Saw how they do CAD now at the old firm I used to work at

Stopped by my old drafting job last Tuesday to pick up a reference check. The new guys are all using some cloud-based software with AI auto-dimensioning. Back in my day we had to manually place every single dim line with a keyboard shortcut. Felt like a dinosaur watching them work. Anyone else feel like the software is doing half the thinking now?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_fiona1d ago

My buddy Dave who still drafts part time for a small structural firm told me about a wild thing that happened last month. He was working on a floor plan for a warehouse and the software just started placing all the dimensions itself, no input from him at all. He said it took him a full day to go back and fix all the mistakes it made, like it put a 10 foot dimension on a wall that was clearly supposed to be 8 foot because it misread the CAD line. The worst part was the AI kept assuming standard door and window sizes, but this was a custom job with oddball openings. He told me he ended up turning off the auto-dim feature because it was faster to just do it the old way with the keyboard shortcuts he learned twenty years ago. Made me laugh because I remember when we all thought computers would make our job easier, not give us more work cleaning up their mess.

robin_wright1d ago

My buddy Mark had a similar thing happen with his architect software last year. It kept trying to snap windows to a standard grid and he spent a whole weekend redoing the elevations on a house with custom bay windows. He swore at the screen more than he ever did with just a pencil and paper, you know? Is that feature even helpful for anyone?

barbara27823h ago

Oh man, I gotta respectfully disagree a bit. I mean, I get that the AI can mess things up sometimes but honestly the auto-dimensioning has saved me way more time than it's cost me once I learned how to set the rules right. Sure, you gotta babysit it on custom jobs but for 80% of the standard residential stuff it nails it first try and that frees me up to focus on the tricky parts.

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