Engineering Graphics Educational Outcomes for the Global Engineer: An Update.

Graphics has always been the language of engineering and the preferred media for conveyance of design ideas (Booker, 1963). The first record of what appears to be an engineering drawing is a temple plan from 2130 B.C. found in an ancient city in Babylon. From Egyptian times, dated about 1500 B.C., papyrus remnants have been found of drawings that used a grid of straight lines made by touching the papyrus with a string dipped in ink pigment, thus setting the stage for early “drafting” practices. The first written record discussing drafting and the use of geometry for design representation is given by Vitruvius (1914), a Roman builder from the turn of A.D. Vitruvius writes how “an architect must have knowledge of drawing so he can make sketches of his ideas.” In about 1500 A.D., the first record of what could be called related multi-view projections appeared in Renaissance Italy. Some of the engineers and inventors of that time were also famous artists. Drawings left by Leonardo da Vinci were artistic pictorial sketches that resemble axonometric sketching techniques still taught and in use today. In 1795, Gaspard Monge published his well-known treatise on descriptive geometry, which provided a scientific foundation to engineering graphics that lasted for 200 years. During the past century, engineering graphics used different manual tools that made production of orthographic projection drawings easier. Drafting boards, T-squares, triangles, and mechanical pencils were common equipment purchased by engineering students. The development of the computer hailed yet a new era in engineering graphical communication technology. Computer-Aided Design (CAD) systems slowly replaced drawing boards with an electronic tool. By the late 1980’s, it became evident that a new 3-D solid modeling approach would became the core technology for engineering graphics, and the author has spent the last two decades promoting an engineering graphics curriculum based on this 3-D paradigm (Barr, et al., 1994).