Technical illustration

Types

Types of communication

Today, technical illustration can be broken down into three categories based on the type of communication:

• Communication with the general public: informs the general public, for example illustrated instructions found in the manuals for automobiles and consumer electronics. This type of technical illustration contains simple terminology and symbols that can be understood by the lay person and is sometimes called creative technical illustration/graphics.
• Specialized engineering or scientific communication: used by engineers/scientists to communicate with their peers and in specifications. This use of technical illustration has its own complex terminology and specialized symbols; examples are the fields of atomic energy, aerospace and military/defense. These areas can be further broken down into disciplines of mechanical, electrical, architectural engineering and many more
• To help manufacture or replicate an invention
• Communication between highly skilled experts: used by engineers to communicate with people who are highly skilled in a field, but who are not engineers. Examples of this type of technical illustration are illustrations found in user/operator documentation. These illustrations can be very complex and have jargon and symbols not understood by the general public, such as illustrations that are part of instructional materials for operating CNC machinery.

Types of drawings

Main types of drawings in technical communication are:

• conventional line drawings,
• exploded-view drawings,
• cutaway drawings, and
• clip art images

Techniques

Technical illustration uses several basic mechanical drawing configurations called axonometric projection. These are:

• Parallel projections (oblique, planometric, isometric, dimetric, and trimetric), and
• many types of perspective projections (with one, two, or three vanishing points). Technical illustration and computer-aided design can also use 3D and solid-body projections, such as rapid prototyping.
• In the natural sciences, "scientific illustration" refers to a style of drawing using stippling and simple line techniques to convey information with a minimum of artistic interpretation.

Examples

| File:Small kitchen - perspective - textures.PNG | Small kitchen in perspective | File:enginewhole lg.jpg | Conventional line illustration of an engine demonstrating perspective and line techniques | File:Drum set.svg | Illustration of a drum set | File:Gallotia simonyi-female.norarte.jpg | Gallotia simonyi, example of pen and ink scientific illustration |File:Squirrel (1785) RMG J6458.jpg |Broken view plan, showing the decks of a ship, drawn 1783

References

References

1. Ivan Viola and Meister E. Gröller (2005). "[http://www.cg.tuwien.ac.at/research/publications/2005/Viola-05-Smart/Viola-05-Smart-Paper.pdf Smart Visibility in Visualization]". In: ''Computational Aesthetics in Graphics, Visualization and Imaging''. L. Neumann et al. (Ed.)
2. (14 May 2011). "משרביות".
3. Wendenburg, Micheal. "https://www.corel.com/content/pdf/cdtsx4/Corel_Whitepaper-Visual_Technical_Communication_IE.pdf".
4. (2012). "The business writer's handbook". Bedford/St. Martins.