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Technical Drawing in Technical Writing
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Technical Drawing in Technical Writing
Technical drawing today is an essential part of technical documentation. Such industries as civil engineering, architecture, shipbuilding, aerospace engineering, astronautics, or medical engineering can’t help using technical drawings. Those technical writers who work on documentation like that, are to be able to create technical drawings using special software. I should say, that is another must-have skill for a tech writer. There is no need to involve illustrators or designers unless one should use highly specific graphic materials.To get more news about mechanical cad, you can visit shine news official website.
Leonardo da Vinci is considered to be one of the first technical illustrators. His technical drawings include the first concepts for helicopters, parachutes, diving suits, and various types of weapons. Many of them are used today. Just imagine, it took them more than 400 years to become a part of our everyday life.
Nowadays, technical drawing, also known as an engineering drawing, has the following definition: it is a precise and detailed plan of an object that conveys information about its construction or functions. It is a means of communication between a technical writer and readers as technical drawings are a universal language of engineers, architects, and many other professionals. It is a means of conveying ideas from creators to producers as a part of technical communication. That’s why technical drawings are always accurate in terms of proportions and dimensions as they should give a precise understanding of what an object is, how to build it, and how to use it.
Types of Technical Drawings
There are different types of classifications of technical drawings, for example, by method (manual or CAD), by dimensions (2D or 3D), by format (isometric, oblique, single-point perspective, 2 point perspective, 3 point perspective), etc. But for technical writers, classification by industry seems to be the most comprehensive. Classification by industry includes the following:
Architectural drawing. Architects are responsible for a full design of a building or a structure. Architectural drawings are very complex and detailed. They contain a lot of information used while constructing a building.
Engineering drawing. Before putting something into production, a technical drawing should be prepared. An engineering drawing is a very broad notion. It may include anything from civil engineering to mechanical engineering.
Electrical drawing. Depicts designs of electrical systems and contains information about wiring, lighting, voltage, etc.
Patent drawing. This type of technical drawing must be created in accordance with strict regulations and require process-specific knowledge.
General designs and illustrations. These are materials for user manuals, instructions, and other types of technical documentation. That’s what technical writers must learn to do.
Not so long ago, all technical drawings were created manually. At that time people used drawing boards, pencils, erasers, protractors, etc. to easily draw all kinds of angles, shapes, and parallel lines. Manual drawing required a lot of time and effort. In case of a mistake, an illustrator had to do everything from scratch once again. And, finally, CAD (Computer-Aided Design) software appeared to make this process easier. This type of software is used to create industrial, architectural, and mechanical objects. They may contain dimensions and material properties.
There are two types of dimensions for drawings: 2D and 3D. There are special CADs for each type. 2D CADs are very close to a classic type of drawing process - they display only length and height. 3D CADs are far more complex - they show depth as well.