Perspective
Research Centre
A New Understanding of Perspective
Vision, Space, Illusion and Immersion
its mysteries and unanswered questions.
Perspective
Discover what perspective is—its history, principles, phenomena and applications.
Explore Perspective →
Research
Research programmes in perspective and the work of Kim H. Veltman.
Our Research →
Library & Archives
A 5,000-book specialist library, including the rare 700-volume Leonardo da Vinci Library.
Explore the Archive →
Knowledge Systems
Digital tools for research: UKS, Dictionary, Bibliography, Encyclopaedia and more.
Digital Systems →
Publications
Books and major research publications by Alan S. Radley and Kim H. Veltman.
View Publications →
Learn
Tutorials, guides and learning resources for students, educators and professionals.
Start Learning →Navigation Map of Perspective
Perspective Category Theory organises the many kinds and relationships of perspective using seven analytical levels—Category, Class, Type, Form, Phenomenon, Function and Product—and classifies c. 1,200 named types and forms across art, science and technology.
Explore perspective —
click any box →
Who This Site Is For — and Why
For anyone seeking to understand, teach, research or apply perspective — from students and educators to artists, architects, designers, photographers, filmmakers and scientists, practitioners and researchers in related fields.
Perspective is fundamental to human vision and to photographic, digital and computational imaging. It is present across every class of image and view—real or represented, moving or still, 2-D or 3-D—from natural scenes and architecture to photography, cinema, computer graphics, virtual environments and AI-generated imagery. Perspective underpins art, science, technology and the modern technologies of vision.
Perspective links art, science, technology, vision and visual culture through a single field of knowledge.
— Kim H. Veltman
Perspective Category Theory provides a systematic framework for organising and comparing the many kinds and relationships of perspective across art, science and technology. PRC research identifies approximately 1,200 named types and forms across seven analytical levels: Category, Class, Type, Form, Phenomenon, Function and Product.
Who This Site Is For — and Why
For anyone seeking to understand, teach, research or apply perspective — from students and educators to artists, architects, designers, photographers, filmmakers and scientists, practitioners and researchers in related fields.
Perspective is fundamental to human vision and to photographic, digital and computational imaging. It is present across every class of image and view—real or represented, moving or still, 2-D or 3-D—from natural scenes and architecture to photography, cinema, computer graphics, virtual environments and AI-generated imagery. Perspective underpins art, science, technology and the modern technologies of vision.
Explore the map below by selecting any box →
PRC Mission Statement
Establishing perspective as a distinct field
Perspective involves viewing, matching, representing and transforming space, including creating illusions and immersive environments. Behind these familiar activities lies a vast, technically complex and partly understood field.
Different types of perspective can operate together, making their effects difficult to distinguish and explain. Clear definitions, systematic classification and a connected framework are needed to understand their principles and relationships.
The Perspective Research Centre brings together research across art, science and technology to address three connected problems:
TERMINOLOGY PROBLEM
Different disciplines use conflicting or overlapping terms. The Dictionary of Perspective clarifies their meanings and relationships.
COMPLEXITY PROBLEM
Perspective images can combine optical phenomena, visual layers, spatial relationships and different perspective types and forms. Perspective Category Theory provides a framework for separating and relating these elements.
CLASSIFICATION PROBLEM
Perspective extends far beyond drawing. PRC identifies and organises approximately 1,200 named types and forms across natural vision, optical systems, images and digital environments.
PRC’S APPROACH
Through original research, specialist collections and digital knowledge systems, PRC aims to map the rapidly evolving, highly technical field of perspective—clarifying its principles, relationships and fundamental role across art, science and technology.
Dr Alan Stuart Radley FRSA — Founder and Research Director
Learn more about PRC →
Salvator Mundi (“Savior of the World”) is a painting attributed in whole or part to Leonardo da Vinci, dated c. 1499–1510.
In the painting, perspective is combined with Leonardo’s investigations of vision, light and optics.
