I left the field in 2004 to transition to Windows systems admin work and Web development. The old “wild west” of CAD is now a suburban subdivision with shopping centers. Writing custom apps to run on AutoCAD to automate things was one of the best times of my career. The period from 1996 to 2004 was a fun time. As we routinely shared model data with other contracts (forcibly by the Navy, and for good reason), we were all in the same situation. After a year of that stupidity, they relented, and by 1990-91 we couldn’t move to PC-based AutoCAD fast enough. But they would allow its use for non-design work, such as title sheets, BOM lists, and notes. By 1987, they added Intergraph, Computervision and a few UNIX workstation platforms ( before then, it was all mainframe).Īround the time AutoCAD Release 10 shipped in 1988, the folks in NAVSEA issued a letter to contractors that IBM PC-based systems were not considered accurate or reliable enough for modeling design. In 1986 they expanded that to CADAM, Autotrol, and about two others.
The Navy would not allow any contracts to be done on MCAD until 1985, which were relegated to very specific pilot projects. Most general design was still 2D on Mylar film mostly using E0 mechanical pencils. I worked in the field of MCAD for US Navy surface fleet (new construction and overhaul) starting around 1984. Man, that first paragraph was an eye-opener for me!
