Quote:
Originally Posted by ,4lex S.
As useful as proper technical drawing skills are usefull, I think AutoCAD is a better place for this kind of drawing to be made. It is considerably faster, and produces something that can be easily moved around and manipulated. As cool as they look, I don't think they are worth the time nowadays.
I think if I was going to do any initial graphics instruction or work with an FRC team, I would try to teach freehand sketching. When it comes to graphics communication, the most important thing is usually the freehand; its fast, easy, and transmits more information per unit time used than other methods. As long as you teach it from a technical perspective (cutting planes, proper views, proper solid creation...) it gives a strong basis for 3D CAD instruction as well. A good 40% of my first year university graphics course was pure freehand, in order to lay the foundation for AutoCAD and Unigraphics.
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I agree that as far as technical drawings, CAD is far superior, and I agree that in the FIRST setting, CAD should be taught more than hand drafting.
Not to discredit CAD renderings which in themselves are stunning...
But, I would like to argue the point that aside from looking "cool", I feel that drawing every single line and detail by hand allows you to better understand your design, and drawing techniques. And it definitely helps your understanding of the CAD thought process.
Before I started college, I had the same point of view, that CAD was completley superior to hand drafting, and that I would never use hand drafting, but the more I was forced to use it, the more I began to like it. Right now, as far as visual quality, I think hand drafted drawings look much better nicer than CAD drawings. All of the "mess ups" and smudges give the drawings character. And personally, even though I have 4+ years of Inventor and AutoCAD experience through FIRST, I think that hand drafting is 10x easier than drawing on the computer. Everyone who's used any kind of CAD software should know what im talking about here...when your drawing on the computer, especially 3d modeling, crazy stuff can just happen out of know where...
Oh, and your t-square and pencil can't crash, unlike your laptop
