Technical drawing is learned by drawing, not by reading. This page holds three view-derivation exercises of increasing difficulty. The right way to work: look at the pictorial view, draw the three views yourself on paper (front, top, left side — first-angle method), and only then open the solution and compare. Keep Lesson 4: Orthographic Projection for the rules and Lesson 2 for line types at hand.
A five-step method for deriving views
Use the same order on every part before you start the exercises. A fixed order narrows down where mistakes can creep in.
- Choose the front view. Take the face that best describes the shape and produces the fewest hidden edges. In the pictorials on this page the front face is the lower left one.
- Set out the layout (first angle). The front view sits in the middle; the top view goes below it and the left side view goes to its right.
- Align the dimensions. Front and top views share the width, front and side views share the height, top and side views share the depth. Carry this alignment across the sheet with thin projection lines.
- Draw the visible edges first. Visible edges are continuous thick lines. Every edge must have a counterpart in all three views: a line, a point, or it falls onto another edge.
- Then add hidden edges and centre lines. Hidden edges are thin dashed lines; hole and cylinder axes are thin chain lines. When lines coincide, the order of precedence is visible edge, hidden edge, centre line.
Exercise 1 (Easy): Stepped Block
Draw the front, top and left side views of the part below. Hint: think about whether any hidden edge exists at all.
Solution 1
Common mistake
Drawing the step edge in the top view as a dashed line. Looking down, the eye sees the step surface directly; nothing in front of it hides it, so the line is continuous. The dashed line only appears in the side view, where the tall flange hides the step.
Exercise 2 (Medium): U-Channel Block
A rectangular channel runs through the block from front to back. Draw the three views. Hint: in which view does the channel appear in its true shape, in which as lines, and in which as hidden edges?
Solution 2
Common mistake
Leaving out the channel floor in the side view, or drawing it continuous. Seen from the left, the channel floor lies behind the body of the block; the edge exists but is hidden, so it is a thin dashed line. The second typical mistake is spacing the channel edges in the top view differently from the U width in the front view: the width must line up exactly between the front and top views.
Exercise 3 (Hard): Chamfered Block with a Hole
The block’s top-right edge is chamfered across the full depth; on the left a hole passes straight through from front to back. Draw the three views. Hint: in which views does the chamfer create an edge, and where is the hole a circle versus dashed lines?
Solution 3
Matching exercises: which view belongs to which part?
Practise seeing before drawing. In the two tables below the views are shuffled; for each part pick the correct front (F), side (S) and top (T) view and write the letters in the box. The answers are at the end — try it yourself first.
Matching 1 (easy): four simple blocks
The front views of four parts (1–4) are given; choose the side views from A–D and the top views from E–H. Think about where the hidden lines must be: the bottom of a slot cannot be seen from the side.
Matching 2 (medium): three views from a pictorial
This time the parts are given as pictorials. For each one choose the front, side and top view from A–L. Hint: parts with a square hole must show a square in the front view, and parts with an inclined face must show a triangular profile in the side view.
Answer key. Matching 1: 1 → C–F · 2 → D–G · 3 → A–H · 4 → B–E. Matching 2 (front–side–top): 1 → C–G–I · 2 → A–H–J · 3 → D–F–K · 4 → B–E–L. Redraw any part you got wrong in three views on paper; you will find the error almost always comes from a forgotten hidden line or from imagining the side view from the wrong side.
Checklist for your own drawing
Before you open a solution, check your drawing against these questions:
- Are the three views in the right place: top view below the front view, left side view to its right?
- Do width, height and depth line up exactly between the views?
- Does every edge of the pictorial have a counterpart in all three views?
- Are hidden edges drawn dashed and hole axes as chain lines?
- In the view where the hole appears as a circle, do two centre lines cross at right angles?
- Can the line weights be told apart: visible edges thick, the others thin?
What view derivation means at the machine
Operators and programmers read a part from its three views, not from a pictorial. Missing a hidden edge, for example a channel floor shown only as a dashed line in the side view, means a missing operation or a feature machined to the wrong depth. Being able to see quickly in which view a hole is a circle and in which it is a dashed line is a precondition for transferring hole positions correctly to the work zero.
Frequently asked questions
Which view should I choose as the front view?
The face that describes the shape best and leaves the fewest hidden edges. If details such as steps, channels or chamfers appear in their true shape in the front view, you have chosen well.
What is the difference between first-angle and third-angle projection?
In first-angle projection (Turkey and Europe) the view seen from the left is drawn to the right of the front view and the view from above is drawn below it. In third-angle projection (USA) the layout is reversed: the left side view is on the left and the top view is above. The projection symbol in the title block tells you which method is used.
If lines coincide, which one do I draw?
Visible edge first, then hidden edge, centre line last. A dashed line that falls on a visible edge is not drawn; a centre line is drawn only where it does not coincide with another line.
Where to go next
If you drew all three unaided, the foundation of view derivation is in place — next come section views and dimensioning. If you struggled, no harm done: rework Lesson 4 and come back. And if you wonder why this skill is bread and butter at the machine, see our CNC Operator Guide.