Professor Martin Kemp identifies the transparent orb as rock crystal, arguing that Leonardo selectively controlled refraction so it did not disrupt the devotional image — what Kemp calls “pictorial good manners.”
Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) extended perspective beyond drawing into the study of vision and spatial representation, connecting optics, geometry, light and visual perception.
research across more than 180
libraries and major
historical collections.
Questions & Answers
Investigate focused questions about perspective, its concepts, history, methods and spatial representation.
Explore Q & A →Perspective Images & Views
Explore perspective through visual examples, diagrams, constructions and image collections.
Explore Images & Views →Hubs, Indexes & Catalogues
Theory Hubs
Catalogues
“Perspective serves to build bridges between geometry and nature.”
What This Knowledge Can Do for You
What is perspective? Answering this question is fraught with difficulties. Perspective is a fundamental, theoretically challenging, perplexing and elusive subject. At PRC, we have studied it full-time for over 50 years, and much has been learned.
“I already understand perspective.”
Drawing, painting or photography provides a valuable starting point, but perspective extends into vision, optics, scientific imaging and virtual environments. Bringing together knowledge scattered across disciplines or overlooked in mainstream teaching can fill gaps in familiar explanations, answer longstanding questions and open possibilities for your work.
Can you distinguish sphere of vision perspective from sphere of revolution perspective, or observer-centred from object-centred systems? Can you resolve type/form ambiguity, distinguish physical, apparent and modelled form, and explain perspective direction? How do natural, artificial and synthetic perspective differ? How do blended, double, mixed, composite and combined perspectives operate, and when would you use each? Can you explain category overloading and simulated perspective, distinguish optical from geometrical vanishing and aspect from optical foreshortening, and separate the effects of viewpoint movement, lens zoom and digital zoom?
These are a few of over 200 new concepts we have identified to help categorise visual, optical and geometric processes/outcomes in relation to spatial reality.
Ergo, some concepts, names and distinctions may be newly formulated, but the underlying types and forms have been noticed, identified, classified and evaluated—not invented here. They describe existing ways of seeing, imaging and representing spatial reality. Unfamiliar examples can deepen understanding; PRC’s research explores their connections and practical applications.
“Why is this so complicated?”
Perspective is complex because light, geometry, viewpoint, instruments and perception operate together, producing effects that are difficult to separate. Careful explanations identify the responsible process, when a principle applies and why similar images behave differently. Build your understanding progressively, from familiar experiences towards deeper theory relevant to your interests or work, at your own pace.
“What will I gain?”
Gain confidence in interpreting images, understanding spatial appearances and choosing methods of representation. This knowledge helps you draw and photograph deliberately, assess what images reveal or obscure, measure and model space, and create convincing illusions or immersive environments. It also helps you recognise misleading assumptions and explain puzzling visual effects.
These resources deepen your understanding of vision and spatial reality, expanding what you can observe, explain and create.
share a vanishing system: Combined Perspective.
The Dictionary of Perspective: A New Theory of Visual Knowledge
The Dictionary of Perspective explains the terms, principles and visual phenomena used to describe how we see, represent and transform space. It brings definitions and classifications from different disciplines into one connected reference work.
With more than 4,000 terms and approximately 1,200 types and forms of perspective, it helps readers identify unfamiliar concepts, distinguish related meanings and understand relationships between different perspective systems.
What it contains
- Natural and visual perception — viewpoint, depth, scale, form and appearance.
- Optics and imaging — lenses, cameras, mirrors, reflection, refraction and image formation.
- Geometry and representation — linear perspective, parallel projection and graphical construction.
- Architecture, art and design — drawing, painting, built environments and visual communication.
- Photography, cinema and visual effects — camera perspective, animation and constructed realities.
- Computer graphics and digital worlds — CGI, computer vision, AI imagery, VR, AR and immersion.
