Projection built into Sketchpad III: origin of a critical field in computer graphics
French Title:
La projection intégrée au Sketchpad III : origine en devenir d’un terrain critique de l’infographie
Contribution to SCAN'20, the 9th edition of the Séminaire de Conception Architecturale Numérique, Université libre de Bruxelles, November 2020, published in Culture numérique et conception architecturale… Retour vers le futur, Derycke, D., et al., editors, SHS Web of Conferences, vol. 82, 2020.
Abstract:
Traditional architectural drawing is based on the technique of projection: invisible or abstract lines cross a plane on which their traces become the representation of an object. Computer graphics combine information and communication techniques with graphic representation and becomes a source of transformation of the projection technique. An analysis of the pioneering Sketchpad and Sketchpad III programs developed at MIT Lincoln Laboratory in 1963 exposes this transformation of the role of projection. The specific problematic of the representation of three-dimensional objects makes it possible to identify choices that have automated and dissociated the different projective views. The consequences of this transformation will be highlighted by a recall of the theoretical work of Robin Evans and through a return to the fundamental notions of descriptive geometry.
