Debate: Did you switch from hand drafting to CAD cold turkey or keep a hybrid setup?

I used to hand draw every elevation on vellum with a 0.5mm lead holder but now I do everything in AutoCAD after my old boss made me go digital back in 2018. Anyone else find they lost a feel for the drawing after switching, or is that just me?

2 comments

2 Comments

elizabethhart15d ago

Lost a feel for the drawing" describes it exactly. I read digital drafting can cause more errors than hand.

terryrobinson16d ago

That line about "lost a feel for the drawing" hit me hard. Same thing happened when I switched from writing notes by hand to typing everything. My brain just doesn't connect to the material the same way. It's like you trade muscle memory for speed. Hand drafting made me slow down and actually think about each line. Now I just blast through AutoCAD and miss stuff because I'm going too fast. Kind of like how I used to hand grind my coffee beans every morning but now I just press a button on a machine. You lose that ritual, that physical connection to the thing you're making.