- Scientific and technical imaging — measurement, modelling, mapping, visualisation and instruments.
How readers can use it
Look up a term to clarify its meaning, distinguish it from similar concepts and understand how it is used in different contexts.
Compare types and forms of perspective to investigate the methods, spatial relationships and visual effects involved in a view, image or constructed environment.
Explore connections between familiar techniques and less familiar phenomena, using the Dictionary’s classifications to organise questions and pursue further study. For students, educators, artists and researchers, it provides a shared vocabulary for describing examples, analysing images and explaining perspective more precisely.
An essential resource for those seeking enlightenment on the vast,
intricate, and fascinating subject of perspective.
Perspective Today
About Our Perspective Research
Dr Alan Stuart Radley FRSA — Founder and Director
Alan Radley is a physicist, author, inventor and visual-technology researcher seeking to establish perspective as a coherent interdisciplinary field rather than a collection of separate theories, terminology and methods.
As founder of the Perspective Research Centre, he has brought these strands together in a research programme spanning terminology, classification, theory, history, visual phenomena, applications, specialist collections and systems for organising knowledge, including the Universal Knowledge System (UKS).
Library of Perspective
The Library of Perspective combines a physical specialist library of approximately 5,000 books, assembled over decades, with a growing Digital Library of Perspective delivered through the PRC Universal Knowledge System (UKS).
The Digital Library contains more than 1,000 searchable publications, including 600+ from the Kim Veltman Archive, with further material added for reading, comparison and Multi-Context research.
Professor Kim H. Veltman
Kim H. Veltman (1948–2020) was a Dutch-Canadian historian of art and science and internationally recognised interdisciplinary scholar whose work connected perspective, Leonardo da Vinci, visual knowledge, new media and the organisation of knowledge.
His research ranged from Renaissance perspective and optics to the digital age. He directed the Perspective Unit of the McLuhan Program at the University of Toronto, produced major studies of Leonardo and perspective, assembled the 15,000-title Bibliography of Perspective, and developed his eight-volume Encyclopedia of Perspective. PRC preserves and develops this legacy.
Kim Veltman Archive
The Kim Veltman Archive preserves Veltman’s extensive research legacy, including more than 400 published works, hundreds of unpublished documents and over 500 PowerPoint presentations — well over 1,000 documents comprising approximately 7 million words. The collection spans perspective, Leonardo da Vinci, visual knowledge, new media, cultural history and the organisation of knowledge.
The Archive brings together Veltman’s published and unpublished research, books, papers, presentations and working materials. Together they document the development of his ideas, projects and systems of knowledge over several decades.
Partners / Collaborators
Organisations that have supported PRC and its earlier incarnations include:
- University of London
- University of Toronto
- University of Cambridge
- The Warburg Institute
- Getty Center for the History of Art and the Humanities
- The Wellcome Trust
- The Vatican
- University of York
- University of Göttingen
- University of Rome
- Carleton University
- Maastricht University
- Herzog August Bibliothek (HAB), Wolfenbüttel
- Province of Ontario
- Asociación Internacional de la Comunicación Interactiva (AInCI)
- Asociación Latina Interacción Persona-Ordenador (ALAIPO)
- Canadian Heritage Information Network
- Faculty of Education in Toronto, Canada
People
People who have supported PRC and its earlier incarnations include:
- Professor Kim H. Veltman
- Professor Francisco V. C. Ficarra
- Professor Tomás García-Salgado
- Professor Sir Ernst Gombrich
- Professor Marshall McLuhan
- Professor Kenneth Keele
- Professor Ingetraut Dahlberg
- Professor A. C. Crombie
- Professor B.A.R. Carter
- Professor R.A. Weale
- Professor Luigi Vagnetti
- Professor Frederik Andres
- Franz Nahrada
- Ger van Dijck
- Nel (Petronella Hendrika Dirkje Roodenburg)
- William Nigel Lawrence Pugh
- Graciete Amaro
The Many Worlds of Perspective
Explore Perspective
New to Perspective?
