Bachelor of Science

Engineering
BSC203C: Engineering Design and Drawing
Lecture/Pre-recording

Part 1
Isometric Projection

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 References
Textbook for Topic 6
1. D.K Lieu, S. Sorby, Visualization, Modelling, and Graphics for
Engineering Design, Chapter 12
2. N.D. Bhatt., Engineering Drawing, Plane and Solid Geometry,
50th Edition, Chapter 17

Reference book for Topic 6

1. Bertoline−Wiebe, Fundamentals of Graphics Communication, 5th
Edition, Chapter 7
2. A. Yarwood, Introduction to AutoCAD, Chapter 7

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 Topics
The following topics will be discussed in this session:
• Introduction

• Isometric axes, lines, and planes

• Isometric scale

• Isometric graph

• Isometric drawing of planes or plane figure

• Isometric drawing of solids

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 Introduction
An isometric projection is a true representation of the isometric view of an
object.

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 Isometric Axes, Lines, and Planes

• An isometric view of an object is

created by rotating the object 45
degrees about a vertical axis,
then tilting the object (in this
case, a cube) forward until the
body diagonal (AB) appears as
a point in the front view.
• The angle the cube is tilted
forward is 35 degrees 16
minutes. The three axes that
meet at A,B form equal angles of
120 degrees and are called the
isometric axes.

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 Isometric Axes, Lines, and Planes

• The three axes that meet at A,B form equal

angles of 120 degrees and are called the
isometric axes.
• Each edge of the cube is parallel to one of
the isometric axes.

• Any line that is parallel to one of the legs of

the isometric axis is an isometric line.
• The planes of the cube faces and all planes
parallel to them are isometric planes.

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 Isometric Projection vs Isometric Drawing
During isometric projection, the forward tilt of the cube causes the
edges and planes of the cube to become foreshortened as it is
projected onto the picture plane.
• The lengths of the projected lines are equal to the cosine of 35 degrees
16 minutes, or 0.81647 times the true length.
• In other words, the projected lengths are approximately 80 percent of
the true lengths.
• A drawing produced using a scale of 0.816 is called an isometric
projection and is a true representation of the object.

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 Isometric Projection vs Isometric Drawing
• If the drawing is produced using full scale, it is called an isometric
drawing, which is of the same proportion as an isometric projection, but is
larger by a factor of 1.23 to 1.
• Isometric drawings are preferred almost always over isometric projection
for technical drawings because they are easier to produce.

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 Isometric Projection of a Simple Object
Example: Draw the projections of a cube with 25 mm long edges resting on
the ground on one of its corners with a solid diagonal perpendicular to VP.
Solution: Assume the cube to be resting on one of its faces on the ground
with a solid diagonal parallel to VP. Then follow the steps below:

i. Draw a square abcd in the top view with its sides

inclined at 45° to xy. The line ac representing the solid
diagonals is parallel to xy. Project the front view.

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 Isometric Projection of a Simple Object

ii. Tilt the front view about the

corner g' so that the line e'c'
becomes parallel to xy.
Project the second top view.
The solid diagonal CE is now
parallel to both HP and the
VP.
iii. Reproduce the second top
view so that the top view of
the solid diagonal, viz. e1c1 is
perpendicular to xy. Project
the required front view.

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 Isometric Projection of a Simple Object
The figure below shows the front view of the cube in the projected position
just described, with the corners named in capital letters. Its careful study will
show that:
a) All the faces of the cube are equally inclined to the
VP and hence, they are seen as similar and equal
rhombuses instead of squares.

b) The three lines CB, CD and CG meeting at C and

representing the three edges of the solid and are
also equally inclined to VP and are therefore,
equally foreshortened. They make equal angles of
120° with each other. The line CG being vertical,
the other two lines CB and CD make 30° angle
each, with the horizontal.

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 Isometric Projection of a Simple Object

c) All the other lines representing the

edges of the cube are parallel to one or
the other of the above three lines and
are also equally foreshortened.
d) The diagonal BO of the top face is
parallel to VP and hence, retains its true
length.

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 Isometric Scale
As all the edges of the cube just projected are equally foreshortened, the
square faces are seen as rhombuses.

• The rhombus ABCD (fig. 17-2) shows the

isometric projection of the top square face of
the cube in which BO is the true length of
the diagonal.
• Construct a square BQDP around BO as a
diagonal. Then BP shows the true length of
BA.

