Let's Draw 3D Shapes in PowerPoint / Beginner: "Cube"

Introduction

For those of you worrying, "I'm not artistic, so I can't draw 3D shapes."
Here is the solution.

The stars in the sky are bright lights, lights in the sky!

In fact, scientists are in a profession where sketching skills are always required.
Yes, because we have to keep records in our lab notebooks with various diagrams!

That's why, during experiments, students who lack confidence in their drawing skills sometimes tell me, "I'm bad at drawing" or "Sketching is impossible," and try to get me to draw for them!

Of course, since lab notebook records should be as real-time as possible, I sometimes draw for them, but in addition to that, I also teach those students

how to draw 3D sketches in PowerPoint regardless of artistic talent

I will generously share that method with all of you here too!
This time, it's the beginner level: "Cube".

Let's draw a cabinet projection

...It's normal to wonder what that is.
Cabinet refers to a furniture cabinet, but "cabinet projection" is a legitimate technical term in descriptive geometry.

What is a cabinet projection?

A drawing combining a front view with true dimensions
and
a drawing where the depth is drawn at half length with a 45-degree line
to make it look three-dimensional.

You can't understand it just from words, right! So today, let's draw a cube with 6 cm sides using the cabinet projection method. It's the foundation of everything!

1. When you look at a cube with 6 cm sides from the front, it becomes a 6 cm square, so first draw that -> This is called the "front view".

2. The depth is also 6 cm, but in a cabinet projection, we draw this at half the length... that is, 3 cm, as a 45-degree line.

Now... can you all draw a line tilted at 45 degrees with a length of 3 cm in PowerPoint?

Please prepare four of these.

3. Place the created lines one by one accurately at the four corners of the square, following the shape's snap guides. Snap guides are the dashed lines that appear when you bring a line close to the corner of a square and it snaps into place. They show you exactly where it's attached!

4. Connect the ends of the straight lines that aren't attached to the square with individual lines. Use snap guides for this too so they don't get misaligned.

It should look like this.

5. Make the hidden lines (lines that are obscured) dashed, or delete them.

It's a small detail, but if you "Bring to Front" the red square of the front view, the front view won't be overwritten by the hidden lines.

Conclusion

That was easy, right?

Keep in mind, this is a cube drawn using the proper "cabinet projection" method!

I know that some people struggle even with drawing a cube freehand. But don't worry! With this method, you can draw a much cleaner cube than you could freehand!!

Actually, even for more complex figures, the basic steps are the same. So, everyone, let's start by learning how to draw a cube!