Start with the basic definitions, history and core concepts of perspective.
Start with the Basics →Perspective Theory & Concepts Catalogue
Explore the theories, concepts, principles and classifications that structure the field of perspective.
Browse Theory & Concepts →Applications of Perspective Catalogue
See how perspective is used across art, architecture, science, technology and other fields.
Browse Applications →Common Errors & Misconceptions
Explore recurring historical and technical errors in teaching, textbooks and explanations of perspective.
Errors & Misconceptions →People in Perspective Catalogue
Discover key figures, researchers, artists and thinkers in the history and development of perspective.
Browse People →Timeline of Perspective Developments
Follow key developments, people and milestones across the history and development of perspective.
View the Timeline →Films & Lectures
Explore selected films, documentaries and recorded lectures on perspective and related subjects.
View Films & Lectures →Tutorials & Guides
Practical guides and tutorials for learning and applying perspective.
Explore Tutorials & Guides →Featured Projects & Resources
Explore All Projects & Resources →
Leonardo da Vinci Studies
Kim H. Veltman’s multi-decade research on Leonardo’s perspective, optics, vision and astronomy, including extensive unpublished and archival material.
His studies examine how Leonardo connected drawing, geometry, visual perception and light within Renaissance knowledge. PRC preserves this research through the Kim Veltman Archive and its Leonardo collections.
View Project →
Alphabets of Life
A major interdisciplinary project by Kim H. Veltman exploring alphabets, signs, symbols, knowledge systems and cultural information across periods and cultures.
It examines how notation, language, image and symbolic representation have shaped the organisation and transmission of knowledge, from historical writing systems and visual symbolism to modern digital culture.
Read Book in Digital Viewer →
Encyclopaedia of Perspective
Kim H. Veltman’s eight-volume, approximately three-million-word Encyclopaedia of Perspective brings together sources, bibliography and research across art, science and technology.
It traces perspective through optics, geometry, architecture, visual representation, instruments and imaging technologies, revealing a field extending far beyond conventional linear perspective.
Explore the Encyclopaedia →Recent Research & Updates
Tutorials, guides and learning resources for students, educators and professionals.
New archival scans clarify how Veltman’s Leonardo studies changed from one large optics project into multiple substantive volumes.
Reader interaction, Digital Library search and multi-context research continue to be integrated across PRC.
Wide-Field Perspective Panorama
A new understanding of what perspective is, how it operates,
and why it matters across the visual arts, sciences and technologies.
The Art and Science of Perspective
The Art and Science of Perspective is a multi-volume series tracing and extending visual and optical perspective from antiquity to the digital age. It examines perspective as an art of representation and a science of vision, light, space and visual information, showing how it shapes human vision, spatial understanding, image-making and the representation of reality.
The volumes provide an interdisciplinary framework for understanding perspective. The series examines both natural perspective—how spatial reality appears to vision—and artificial perspective—how reality is captured, projected, constructed, transformed and reproduced through images, instruments and media. Its scope spans art, optics, geometry, architecture, photography, cinema, cartography, scientific imaging, computer graphics, virtual and augmented reality, artificial intelligence, GIS and photogrammetry.
Together, the series integrates historical knowledge, technical principles, visual phenomena, theoretical concepts, classification systems and modern applications within a coherent framework.
The Past, Present and Future of Visual and Optical Perspective
Second Edition
A wide-ranging introduction to the history, theory, applications and future possibilities of visual and optical perspective.
Large-format 8.5 × 11-inch paperback
US$27.99
Dictionary of Perspective
Second Edition
The first comprehensive dictionary and taxonomy devoted specifically to visual and optical perspective.
Approximately 1,200 types and forms
More than 350,000 words · 590 pages
Large-format 8.5 × 11-inch paperback
US$34.99
Natural and Visual Perspective
Forthcoming First Edition
A new account of how spatial reality gives rise to natural appearance—and how natural appearance becomes human visual experience.
