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CAD is generally the first step in automated manufacturing, where ideas are turned into computer readable format, and computer-generated drawings are produced. There are 2-D, 3-D and free-surface forms of CAD. The 2-D CAD programs only handle things that can be represented on a flat sheet of paper, with no 3rd dimension, and are quite limiting. The 3D programs use various techniques to manage the shape and volume of a physical object. Some programs easy handle very complex shapes, and allow the user to quickly and easily describe the shape wanted as a combination of simple geometric forms (rectangles, cylinders, ellipses, etc.) which are added or subtracted from the whole. Other '3D' programs are really old, patched 2-D codes, which make the user jump through hoops to describe the shape as a union of several orthogonal 2-D views. If the part doesn't have simple orthogonal symmetry, these methods become VERY cumbersome.