How to make your isometric paper
- Choose the triangle side. 5 mm for small detailed drawings, 1 cm for most school work, 2 cm for young children and big models, or 1/4 in and 1/2 in. Choose Custom size for anything from 3 mm to 5 cm.
- Choose lines or dots. Lines show every triangle. Dots mark only the corners, so finished drawings look cleaner.
- Choose which way the straight lines run. Up and down is the usual way for isometric drawing: vertical edges of a shape follow the straight lines and the other edges follow the slanted ones. Across turns the grid a quarter turn, for triangle patterns and tessellations.
- Choose the paper, portrait or landscape, then select Download PDF and print at Actual size (100%).
How the isometric grid is measured
Every triangle on the grid is equilateral: all three sides are the length you choose and all three angles are 60 degrees. The slanted lines run at 30 degrees to the horizontal (and 150 degrees), and the straight lines at 90 degrees.
The distance between two neighboring parallel lines is the height of one triangle, which is the side times the square root of 3 divided by 2 (about 0.866). For a 1 cm side, that is 8.66 mm. The page fits a whole number of these line gaps across and a whole number of sides down, and centers the grid, so the edges are tidy.
| Triangle side | Gap between parallel lines | Side in PDF points | Corner dots on A4 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 mm (0.197 in) | 4.33 mm | 14.17 pt | 2,258 |
| 10 mm (0.394 in) | 8.66 mm | 28.35 pt | 583 |
| 20 mm (0.787 in) | 17.32 mm | 56.69 pt | 149 |
| 1/4 in (6.35 mm) | 5.5 mm | 18 pt | 1,411 |
| 1/2 in (12.7 mm) | 11 mm | 36 pt | 349 |
How to draw a cube on isometric paper
- Pick a corner dot near the middle of the page. This is the front corner of the cube.
- From it, draw one edge straight down along a vertical line, and two edges up along the slanted lines, one to the left and one to the right. Make each edge the same number of triangle sides, for example 3.
- From the ends of the two slanted edges, draw vertical edges down, the same length as the first.
- Join the bottom ends with slanted lines back to the bottom of the front edge, then close the top face with two more slanted lines.
Because every edge follows the grid, all the edges that are the same length on the real cube are the same length on paper. This is why isometric paper is used for 3D shapes, building plans with cubes, design and technology sketches and game maps.
How to print it true to size
The isometric grid is drawn as a vector PDF at exactly the size you choose. An inch is exactly 25.4 mm, and the PDF measures everything in points of exactly 1/72 inch, so 1 mm is 72 / 25.4 points. The spacing is worked out for every line from the top of the sheet, not added up step by step, so no rounding builds up down the page.
Your printer can still change the size. To keep it exact:
- Choose the same paper in the print dialog as on this page (for example A4 or US Letter).
- Set the scale to 100% or Actual size. Turn off "Fit to page", "Shrink oversized pages" and "Scale to fit". Adobe's help says Fit reduces or enlarges each page to fit the printable area, which changes the spacing.
- Measure the check-ruler. At the bottom of every sheet there is a printed scale of exactly 5 cm, or 2 in for inch sizes. Lay a ruler along it. If it measures 5 cm (or 2 in), every line on the sheet is true to size. If it is shorter, the printer shrank the page; print again at 100%.
The PDF also asks your viewer to print without scaling, though not every viewer follows that setting. Most home printers cannot print right to the edge of the paper, so the standard margin is 1/2 in (12.7 mm). The narrow 1/4 in (6.35 mm) margin may be clipped by some printers.
Questions and answers
What is isometric paper?
Isometric paper is graph paper made of equilateral triangles instead of squares. Its three sets of lines meet at 60 degrees, which lets you draw 3D shapes such as cubes with every edge the right length.
What size should the triangles be?
1 cm sides suit most school work. Use 5 mm for small, detailed drawings and 2 cm for young children or large models. The custom size takes anything from 3 mm to 5 cm.
Should I choose lines or dots?
Lines are easier for beginners because every triangle is visible. Dots mark only the corners, so the finished drawing stands out more. Both use the same exact spacing.
Can I print isometric paper on A4?
Yes. Choose A4 under Paper size, in portrait or landscape. The grid is drawn for A4 itself, not scaled from Letter, so the triangles are exactly the size you chose.
Why is my printout smaller than it should be?
The printer or PDF viewer scaled the page to fit, usually because "Fit to page" or "Shrink to fit" was on. Print again with the scale set to 100% or Actual size, and with the same paper size selected as on this page. The 5 cm (or 2 in) check-ruler at the bottom of the sheet shows straight away whether it worked.
Is anything I type saved or uploaded?
No. The paper and the PDF are made in your browser on your own device. Your options and any text you type are not saved or sent, so if you reload the page you start again from the defaults.
Can I copy, share or sell these sheets?
Yes. You can print, copy and share them for home, school and work. You may also sell printed copies or the PDFs, as long as the print.dexaloop.com credit line at the foot of each page stays on it, unchanged and readable. The Terms page has the details.
Sources
Checked on 13 October 2026. If a size has changed, please tell us.
- Wikipedia: Graph paper (isometric graph paper uses three guidelines forming a 60 degree grid of small triangles)
- Wikipedia: Equilateral triangle (height is the side times the square root of 3, divided by 2)
- NIST: Revised unit conversion factors (the international foot is exactly 0.3048 m, so an inch is exactly 25.4 mm)
- Adobe Help: Page size and scaling when printing PDFs