Death of the Draftsman?

A skilled draftsman combines artistry with precision.  A skilled draftsman will not only deliver a drawing that is legible and precise, but also readable.  I’ve seen plenty of drawings that are legible and precise, but are not necessarily readable.  A readable drawing will have an artistic quality that better conveys the designer’s intent.

But as we take a look at the progress of Autodesk software, I wonder if we are seeing the Death of the Draftsman?  With Autodesk BIM products like Revit and Civil 3D, the intent is to model and not necessarily draft.  Instead of drawing two lines to draw a wall, it’s modeled.  Instead of drafting a pipe and annotating its slope, model the pipe and set the slope as a property.

When I prepare clients for implementation of Civil 3D, I show them the following two slides.  Here’s my slide for the traditional workflow process:

Here’s my slide for, quite possibly, their future workflow process:

Notice several differences between the two slides.  Most importantly, the draftsman has become (or been replaced by) an engineer, designer, or modeler.

My point behind the slides is that implementing new software requires more than templates, standards, families and training.  Clients must review their current “external to CAD” workflow and determine if changes need to be made for successful implementation.  Some clients are still at the first slide, while others are at the second.

But back to the question, are we seeing the Death of the Draftsman with BIM products?  Let us know what you think.