© 2005 Autodesk
Platform Technology Division
6
§Physical models and hand drawn sketches
§Difficult to edit
§Difficult to maintain data
§Revisions can be expensive
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§AutoCAD
§Not suited for conceptual design
§Wireframe models appear “finished”
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§Third-party design software
§Costly to purchase/support
§Training expense
§Difficult to transfer data to CAD software
Text Box: Problem
Problem
A
B
Conceptual design tools take various forms
Design
Traditionally, design professionals use models and sketches to create their designs. This allows them to explore many different concepts quickly and easily, and to rapidly examine and recombine design details. They can present concepts to a customer and get their feedback during the design process, this insures that that the final design solves all the key customer’s problems.

The problem with this is that if physical tools are used then changing the models or taking the model information into any software package is very difficult. Older versions of AutoCAD have solid and surface modeling tools, but they were not very easy to learn or use.  If a third party software package was used, then the designer had to purchase and learn a new software tool, or hire someone with the knowledge.  At the end of the design process information could be lost when moving data into AutoCAD to create the design documentation.