Engineering Graphics and Visualization (2D and 3D CAD)
Introductory Course on CAD
Description
General Information
Math is a basic skill. Whether you believe it or not - you use math several times in a day. Similarly, spatial visualization is another basic skill that is used even more than math. In this course, you will improve your skills in spatial visualization. Everybody should take a course in basic math. Knowledge of basic math actually determines if you are literate or not. Similarly, everybody should take a course in basic spatial visualization. However, despite it very important nature, not much attention is given to developing the basic skill of spatial visualization in our education system. This course will help fill that gap. Therefore, everybody should take this course.
This course also initiates a paradigm shift in education. Nowadays, it is not difficult to find information about anything. The problem is not lack of information, but to know what one needs. Take the example of CAD software. There is tremendous amount of resources available for any CAD software. However, how does one learn that software? Where does one begin? What all does a person need to know to develop basic proficiency in that software? Such questions occupy the mind of a new learner. Most of the time the new learner gives up because they are not able to know what to know to develop competence. This course is independent of any software. I tell you the assignments that you need to do to develop competence in a CAD software. You may use whatever resources that are available to do those assignments. Once you complete the assignments you get a certificate that you have basic competence in that software and CAD in general.
Above was a description of the course in lay man's terms. In more technical terms, the purpose of this class to allow the students to identify, depict and represent features in 3D and 2D objects. The term feature has been used in the general context of geometric features in parts, constraints in assemblies, material and visualization characteristics in terms of the final representation.
This is an introductory course about spatial visualization and CAD modeling.
Program Outcomes (ABET)
an ability to apply knowledge of mathematics, science, and engineering
an ability to design and conduct experiments, as well as to analyze and interpret data
an ability to design a system, component, or process to meet desired needs within realistic constraints such as economic, environ., social, political, ethical, health, safety, manufactured ability, sustainability
an ability to function on multi-disciplinary teams
an ability to identify, formulate, and solve engineering problems
an understanding of professional and ethical responsibility
an ability to communicate effectively
the broad education necessary to understand the impact of engineering solutions in a global economical, environmental, and societal context
a recognition of the need for, and an ability to engage in life-long learning
a knowledge of contemporary issues
an ability to use the techniques, skills, and modern engineering tools necessary for engineering practice
Objectives:
To acquaint students with the principles of engineering graphics and the state-of-the-art computer-aided design (CAD) technology. By the end of the course, the successful student will be able to:
Use commercial CAD software to create 2D drawings (b, g, k);
Create 3D parametric solid models (b, e, g, i, k);
Create detailed drawings of projection views of 3D objects (a, b, g, k);
Build virtual assemblies and animate their mechanism (b, g, k);
Create bill of materials and detect clashes of assemblies (g, k);
Textbook: None.
Reference Book: Introduction to Engineering Graphics and CAD by Dr. Akash Dixit.
Supporting material: Course notes given from time to time.
Stationary:
Engineers Pad (0.2" grid) (about 40 pages should suffice)
1-1.5" thick 3-ring hard backed binder
Pencil (.5 or .7 mm) mechanical and an eraser
Ruler - English or metric units
1 - USB Flash drive, 4 GB minimum
3 hole punch, stapler, and staples (recommended)
Grading: Grades will be determined using the following weights:\\
Exams and Quizzes* 32\%
Class/LAB Assignments** 32\%
Projects 32\%
Electronic class binder and USB drive*** 4\%
*Exams will be announced at least 2 weeks prior to the date of the exam.
**e.g., Class and lab assignments and assessments, in-class reading of course-notes and lab notes and class participation by answering questions asked during the class. Class participation may also excuse you from an individual quiz.
*** This binder containing the USB drive will have all every thing that pertains to the class such as syllabus, announcements, notes, assignments, quizzes, projects etc. arranged in a methodical manner. An item should be present either in the USB drive or the binder. Whenever you contact the TA or the Instructor, be ready to produce the binder upon request. There may also be surprise checks for the binder both during class and labs. You can be penalized a maximum of 1\% of your grade if you do not produce the binder and the USB drive upon request of your TA or your Instructor.
Grading Scale:
90 - 100 A
80 - 89 B
70 - 79 C
60 - 69 D
0 - 59 F
The grades may be curved depending upon the performance of the class.
Extra-credit: A maximum of 3\% extra-credit can be earned for class attendance, class participation, and a voluntary extra-credit assignment approved by the instructor. The voluntary extra-credit is assigned upon explicit request by the student at least four weeks prior to the beginning of the week of the final exam.
Midterm Evaluation: Midterm grades (Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory) will be issued.
Final Exam: Please refer to official notification for tentative final exam schedule information. Your final exam period is based upon your section's lecture time.
