Rapid Viz, Third Edition A New Method for the Rapid Visualitzation of Ideas.pdf

1、Rapid Viz,Third EditionA New Method for the Rapid Visualization of IdeasKurt Hanks&Larry Belliston 2006 by Thomson Course Technology,a division of Thomson Learning Inc.All rights reserved.Nopart of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means,electronic ormechanical,includi

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7、,companies,and organizations interested in multiple copies or licensing of thisbook should contact the publisher for quantity discount information.Training manuals,CD-ROMs,and portions of this book are also available individually or can be tailored for specific needs.ISBN:1-59863-268-XLibrary of Con

8、gress Catalog Card Number:2006900546Printed in the United States of America06 07 08 09 10 PH 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1Thomson Course Technology PTR,a division of Thomson Learning Inc.25 Thomson PlaceBoston,MA 02210http:/Publisher and General Manager,Thomson Course Technology PTR:Stacy L.HiquetAssociate D

9、irector of Marketing:Sarah ODonnellManager of Editorial Services:Heather TalbotMarketing Manager:Heather HurleyAcquisitions Editor:Mitzi KoontzMarketing Coordinator:Jordan CaseyProject and Copy Editor:Sandi WilsonPTR Editorial ServicesCoordinator:Elizabeth FurbishInterior Layout Tech:Bill HartmanCov

10、er Designer:Mike TanamachiProofreader:Sara GullionSpecial Consultant:Michael V.LeeVisualizers:David Bartholomew,Scott Bevan,Carl Haynie,Becky Miller,Stan SerrContentsIntroductionRapid VizNot Another Drawing Book .1Chapter 1Perspective.15Chapter 2Rapid Indication.99Chapter 3The Visualization Process.

11、123Chapter 4Graphic Expression .143Chapter 5Graphic Creation .153Chapter 6Learning with Visuals .169Appendix AAdditional Exercises.179Appendix BSuggested Readings.197Credits .199This page intentionally left blank 1When I mentioned to anarchitect friend of minethat I was thinking ofwriting a book on

12、drawing he juststared at me.Then he bellowed withhands waving in the air,“All we needis another drawing book.Why youcould fill this room with those kindsof books.There are thousands ofthem covering everything you couldpossibly want to know about draw-ing.”Then he pointedly asked,“Whyon earth would y

13、ou want to doanother?”It is a good question.Why would Iwant to do another?The answercomes from personal experience.Itinvolves my own development;I wantto explain to you what I feel drawing,thinking,and visualizing are allabout.My visual education began later in lifethan it does for most people.It be

14、ganwhen I was in college.My only previ-ous exposure was doodling on scrapsof paper,around the borders ofEnglish themes,on the pages of thephone book,and other such randomplaces.In college,I floated aroundvarious majors and finally landed indesign.In that college you had tolearn to draw if you wanted

15、 to getyour ideas across.Drawing was some-thing you were made to learnsome-thing you had to go through and getover like chicken pox.And so I did it.After taking several classes,puttingforth considerable effort,and fillinginnumerable waste baskets with dis-carded drawings,I finally reached anacceptab

16、le level of proficiency.But thewhole education process seemed toolong and too involved and too filledwith unnecessary and inefficientteaching for what I finally gained.Rapid VizNot AnotherDrawing BookIntroductionRapid Viz Third Edition2I realized,however,that somethingelse had happened along the way

17、.Yes,I had learned to draw,but moreimportantly,I learned to think.Mywhole method of thinking underwenta complete metamorphosis.I began tosee the world more clearly.As myhand sketched the lines,my mindrevealed a whole new method ofthinking that I had not known before.Being able to visualize things ga

18、ve mea tool that I could use in all facets oflife.What happened to my mind wasmuch more important than thesketches I produced.Learning to use pen and paper hadthus revealed talents I didnt know Ihad.Not the great talents of a fineartist in the traditional sense that youmight expect,but I had discove

19、red theimportant,practical ability to visual-ize.I gained the ability to picturesomething mentally,and then quicklyconvert those thoughts into visualreality on a piece of paper.I could naildown my ideas on a sheet of paper.I realized that converting these ideashad to be a rapid process taking aminim