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 Isometric Scale
Isometric lengths are 0.815 of the true lengths:
In triangle ABO,

In triangle PBO,

isometric length BA 2 9
The ratio     0.815 or (Approx)
true length BP 3 11

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 Isometric Scale
• While drawing an isometric projection, it is necessary to convert true
lengths into isometric lengths for measuring and marking the sizes.
• This is conveniently done by constructing and making use of an isometric
scale as shown below.

• Draw a horizontal line BO of any length. At

the end B, draw lines BA and BP, such that
angle OBA = 30° and angle OBP = 45°.
• Mark divisions of true length on the line BP
and from each division-point, draw verticals
to BO meeting BA at respective points. The
divisions thus obtained on BA give lengths on
isometric scale.

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 Isometric Scale
• The same scale may also be drawn with divisions of natural scale on a
horizontal line AB (fig. 17-4).

• At the ends A and B, draw lines AC and BC making 15° and 45° angles with
AB respectively, and intersecting each other at C.

• From division-points of true lengths on AB, draw lines parallel to BC and

meeting AC at respective points. The divisions along AC give lengths to
isometric scale.

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 Isometric Graph
We have already introduced isometric grid or dot paper in topic 4. It is
recommended to use such paper (also known as Isometric graph), which
makes drawing of isometric views lot more convenient.

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 Bachelor of Science
Engineering
BSC203C: Engineering Design and Drawing
Lecture/Pre-recording

Part 2
Isometric Projection

www.eit.edu.au
 References
Textbook for Topic 6
1. D.K Lieu, S. Sorby, Visualization, Modelling, and Graphics for
Engineering Design, Chapter 12
2. N.D. Bhatt., Engineering Drawing, Plane and Solid Geometry,
50th Edition, Chapter 17

Reference book for Topic 6

1. Bertoline−Wiebe, Fundamentals of Graphics Communication, 5th
Edition, Chapter 7
2. A. Yarwood, Introduction to AutoCAD, Chapter 7

www.eit.edu.au
 Topics
The following topics will be discussed in this session:
• Introduction

• Isometric axes, lines, and planes

• Isometric scale

• Isometric graph

• Isometric drawing of planes or plane figure

• Isometric drawing of solids

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Isometric Drawing of Planes or Plane Figure
We will demonstrate how to construct isometric drawings of planes or plane
figures with some examples.

Example 1: The front view of a square is given in fig. (i). Draw its isometric
view.

Solution 1:
As the front view is a square, the surface of the square is vertical. In
isometric view,= vertical lines will be drawn vertical, while horizontal lines
will be drawn inclined at 30° to the horizontal

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Isometric Drawing of Planes or Plane Figure
i. Through any point d, draw a vertical line da = DA [fig (ii)].
ii. Again through d, draw a line dc = DC inclined at 30° to the horizontal and
at 60° to da.
iii. Complete the rhombus abcd which is the required isometric view. The
view can also be drawn in direction of the other sloping axis as shown in
Fig (iii).

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Isometric Drawing of Planes or Plane Figure
Example 2: If fig (i) is the top view of a square, draw its isometric view.

Solution 2: As the top view is a square, the surface of the square is

horizontal. In isometric view, all the sides will be drawn inclined at 30° to the
horizontal.
i. From any point d [fig (iv), draw two lines da and dc inclined at
30° to the horizontal and making 120° angle between
themselves.
ii. Complete the rhombus abcd which is the required isometric
view.

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Isometric Drawing of Planes or Plane Figure
Example 3: The front view of a triangle ABC having its surface parallel to VP
is shown in fig.(i). Draw its isometric view.

Solution 3: The surface of the triangle is vertical and the base ab is

horizontal.
• ab will be drawn parallel to a sloping axis.
• The two sides of the triangle are inclined. Hence they will not be drawn
parallel to any isometric axis.
• In an isometric view, angles do not increase or decrease in any fixed
proportion. They are drawn after determining the positions of the ends of the
arms on isometric lines.

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Isometric Drawing of Planes or Plane Figure
i. Therefore, enclose the triangle in the rectangle ABQP. Draw the isometric
view abqp of the rectangle [fig (ii)].
ii. Mark a point c in pq such that pc = PC. Draw the triangle abc which is the
required isometric view. It can also be drawn in the other direction as
shown in [fig (iii)].

