CAD HISTORY

CAD HISTORY BY PRAMIT :-Some time ago, CAD was created. Then there was gaming. It was good. Now it is today. There is probably some gaming going on today. If there is, it is good. A very brief history of CAD development is listed 1. 1940s - First digital computer developed 2. 1950s - Commercial computers become available 3. 1955 - CRTs begin being used in military projects 4. 1957 - APT II (Automatic Programmed Tool) developed for generating NC control. Automated NC used in industry. 5. 1959 - Stromberk Carlson develops a system to interpret graphics on tape, then output them to a screen, or print on special paper 6. 1963 - Ivan Sutherland presents a paper on "Sketchpad" which allows interactive graphics 7. 1965 - Lockheed introduces a CAD/CAM system, and a FEM system. McDonnell introduces CADD 8. 1966 - Business world sees Wall Street Journal title "Electronic Sketching; Engineers Focus on Screen to Design Visually via Computer;

Keyboard Enlarges, Rotates `Drawings'; Lockheed, GM Enthusiastic About Uses" 9. 1971 - David Prince writes first book on computer graphics 10. 1975 - ICAM (Integrated Computer Aided Manufacturing) project is begun by US Airforce 11. 1976 - Color raster graphics technology begins to develop. 12. 1979 - Development of IGES begins 13. 1980 - Introduction of PCs revolutionizes all markets 14. 15. 1980s - Solid Modeling on UNIX 1990s - Solid Modeling on low end systems

26 years ago, nearly every drawing produced in the world was done with pencil or ink on paper. Minor
changes meant erasing and redrawing while major changes often meant recreating the drawing from the scratch. If a change to one drawing affected other documents you were dependent upon having someone manually recognize the need to make the changes to the other drawings and to do so.

CAD has fundamentally changed the way design is done.

The first graphic system was in mid 1950 the US Air Force's SAGE ( Semi Automatic Ground Environment) air defense system. The system was developed at Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Lincoln Laboratory. The system involved the use of CTR displays to show computer-processed radar data and other information. Dr. Patrick J. Hanratty known as "the Father of CADD/CAM" for his pioneering contributions to the field of computer-aided design and manufacturing, developed in 1957 PRONTO, the first commercial numerical-control programming system. In 1959 the CalComp company is founded. In 1960, Ivan Sutherland used TX-2 computer produced at MIT's Lincoln Laboratory to produce a project called SKETCHPAD, which is considered the first step to CAD industry.

Bill Barnes established in his garage in Denver on 15 January 1962, Auto-trol and manufactureed the first product, a digitizer. Mr. Barnes named the company Auto-trol as a shortened version of automated control, which he had given to a product he developed in the 1950s. Parallel projects were developed at ITEK and General Motors. The ITEK project was called The Electronic Drafting Machine and used PDP-1 computer from Digital Equipment Corp., a vector -refresh display and a large disk memory device used to refresh the graphic display. Inputs commands were done with an electronic light pen. While at General Motors Research Laboratories in the 1960s, Dr. Hanratty was a co-designer of DAC (Design Automated by Computer), the first production interactive graphics manufacturing system. In 1960 McDonnell Douglas Automation Company (McAuto) founded. It will play a major role on CAD developments with the introduction of CADD program. The first Computer-Aided Design programs used simple algorithms to display patterns of lines at first in two dimensions, and then in 3-D. Early work in this direction had been produced by Prof. Charles Eastman at Carnegie-Mellon University, the Building Description System is a library of several hundred thousands architectural elements, which can be assembled and drawn on screen into a complete design concept. In 1962, SLS Environectics in Chicago began development of the Man-Mac machine, intended to draft plans for interior office space. In mid 1960 large computers characterized the period, vector display terminals and software development done in assembly language. The only significant attempt to create a commercially CAD system was Control Data Corporation's Digigraphics division, a successor to the previously mentioned ITEK. The system costs half million dollars and were sold in few units. In March 1965 Donald Welbourn heard a lecture to the Engineering Society by Strachey of the Mathematical Laboratory (now the Department of Computer Science) on the early work at MIT on Computer Aided Design (CAD). He was so fascinated by this that the following morning he caught the Head of the Cambridge University Engineering Department, Prof. J.F.Baker (later the Lord Baker of Trumpington) in the tearoom, told him about it, and said that we must get started in this field. Baker was enthusiastic, and by the end of the year, the Science Research Council had awarded Baker and Welbourn a grant of 65,000 with which to start work on CAD. Initially work was done on the PDP11 graphics computer and a joint team was formed under the leadership of C.A.Lang. The first research student was A.R.Forrest, who tackled the problem of how to define the blended intersection of two cylinders. The conceptual breakthrough of defining objects in terms of 3D reference lines, analogous to the draughtsman's centre line, together with cross-sections normal to them, was produced by S.Matthews, seconded by the Ford Motor Co. 1967 Dr. Jason R Lemon founds SDRC in Cincinnati. In 1968 Donald Welbourn, now the Director in Industrial Co-Operation at Cambridge University, had the vision to see the possibility of using computers to assist pattern makers to solve the problems of modelling difficult 3D shapes. Today we take for granted 3D modelling, in 1968 only crude 2D drawing systems were available using terminals linked to large main frame computers. Initial work was sponsored by Ford but finding money to support the development was a constant

