Ideas in CAD
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Quite a simple question really, but do you think CAD (and computers in general) will ever recha the point where they overtake the pencil and paper as the primary means for visualising ideas?
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No...
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Whyd you say that frederik?
perosnally i reckon tablet PCs are going to get there pretty soon...
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i hope not, i just got shares in papermate. he he
nothing is more fluid, and as rapid as a sketch. if anything i'd say that sometimes CAD restricts visualisation. there are no boundries with pen and paper.
good question though.
pav
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What sort of boundaries are you refering to?
i reckon with a nifty bit of programing and a wicked interface you could have a piece of software that imitates sketching on a CAD level.
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That's quite possible, but the fact remains that using a pencil (or a byro, ...) can be great fun. At least, I think so.
We mustn't forget either that a tablet doesn't fit in your back pocket. Or behind your ear.
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Very good points, especially concerning portability. There isnt exactly a napkin equivalent in the computing world.
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well (maybe this is a personal thing) i find that i can design better on paper than on a piece of software. i use the software to display my ideas more accurately afterwards, but initial ideas are always always always sketched (or a quick sketch model).
i find that if i use software to design, then i sometimes slip into designing what i know i can achieve with that piece of software, and not designing what is in my imagination.
there is no medium i can think of which is as free as pen an paper. the only boundaries are your imagination and obv. the size of the paper!also when i'm talking to a client (during any stage of the design process) it's always infinitely easier to do a quick sketch for them to convery my ideas than to get the computer fired up. i find that they relate to it better as well.
like i said though, this is just my opinion.
i'd like to hear what others have to say on the matter, maybe i am totally wrong. (i don't think i am though! he he)
pav
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This is an interesting article if you hav not already read it.
http://www.aecbytes.com/tipsandtricks/2008/issue30-sketchbook.htmlI tried the Sketchbook software and used my Wacom, but I just cannot get a drawing done as neatly as with pen and paper. Maybe this is down to practice and lack of experience with a tablet, but for me it feels pretty awkward. I guess if I kept at it, then I would improve, but I did think to myself, do I really need this? Why not just stick with sketching on paper?
The main thing interesting me was the fact I would have instant electronically stored files. -
the best of both worlds?
pav
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I think this anecdote adds another perspective ...
An architect had a friend who was a whiz at producing photo realistic models of interiors. After a quick lunch with a client to receive the brief for a chic new restaurant, the architect visited the premises and within two days they had come up with what seemed like photographs of the finished interior. The architect next met the client and proudly presented the images. The client's face dropped. "I thought you would bring along some rough sketches, so that we could go through the ideas together."
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Chris, surely that problem would be easily solved by talking to the client
pav and dylan, im still pondering on your posts...
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lets face it remus, pen an paper is here to stay.
and i find it hard to believe that you don't think the same way he hepav
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Of course its here to stay, theres no arguing that. Whta im trying to work out/discuss is wether UIs and software will ever reach the point where they are a viable alternative. (thats actualyl pretty different from what i wrote in the OP, but it raises pretty similar issues.)
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@remus said:
Chris, surely that problem would be easily solved by talking to the client
This took place at least ten years ago in Hong Kong, at a time and in a place where the newest technology and speed would surely caress the client. It failed. From this it seems understanding what others expect can be as significant as the tools that suit the way you work.
... and so on
Chris
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@remus said:
Of course its here to stay, theres no arguing that. Whta im trying to work out/discuss is wether UIs and software will ever reach the point where they are a viable alternative. (thats actualyl pretty different from what i wrote in the OP, but it raises pretty similar issues.)
hmm,
laptop computer: £1000
mouse: £10
skecthup pro: $495drawing on the back of an old letter using a pencil you found on a colleagues desk: priceless.
there are some techniques in design you can buy, for everything else there's sketching.
he he
pav
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CHris, none the less it is the designers fault more than anything else, he chose the wrong method of presentation for the client, that doesnt mean that there is something at fault with the technology. In the same way as if you tried to present a quick sketch for the final realisation of a project.
Pav, do you have a computer? id say its a fairly standard peice of equipment these days. Not so much with swanky interfaces (tablets, tablet PCs etc.) but give it 10 years or so, im sure there will be some new interface device we could have never lived without.
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@remus said:
Pav, do you have a computer? id say its a fairly standard peice of equipment these days. Not so much with swanky interfaces (tablets, tablet PCs etc.) but give it 10 years or so, im sure there will be some new interface device we could have never lived without.
i agree with you on computers being a standard piece of equipment, but like you say the "swanky interfaces" not so much (at this current moment in time). let's not forget though that these swanky interfaces, pretty much still rely on sketching techniques, graphics tablets, tablet PCs, are still fundamentally based on the good old pen and paper.
who knows, maybe there will be some kind of "computer paper" (there probably already is) but this is still essentially a development on sketching.
prehistoric man had cave walls and natural pigments, the egyptians had papyrus and ink, modern man a sketchbook and a pencil.
i'm not saying that we wont be drawing on tablet pc's in the furure, i'm almost certain we will be, but the question was about whether we would be designing in CAD, and as far as i am concerned this is just an evolution in sketching, not a change in the way ideas are put down.pav
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In the architecture firm I work at we always do sketches first. We've NEVER started a design on CAD! It seems absolutely pointless to try to design anything on CAD when it takes much longer to do then when using pen and paper. Once we get the go ahead on the design from the sketches... we then start to build models and technical documents! Sketchup can be fast but it is still not as fast as pen and paper!
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DO you think its ever going to reach the point where it is possible ot do ideas in CAD?
Pav, more pondering to do...
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