Large-format 8.5 × 11-inch paperback
Expected Price: US$27.99
Featured Perspective Researchers
Tomás García-Salgado
Architect · perspective researcherExplore Modular Perspective, reverse outlining and methods for reconstructing spatial relationships from perspective images.
Modular Perspective → Perspective Geometry →
Dick Termes
Artist · spherical perspectiveArtist and creator of the Termesphere, using six-point spherical perspective to represent complete surrounding environments.
Explore Termespheres →
David Chelsea
Artist · author · perspective teacherArtist, author and teacher known for practical, curvilinear and experimental approaches to perspective.
Explore David Chelsea →Conclusion: Perspective as Visual Knowledge
GEOMETRY AND PHYSICAL REALITY
Perspective connects geometry with physical reality. Kim H. Veltman described linear perspective as a meeting point between geometry and nature, linking the ideal with the actual. Its broader purpose is visual knowledge: helping us observe, measure, model and interpret the relationship between the world, its appearance and its representation.
Linear perspective allows us to organise successive planes or spatial layers within an image, conveying information from several layers at once wherever nearer elements do not obscure those behind them. It also supports model-making: reducing complex objects to essential lines and geometrical relationships. In Veltman’s account, these models connect abstract geometry with physical things, helping us describe and classify the natural world.
A CONNECTED FIELD OF KNOWLEDGE
Perspective therefore extends far beyond drawing. Across Western and non-Western traditions, it contributes to understanding how the world is seen, represented and transformed. Its development across art, optics, geometry, vision, architecture, photography, cinema, cartography, computer graphics and scientific imaging has produced many specialised methods and theories. These are often studied separately, although their principles, phenomena and applications are deeply connected.
Many of these connections remain only partly understood. What is needed is an overarching framework that relates methods across disciplines while preserving their differences. This would help us distinguish visual effects, compare explanations and understand how different forms of perspective operate together.
The Perspective Research Centre brings these strands together through Perspective Category Theory, the Dictionary of Perspective, specialist collections, original research and digital knowledge systems. It investigates complexities and unanswered questions while developing clearer explanations and a connected framework. PRC seeks to make perspective coherent, navigable and intelligible as a distinct field, establishing a case for its study and teaching in its own right.
WHY THIS RESEARCH MATTERS
This research matters because clearer understanding makes more precise analysis, comparison and communication possible. It helps readers identify the methods behind an image, relate visual appearances to spatial arrangements, and apply knowledge from one discipline to another. Connecting previously separate approaches can also reveal unanswered questions and open possibilities for teaching, research and practical innovation.
Perspective enables us both to understand reality and to construct new appearances, physical structures and spatial experiences. Its applications span observation, drawing, photography, cinema, scientific imaging, simulation, illusion, immersive environments, virtual and augmented reality, computer graphics and artificial intelligence. It helps us interpret existing visual worlds and create new ones.
Perspective remains central to modern visual technologies. Its importance grows as images, simulations, spatial data and immersive environments play larger roles in research, communication and everyday life. With a rich past and an active present, perspective continues to shape developments across art, science, engineering and technology—a foundation for visual knowledge and future innovation.
— Alan S. Radley, Director, Perspective Research Centre
Natural + Artificial Image Content
Conferences, Symposia & Workshops
ALAIPO is an international non-profit association for researchers, students, teachers and professionals in Human–Computer Interaction and qualitative communication.
ALAIPO Conferences → AINCI Conferences →“Leonardo was the first to demonstrate quantitatively the laws of linear perspective… he discovered that (linear) perspective is governed by a simple inverse size/distance law… and he demonstrated that… perspective served as a universal alphabet of idealised geometrical forms. And these abstract, idealised forms were, in turn, related back to idealised, real objects thus making the bridge between geometry and the natural world.”
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