Perspective (graphical)

"Perspective projection" redirects here. For a more mathematical treatment, see Perspective transform.

Staircase in multi-points perspective as a linear or point-projection prospective example. Each point is a vanishing point from which straight lines come, and these lines are a guide to draw 3-dimensional object.
External videos
video icon Linear Perspective: Brunelleschi's Experiment, Khan Academy[1]
video icon How One-Point Linear Perspective Works, Smarthistory[2]
video icon Empire of the Eye: The Magic of Illusion: The Trinity-Masaccio, Part 2, National Gallery of Art[3]

Linear or point-projection perspective (from Latin perspicere 'to see through') is one of two types of graphical projection perspective in the graphic arts; the other is parallel projection.[citation needed][dubious – discuss] Linear perspective is an approximate representation, generally on a flat surface, of an image as it is seen by the eye. Perspective drawing is useful for representing a three-dimensional scene in a two-dimensional medium, like paper. It is based on the optical fact that for a person an object looks N times (linearly) smaller if it has been moved N times further from the eye than the original distance was.

The most characteristic features of linear perspective are that objects appear smaller as their distance from the observer increases, and that they are subject to foreshortening, meaning that an object's dimensions parallel to the line of sight appear shorter than its dimensions perpendicular to the line of sight. All objects will recede to points in the distance, usually along the horizon line, but also above and below the horizon line depending on the view used.

A figure explaining point-projection prospective. S is the distance between an observer's eye and an observation point on an object that is a long rectangular wall facing to the observer at a tilted angle. If the observation distance becomes N times longer, then the apparent height of the wall at the observation point is roughly N times smaller. As a result, the apparent shape of the wall over a wide angle roughly becomes a triangle which right vertex is located to the far right.

Italian Renaissance painters and architects including Filippo Brunelleschi, Leon Battista Alberti, Masaccio, Paolo Uccello, Piero della Francesca and Luca Pacioli studied linear perspective, wrote treatises on it, and incorporated it into their artworks.

  1. ^ "Linear Perspective: Brunelleschi's Experiment". Khan Academy. Retrieved 2 June 2024.
  2. ^ "How One-Point Linear Perspective Works". Smarthistory at Khan Academy. Archived from the original on 13 July 2013. Retrieved 12 May 2013.
  3. ^ "Empire of the Eye: The Magic of Illusion: The Trinity-Masaccio, Part 2". National Gallery of Art. Retrieved 12 November 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)