Can anyone tell me the importance of AutoCAD and how its differ from 3D modeling software drafting?
the various types of companies use Autocad and any one 3d modeling software so why is need more important..
2 Answers
The main difference is that AutoCAD is a general computer-aided design and drafting software used to create precise 2D and 3D drawings. 3D modeling software allows the user to do everything they could with 2D CAD Drafting but add a 3D rendering aspect to the project itself.
AutoCAD is used for engineering drawing where one can draw ortho or iso drawing with dimensions whereas 3-D CAD is used for modeling which gives u a visualization of your end product.
Autocad is for 2D.
Inventor, Solidworks CATIA, and similar programs are for 3D.
AutoCAD has some 3D modeling capabilities. It has from nearly the beginning and still does. At one time it was the flagship 3D modeler from Autodesk. Mechanical Designer, later renamed Mechanical Desktop, was an application that used AutoCAD as the core software. It was a very capable 3d solid modeling platform that was, at the time, maybe even better than most other 3d solid modeler programs. Mechanical desktop was dropped about 10 years ago in favor of Autodesk Inventor. Which is now Autodesks current flagship 3d modeler. AutoCAD still has those core 3d solid capabilities. They’re just much more difficult to use because Autodesk dropped the tools to use them.
With all that said, AutoCAD is a mature product that does an excellent job of 2d design and drafting. It has verylimited capabilities in 3 dimensions. So limited that nobody should even consider using it for 3d solids in a professional environment or where efficient productivity is required.
Inventor, like Solidworks and other dedicated 3D solid model programs is really the only way to effectively produce 3D solid models. While it creates excellent 2D drawings from the 3d models, it has rather poor dedicated 2D drafting capabilities. It maintains reasonable cross platform compatibility with AutoCAD for sharing and reusing data. But it was designed from the very beginning as a 3d platform. Whereas AutoCAD was 2D from the beginning with some 3D capabilities added later on.