problem for Donald Welbourn. Only six years later he managed to obtain sponsorship from Control Data in Germany, and Delta Engineering Group. Control Data offered DUCT initially as a bureau services, especially to two of its largest German customers Volkswagen and Daimler Benz. David Evans and Ivan Sutherland founded in 1968 Evans and Sutherland. Dr. Hanratty founded United Computing in 1969. In the same year MAGI company is founded and releases Syntha Vision considered by many to be the first commercial solid modeler program.

In 1969 were founding Computervision and Applicon companies. Computervision was created to produce systems for production drafting and in the same year it sold the first commercial CAD system to Xerox.

Several other companies began to offer automated design/drafting systems in early 70s. Applicon was more a research-oriented company. In the mid 80s it was acquired by Schlumberger and then merged with MDSI which Schlumberger had acquired earlier. Calma was originally a manufacturer of digitizer used in mapping and integrated circuit manufacturing, and starts to move to the graphic industry at the same time. In mid 80s Calma was acquired by General Electric and then sold to Prime Computer. In 1973, the Hillman Trust purchased Auto-trol. That same year, Auto-trol emerged as a pioneer in the fledgling CAD industry by announcing Auto-Draft, one of the first turnkey graphics systems available. . There was also a significant amount of internal development at major automotive and aerospace firms like General Motors, Ford, Chrysler and Lockheed, which work hard, on CADAM. In 1970 M&S Computing founded (later becomes Intergraph). At the beggining it was a consulting firm that supported government agencies in using digital technology. Among these technologies were application-oriented user interfaces that communicated with users in the language of their applications, rather than in programming terminology. The first Intergraph computer graphics system to apply these innovative computing concepts was used by the federal government for designing printed circuit boards. Meanwhile, in 1971, Donald Welbourn had become Director in Industrial Co-operation and Director of the Wolfson Cambridge Industrial Unit. He persuaded the Pye Foundation to support T.H.Gossling, a member of the Unit, in developing DUCT. Control Data had also become interested in the work, seeing it as a front end for creating Finite Element meshes. As a result of this industrial support, Welbourn, had been able in 1974 to get a grant from it for Dr.R.B.Morris and Dr.J.Matthewman to continue developing DUCT. The Science Research Council had said that this work was no longer research, while industry was saying that a lot more development was required. Faced with a potential disaster vis--vis the DTI, Welbourn took the direction of the work back into his own hands. and started systematically to test the programs, and the instruction manuals. This resulted in a quality of handbook which was partly responsible for VW and Daimler-Benz taking licenses for DUCT, since they said that they had never seen such clear instructions produced by any firm, let alone by a university. Welbourn never did any of the programming in connection with the work, but made it his job to set targets for what needed to be done, to get money and to get able staff to do the work. In the early stages of the work, up to the oil crisis of 1973, he had got a dozen or so firms to second men to work

