I guess I should "account better" perhaps than I have, so will endeavor to explain certain aspects in more detail than I failed to do above...

I only use the Japanese forms of Line Layout as not to clog a conversation with all the many related styles of layout found throughout Asian timber framing cultures that I have studied and travel to see. So I don't mean for us to get trapped into any one specific cultural application of Line Layout system...Though all of them are very similar in application.

Stock preparation is not planned to standard dimension for most frames...especially historically or in the vernacular folk forms of which I specialise (e.g. Minka, Soan style Chashitsu, Hanok, Wondumak, Chise, etc) Most (if not all??) wood typically whether in Japan, Korea, China or elsewhere is often surfaced treated, be it with a plane, axe, adz or even shark skin and fire...or some other fashion...is done for function and aesthetic...if left to an exposed area that is viewable. It is typically an aesthetic or practical treatment and has little (if anything in most cases) to do with truing (aka squaring) a member into a dimensional uniform shape. The exceptions are rare until we get into perhaps more refined furniture and related work, yet even here much is done by touch and eye, in finishing and not application of square and measure of degree. As stated before, and having taught this subject for some time now, the snapped lines are the relevant element to layout and not the plane of the timber itself they are snapped or drawn upon. These line only represent Focal Points for areas deeper inside the timber. Again, this is why for example, the Koreans can and do employ so much tapered and round stock in their frames never bothering to do more than unify the surface with planes and related tools for aesthetic and durability reasons.

The lines and what they represent are the focal point to layout, in the design and application of joinery. "Visual Fields" are not but an after effect that forms the contrasting geometry of timbers coming together in a very aesthetically pleasing presentation. Studying "Wabi Sabi" and the element embraced by practicing "Kintsugi," explains the focus in much of not only Japanese aesthetic and approach to design (even their layout systems) and to that found in much of Asian culture. Truing a timber is seldom (if ever) a focus much beyond appropriate length and approximate dimension...and of course a given aesthetic. Which is almost exclusively ture in all the Asian vernacular folk classes of timber frame architecture. The way a timber, stone or related element comes in its natural form most often is the focus...with its imperfections and to use as such is more often the goal than having it conform to a set geometry or reference plane. With Line Layout systems, when well understood and embraced, the elements of "Wabi Sabi" are fully reflected.

As to my application of craft and artistic style, I let my work (and that of students I help) speak for itself, and take no umbrage. I personally do try very hard not to engage in critique anyone's work past safety or when they request such assessment or analysis be it historic, structural or from an aesthetic perspective.