CAG - The influence of CAG Systems on Industry and Society

Graphic CommunicationKnowledge & Understanding

Introduction

Computers have largely replaced drawing boards in industry and commerce. A CAG system of drawing offers many advantages over the traditional drawing board method.

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Advantages of a CAG system over a drawing board

Storage and retrieval Drawings can be stored on hard drive, floppy disc etc. Less storage space is required than paper drawings. Drawings can be repeatedly printed with no deterioration in

quality.Ease of Modification Changes can be made quickly and easily, this reduces time

and cost, which in turn increases productivity.Repetitive elements(library) Items that you design need only be drawn once, saved to a

library file, then retrieved and positioned each time they are required on a drawing. This saves time and effort, which increases productivity.

Advantages of a CAG system over a drawing board

Drawing speed and drawing quality Drawing production is much faster using CAD than using

traditional methods, so the company will save time and money.

The quality of printed drawings is also much higher when using CAD.

Standardisation of drawings Standardisation of drawings is often determined by drawing

standards such as BSI. Standardisation of drawing layouts and styles can be easily be created in the ‘in-house’ or corporate style adopted by the operator or the company.

Drawing size and flexibility Drawings can be enlarged or reduced with no loss of detail

Disadvantages of a CAG system over a drawing board

Costs and other implications of buying a CAG system

Initial costs of buying computer systems and software can be expensive for companies.

Retraining of staff who are used to drawing with traditional methods.

A great deal of time can be taken up converting existing paper drawings to computer drawings

As computer systems can be used to produce quicker CAD drawings less people need to be employed.

Power failure - staff would be unable to produce work.

CAG - Word Processing/ Spreadsheets/ Illustration/Desktop Publishing

Graphic CommunicationKnowledge & Interpretation

Word Processing

Word processing packages are used for inputting and editing text. They are used to produce a wide range of text documents - e.g. home and

business letters, mailing lists, reports and manuals - and to prepare text for use in books, magazines and newsletters.

Word processors contain many features that help users to produce professional-looking documents quickly and accurately. The main features of a typical word processing package are:•Text can be added, deleted, altered and moved.•Spellchecker - checks a document for misspelled words.•Text formatting - changing the font, size etc•Page formatting - sets margins, columns, headers and footers etc•Tables and graphics can be included in the text.

Spreadsheets

Spreadsheet packages are used for inputting and automatically calculating tables of numbers.

Before electronic spreadsheets were introduced, tables of figures had to be calculated manually. This was very tedious and time-consuming.

Spreadsheets are mainly used to: automatically calculate tables of numbers produce financial reports produce graphs and charts for presentations

Illustration

Illustration packages can be used to add colour, tone and texture to CAD drawings, as well as to create new drawings from scratch.

Illustrations are an important part of design for books and advertising, TV/movie animation and computer games.

The main features of a typical illustration package are: drawing tools colour-mixing tools line styles fill styles grids, guides, snap and rulers autotracing

Desktop Publishing

DTP packages are used to create publications such as newsletters, brochures, magazines and books by combining text and images from other sources. They contain a wide range of power functions allowing very complex page layouts to be created quickly and accurately.

The main features of a typical DTP package are: Importing of text and graphics Precise positioning Powerful text formatting and styling Colour-mixing tools Page formatting Guides, snap and rulers automatic wrapping of text around graphics