Perspective Resources: Welcome...

This site is intended as a resource for perspective drawing. It is aimed principally at students of architecture, but the techniques should also be relevant to other subject areas.

There is more to be added to the site and the history section is currently incomplete, but there should already be enough material for the site to be of value.

A lot of the research into the literature of the subject was carried out in the 1990s. I thought it would be useful to place all this in the public realm, but some of it may need updating.

Please provide feedback if you think there are any omissions or if the techniques are not clear.

Paolo Uccello - Perspective Study of a Chalice, c. 1430-40 (source: Wikimedia Commons)

Glossary

accelerated perspective - the use of exaggerated perspective effects in architecture to give an enhanced sense of spatial depth.

aerial perspective - the impression of depth created by the reduction in contrast of objects in the distance, which is caused by atmospheric haze.

anamorphosis - an image that has been distorted, so that it can only be seen correctly when viewed from a specific point.

artificial perspective - a term for perspective drawings that are based on Albertian principles (in contrast to 'synthetic perspective').

centre line - the line leading from the viewpoint to the point on the picture plane that is directly in front of the viewer's eye.

cone of vision - the cone of visual rays that converge at the eye or 'viewing position'.

Construzione Legittima - the term used by Alberti to describe his method of perspective construction.

crate - a notional orthogonal box placed around a complex object to make it easier to draw.

curved picture plane - a cylindrical or spherical picture plane, used in an attempt to more accurately depict an image as it would appear to the eye, or to emulate a fish-eye camera lens.

cylinder anamorphosis - an image that has been distorted, so that it can only be seen correctly when viewed reflected in a cylindrical mirror.

diagonal perspective - a perspective view that looks diagonally towards the principal surfaces of an object.

diagonal vanishing point (DVP) - the point on the horizon towards which any diagonal lines in the object will converge.

distance point - another term for a diagonal vanishing point.

distortion - a term used to describe the 'unnatural' appearance of objects when drawn in perspective, particularly when wide angles of view are used.

eye point - the point on the picture plane that is directly in front of the viewer's eye. The eye point is always on the horizon.

horizon - the notional horizontal line in the far distance, dividing the earth from the sky.

horizon line - in a perspective drawing, this is a horizontal line at eye level. Vanishing points for all horizontal edges will be on the horizon line.

linear perspective - an alternative term for 'artificial perspective'.

natural perspective - an alternative term for 'synthetic perspective'.

non-parallel perspective - an alternative term for 'diagonal perspective'.

object centred - a drawing system based on representing an object without reference to a specific experiential viewpoint. Plans, sections, elevations and axonometrics are all form of object centred drawings.

one-point perspective - a common term for 'parallel perspective', (although the drawing may in fact include more than one vanishing points).

parallel perspective - a perspective view that is aligned in parallel with the principal surfaces of an object.

perspective 'window' - an alternative term for the 'picture plane'.

picture plane - the notional intersection of the visual cone on which the position of the visual rays are plotted.

retinal image - a notional description of how a view may appear on the retina of the eye.

sciagraphical perspective - the projection of shadows in perspective.

spectator point - see 'viewing position'.

synthetic perspective - drawings based on a curved picture plane.

two-point perspective - a common term for diagonal perspective (although the drawing may in fact include more than two vanishing points).

vanishing point (VP) - a point on the horizon towards which a set of parallel lines will converge.

vertical datum - an intersection of the object with the picture plane at which a vertical scale can easily be determined.

viewer centred - a drawing system, based on a spectator's viewpoint. A perspective drawing is one type of viewer centred system.

viewing distance - the distance between the spectator and the object depicted or picture plane.

viewing position - the fixed view point from which a perspective view is constructed.

viewpoint - see 'viewing position'.

visual pyramid - the cone of visual rays that converge at the eye or 'viewing position'.

visual rays - a straight line, running from a point on an object to the eye.

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