Swinburne Faculty of Health, Arts and Design

Bachelor of Engineering
Quality Learning, Innovative Research

ENG10001 Humanitarian Engineering Design Project l Design Tutorial

GEO FORMS - Simple Curvilinear Designs

CLASS EXERCISE: Fill a full page of sketches of simple curvilinear(curved) forms.

1) Sketch 8 sketches (minimum) of the fastening systems below to practice your line-work & construction.
Use the grid underlay to establish perspective.
2) All sketches must show light construction lines. Use one draft page to breakdown these shapes into cubes to act
as guides to construct the cylinders that form these geoforms. (These can be submitted to show construction
along with our good copy if you prefer)..
Ellipses - To draw accurate ellipses you need to know its (1) SHAPE & (2) ANGLE.

(1) THE SHAPE - Anatomy of an Ellipse (2) THE ANGLE - For Drawing Horizontal Cylinders

MINOR AXIS or Centreline

(Y to Y)

X X MAJOR AXIS
(X to X)

Y
EVEN when rotated, all MAJOR AXIS are still
An ellipse is SYMMETRICAL across BOTH axis. perpendicular to the MINOR AXIS or centreline.

Determining the Correct Shape HL VP

Cubes are the foundation of the “Crating Method” for measuring

and constructing the features of your design.

An accurate cube determines the height/width of the ellipse.

oint
in gp
(Note: You can use a cube to test the accuracy of an ellipse and vice ish
versa). a van
o to
y sg
alwa
xis
Rules for Vertical Cylinders or Cones rA
no
Mi
All
• The shape of the ellipse is determined by the dimensions
of the box.
Note how the shapes of the ellipses
• The minor axis is perpendicular to the ground (or parallel change (get wider) depending on your eye level or the horizon line (HL)
to the page).

• The major axis is ALWAYS parallel to the ground (or

bottom of the page).
Note: The major axis DOES NOT necessarily follow the VP VP

corners of the box, which is a guide to determine the

height of the ellipse. See right.

WRONG! CORRECT

VP VP
Rules for Horizontal Cylinders or Cones
• The shape of the ellipse is determined by the box.

• The minor axis goes towards the vanishing point.

Remember that the major axis is perpendicular to the

minor axis.