Background

Motivations

The axonometry library is part of a PhD research in the field of architectural representation. The starting of this code was a critical look at the implementation of projection in computer tools. To do so, projection is defined pragmatically as a way to represent an object of three dimensions on a surface with two dimensions. In that sense, a drafter’s sheet of paper and their computer screen share a technical underpinning.

Matrix Transformations

In computer graphics, projection was implemented with a matrix transformation: when multiplying a homogeneous space coordinate with the matrix, the corresponding 2D – on-screen – coordinate is computed. With the computer screen as an interface, one can draw immediately in 3D by defining a model. The various views of an object are images computed in real time.

This implementation of projection can be considered as an epistemological break with fundamental techniques of architectural representation. More precisely, descriptive geometry defines constructs the 3D representation of an object through the correlation between projections.

Objectives

The code is an attempt to re-implement projection anew into the computer code. To do so, I revisited the fundamentals of descriptive geometry and singled out a certain operation of axonometry. Axonometry by intersection is a way of drawing a 3D object with the help of 2D planes. In other words, a precise three dimensional object is constructed without the necessity of a 3D model and its matrix transformation.