OVERVIEW OF CAD/CAM

What is CAD?

CAD if often defined in a variety of ways and includes a large range of activities. Very broadly it can be said to be the
integration of computer science (or software) techniques in engineering design. At one end when we talk of modeling,
iIt encompasses the following:

Use of computers (hardware & software) for designing products

Numerical method, optimizations etc.

2D/3D drafting

3D modeling for visualization

Modeling curves, surfaces, solids, mechanism, assemblies, etc.

The models thus developed are first visualized on display monitors using avariety of techniques including wire frame
displa, shaded image display, hidden surface removed display and so on. Once the designer is satisfied, these
models are then used for various types of analysis / applications. thus, at the other end it includes a number of
analysis activities. These could be:

Stress (or deflection) analysis, i.e. numerical methods meant for estimating the behaviour of an artifact with
respect to these parameters. It includes tools like the Finite Element Method (FEM).

Simulation of actual use

Optimization

Other applications like

o

CAD/CAM integration

Process planning

These are activities which normally use models developed using one or more of the techniques mentioned above.
These activities are often included in other umbrellas like CAM or CAE. A term often used is CAx to include this broad
set of activities. They all use CAD models and often the kind of application they have to be used ina determines the
kind of amodel to be developed. Hence, in this course I cover them under the umbrella of CAD. In this course we will
strive to give an overview of modelling techniques followed by some applications, specifically CAM.
Thus there are three aspects to CAD.

Modeling

Display/ Visualization

Applications

MODELING
Modelling typically includes a set of activities like

Defining objects

Defining relation between objects

Defining properties of objects

Defining the orientations of the objects in suitable co-ordinate systems

Modification of existing definition (editing)

The figure below explains what a typical CAD model would need to define, what kind of entities need to be defined
and what relationships exist between them.

At the highest level we have the volume which is defined by (or "delimited by") a set of surfaces. These surfaces can
be either planar or curved / warped. A planar surface can be bounded by a set of curves. A curved surface can be
seen as a net of curves. These curves are typically a succession of curve segemnts which define the complete the
curve. The curve segment is defined using a set of end points / control points which govern the nature of the curve.
Thus a relation ship is defined between entities at each level.
Once such a relationship is defined, a geometric model of the artifact is available. In any design there might be
manysuch artifacts. One then has to define properties of each of these artifacts and define a relationship between
them. The properties and the relationships needed are dependant on the application the model is to be used for
subsequently. But one common application that all models have to go through is visualization of the model (s).
DISPLAY / VISUALIZATION

Displaying the model requires the following:

Mapping objects onto screen coordinates: Models are typically made in a model coordinate system. this
could be the world coordinate system, or a coordinate system local to the object. these coordinate systems
are typically three dimensional in nature. To display the object on a 2D screen, the object coordinates need
to be mapped on to the 2D coordinate system of the screen. This requires two steps:
o

Viewing transformations: The coordinates of the object are transformed in a manner as if one is
looking at the object through the screen. This coordinate system is referred to as the viewing
coordinate system.

Projections: The object in the viewing coordinate system is then projected onto the two dimensional
plane of the screen.

Surface display or shading / rendering: In displaying the objects on the screen one often likes to get a
shaded display of the object and get a good feel of the three dimensional shape of the object. This requires
special techniques to render the surface based on its shape, lighting conditions and its texture.

Hidden line removal when multiple surfaces are displayed: In order to get a proper feel of the three
dimensional shape of an object, one often desires that the lines / surfaces which are not visible should not
be displayed. this is referred to as hidden line / surface removal.

Once a model is visualized on the screen and approved by the conceptual designer, it has to go through a number of
analysis. Some of the kinds of usage this model might have to go through are the following:

Estimating stresses / strains / deflections in the objects under various static loading conditions

Estimating the same under dynamic loading conditions

Visualizing how a set of objects connected together would move when subject to external loading. This
leads to a whole set of activities under simulation. These activities would vary depend upon the application
the object is to be subject to.

Optimizing the objects for

Developing 2D engineering drawings of the object

Developing a process plan of the object

Manufacturing the object using NC / CNC machines and generating the programs for these machines so as
to manufacture these objects.

Having given the overview of the kind of activties that can come under the umbrella of CAD the uses these CAD
models can be put to, I know highlight what aspects of these would be covered in this course. Needless to say, all
these activities would be well beyond the scope of one single course. Therefore this course, which is targeted to give
an overview of CAD and its applications would include the following:
1.

An overview of the hardware systems used in CAD

2.

2D and 3D transformations used to shift between coordinate systems

3.

Projection transformation used to get the object in screen coordinate systems

4.

Modeling of curves and surfaces

5.

Modeling of solids

BASIC TRANSFORMATION

Animation are produced by moving the 'camera' or the objects in a scene along animation
paths. Changes in orientation, size and shape are accomplished with geometric
transformations that alter the coordinate descriptions of the objects. The basic geometric
transformations are translation, rotation, and scaling. Other transformations that are often
applied to objects include reflection and shear.