with the team in Cambridge, thus enabling the firms to get experience of CAD without having to find the capital for a dedicated computer. MCS was founded in 1971 by Dr. Patrick J. Hanratty. Since the day it was founded in 1971, MCS has enjoyed an enviable reputation for technological leadership in mechanical CADD/CAM software. In addition to selling products under its own name, in its early years MCS also supplied the CADD/CAM software used by such companies as McDonnell Douglas (Unigraphics), Computervision (CADDS), AUTOTROL (AD380), and Control Data (CD-2000) as the core of their own products. In fact, industry analysts have estimated that 70% of all the 3-D mechanical CADD/CAM systems available today trace their roots back to MCS's original code. The company's first product, ADAM (Automated Drafting and Machining), was released in 1972, ran on 16-bit computers, and was one of the first commercially available mechanical design packages. In 1972 the CUED was able to obtain two 3-axis n/c machine tools with a DTI grant to help the m/c tool industry, thus enabling the work in CAD to be expanded into CAM. One of these, a Hayes milling machine, went onto the firm's stand at the Machine Tool Exhibition at Olympia that Autumn, and thanks to a sterling effort by P.J.Payne, a jug-like object, was cut on the stand. This was probably the first ever public demonstration of 3-D CADCAM at a machine tool exhibition. 1972: The earliest Intergraph (M&S Computing) terminal was designed to create and display graphic information. Composed of unaltered stock parts from various vendors, the terminals consisted of a single-screen Tektronix 4014 display terminal with an attached keyboard and an 11-inch by 11-inch "menu" tablet that provided the operator with a selection of drawing commands. By the end of 1973 and the beginning of 1974 a number of firms had paid the WCIU to make simple tools for them. These were probably the first industrial tools, other than those for automobile bodies, to be made using CADCAM. They were both programmed by T.H.Gossling, and made in the CUED workshop. In 1974 the first commercial sale of an M&S system. The system - based on a PDP central processor from Digital Equipment Corporation - ran the first version of Intergraph's original core graphics software, the Interactive Graphics Design System (IGDS), and was used for mapping applications. Electronic Data System Corporation (EDS) is founded in 1975 A major improvement was the new 19" display terminals from Tektronix in 1975, which allows to display larger drawings than the original 11" units. In 1975 Avions Marcel Dassault (AMD) purchased CADAM ( Computer-Augmented Drafting and Manufacturing) software equipment licenses from Lockheed thus becoming one of the very first CADAM customers. Early solid modeling software first started showing up in the late 70s. Taking basic geometric objects such a sphere, block, cylinders and wedges and combining them using Boolean operations such a remove a cylinder from a block to create a hole. In 1976, MCS introduced AD-2000, a design and manufacturing system for the first 32-bit computers. In 1976 United Computing, developer of the Unigraphics CAD/CAM/CAE system, acquired by Mc Donnell Douglas company.

