Sketch, trace, or scribe layout lines and designs on workpieces, plates, dies, or rollers, using compasses, scribers, gravers, or pencils.

“Sketch, trace, or scribe layout lines and designs on workpieces, plates, dies, or rollers, using compasses, scribers, gravers, or pencils.” is a supplemental task performed by Etchers and Engravers. Among the occupation's 30 rated tasks, workers place it 7th by importance (#24 most important). About 42% of workers say it is relevant to their job.

This is a single occupation-specific task statement from O*NET. The figures below describe how central the task is to the job and what independent studies measure about AI and this kind of work — not a prediction that the task will be automated.

Work activities this task rolls up to

O*NET groups concrete tasks into broader work activities shared across many occupations.

• Position materials or components for assembly. in Handling and Moving Objects

AI exposure

The OpenAI / Eloundou “GPTs are GPTs” study rates this task E2. Exposure with tools — software built on top of a language model (not the model alone) could cut the time by at least half.

Exposure measures whether a model could meaningfully speed the task up — it is an estimate of overlap with model capabilities, not a measure of whether the work will be done by software. The study's intermediate score (β) for this task is 0.50. Automation potential label: T0.

Other tasks in this occupation

• Inspect etched work for depth of etching, uniformity, and defects, using calibrated microscopes, gauges, fingers, or magnifying lenses. · importance 4.5
• Prepare workpieces for etching or engraving by cutting, sanding, cleaning, polishing, or treating them with wax, acid resist, lime, etching powder, or light-sensitive enamel. · importance 4.5
• Engrave and print patterns, designs, etchings, trademarks, or lettering onto flat or curved surfaces of a wide variety of metal, glass, plastic, or paper items, using hand tools or hand-held power tools. · importance 4.5
• Prepare etching chemicals according to formulas, diluting acid with water to obtain solutions of specified concentration. · importance 4.5
• Use computer software to design patterns for engraving. · importance 4.5
• Examine sketches, diagrams, samples, blueprints, or photographs to decide how designs are to be etched, cut, or engraved onto workpieces. · importance 4.5
• Expose workpieces to acid to develop etch patterns such as designs, lettering, or figures. · importance 4.4
• Adjust depths and sizes of cuts by adjusting heights of worktables, or by adjusting machine-arm gauges. · importance 4.4
• Measure and compute dimensions of lettering, designs, or patterns to be engraved. · importance 4.3
• Neutralize workpieces to remove acid, wax, or enamel, using water, solvents, brushes, or specialized machines. · importance 4.3
• Examine engraving for quality of cut, burrs, rough spots, and irregular or incomplete engraving. · importance 4.3
• Transfer image to workpiece, using contact printer, pantograph stylus, silkscreen printing device, or stamp pad. · importance 4.3
• Set reduction scales to attain specified sizes of reproduction on workpieces, and set pantograph controls for required heights, depths, and widths of cuts. · importance 4.2
• Print proofs or examine designs to verify accuracy of engraving, and rework engraving as required. · importance 4.2

See all tasks on the Etchers and Engravers page.

Sources for this page

Every figure above traces to a named public dataset and the exact release below — not hand-written opinion. See the full methodology for what each measure does and does not mean.

• O*NET 30.3 U.S. Department of Labor / National Center for O*NET Development
• “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130 OpenAI / academic

Data compiled June 2, 2026. Figures are estimates, not advice.

@misc{singulariki-task-14400,
  title  = {Sketch, trace, or scribe layout lines and designs on workpieces, plates, dies, or rollers, using compasses, scribers, gravers, or pencils.},
  author = {{Singulariki}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {O*NET 30.3; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130. Accessed June 7, 2026},
  url    = {https://singulariki.com/tasks/task-14400}
}