I wouldn't even want to think of producing that design/program in 2D Autocad! (Acad has limited wireframe capability, but still....)
That originated as a 3D solid-model fer sure.

Te newest versions of Autocad do support 3d modeling, and while there are better ones out there, it is still the most widely used, and most widely taught.

Yeah, Acad had supported 3D since v12 or so - it's what I used for my senior project in '93. 2D autocad drafting is still extremely popular, but I haven't seen it used for 3D in forever - Autodesk has pushed Inventor heavily to replace Mechanical Desktop (the acad 3D extension) for the last 8 years or so.

But it's not parametric modeling with complex-curve capability & all - and a major PITA comparatively. Hell, I can't even imagine doing that helmet with Inventor or SolidWorks - virtually all my stuff consists of simple shapes (it's the making them work part that's hard!).

10-axis? For the electrical engineer in the thread, is there an easy way to explain that on a forum? Anything over 3-axis (x/y/z) is a foreign concept to me.