home Edition, or Tablet PC Edition), Windows
2000
b) 512 MB RAM (minimum)
c) 500 MB free disk space
d) 1024x768 VGA with true colour (minimum)
e) Mouse or other pointing device

4. What is the function of SNAP, GRID, ORTHO, and OSNAP? [CLO1]

SNAP - Snap mode takes AutoCAD one step further than the drawing board. With Snap
mode turned on AutoCAD only allows you to pick points which lie on a regular grid. The
Snap grid is completely independent of the display grid. However, the Grid spacing and Snap
spacing are usually set to the same value to avoid confusion. You can force the display grid to
conform with the snap grid by setting the display grid spacing to zero. The display grid will
then automatically change each time the snap grid is changed. When Snap mode is turned on
and the Grid is displayed, the Snap and Grid spacings are the same and the crosshairs will
jump from one grid point to another as you move across the screen. This makes it very easy
to draw objects which have a regular shape. The Snap command is used to set the snap
spacing and to toggle Snap mode.
GRID - The drawing grid is a regular pattern of dots displayed on the screen which acts as a
visual aid, it is the equivalent of having a sheet of graph paper behind your drawing on a
drawing board. You can control the grid spacing, so it can give you a general idea about the
size of drawn objects. It can also be used to define the extent of your drawing. See, Setting
Grid Limits, for more details.
ORTHO - Ortho is short for orthogonal, which means either vertical or horizontal. Like the
other options on the status bar, Ortho is not really a command, it is a drawing mode which
can either be turned on or off. Ortho mode can be toggled on or off in one of three ways. The
quickest way is just to click on the ORTHO button on the status bar. The appearance of the
button tells you whether Ortho is currently turned on or turned off. When Ortho is turned on,
the ORTHO button appears pressed in. You can see how this appears by looking at the status
bar illustration below. In the illustration, Ortho is turned on but Grid and Snap are turned off.
OSNAP-The Object Snaps (Osnaps for short) are drawing aids which are used in conjunction
with other commands to help you draw accurately. Osnaps allow you to snap onto a specific
object location when you are picking a point. For example, using Osnaps you can accurately
pick the end point of a line or the center of a circle. Osnaps in AutoCAD are so important that
you cannot draw accurately without them. For this reason, you must develop a good
understanding of what the Osnaps are and how they work.