Linear Perspective

Linear Perspective
It seems obvious that the
apparent size of an object
decreases the farther you
get away from it. It is a
surprise that this has not
always been understood
to be so. There is some
indication from looking at
mosaics that the ancient
Greeks knew how to use
perspective but no
documents from that time
have survived.
The first written
information about
linear perspective
appeared about
400 years ago.
It was in Europe
during the
Renaissance that
The concept of linear
perspective was
finally formalized.
Linear perspective
is a system for
drawing
objects
that use lines
and vanishing
points to
determine how
much an object's
apparent size
changes with
space.
 Basic Concepts
The horizon line is a theoretical line that
represents the eye level of the observer. The
horizon line is the same as the horizon (the edge
of the land against the sky) only on a large flat
plane like the ocean. Most of the time
geographic features (hills) and other objects
(trees and buildings) make the horizon above
the horizon line.
Indoors the horizon is often not visible but there
is still a theoretical horizon line representing the
point of view of the observer.
Look at the three sketches below. The same telephone
pole is in the same position in all of the formats. The
horizon (line) is different. Can you tell where you are in
relationship to the poles?
Vanishing points are points (usually) on the horizon line
where receding lines (planes) converge. The vanishing
point (v.p.) is on the horizon line when an objects has
horizontal planes that are parallel to the ground. When the
object's planes are inclined the vanishing points can be
above or below the horizon line.
The horizon line runs across the canvas at the eye level of the viewer. The horizon
line is where the sky appears to meet the ground.
The vanishing point should be located near the center of the horizon line. The
vanishing point is where all parallel lines (orthogonals) that run towards the horizon
line appear to come together like train tracks in the distance.
Orthogonal lines are "visual rays" helping the viewer's eye to connect points around
the edges of the canvas to the vanishing point. An artist uses them to align the edges
of walls and paving stones.
 Objects that are placed parallel to one
another use the same vanishing points.
Objects set at different angles each have
their own vanishing points.
 There are two basic systems of
linear perspective: one-point and
two-point named after the number
of vanishing points used in each.
• All parallel lines follow the same rules. If
one goes to a vanishing point then all like
lines go to the same vanishing point. In
most systems vertical lines are drawn
vertical (not in three-point perspective).
• The station point represents the eye of the
observer. It is the camera in a photograph.
• The picture plane is the "window" that is
represented by the picture.
• The ground line is a line that is parallel to
the picture plane at the base of the object
being depicted.
 ONE-POINT PERSPECTIVE
One-point perspective is what you see when you look
straight at the side of an object. It uses only one vanishing
point, hence its name.
 One-Point Perspective
One vanishing point is typically used for roads, railroad tracks, or
buildings viewed so that the front is directly facing the viewer. Any
objects that are made up of lines either directly parallel with the
viewer's line of sight (like railroad tracks) or directly perpendicular
(the railroad slats) can be represented with one-point perspective.
 Two-Point Perspective
Two-point perspective is used when you look at or into the
corner of an object. There are two vanishing points since
the two sets of sides are receding in two different
directions.
Two-point perspective can be
used to draw the same objects
as one-point perspective,
rotated: looking at the corner
of a house, or looking at two
forked roads shrink into the
distance, for example. One
point represents one set of
parallel lines, the other point
represents the other. Looking
at a house from the corner,
one wall would recede towards
one vanishing point, the other
wall would recede towards the
opposite vanishing point.
 Three-Point Perspective
Three-point perspective is
usually used for buildings seen
from above (or below). In
addition to the two vanishing
points from before, one for
each wall, there is now one for
how those walls recede into
the ground. This third
vanishing point will be below
the ground. Looking up at a tall
building is another common
example of the third vanishing
point. This time the third
vanishing point is high in
space.
This third vanishing
point will be below the
ground. Looking up at
a tall building is
another common
example of the third
vanishing point. This
time the third
vanishing point is high
in space.
In the real world vanishing points are very far apart.
Imagine strings streaming out parallel to the edges of a
cube going to the horizon. The horizon is miles away so
the vanishing points are many miles apart. When you
draw them only a few inches apart on a piece of paper
there is going to be some distortion in the image
produced.
Plato was one of the first to discuss the problems of perspective. "Thus
(through perspective) every sort of confusion is revealed within us; and
this is that weakness of the human mind on which the art of conjuring
and of deceiving by light and shadow and other ingenious devices
imposes, having an effect upon us like magic... And the arts of
measuring and numbering and weighing come to the rescue of the
human understanding-there is the beauty of them --and the apparent
greater or less, or more or heavier, no longer have the mastery over us,
but give way before calculation and measure and weight?"
 Brunelleschi and the Origin of Linear Perspective
What was new in the fifteenth century, was a corresponding observation of three-dimensional
physical space, and the means by which the artists represented that space on a on two-dimensional
surface.  This system, called "perspective," produced a greater sense of "realism," and a
correspondence between the physical reality of nature and the representional reality created by the
artist.  This was all made possible through mathematics.

The Florentine architect and engineer Filippo Brunelleschi was the first to
carry out a series of experiments leading to a mathematical theory of
perspective.
Brunelleschi began his career as an architect, which seems to have led him
to his perspective studies.
His most stunning accomplishment in architecture is the dome which crowns
the Cathedral in Florence (above), a work that occupied him intermittently
from 1417 to 1434.
 Aerial Perspective
Leonardo da Vinci distrusted
Brunelleschi's formulation of perspective
because it failed to take into account the
appearance of objects held very close to
the eye. He built his understanding of
perspective not only upon the rigid
formulations of rays of light, but what he
directly observed. His understanding of
perspective thus took in not only the
light, but the air it traveled through. He
believed that the way an object's color
seemed to change with distance, and the
way an object's borders become
indistinct with distance are primary parts
of perspective.
Leonardo believed that understanding
perspective was crucial to painting and
drawing. "Practice must always be built
upon strong theory, of which perspective
is the signpost and the gateway, and
without perspective nothing can be done
well in the matter of painting." The
technique of painting objects in the
distance with soft, cool colors is called
aerial perspective.