By 1977, Avions Marcel Dassault assigned its engineering team the goal of creating a threedimensional, interactive program, the forerunner of CATIA ( Computer-Aided Three-Dimensional Interactive Application). Its major advance over CADAM was that all-important third dimension. While CADAM automated the existing world of two-dimension engineering, essentially drafting and calculation with roots in descriptive plane geometry, CATIA lifted Dassault engineers into the world of 3-D modeling, removing the possibility of misinterpreting two-dimensional data and generating a host of immediate benefits. In 1977 a new department called Delta Technical Services was formed at Cambridge University to continue research in CAD, but it remained difficult to justify the technology as computers were slow and expensive and the available software had few automatic features and was difficult to use. In 1978, Computervision introduced the first CAD terminal using raster display technology. In the late 70s, Computervision made a costly decision to build their own computer system. Once the new 32-bit systems replaced the old systems, Computervision was no more on the first line and switched to Sun Microcomputers. Finally it was acquired by Prime. In 1978 the Computer Graphics Newsletter, a 2 years old publication, change the owner and will become Computer Graphics World magazine. In 1979, Auto-trol became the first company to market technical publishing applications to be used to produce the complex technical illustrations needed for service manuals, parts catalogs, and engineering documentation. In 1979 Boeing, General Electric and NIST develops a neutral file format as a contract from Air Space called IGES (Initial Graphic Exchange Standard). It will become the industry standard format and the most widely accepted format for transferring complex surface information, such as NURBS curves. At the same time Cymap, an English company, starts developing HVAC and Electrical drawings software. Their major product will be CADLink. Mike and Tom Lazear who are credited with developing the first PC CAD software in 1979 At the end of 70s a typical CAD system was a 16-bit minicomputer with maximum of 512 Kb memory and 20 to 300 Mb disk storage at a price of 125,000 USD 1980 1980 1981 1981 1981 1982 T&W Systems releases Versa CAD Matra Datavision founded as part of Lagardene Group and starts producing CAD/CAM software. Dassault Systems is created. Computer graphics from Cornell University founded 3D/Eye Inc., a pioneered 3D and graphics technology. Unigraphics introduced the first solid modeling system, UniSolid. It was based on PADL-2, and was sold as a stand-alone product to Unigraphics. CATIA Version 1 is announced as an add-on product for 3D design, surface modeling and NC programming.

1982

In 1982 mini computers with much more power at less cost started to appear. This was a major step forward and by 1984 the technology began to be competitive with traditional methods. For many years aircraft had of course been designed using computers, but now it was becoming possible to economically design saucepans and other domestic products with complex 3D shapes using a computer. Autodesk was founded by sixteen people in April 1982 in California by initiative of John Walker in idea to create a CAD program for a price of $1000 to can run on PC. John Walker has been running Marinchip Systems for two years before. The first version of AutoCAD was based on a CAD program wrote in 1981 by Mike Riddle called MicroCAD, changed later in Interact. A company called P-CAD released a CAD program called CADplan. Later the product was purchased by CalComp and renamed CADVANCE. In November at COMDEX trade show in Las Vegas was demonstrated the first CAD program in the world that runs on PC. This was the initial release of AutoCAD and deliveries begun in December. Unigraphics II introduced to market Applicon introduces BRAVO! first 32-bit VAX based mechanical design/NC system The first German and French versions of AutoCAD The work has started for a new reliable and universal system of transferring data called STEP (Standard for the Exchange of Product model data ). STEP can transfer CAD data, to include complete details of product modeling including materials and various design parameters. The first generally available STEP translator was released in 1991 by EDS Unigraphics. Autodesk ships version 1.2 of AutoCAD in April, version 1.3 in August and version 1.4 in October. CoCreate Software Inc., was established in 1984 as a division of Hewlett-Packard Company with the charter to expand the scope and focus for development of computeraided design (CAD) and computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) software products. In 1996, CoCreate became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hewlett-Packard Co. and expanded its product offerings to include collaboration software solutions. DUCT development continued at Cambridge together with the small team established at Delta in Birmingham. By 1984 the Birmingham team was larger than that at Cambridge and the unique features of DUCT began to be recognised. It was one of the very few systems developed from the beginning to design and machine products. The equal emphasis on design and machining made it different to its competitors and this was appreciated by the users. Most other systems had developed 2D draughting first, followed by 3D modelling with machining added later. In 1984, a Hungarian physicist, Gabor Bajor, smuggled two Macs into his country. At the time, ownership of personal computers was illegal under Communist rule. Using Pascal, he and a teenager, Tamas Hajas worked to write a 3D CAD program for the Mac which will be the beginning of Graphsoft Company.