20、um amount of time,trouble,and work.An idea is a very delicateand fleeting thing and if it is notquickly crystallized into reality,it justslips away never to be found again.Arapid conversion from thought topaper is critical.I found myself asking the questions:Can this new-found skill be taught toothe

21、rs?And can it be done without allthe hassle,redundancy,and expensethat I had gone through in my owneducation?As so often happens in life,I foundmyself regretting my former criti-cisms of teachers as I became ateacher.In a classroom situation Ibegan to challenge students to learnthe kind of drawing t

22、hat had becomesuch a valuable asset in my life.For the next couple of years,my stu-dents and I developed a method thatworked.The students helped mereduce drawing to the essentials.Instead of a fine art approach,wedeveloped a simplified approach todrawing that people can use for think-ing,learning,an

23、d communicating.1This book is an outgrowth of class-room teaching.By trial and error wediscovered the best teachingapproach.I hope that you,too,willgain by the experience many studentswent through to develop this con-densed teaching approach.Earlier Education CanHamper Our ThinkingThrough my teachin

24、g I found thatoften the less you know about draw-ing the better off you are when learn-ing to visualize.The less you know,the fewer preconceived ideas you haveabout drawing and visualizing.Youhave an advantage in that you do nothave to unlearn what you alreadyknow.I can remember one class inparticul

25、ar in which I had two separategroups:one made up of architectureand landscape architecture studentswho had a lot of previous drawingexperience,and another made up ofbeginning interior design studentswho had no experience(they had noidea what a“T square”was).At firstthe experienced group excelled ove

26、rthe inexperienced group.But the inte-rior design students with no previousdrawing experience just kept plod-ding along until,in the end,their per-formance actually exceeded the moreexperienced students performance.Ive found that experience oftenbreeds indifference to what may seemto be simplistic a

27、nd rudimentaryexercises.But simplicity has anuncanny way of positioning itselfbehind genius.About This BookThe objectives and guidelines used todevelop this book were to:Produce a practical workbookto help individuals visualizetheir thoughts.Use examples and exercises thathave been tried by students

28、.Use tools,technology,and defi-nitions that relate to a studentsunderstanding.Design the content of the bookfor students and professionalsin the fields of architecture,landscape architecture,engi-neering,industrial design,inte-rior design,and other sciencesand arts in which visualizationis vital.Emp

29、hasize speed in masteringactions and concepts,reducingtime,effort,and cost of learn-ing.Use materials and equipmentthat are easily attainable andeconomical.IntroductionRapid VizNot Another Drawing Book3Rapid Viz Third Edition4Structure the information fromsimple to complex,from con-crete to abstract

30、,from generalto specific.Apply visualization to real-lifesituations whenever possible.Provide positive reinforcementto students to prove that theycan draw and visualize theirown ideas.Have students learn by doing.This last objective was especiallyimportant because while visualizationis more a mental

31、 process than a phys-ical one,the mental process is learnedby actually doing.Goals of the Rapid VizTechniqueIve found it easier to teach rapidvisualization by starting in a logicalsequential mannerthe conventionalteaching method.If a radical newconcept like Rapid Viz is taught in aradical new way,pe

32、ople feel over-whelmed.By starting off teaching theRapid Viz concepts in a conventionalmanner,students become comfort-able with the techniques and slowlytransition to intuitive learning.The exercises that accompany eachchapter may seem strange,but theyhave each been created and tested tobe effective

33、 in reinforcing the tech-niques presented in the chapter text.The Rapid Viz techniques featured inthis book are designed to do the fol-lowing:1.To help you develop your ownunique style of visual expres-sion.This book is not designedto help you become a masterillustrator,but rather a visualthinker an

34、d communicator.Theexercises take you from copyingsomeone elses visuals to mak-ing your own.As the book pro-gresses,you should developyour own style that is comfort-able and works for you.2.To push your abilities.Improv-ing your visual expression skillsis a skill,and as such it requirespractice.Just

35、as a weight lifterimproves his performance bylifting more weight and a run-ner improves her time by run-ning faster or longer distances,you must push yourself to workfaster in shorter periods of timeto produce results.3.To help you defer judgment.One of the most dangerous pit-falls of learning visua

