CAD Authoring (practice)

CAD Authoring is the engineering practice of creating, modifying, and managing a product’s geometry and structure inside CAD software. It is not a standalone lifecycle phase — it is a discipline applied throughout Concept Design and Detailed Design to produce the geometric model that anchors every downstream process (manufacturing planning, simulation, BOM management, technical publications).

What the practice covers

• Capturing design intent through sketches, parametric features, and constraints.
• Managing revisions and configurations of the geometric model under PDM control.
• Handing off model data to CAE Analysis, CAM, and BOM Management.
• Producing technical drawings and 3D annotations (MBD/PMI) that communicate the design downstream.

Relationships (see sidebar)

• Supported by the underlying logical capabilities — see CAD 3D Design, CAD Assembly, and Parametric Modeling for the vendor-neutral capability descriptions.
• Embedded in Detailed Design; deferred references to system tools (Siemens NX, Dassault CATIA, SolidWorks, PTC Creo) live on the logical capability pages.