What is foreshortening? Especially in isometric projection?

Question

What is foreshortening? Especially in isometric projection?

Answer 1

Let us take a case of a cube projected by isometric projection.

The cube is angled so that all of its surfaces make the same angle with the plane of projection.

As a result, the length of each of the edges shown in the projection is somewhat shorter than the actual length of the edge on the object itself. This reduction is called foreshortening. Since all of the surfaces make the angle with the plane of projection, the edges foreshorten in the same ratio.

Therefore, one scale can be used for the entire layout; hence, the term isometric which literally means the same scale.

See and understand the full concept at :

http://www.ul.ie/~rynnet/keanea/isometri...

Answer 2

Interesting, in the art world they use the term 'foreshortening' to describe a sculptural technique where a three-dimensional scene is represented with a flat carving (or relatively flat with respect to the depth it is depicting).  An example is on a flat tablet the sculptor carves a person lying down from the perspective with the feet in the foreground and the head in the background.  The feet are very large and the head is very small such that it gives the illusion of depth in the artwork which is much shallower than the scene appears to be.