By Medium:
* Manual Drafting: This involves using traditional tools like pencils, pens, erasers, rulers, templates, triangles, and compasses on paper or drafting film (Mylar). It's becoming less common but still valued for its hands-on feel and quick sketching capabilities.
* Computer-Aided Drafting (CAD): This uses software to create and edit drawings. It's the dominant method today, offering precision, ease of modification, and integration with other software. Specific CAD software packages exist for different disciplines (e.g., AutoCAD for architecture and engineering, SolidWorks for 3D modeling).
By Discipline:
* Architectural Drafting: Creating drawings for buildings, including floor plans, elevations, sections, and details.
* Mechanical Drafting: Producing drawings for machines and mechanical components, often including detailed views, exploded diagrams, and assembly drawings.
* Electrical Drafting: Creating drawings of electrical systems, including schematics, wiring diagrams, and panel layouts.
* Civil Drafting: Producing drawings for infrastructure projects, such as roads, bridges, and utilities.
* Structural Drafting: Creating drawings for structural elements of buildings and other structures.
* Piping and Instrumentation Diagrams (P&ID) Drafting: Specialized drafting for the process industries, showing piping systems and instrumentation.
By Drawing Type:
* Orthographic Projection: A standard method showing multiple 2D views (front, top, side) of a 3D object.
* Isometric Projection: A type of pictorial drawing showing a 3D object at a single angle, allowing a 3D representation in a single view.
* Perspective Drawing: Creating drawings that represent depth and distance, making them look more realistic.
* Schematic Drawings: Simplified representations of systems, focusing on the relationships between components rather than precise dimensions.
* Detail Drawings: Enlarged views of specific components or features of a larger design.
It's important to note that many of these categories overlap. For example, a mechanical engineer might use CAD software to create orthographic and isometric projections of machine parts, which could be considered both CAD drafting and mechanical drafting.