1982

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Drafting capabilities are added to CATIA in 1984, enabling it to function independently of CADAM. The first Autodesk Training Centre In October AutoCAD version 2 (Release 5) with text improvements, DXFIN and DXFOUT commands, new Inquire commands, Object Snap, named views, Isometric capabilities and new Attribute features. Keith Bentley founds Bentley Systems, Inc. MicroStation provides advanced computer-aided design on PC. MicroStation began as a clone of another CAD package. Originally named PseudoStation, the software developed by Bentley Systems allowed users to view IGDS drawings files without needing Intergraph's software. The next version of PseudoStation was renamed MicroStation and added the ability to edit IGDS files. After Intergraph purchased 50% of Bentley Systems, a new version of MicroStation added proprietary extensions to the IGDS and renamed it DNG.

1985

1985 1985 1985 1985 1985 1985 1985 1986

CATIA Version 2 is announced with fully integrated drafting, solid and robotics functions. CATIA becomes the aeronautical applications leader. The first CAD Camp organized by Autodesk in San Rafael, California. Autodesk sales were over $27 million this year. Peter Smith and Livingston Davies found Micro-Control Systems and releases CADKEY, the first 3D PC CAP product Diehl Graphsoft, Inc. is founded and the first version of MiniCAD is shipped in the same year. MiniCAD will become the best selling CAD program on the Macintosh. Varimetrix founded. AutoCAD version 2.1 in May with 3D capabilities and Polylines command. On January 9, Deneba Software is officially incorporated. The company sets out to address the needs of Mac users with MacLightning - the first interactive spelling checker for Mac. It debuts at MacWorld Expo in San Francisco and is an instant hit. MacLightning 2.0 ships in August as does Voila - an outline processor desk accessory.

1986

Version 2.18 of AutoCAD, launched in January, included the full AutoLISP programming language. AutoLISP is an ASCII based language of interpreted type, originally derived from a shareware Lisp implementation called Xlisp. AutoLISP extended the variables and expressions feature to let users write and store LISP programs that implement custom commands.

1986 1986

CADENCE magazine is established. Would become the world's largest independent CAD publication. Richard Sowar founded Spatial Technology which will debut officially one year later.

1986

MCS introduced ANVIL-5000, a 3-D mechanical CADD/CAM/CAE system that, for over a decade, was the most powerful, fully integrated CADD/CAM/CAE software available, running on all classes of engineering computers from high-end workstations to personal computers Dassault acquires CADAM American Small Business Company releases DesignCAD AutoCAD reaches 50,000 copies sold world wide. Caligari Corporation was founded. AutoCAD has won since 1986 "The Best CAD Product" award from PC World magazine every year for the next 10 years. AutoSketch 1.0 entry level CAD program from Autodesk. In June AutoCAD version 2.5 (Release 7) with more editing and dimensioning commands enhancements. General Motors selects Unigraphics company as a Strategic Partner Since 1987 certified national courses of study by City and Guilds of London Institute in AutoCAD has been conducted. ISICAD purchased CADVANCE and developed it into the first Windows based CAD application on the market. Deneba begins publishing its products under its own label. A software equivalent to 3M's Post-it notes, it integrates seamlessly with Excel, Word, MacWrite and most other programs. The first release of Canvas sets a new standard in graphic design by bringing together painting and drawing onto the same page for the first time ever. Varimetrix introduces one of the first PC based B-rep solid modeler. Version 2.6 of AutoCAD (in April) introduces a compiled LISP but it still required the interpreter to run it. AutoCAD Release 9 in September is the first version of AutoCAD to require an 80x87 math processor in computers based on Intel 8086 processors. All files produced by this version made compatible among all supported computers. Release 9 includes as well an Advanced User Interface incorporating a menu bar, pulldown menus, icon menus and dialog boxes. ADS (AutoCAD Development System) was introduced with release 9 for OS/2 operating system and allowed C code to be used instead of ASCII based AutoLISP. To enable C code to access AutoCAD internal data, a set of application programming interfaces (APIs) are supplied with AutoCAD. Internally AutoCAD sees an ADS application exactly the same as a LISP routine.

