Perspective can produce an extraordinary range of images and views. Some are constructed through geometrical projection, some arise naturally through vision or optical processes, while others transform, extend, reverse, distort, reflect, simulate or immerse the viewer within spatial reality.
This visual guide brings together 18 major families of perspective image and view. They range from familiar one-, two- and three-point Linear Perspective to parallel, axonometric, curvilinear and spherical images; from natural, reflected and anamorphic appearances to stereoscopic, Virtual Reality and fully immersive environments. The groups below provide a visual route into these different forms of perspective.
Explore perspective images and views
The 18 image and view pages are organised into five broad groups. These groups are intended principally as a clear way to explore the visual material: individual perspective images may belong to more than one category, process or image form.
Linear Perspective Images
Linear Perspective represents spatial directions through rectilinear projection and is especially associated with vanishing points, horizon or vanishing lines, diminution and convergence. One-, two- and three-point perspective are simplified and widely recognised configurations within the much larger family of Linear Perspective images.
- Linear Perspective Images — the wider family of rectilinear central-perspective images.
- One-Point Perspective Images — images organised around one principal receding direction and vanishing point.
- Two-Point Perspective Images — images with two principal horizontal directional systems and vanishing points.
- Three-Point Perspective Images — images in which vertical or near-vertical recession introduces a third principal vanishing point.
Parallel Projection Images
Parallel projection represents spatial form without the finite-centre convergence characteristic of ordinary Linear Perspective. Parallel directions can remain parallel within the image, making these systems especially important in technical drawing, architecture, engineering, design, mapping and computer graphics.
- Parallel Perspective Images — the wider family of images based upon parallel projection.
- Axonometric Perspective Images — parallel-projection views showing several dimensions or faces of an object simultaneously.
- Oblique Perspective Images — parallel projections in which receding directions meet the image plane obliquely, including cavalier and cabinet forms.
Wide-Field & Alternative Perspective Images
Not every perspective image follows the conventional flat, rectilinear and convergent model. Wide-field, spherical, reversed and transformed systems provide alternative ways of organising spatial directions, extended fields of view and image shape.
- Curvilinear Perspective Images — wide-field and non-rectilinear images in which some straight spatial directions are represented as curves.
- Spherical Perspective Images — images and viewing systems related to spheres, hemispheres, spherical fields and complete surrounding directions.
- Panoramic & 360° Views — extended-field images ranging from wide panoramas to complete horizontal or spherical surroundings.
- Reverse / Inverse Perspective Images — images in which receding directional systems may diverge rather than converge.
- Anamorphic Images — deliberately transformed images restored by a particular viewpoint, mirror, optical system or projection condition.
Optical, Natural & Illusion Images
Perspective also arises through natural appearance, optical image formation, reflection, refraction and visual interpretation. These images demonstrate that perspective is not limited to geometrical drawing: it also concerns how spatial reality appears, how light forms and transforms images, and how visual appearances can become ambiguous or illusory.
- Optical & Natural Perspective Views — natural spatial appearances and optical images involving distance, foreshortening, atmosphere, occlusion, reflection, refraction, eyes and cameras.
- Mirror & Reflected Images — reflected views formed by plane, curved, cylindrical, spherical and natural reflecting surfaces.
- Images of Illusion — trompe-l’oeil, ambiguous figures, geometrical-optical illusions, impossible images, anamorphic effects and other deliberately misleading or unstable visual appearances.
3D & Immersive Views
Modern perspective increasingly extends beyond the fixed monocular image. Stereoscopy, interactive digital environments and surrounding display systems can provide binocular depth, changing viewpoints, wide fields of view and the apparent experience of occupying represented or simulated space.
- Stereoscopic & 3D Images — stereo pairs, anaglyphs, autostereoscopic images, 3D photography and other systems that generate binocular or spatial depth.
- Virtual Reality & Immersive Views — head-tracked, stereoscopic and interactive views experienced within recorded or computer-generated virtual environments.
- Immersive Environments — spherical theatres, fulldome systems, panoramic rooms, CAVE environments, projection mapping, simulation systems, virtual production stages and LED volume displays.
More than one way to classify an image
These five groups are designed primarily to make the visual collection easier to navigate. They should not be interpreted as five mutually exclusive theoretical categories of perspective.
A single image can possess several perspective properties simultaneously. A stereoscopic Virtual Reality environment, for example, may also use Spherical Perspective, Curvilinear Perspective and computer-generated Linear Perspective. A mirror anamorphosis may be simultaneously reflected, curvilinear, optical, anamorphic and illusory.
This overlap is an important feature of perspective. An image may be classified according to the process that produces it, the geometrical or optical form that appears, the medium through which it is displayed, or the function it performs.
Perspective process and image form
The same visible perspective form can sometimes be produced through very different processes. A one-point Linear Perspective image, for example, may arise through graphical construction, photography, computer rendering or the direct optical view of a suitably arranged scene.
Conversely, one image-making process can produce several different image forms. A computer graphics system can generate linear, parallel, axonometric, curvilinear, spherical, panoramic, stereoscopic or deliberately distorted images according to the projection and display system selected.
The image pages therefore concentrate on the visible image or view, while related pages elsewhere on the Perspective Research Centre examine the methods, processes, categories, systems and principles through which those images are produced.
From fixed images to immersive environments
The sequence of pages also demonstrates how widely the concept of a perspective image can extend. At one end are conventional fixed images on planar surfaces: drawings, paintings, photographs, diagrams and screen images. At the other are stereoscopic, panoramic, spherical, interactive and immersive systems in which the observer may look around, change viewpoint or become visually surrounded by the represented environment.
Perspective therefore concerns not only the geometry contained within an image, but the complete relationship between spatial reality, viewpoint, image formation, projection, display and observer.
How to use the Images & Views collection
Use these pages comparatively. Look at how the same spatial object changes between Linear, Parallel, Curvilinear, Spherical and Reverse Perspective; compare direct and reflected views; examine the difference between a conventional photograph and a stereoscopic image; or compare a fixed panorama with an interactive Virtual Reality environment.
The aim is not simply to collect attractive images, but to make the visual differences between perspective systems easier to recognise, compare and understand.
The 18 image and view pages
- Linear Perspective Images
- One-Point Perspective Images
- Two-Point Perspective Images
- Three-Point Perspective Images
- Parallel Perspective Images
- Axonometric Perspective Images
- Oblique Perspective Images
- Curvilinear Perspective Images
- Spherical Perspective Images
- Panoramic & 360° Views
- Reverse / Inverse Perspective Images
- Anamorphic Images
- Optical & Natural Perspective Views
- Mirror & Reflected Images
- Images of Illusion
- Stereoscopic & 3D Images
- Virtual Reality & Immersive Views
- Immersive Environments