36、l skills isthe tendency to judge yourwork too soon.You may thinkthat your drawings look silly atfirst,but keep working throughthe exercises and you will seeprogress.4.To maintain your sense ofhumor.Many artists would turnup their noses at cartoons andnonsense doodles that are oftenfeatured in this b

37、ook.However,if you can find the humor inyour drawings,you can deferjudgment and allow yourself todevelop your skills.Takingthings too seriously too early inthe learning process discouragessome would-be visual thinkersfrom developing their skills.5.To set tight parameters.Theexercises attempt to rest

38、rictyour freedom temporarily.Tight restrictions as to what isto be drawn,how long to take,and so forth make drawing eas-ier during the early stages of thelearning process.Do the samefor yourself.Set your own tightgoals.Too many choices breedconfusion and non-perfor-mance.Decide specifically whatto d

39、o and do it.6.To reinforce that Rapid Viz is aprogressive process.You willlearn a little at a time.Go backover sections of the book to seeyour own improvement.Progress in small steps insteadof trying to leap immediately toan end result.7.To create a sequential learningsystem.Like many things,theRapi

40、d Viz techniques are moreeasily learned after first master-ing preparatory skills.Followthe order of this book so youcan build upon the skills stepby step.8.To apply the techniques to avariety of scenarios.You maywonder why some exercisesseem applicable only to a spe-cific profession,such as archi-t

41、ecture or city planning.Thepoint of applying the tech-niques to areas beyond yourown work or study is to rein-force that the principles are thesame.When you learn by draw-ing objects outside your normalframe of reference or comfortzone,you will learn a great dealand avoid falling into oldhabits.9.To

42、 keep a visual record of yourprogress.Save the drawings youcreate throughout this book.Record the date or sequence inwhich you created the draw-ings.When you go back toreview your progress you willbe amazed at how far you havecome.10.To provide an accessible teach-ing medium.I believe that a livetea

43、cher is the best way to learnthe Rapid Viz techniques,butthis book is the next best alter-native when a live instructor isunavailable to you for whateverreason.The methods used inthe book have been tested andimproved through feedbackfrom many years in a classroomenvironment.The self-studyavailable i

44、n this book willrequire effort on your part,butthe effort extended will beworth the rewards.LearningRapid Viz will not only changeyour drawing abilities;it willexpand your thinking abilities.Another Way of LearningThere are at least two ways of learningand knowing something.One way isthe traditional

45、 method taught in theeducational systemreading,writ-ing,and arithmetic.With this methodyou read something,you memorize it,and you are supposed to be able torecall what you learned.There also are other ways to learn andknow something.One way involvesthe“feeling”method in which youknow something becau

46、se you feel it.Drawing is more the feeling and intu-itive kind of learning and knowingthan it is the sequential,rote memo-rization method of learning.Drawingis much more dependent on the intu-itive,creative side of the brain.An example of“feeling”learning iswhen I learned to shoot a rifle at tar-get

47、s thrown into the air.As a young-ster I took pride in my ability to shootaccurately.One day a friend and Iwent shooting togetherhe out-classed me terribly.He was a magnifi-cent shot,and I wanted to be at leastas good a shot as he was.I had learnedabout a method of shooting whereinyou shot from the h

48、ip without takingaim.You aimed by“feel”rather thanIntroductionRapid VizNot Another Drawing Book5Rapid Viz Third Edition6by looking down the sights of the gun.So I set out to learn this“feeling”method of shooting.Another person would throw itemsinto the air and I would shoot fromthe hip.Its like poin

49、ting your fin-geryou dont need to look downyour finger to know that you arepointing in the right direction.As Ibecame able to hit the thrown targets,I progressed to shooting them from agreater distance.Then I progressed tosmaller and smaller targets until Ibecame very proficient at shootingmoving ta

50、rgets in the air.With time and practice,I eventuallybecame a very good shot by feel.Youmay assume that the best way to learnto shoot is by looking down the sightsof a gun,but I actually became a bet-ter shot by feeling as opposed to thelogical,traditional method.Andwouldnt you know,my friend evenimp