Ten CAD Challenges

Addressing the geometry challenges outlined here will not be just a simple task of going through and improving or deleting offending algorithms. It also requires a fundamental rethinking of how geometry design systems should work. Interactive techniques.

Significant improvements in interaction are not going to be achieved by making more efficient menus or a better mouse. Rather, they are going to depend on rethinking the nature of the process. Three specific challenges result:

    * changing the order of workflow
    * understanding the concept of place in the workplace
    * intentional design

Interaction technology has evolved slowly over the past 40 years. Input devices have not changed significantly. Physical buttons, such as keyboards, function keys, voice, fingers, and so on, let people talk to the machine. Graphical pointers come in numerous shapes and sizes and let us move in two or three dimensions, with similar resolution to early devices. The graphical user interface has remained essentially unchanged since 1984. Displays have gotten a lot smaller and a lot larger.

Smaller displays are ubiquitous because of the phenomenal growth in the cell phone industry; larger display penetration is steadily growing. The basic resolution of display devices (number of units per square inch) is about the same as Sutherland’s Sketchpad was in the early 1960s. Improvements have been achieved largely by adding new functionality, enhanced graphic design, and better flow of control. However, systems are not easier to use, and the demands on the user today might be even higher than 20 years ago. The complexity of designs, data, and geometry are growing as fast, or faster, than the power of the tools to handle it. (Via Bill Buxton)

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