Orthographic Drawing: Front, Top and Side Views

0:00How can a flat drawing show the exact shape of a solid object?

0:05A solid object has three sizes: its width, its height and its depth.

0:11An orthographic drawing shows it as flat views, each one seen straight on.

0:17The front view is what you see looking straight at the front.

0:22It shows the width and the height, but not the depth.

0:26The top view is what you see looking straight down from above.

0:31In one common layout, the top view goes right above the front view.

0:36Edges you can see are drawn as solid lines, like the edge of this step.

0:41The side view is what you see looking straight at the right side.

0:46In this layout, it goes to the right of the front view.

0:50The front and top views line up, so they share the same width.

0:54The front and side views line up too, so they share the same height.

0:59A line at 45 degrees carries the depth from the top view to the side view.

1:06Together, the lined-up front, top and side views show the width, height and depth.