Descriptive geometry as the basis of engineering graphic education

Abstract

This article discusses the importance of studying descriptive geometry in light of the computerization of engineering graphic education. Graphic education is a process through which a person acquires the ability to perceive, create, store, and transmit various graphic information about objects, processes, and phenomena. The article also analyzes the sequence of developing skills in working with graphic models of objects in the process of preparing for engineering activities at the school-university stage. In general education schools, subjects such as drawing, geometry, and drafting can be considered responsible for developing skills in working with graphic models of objects. The study of each discipline pursues specific goals. Drawing is largely aimed at acquiring the skills of realistic representation of objects. Planimetry and stereometry, as branches of geometry, are designed to develop the ability to work with images of flat geometric and simple spatial objects using their arbitrary parallel and central projections. The purpose of studying drawing is to acquire the skills of reading and drawing a drawing ‒ a flat orthogonal projection model of a spatial object onto mutually perpendicular planes. Further graphic education is obtained at a professional educational institution. In technical universities, engineering and graphic education, just like in school, covers many academic disciplines, but its foundations are formed during the study of descriptive geometry (DG) and engineering graphics (EG). Traditionally, the study of these disciplines is aimed at developing skills in perceiving and creating design documents ‒ drawings as a type of engineering and graphic information. Engineering graphic education is aimed at developing skills for working with the most complex, from the point of view of human perception, image of an object ‒a projection drawing containing numerous conventions and simplifications. The technical difficulties involved in creating such images contributed to the development of automation tools for design and engineering work, culminating in the emergence of modern graphics packages. The evolution of the instrumental capabilities of computer-aided design systems has proceeded in the opposite direction to the stages of graphic education: from the use of a computer as a tool for constructing a two-dimensional drawing of a product, through a three-dimensional geometric model, to an informational virtual model.