The introduction of 3-D drafting or building information modeling (BIM) is beginning to restore my faith in the engineered drawing. But let’s start from the beginning. When I began in this industry the terms “triangle,” “straight edge,” “pencil sharpener,” and “French curve” (you forgot that one, didn’t you?) could be heard throughout the office every day of the week. But in the late 1980s, computer-aided design (CAD) programs were unleashed into the engineering world and the electronic designer was born. And terms like “mouse,” “tablet,” and “x-y coordinates” became the norm.