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Isometric Drawing of Planes or Plane Figure

Example 4: Fig. (i) shows the front view of a circle whose surface is parallel
to VP. Draw the isometric view of the circle.

Solution 4:
This can be accomplished using the following 2 methods. Method of points:
i. Four-centre method.

We will demonstrate method 2.

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Isometric Drawing of Planes or Plane Figure
• Draw the isometric view of the square [fig. (i)]. Draw perpendicular
bisectors of the sides of the rhombus, intersecting each other on the longer
diagonal at points p and q, and which meet at 120°-angles with b and d.

• Note that a circle in an orthographic front

view will generally appear as an ellipse in
an isometric drawing.

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Isometric Drawing of Planes or Plane Figure
• With centers b and d, draw arcs 3-4 and 1-2 respectively. With centers p
and q, draw arcs 1-4 and 2-3 respectively and complete the required
ellipse.

• Fig. (ii) shows the ellipse obtained in

the rhombus drawn in the direction of
the other sloping axis.
• Fig. (iii) shows the isometric view of
the circle when its surface is
horizontal.

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 Bachelor of Science
Engineering
BSC203C: Engineering Design and Drawing
Lecture/Pre-recording

Part 3
Isometric Projection

www.eit.edu.au
 References
Textbook for Topic 6
1. D.K Lieu, S. Sorby, Visualization, Modelling, and Graphics for
Engineering Design, Chapter 12
2. N.D. Bhatt., Engineering Drawing, Plane and Solid Geometry,
50th Edition, Chapter 17

Reference book for Topic 6

1. Bertoline−Wiebe, Fundamentals of Graphics Communication, 5th
Edition, Chapter 7
2. A. Yarwood, Introduction to AutoCAD, Chapter 7

www.eit.edu.au
 Topics
The following topics will be discussed in this session:
• Introduction

• Isometric axes, lines, and planes

• Isometric scale

• Isometric graph

• Isometric drawing of planes or plane figure

• Isometric drawing of solids

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 Isometric Drawing of Solids
The best way to learn formal isometric drawings of solids is to study a simple
example.
• The figure below (Fig 12.06) shows the orthographic views of a step block.
• For this object, all of the surfaces are normal surfaces. This means that
each surface is viewed in its true size and shape in one of the principal
views and will appear as an edge view in the other principal views.

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 Isometric Drawing of Solids
• A frontal surface appears in true size and shape in the frontal view, while
a horizontal surface appears in true size and shape in the horizontal or
top view.
• A profile surface appears in true size and shape in the right side or right
profile view

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 Isometric Drawing of Solids
• Note that:
- In the front view, you see the width and height dimensions;
- In the top view, you see the width and depth dimensions; and
- In the profile view, you see the depth and height dimensions.

• To draw the isometric pictorial of the step block, you must first set up the
isometric axes that will define where to measure the width, height, and depth
dimensions.

• One way to define the isometric axes is shown here.

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 Isometric Drawing of Solids
• Two receding axes intersect at point A and are at 30 degrees to an
imaginary horizontal line.

• The width dimensions will be plotted along the receding axis extending to
the left of point A, and the depth dimensions will be plotted along the
receding axis extending to the right of point A.

• The height dimension will be plotted

along the vertical axis that extends
upward from point A.

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 Isometric Drawing of Solids
• When you look at the orthographic drawing in Figure 12.06, you see that the
maximum width, depth, and height are 4 units, 3 units, and 2 units,
respectively.

• When beginning to draw the isometric, you want to frame the step block on
the isometric axes and then take care of the details to finish the isometric.

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 Isometric Drawing of Solids
Use the following steps to draw the isometric of the step block.

Step 1: On the isometric axis marked Width, measure the maximum width of the
step block (4 units) from point A and label this measurement as point B. On the
isometric axis marked Depth, measure the maximum depth of the step block (3
units) from point A and mark this measurement as point C. On the isometric axis
marked Height, measure the maximum height of the step block (2 units) from
point A and mark this measurement as point D.

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 Isometric Drawing of Solids
Step 2: Draw vertical lines from points B and C. From point D, draw a line
parallel with line AC that intersects with the vertical line from C. Label this point
as E. In a similar manner, from point D, draw a line parallel with line AB that
intersects with the vertical line from B. Label this point as F.