Use of transformations in CAD

In mathematics, "Transformation" is the elementary term used for a variety of operation
such as rotation, translation, scaling, reflection, shearing etc. CAD is used throughout the
engineering process from conceptual design and layout, through detailed engineering and
analysis of components to definition of manufacturing methods. Every aspect of modeling in
CAD is dependent on the transformation to view model from different directions we need to
perform rotation operation. To move an object to a different location translation operation is
done. Similarly Scaling operation is done to resize the object.

Coordinate Systems
In CAD three types of coordinate systems are needed in order to input, store and display
model geometry and graphics. These are the Model Coordinate System (MCS), the World
Coordinate System (WCS) and the Screen Coordinate System (SCS).
Model Coordinate System
The MCS is defined as the reference space of the model with respect to which all the model
geometrical data is stored. The origin of MCS can be arbitrary chosen by the user.

World Coordinate System

As discussed above every object have its own MCS relative to which its geometrical data is
stored. Incase of multiple objects in the same working space then there is need of a World
Coordinate System which relates each MCS to each other with respect to the orientation of
the WCS. It can be seen by the picture shown below.

Screen Coordinate System

In contrast to the MCS and WCS the Screen Coordinate System is defined as a two
dimensional device-dependent coordinate system whose origin is usually located at the
lower left corner of the graphics display as shown in the picture below. A transformation
operation from MCS coordinates to SCS coordinates is performed by the software before
displaying the model views and graphics.

Viewing Transformations
As discussed that the objects are modeled in WCS, before these object descriptions can be
projected to the view plane, they must be transferred to viewing coordinate system. The
view plane or the projection plane, is set up perpendicular to the viewing zv axis. The World
coordinate positions in the scene are transformed to viewing coordinates, then viewing

coordinates are projected onto the view plane.

The transformation sequence to align WCS with Viewing Coordinate System is.
1. Translate the view reference point to the origin of the world coordinate system.
2. Apply rotations to align

xv, yv, and zv with the world xw, yw and zw axes, respectively.

TRANSLATION
A translation is applied to an object by repositioning it along a straight line path from one
coordinate location to another. We translate a two-dimensional point by adding translation
distances, tx and ty, to the original coordinate position (x,y) to move the point to a new
position

(x',y')

The translation distance pair

(tx, ty) is called translation vector or shift vector

Matrix representation of translation

This allows us to write the two-dimensional translation equations in the matrix form:

ROTATION

A two-dimensional rotation is applied to an object by repositioning it along a circular path in

the x-y plane. When we generate a rotation we get a rotation angle () and the position
about which the object is rotated (xr , yr) this is known as rotation point or pivot point.
The transformation can also be described as a rotation about rotation axis that is
perpendicular to x-yplane and passes through the pivot point. Positive values for the
rotation angle define counter-clockwise rotations about the pivot point and the negative
values rotate objects in the clockwise direction.

SCALING
Scaling is a kind of transformation in which the size of an object is changed. Remember the
change is size does no mean any change in shape. This kind of transformation can be
carried out for polygons by multiplying each coordinate of the polygon by the scaling
factor. Sx and Sy which in turn produces new coordinate of (x,y) as (x',y'). The equation
would look like

or

here S represents the scaling matrix.

NOTE: If the values of scaling factor are greater than 1 then the object is enlarged and if it
is less that 1 it reduces the size of the object. Keeping value as 1 does not changes the
object.

Uniform Scaling: To achieve uniform scaling the values of scaling factor must be kept
equal.
Differential Scaling: Unequal or Differential scaling is produce incases when values for
scaling factor are not equal.
As per usual phenomenon of scaling an object moves closer to origin when the values of
scaling factor are less than 1. To prevent object from moving or changing its position while
is scaling we can use a point that is would be fixed to its position while scaling which is
commonly referred as fixed point (xf yf).

REFLECTION

Reflection is nothing more than a rotation of the object by 180o. In case of reflection the
image formed is on the opposite side of the reflective medium with the same size. Therefore
we use the identity matrix with positive and negative signs according to the situation
respectively.
The reflection about the

x-axis can be shown as:

The reflection about the

y-axis can be shown as:

REFLECTION ABOUT A ORIGIN

x and y coordinates are flipped then the reflection produced is relative to an

axis that is perpendicular to x-yplane and that passes through the coordinate origin. This
When both the

transformation is referred as a reflection relative to coordinate origin and can be

represented using the matrix below.

REFLECTION ABOUT AN ARBITRARY LINE

Reflection about any line y= mx + c can be accomplished with a combination of translaterotate-reflect transformations.
Steps are as follows
1. Translate the working coordinate system (WCS) so that the line passes through the
origin.
2. Rotate the WCS such that one of the coordinate axis lies onto the line.
3. Reflect about the aligned axis
4. Restore the WCS back by using the inverse rotation and translation transformation.

REFLECTION ABOUT AN ARBITRARY POINT

As seen in the example above, to reflect any point about an arbitrary point P (x,y) can be
accomplished by translate-reflect transformation i.e. the origin is first translated to the the
arbitrary point and then the reflection is taken about the origin. And finally the origin is
translated back to its original position.
The whole process can be visualized using the animation below.