The Future of Technical Drawing

Overview

This document seeks your support for the clarifications set out herein that are intended to: These developments should not be siloed. Reviving a clear understanding of the function of technical drawing is the first step.

Why talk about technical drawing at all? Why think about its past, or reflect on its current state? Why try to envision its future? Or imagine it even has a future, when it’s typical these days — it seems part of the standard discourse in some circles — to dismiss the future of technical drawing, to doubt it even has a future, any future whatsoever.

Typical Discourse

Typical discourse treats technical drawing either as obsolete, or otherwise as “finished”:

  1. Technical drawing is claimed by some to have been surpassed (by models), that it’s archaic, obsolete, that it should be abandoned, and forgotten except in museums.
  2. Alternatively, technical drawing is thought to have reached already its apex of expression, its form, already as good as it will ever get.

These, we’re told, are the available options for technical drawing: obsolescence or permanent stasis.

There are some exceptions though. Automation is seeing new life again. Here are a couple of examples: Auto Dimension Pack for Revit and BricsCAD BIM automated symbols. These are definitely worthwhile but they’re not changes in drawing’s form.

Let’s make a note here about the difficulty of talking about, and proposing, changes in drawing’s form. It takes some kind of madness to want to do that. It’s not for lack of potential for change. Whether anyone sees it or not, yet, there is tremendous potential, for innovating drawing’s form.

Documentation

Technical drawing is often referred to as documentation. The word is certainly accurate, but omits something. What’s missing is obscured in various ways. The hierarchy of employees in design firms puts some force on this. So does, on the other hand, enthusiasm for tech innovation!

A suppressive discourse emerges, it turns out, and a blind spot with regard both to the operative purpose of technical drawing, and its potential evolution.

Definition

Technical drawing, from Wikipedia:

Technical drawing, drafting or drawing, is the act and discipline of composing drawings that visually communicate how something functions or is constructed. Technical drawing is essential for communicating ideas in industry and engineering.

Interplay generates understanding and is the basic observable dynamic of thinking.

The Future of Technical Drawing: Evolution in Form

A look at drawing’s future, characteristics of drawing’s proposed new form of expression, in models:

  • drawing should be immersed in-situ at true orientation within modeled environments
  • drawing should exist also ex-situ, abstracted out of modeled environments
  • drawing should easily, elegantly, flow from one to the other, and back, looping on demand

These characteristics aim to leverage the full potential of digital modeling in enhancing the understanding and usability of technical drawings.

Conclusion

TGN promises improvement in technique for the close study of complex modeled environments.
The purpose of innovation in digital media is to make media a more energetic and able companion to thought and understanding.