Step 3: Complete the “isometric reference prism” by drawing a line from E that is
parallel with line DF. Then draw a line from F that is parallel with DE. The line
from E and the line from F intersect at point G. The isometric reference prism
contains the step block.

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 Isometric Drawing of Solids
Step 4: Along line FD, measure the width of the upper surface (2 units) and label
it point 1. From point 1, draw a line parallel with FG to line GE and label the point
on GE as point 2. From point 1 and point 2, draw vertical lines downward parallel
with BF.

Step 5: Along the vertical line AD, measure the height of the lower surface (1
inch) and label it on AD as point 3. From point 3, draw a line parallel with AC to
line CE. Label the point where this line intersects CE as point 4.

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 Isometric Drawing of Solids
Step 6: From point 3, draw a line parallel with AB that intersects the vertical line
from point 1 and label it point 5. In a similar manner, draw a line from point 4
parallel with AB that intersects the vertical line from point 2 and label it point 6.
Connect point 5 with point 6.

Step 7: Erase lines 1-D, D-3, 2-E, and E-4. The isometric drawing of the step
block is complete. Darken all lines that define the step block.

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 Isometric Drawing of Solids
• Drawing of the step block is relatively easy because all of the lines that
define it are called isometric lines.
• All of the lines defining the frontal surface are parallel or perpendicular, as
are the lines defining the horizontal and profile surfaces.
• Isometric drawings can get rather complex when surfaces that need to be
drawn are not defined as frontal, horizontal, or profile surfaces because
the lines that form the surfaces are not parallel or perpendicular.
• Therefore, these lines are “non-isometric lines” and need to be plotted
using their endpoints.

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 Isometric Drawing of Solids
Isometric drawing of an object with an inclined surface
The figure below (Figure 12.09) is an orthographic drawing showing a
variation of the step block.
• It has an inclined surface.

• The procedure to draw the isometric pictorial of this object is similar to

drawing the step block except that you have to account for the inclined
surface.

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 Isometric Drawing of Solids
Use the following steps along with the steps we have used already to draw
the step block.
Step 1: Follow the seven steps to draw the step block shown in Figure 12.08.
Step 2: From point 5, draw a vertical line downward that intersects AB at
point 7.

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 Isometric Drawing of Solids
Step 3: From point 7, draw a line to point C; and from point 5, draw a line to
point 4. The inclined surface is defined by the points 5-4-C-7.
Step 4: Remove lines 5-3, 3-4, 7-A, and AC. These edges were used for
construction only, and are not a part of the object. Darken all visible edges to
complete the drawing.

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 Isometric Drawing of Solids
Isometric drawing of an object with an oblique surface
An even more complex example involving isometric drawings includes a
drawing that has an oblique surface.
• An oblique surface is a surface that is neither parallel nor perpendicular to
the frontal, horizontal, or profile projection plane;

• Also, the oblique surface will appear in all three views as its characteristic
shape. That is, if the oblique surface is a triangle, it will be a triangle in all
three views.

• It will not appear as an edge in any of the three views.

• Knowing this, it is reasonable to assume that an isometric drawing showing

an oblique surface will show the surface in its characteristic shape.

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 Isometric Drawing of Solids
The figure below (Fig.12.11) shows three orthographic views of a step block
that includes an oblique surface.

Notice that the triangular surface appears in all 3 views.

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 Isometric Drawing of Solids
Use the following steps and the steps to draw the isometric of the step block
with the oblique surface.
Step 1: Follow the seven original steps to draw the step block (Figure 12.08).
Step 2: Draw a line from point 5 to point 4.

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 Isometric Drawing of Solids
Step 3: Draw a line from point 5 to point A.
Step 4: Draw a line from point 4 to point A.
Step 5: Erase lines 4-3, 5-3, and 3-A to complete the isometric.

• The surface formed by 5-4-A (in step 5) is an oblique surface.

• The lines 5-4, 4-A, and 5-A are non-isometric lines.
• All of the remaining lines of the step block are isometric lines.

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 Isometric Drawing of Solids
In an isometric drawing, orientation of the object depends on the placement
of the axes, which locates the origin.
• In Figure 12.08, point A on the lower right-corner of the object was chosen as
the location of the origin.

• From this point, we measured back along the left receding axis to lay off
widths and we measured along the right receding axis to measure depth.

