Engineering and technical graphics have gone through significant changes in the last decade, due to the use of computers and CAD software. It seems as if some new hardware or software development that impacts technical graphics is occurring every year. Although these changes are important to the subject of technical graphics, there is much about the curriculum that has not changed. Engineers and technologists still find it necessary to communicate and interpret designs, using graphics methods such as drawings or computer models. As powerful as today’s computers and CAD software have become, they are of little use to engineers and technologists who do not fully understand fundamental graphics principles and 3-D modeling strategies or do not possess a high-level visualization ability.

To the authors of this text, teaching graphics is not a job; it is a “life mission.” We feel that teaching is an important profession, and that the education of our engineers is critical to the future of our country. Further, we believe that technical graphics is an essential, fundamental part of a technologist’s education. We also believe that many topics in graphics and the visualization process can be very difficult for some students to understand and learn. For these and other reasons, we have developed this text, which addresses both traditional and modern elements of technical graphics, using what we believe to be an interesting and straightforward approach.