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1987 1987 1987

1988

Shape Data Ltd. acquired by Unigraphics for solids modeling capabilities -- Parasolid -the production-proven kernel modeling toolkit. Shape Data was developer of Romulus, Romulus-D and Parasolid applications.

Parasolid is a very powerful B-rep solid modeling kernel that allows the joining of boundaries represented surfaces together as a solid. 1988 MacLightning, from Deneba, is renamed and re-launched as Coach Professional 3.0 - a complete spelling, thesaurus, and definitions reference system. Memorandum from deneba Software, is renamed and re-launched as Comment 2.0. Canvas 2.0 ships and proves to be an potent force in the then nascent digital graphics world. This version introduced a host of innovations including: multi-point Bezier curves, unlimited layers, 32bit color, drawing precision, color separations, auto-tracing and dozens more. CATIA Version 3 is announced with AEC functionality. CATIA is ported to IBM's UNIXbased RISC System/6000 workstations. CATIA becomes the automotive applications leader Martin Newell founded Ashlar Incorporation and release Ashlar Vellum CAD software. John Walker retained from the chair to devote to full-time programming. Surfware Inc., ships the first version of SurfCAM, a CAD/CAM program. In October Autodesk ships AutoCAD Release 10, with 3D enhancements. Autodesk ships AutoSolid an add-on application for AutoCAD. Unigraphics announced commitment to UNIX and open system architecture. Pratt & Whitney selects Unigraphics as its system of choice. New, STEP-compatible Parasolid kernel modelers for 3-D modeling introduced. Parasolid integrated into Unigraphics iMAN PIM system jointly developed with Kodak 1989 Autodesk buy Generic Software and Generic CADD program. There are over 600 add-on applications for AutoCAD. 1989 1989 Acecad Software (England) ships the first version of Strucad, a high-end structural CAD program. Canvas 2.1 is released and receives the coveted Editor's Choice Award from MacUser Magazine. The first German and French versions of Canvas are released. Deneba releases UltraPaint - a powerful entry-level painting and drawing application for Macintosh. UltraPaint featured 256-color painting, the world's first vector and raster open plug-in architecture, color gradients, vector masking, image processing filters. Refinements of these technologies would all find their way into Canvas 3 some years later. Graphisoft US was established to sell and support ArchiCAD products in the US and Canada.

1988

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1989

1989
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Archway Systems is founded by Mike and Tom Lazear

Parametric Pro releases T-FLEX, the first parametric mechanical CAD program for PC. It uses a propietary 3D kernel, the Baranov kernel. Later will migrate to ACIS.

1989 1989 1990 1990 1990 1990 1990 1990 1990

CSC ships MicroCADAM, a CAD/CAM program which will become the best selling CAD product in Japan. Parametric Technology ships the first version of Pro/ENGINEER. ACIS 1.0 ships Bentley Systems announces that the installed base of MicroStation reaches 100,000. MicroStation expands to range of products McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing) chooses Unigraphics as the corporate standard for mechanical CAD/CAM/CAE Autodesk ships Animator Pro, a 2D painting and animation program for DOS. By 1993 over 15,000 copies have been sold worldwide. Visionary Design Systems Inc. is founded as an industry pioneer in solid modeling technology. Visio Corporation is founded and start producing graphics and drawings software. Autodesk ships in October AutoCAD Release 11 with network support features which allow the installation of a single copy of AutoCAD on a network server. Release 11 comes with the largest list of enhancements to date. Paper Space is used for the first time. ADS was added for use on most platforms. ADI ( Autodesk Device Interface) version 4.1 was provided primarily to facilitate optimal usage of display drivers when using Paper Space facility. Auto Shade version 2 from Autodesk is an add-on for AutoCAD 11 that allowed to shade 3D models produced with AME. Autodesk Renderman was an addition for AutoCAD 12. Intergraph was ranked No. 1 supplier of computer-aided design, manufacturing, and engineering (CAD/CAM/CAE) systems in North America and No. 2 in the world By the end of this year, Autodesk has sold 500,000 copies of AutoCAD, 300,000 copies of Generic CAD and 200,000 copies of Auto Sketch. At the time the three products were the world's top three best selling CAD programs. AutoCAD has won since 1990, "The Best CAD Product" awards from Byte magazine every year for the next 8 years. (Byte magazine started its award in 1990). Since 1991, Microsoft developed Open GL for use with Windows NT. Open GL is an API procedural software interface for producing 3D graphics and includes approximate 120 commands to draw various primitives such as points, lines, and polygons. Also includes support for shading, texture mapping, anti-aliasing, lighting and animation, atmospheric effects such as fogging and simulation of depth-of-field. Open GL, developed by Silicon Graphics, is a standard for the 3D color graphics programming and rendering.