• Then we measured vertically to measure

height. For all measurements, we
assumed point A to be the origin, or the
0,0,0 point.

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 Isometric Drawing of Solids
Selection of the origin (or point 0,0,0) in 3-D coordinates establishes the
relative position of each point that makes up the object.

• The origin can be placed

anywhere on the object, and the
isometric can be drawn from this
reference.

• For example, Figure 12.13

shows an origin that would be
located at the lower-left corner
of the object.

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 Isometric Drawing of Solids
• The width, depth, and height measurements would be measured along
the appropriate axes as shown in Figure 12.13.

• Notice that the width and depth

axes are 30° from an imaginary
horizontal line, as explained
previously.
• No matter where the origin is
located, all points that define
the object can be plotted in 3-D
space; then the points are
connected to show the pictorial.

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 Isometric Drawing of Solids
Left and right orientation
• Refer back to Figure 12.6, the orthographic view of the step block.
• This set of views shows a front view, a top or horizontal view, and a right
profile view.
• You also can orient the views for the step block to show a front view, a
top or horizontal view, and a left profile view (Figure 12.14).

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 Isometric Drawing of Solids
Each of the orthographic arrangements in the previous slide allows for two
different orientations of the pictorial.

• The pictorial can open to the right or it can open to the left.

• The term open refers to how the orthographic views are interpreted.

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 Isometric Drawing of Solids
Apart from normal, inclined, and oblique surfaces, another type of surface
that is associated with 3-D objects is the cylindrical surface.

• The cylindrical surface may be positive (such as a post) or negative (such

as a hole).

• When you are looking directly at a normal surface in an orthographic view,

the cylinder is represented by a circle.

• Since the normal surfaces of an isometric pictorial are distorted when you
are looking at all three dimensions on one sheet of paper, the cylinder is
represented on an isometric drawing by an ellipse.

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 Isometric Drawing of Solids
The orientation of the ellipse is dependent upon whether it appears on the
top face, the right face, or the left face.

• An isometric cube that has an ellipse on

the right face, the left face, and the top
face is shown in Figure 12.18.

• Note the orientation of the long axis for

the ellipses on each of the three normal
faces of the cube.

• We have already discussed earlier how to

construct these ellipses using the four-
center method.

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 Isometric Drawing of Solids
Ellipses on inclined surfaces
• Sometimes the need arises to draw an ellipse on an inclined surface
that appears in an isometric drawing. An example is shown below.
• To do this, you must project some points to ascertain the location of the
ellipse on the inclined surface.

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 Isometric Drawing of Solids
Step 1:
Create a normal isometric surface by locating point 1 using points B and A.
Draw a light line from B along the isometric line shown. Draw a light line from
A vertically until the line from B is intersected. This intersection is the location
of point 1. Repeat step 1 using points C and D as your reference points and
locate point 2. The rectangular surface shown as B-1-2-C represents a
projection of the inclined surface B-A-D-C. You will use this projection to
establish the cylindrical hole.

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 Isometric Drawing of Solids
Step 2:
In the center of the horizontal surface shown as B-1-1-C, locate the
centerline for the cylindrical hole, which will be shown as an ellipse since this
is an isometric surface. Frame the area that will contain the ellipse and draw
the ellipse.

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 Isometric Drawing of Solids
Step 3: Locate several points on the ellipse that will be used to project to the
inclined surface to locate the hole on the inclined surface. Project each point
that you located on the ellipse to line C-2. Make sure these projections are
parallel to lines BC and 1-2.
Step 4: Where the points projected in step 3 intersect line C-2, project them
straight down (parallel to D-2) to line CD, which is on the inclined surface.

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 Isometric Drawing of Solids
Step 5: Where the points projected in step 4 intersect line CD, draw lines
perpendicular to BC and AD on the inclined surface.

Step 6: From the points on the ellipse drawn on the normal isometric surface B-C-2-1,
project downward (parallel to A-1 and B-2) to the place where the points intersect
their specific projection line on the inclined face (A-B-C-D). Plot a point on this
intersection. Using an irregular curve, connect the points on the inclined surface to
complete the location of the cylindrical hole on the inclined surface.

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 Isometric Drawing of Solids

• The figure below (Fig. 12.27) shows

the circular hole in the inclined surface
without all of the construction required
to create it.
• This looks as though it would be
simple to create; but as you refer back
to the steps, the process is not that
simple.

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