Draw Plans and Elevations of 3D Shapes

When we are dealing with three-dimensional (3D) shapes, we have a problem if we want to draw them on a flat piece of paper.

Sometimes it is better to draw it as a 3D shape (although this can be difficult to do), but it is often easier to draw the plan and elevations of the shape.

What are plans and elevations?

For a 3D shape, there are only three directions from which you can look at it - from the top, from the side and from the front (or back). These are called plans and elevations.

Example:

Draw the plan and elevations of the following shape:

When we are drawing plans and elevations, the easiest way to do it is to shade the squares that you would see if you looked at it from each direction.

When we have this, we can then simply draw the squares that appear in two dimensions.

Let's move on to try this out in the following questions.