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1991

GE Aircraft Engine and GE Power Generation select Unigraphics as their CAD/CAM system

1991 1991 1991

The Delta company, the developer of DUCT, was renamed Delcam International and changed it's status to plc (Public Limited Company). EDS acquires the Unigraphics Division, renames the company Unigraphics Solutions UG/MX for CADAM to UG migration developed in strategic initiative with Fujitsu The first Japanese version of UltraPaint ships. Canvas 3.0 is released concurrently with Apple's System 7 and takes the industry by storm. The long list of industry firsts include: support for all System 7 technologies including QuickTime, next-generation open architecture, font conversion to Bezier curves, object combinations, text on a curve, advanced typographic features, SmartMouse, SmartLines, vector gradients and much more. This quickly leads to numerous industry awards including Best Drawing program (MacUser) and Best Illustration Program (MacWeek). Canvas 3.0 goes international in a big way with the introduction of Japanese, Swedish, French, German, Italian and Spanish versions. Varimetrix Corporation ships first version of its Varimetrix CAD/CAM product. The first move of Autodesk to enter in architectural market with ArcCAD Computervision acquires Promise. Inc. Varimetrix develops a true hybrid geometric modeler and CAD system. The first AutoCAD for SUN platforms. Dassault Systems decides jointly with IBM to transfer the responsibility of CADAM to Dassault Systems of America, a company created in 1992 as a wholly owned subsidiary of Dassault Systems. IBM agrees to acquire a minority interest in Dassault Systems. Since then, CATIA and CADAM are progressively unified by merging the best technological features of both systems. First version of Visio Technical, an entry-level 2D drawing program from Visio Corporation. AIA CAD Layering Guidelines, First Edition - The document turned out to be a best seller Tri-Service CADD/GIS Technology Center Established - Based on a defense review to consolidate diverging DOD efforts Autodesk ships 3D Studio version 2 for DOS. GESTEL introduced solidThinking for OpenStep, in 1992. In June 1993, solidThinking was awarded as the best new application in the "CAD and 3D" category at NeXTWORLD EXPO held in San Francisco. Autodesk ships AutoCAD Release 12 for DOS in June. Includes AutoCAD SQL Extension (ASE)/Autodesk SQL Interface (ASI) that lets you establish links between AutoCAD and an SQL database. Advanced Modeling Extension (AME) release 2.1 is supported by Release 12, with region modeling and new solid primitives. AutoCAD Render is included with AutoCAD. Release 12 uses ADI version 4.2.

