Computer-aided design (CAD) is a computer technology that designs a product and documents the design's process. CAD may facilitate the manufacturing process by transferring detailed diagrams of a product’s materials, processes, tolerances and dimensions with specific conventions for the product in question. It can be used to produce either two-dimensional or three-dimensional diagrams, which can then when rotated to be viewed from any angle, even from the inside looking out. A special printer or plotter is usually required for printing professional design renderings.

The concept of designing geometric shapes for objects is very similar to CAD. It is called computer-aided geometric design (CAGD).

CAD is also known as computer-aided design and drafting (CADD)