Course Policies
Attendance: Class attendance will be taken a maximum of 5 times in the semester. Although, class attendance is not compulsory, I do give in class assignments without prior announcements that may be due at the end of class period. Also, I explain the assignments during the class period and answer questions regarding them. If you miss those lectures and make errors in your submission by not following the in class explanation, you will be liable for those errors. I or the TA will NOT be able to answer your questions if you do not attend classes without a good reason and do not have class notes. Office hours are to help you understand material and not to teach you material from the scratch. Therefore, if you miss a class without a good reason, please make sure that you copy and understand the notes from a fellow classmate before you come to us for help.
Teaching philosophy: Read this section carefully. I intend to work hard so that all the students will get a good grade. I intend to work within the bounds of Academic Honor Code. I expect the same from the students. In case of any confusion regarding the applicability of the honor code, please consult me.
You are to make all **reasonable efforts** to submit your work by the deadlines for the respective assignments. For example, a common problem is website not working properly. In case you are submitting the work close to the deadline and the website goes down, reasonable efforts mean that you should immediately send your work by email to me and the lead Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA), and then keep trying to submit your work through website. "Website was not working so I could not submit," is not an acceptable excuse. No late assignments will be accepted and no makeup Exams or Quizzes will be offered without a justified and documented excuse (such as severe illness and doctor's note). I have observed that some students do not take the warning that late work will not be accepted seriously till they get penalized. I hope you do not fall in that category because losing those points can hurt your final grade.
Please maintain a professional demeanor towards your classmates, teaching assistants and Instructor. Also, present work in a professional manner. Lack of professionalism, indiscipline and lack of respect to fellow students can earn you negative points. Submitting loose sheets for an assignment or not adhering to group submission deadlines designated internally by group is not professional.
The difference between professional life and high school education is that in professional life the projects are complex and not clearly defined whereas in high school all the characteristics of a project are clearly defined. College education is a bridge between professional life and high school education. Because of the complexity and magnitude of the projects, it is not always possible to define all the parameters of a project. It is also a means to prepare you for professional life. If some aspect of the project is not clear, you should not hesitate to ask your instructor or your TA's.
Email policy: I received about 1500 emails from just my students in one of the earlier semesters. Some of those emails were frivolous, while others were genuine questions. This semester, I will be teaching close to 200 students. I treat it as my responsibility to answer all the emails I receive. However, to be able to give proper attention to genuine questions, I am going to strictly follow the email policy outlined below.
A business hour is an during 8 AM to 5 PM on a workday with 1 hour lunch in between.
If you think that the matter is private, extremely urgent and important, please send an email directly to me. If you do not receive a reply within 12 business hours, follow the procedure outlined below.
All the emails should be first addressed to your group mates.
If you do not have a group or if none of your group mates know the answer to your question or you do not receive a reply within 12 business hours escalate the matter to you TA.
All grading related issues should be addressed directly to your TA.
If you are not satisfied with the response of your TA or you do not receive a response within 16 business hours, escalate the matter to me.
I reserve the right to not respond to emails that do not have the section and class in the subject line. If you do not put that information in the subject line, I may not be able to answer your email because deadlines and assignments may be different for different sections.
Most of your questions can be answered by your lead TA. Note their email address and office hours.
I know most students work very hard to get a good grade. It is my responsibility that I satisfy any concerns regarding grading by me or my GTA's. Therefore, please feel welcome to raise your concern in a disciplined and professional manner. You will only weaken your case if you indulge in acts of indiscipline towards my GTA's.
I or my GTA's are not always on the computer. Therefore, if you send your question closer to the deadline, we may not be able to answer it.
Your question, concern, or issue should be clear in your email. An example of a clear question is: ``Dr. Dixit, In exam 2 question 3 I received a low credit. I have drawn the top view as was asked. However, the GTA has given me 5/10 and there are no associated notes about my mistakes. I have contacted the GTA and he has not responded to my mail for over three business days. I have attached a scanned copy of my exam sheet for your reference." An example of an unclear question is: ``Dr. Dixit, In exam 2 I received a low credit for one of the questions. I contacted the GTA and am not satisfied with his answer. Actually, I don't even like him!" :-)
Week/Date & Lectures/ Labs/ Activities**
Week 1 & Course Overview - Isometric Sketching
Week 2 & Isometric Sketching - Multiviews
Week 3 & Multiviews - Auxiliary - Section view
Week 4 & Auxiliary - Section views - Dimensioning
Week 5 & Lectures - 2D CAD: Drawing Multiviews, Auxiliary and Section Views \\ \hline
Week 6 & Dimensioning - 3D CAD Extrudes \\ \hline
Week 7 & 3D - CAD Extrudes - Revolves \\ \hline
Week 8 & 3D - CAD Revolves - Sweep \\ \hline
Week 9 & 3D - CAD Sweeps - Loft \\ \hline
Week 10 & 3D - CAD Loft - Assembly modeling\\ \hline
Week 11 & 3D - CAD Assembly modeling - Drawing Files\\ \hline
Week 12 & 3D - CAD Drawing Files - Rendering\\ \hline
Week 13 & 3D - CAD Rendering - Animation \\ \hline
**All dates, topics and deadlines are subject to change by your instructor.
Introduction
Welcome to the Computer Aided Design/Engineering class. This course is designed to prepare students primarily in the field of Computer Aided Drawing (CAD). This book was written during my years at Georgia Institute of Technology. Products from Autodesk suite were used there. \textbf{In this class at Oakland university CATIA will be used}. However, one of the first lessons that you should learn is that the software package that is used to make the models is just a means to the end. Therefore, the the commands of a particular software package are not important. You should try to understand the concepts. When you graduate with your engineering degree, there is no guarantee that you will be using the same software package that you were taught in the class. Even if the same software package is used, you will need to frequently be interacting with users of different packages both within and outside of your company employment.