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By the end of this year over 21,000 seats of Unigraphics worldwide installed. Inc. Magazine names Deneba Software as one of America's fastest growing companies. Deneba ArtWorks succeeds UltraPaint as entry-level graphics app of choice. Canvas for Windows is introduced at Comdex in Las Vegas. The Japanese version of Deneba ArtWorks ships. Deneba takes advantage of Canvas 3.0's advanced open architecture technology and introduces three add-on products for Canvas 3 in the form of "ToolPaks." Years later, an entire industry would be created around this concept. CAM specialist mbp UNC Software GmbH (Cologne) acquired by Unigraphics Solutions. Unigraphics introduces hybrid modeling, featuring both advanced parametric and traditional constructive modeling technologies. Company becomes founding member of ProSTEP. Opel chooses Unigraphics as strategic CAD/CAM/CAE system.

1993 1993

1993

CATIA-CADAM Solutions Version 4 is announced. It significantly improves product line, robustness, open architecture, performance and ease of use. A new solutions approach repackages individual software products into ready-to-use, user-based configurations of related products. The new CATIA software family enables a company to perform several operations concurrently, such as designing in three dimensions, creating engineering drawings, analyzing a product or assembly, viewing it as a rendered image and speeding up manufacturing processes. A committee of 16 institutions and companies and SoftSource defined and developed SVF (Simple Vector Format) considered the most efficient method to work with vector based drawing files on the Internet. EDS Corporation ships Unigraphics vers. 10 with the SpaceBall 3D positioning device. Autodesk acquires MicroEngineering Solutions Autodesk ships 3D Studio version 3 for DOS. Can be used to create sophisticated animation of AutoCAD drawings. Canvas 3.5 for Windows Canvas 3.5 for Macintosh Secret work on a complete rewrite of Canvas begins. ships. ships.

1993

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John Hirschtick from Computervision founded a new CAD company called SolidWorks, Inc. The first AutoCAD (Release 12) for Windows platforms. It required 8 MB RAM and 34 MB Hard Drive space for complete installation. The Windows version of AutoCAD includes 36 icons toolbox, allows multiple AutoCAD sessions, separate Render window, support for Windows GUI, DDE and OLE, as well as Drag-and-Drop and Bird's Eye view capabilities. The AutoCAD main menu has been eliminated; After initial configuration, AutoCAD displays the graphics screen. AutoCAD 12 for Windows was one of the most successful CAD programs ever.

1993 1993

Autodesk delivers Design Expert, an Integrated Package of AutoCAD 12 and AutoSurf for SUN Sparc Station. In December CINEMA 4D version 1 is released for Amiga with a resounding success troughout Europe.

Autodesk sales reach $465 million. Autodesk ships 3D Studio version 4, the last version for DOS platforms. It comes with Inverse Kinematics module which allows to work with linked objects in a realistic mode. AusCAD/Cam version 10. Visual CADD from Numerica Software. One year later the product is bought by Corel Corporation. Design CAD 3D for DOS. One year later the Windows version hits the market. DrafixCAD version 3 from Foresight Resources Co. Micrografx Designer ver. 4.1 for Windows. CADD Council Established - NIBS Board of Directors voted to start the council MicroStation version 5. MiniCAD version 5. Hewlett Packard ships version 3.5 of PE/Solid Designer, its high end Solid Modeling. 50,000 seats installed to date. Archigraph ships PowerDraw version 6 for Mac platforms. Site Designer version 1 from Land CADD Int., a landscape CAD program. CINEMA 4D version 2.0 for Amiga in November. In November Autodesk ships AutoCAD Release 13. The Windows interface consists of standard Windows user-interface components, similar to those used in other Windows programs. Auto Surf 2.0 from Autodesk is an add-on for AutoCAD 12 which adds almost 50 commands to AutoCAD for creating primitive surfaces. It supports DOS, HP-UNIX and SUN platforms. AutoSurf was originally a program called Solution 3000 developed by Micro Engineering Solution. Autodesk bought the company and renamed the program as Auto Surf version 1. Canvas 3.5 for Windows receives the Win100 Award from Windows Magazine.

By the end of this year AutoCAD alone topped one million mark worldwide. The next two CAD systems (outside Autodesk) were Cadkey (with 180,000 copies sold) and MicroStation (with 155,000 copies).