C. 2130 BC.

First recorded account of an architectural drawing.

Anonymous, Headless Statue of Gudea, c. 2130 BC.Carved in diorite stone, the sculpture is known as “the architect with a plan”. Photo by akg-images / Erich Lessing.

14th Century

14th Century – Filippo Brunelleschi “reinvents” perspective.

Filippo Brunelleschi is attributed with the “rediscovery” of linear perspective (a drafting technique that was first employed by the Romans and Greeks, but that was then lost to time.

Diagram Demonstrating Filippo Brunelleschi’s Perspective Technique from a Lost Painting of the Battistero di San Giovanni. Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz, Max-Planck-Institut. © 2006, SCALA, Florence / ART RESOURCE, N.Y.

1828

First account of the use of tracing paper.

In the 19th century, tracing paper started becoming the norm for architectural drawings (and technical drawings more generally).

National Archives and Records Administration map of Nantucket, 1828, after treatment.

January 1963

Ivan Sutherland demonstrating Sketchpad.

In 1963, Ivan Sutherland developed Sketchpad as part of his PhD thesis at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Sketchpad is now considered the first real Computer Assisted Design (CAD) program, and provided revolutionary tools such as fixed geometric boundaries (i.e.: angles between lines could be fixed), which

UVC via Internet Archive

1982

AutoCAD

In 1982, John Walker’s team developed the first version of AutoCAD. 4 Years later, it had become the industry standard for 2 dimensional and 3 dimensional modeling.

From WinWorldPc.com

1995

Solidworks

Solidworks was first released in 1995. This software package was one of the first CAD frameworks to implement parametric design–meaning that the shapes and relations in the design were dictated by mathematical relations and algorithms, rather than being designed directly.

Screenshot from GoEngineer.

In 2015, Solidworks still had 22.7% of the market share, while AutoCAD only accounted for 9.8% in the same survey by CNCCookBook CAD survey.