The exercises and examples as given in this book were developed using Autodesk products. You will be doing those assignments in CATIA. Therefore, please substitute the products when you are reading the book. As mentioned earlier, the change of software does not change the importance of the concepts outlined by one bit. There are several unique aspects of this class. The materials of this course are split into three sections: the hand sketching section, the 2D-CAD section and the 3D-modeling section. In ME 308 an introduction to the field of Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) is also provided. Each section of the class has several lucrative jobs available. This cannot be said for a lot of courses in education, where several courses need to be taken before a student is fit enough for a particular job. Another unique aspect of the course is that skills that are required and developed as a part of this course. Spatial visualization and thinking is an important skill that you would use through the course of this class. Most of the engineering courses on the other hand are geared towards physical understanding and mathematical skills. Therefore, some students who do not do very well in other engineering courses perform very well in this class. Unfortunately, the converse is also true! Another characteristic, perhaps not so unique is the large amount of work load. However, according to the student feedback, the real life practical skills that are developed, the amount of learning that happens through the course of this class, and overall utility of this course in academic and professional life more than compensates the workload. Also, as long as you apply reasonable efforts and submit all your assignments on time, you are pretty much guaranteed of a good grade in this class.
The first section of the course is the hand drawing section. This section is highly useful for a number of reasons. First of all, for people going into the course who have little experience with engineering and design, the hand drawing section offers a good place to start and get introduced to the different types of drawings and their purposes. Another advantage of hand drawing is that it is an easy way to get your ideas down on paper for any occasion. If an idea has not been developed fully to the point that a CAD drawing or model is warranted or even possible, a hand drawing is a good place to start. Also, most of the concepts that apply to hand drawings can be applied to computer drawings as well. Hand drawing skills are highly marketable, and a student who possesses good hand drawing skills is at a great advantage in terms of landing a job compared to a student who does not.
The second section of the class is the 2D-CAD section. The software used to teach concepts in 2D-CAD is from Autodesk suite, AutoCAD. AutoCAD is a very important engineering graphics software, and the name itself is almost synonymous with CAD. AutoCAD is a two dimensional drawing program, and allows users to take many of the aspects of hand drawing and do them in a much more efficient and quick way. It also allows users to input data with a degree of accuracy that would be impossible with hand drawing. Given that AutoCAD is pretty universally used in the engineering world, a student who has good skills on the software will be able to land a job just doing AutoCAD drawings.
The third section of the class is the 3D modeling section. Again, Inventor a product from Autodesk suite is used to teach the 3D modeling concepts. On top of modeling, Inventor allows users to specify materials for their parts, assemble said parts into a single product, render realistic images of the product, make animations of the product, and perform CAE activities, among other things. All this can be done on top of making traditional views and drawings like those made with hand drawing and AutoCAD. Just like AutoCAD, Inventor is highly used in the world of engineering graphics, and a student who possesses good skills on the software would have a good chance of landing a job just based on those skills. A good example of this would be a job taking dimensioned drawings of parts and making Inventor models of the parts with them. A student with basic Inventor knowledge would easily be able to land a job doing this.
It can be said that along with generating good job prospects, this is a unique course in the skills that are introduced. The spatial visualization, team work and hand sketching are all motor skills that use different parts of the brain. This course gives a good practice to the students regarding these skills. It is possible that students, who do well in one section of the class, find it difficult in another section. Some students are really good in the hand sketching portion of the class, while others are good in the 2D modeling part of the class. If you find difficulty in a particular section of the class, you should approach the teaching assistants (TA) or the instructors. You may contact any of the TA's as they are all proficient with the material of the course. Please use this great resource. The instructor is available during their respective office hours or by appointment.
I would like to end this note with a feedback about the course that I have received and has stood out to me. Most of the students acknowledge that all said and done, it was a ``fun" experience. So with the hopes that you too would have a ``fun" and a learning experience during this class, I welcome you again to my class.
What You Will Learn!
- Learn any CAD software using very simple techniques
- Engineering Graphics
- Engineering Sketching
- 2D CAD
- 3D CAD
- Spatial Visualization
Who Should Attend!
- High school and college students
- Adult learners who want to diversify their skill set
- Anyone interested in earning 1 lakh to 1.5 lakh per month if in India or about 100K per year if in the US.