Perspective Outcome is the result produced by a perspective method, process or system. It is what is ultimately seen, formed, captured, projected, constructed, represented, calculated or otherwise produced through perspective.
Within Perspective Category Theory, perspective can be understood broadly as the relationship between a Method and an Outcome. The method concerns how the perspective is produced; the outcome concerns what results from that process.
Perspective = Method + Outcome
Method and Outcome
A perspective method describes the means, procedure or process through which spatial information is viewed, transformed or represented. A perspective outcome is the result of that operation.
For example, a perspective method might involve direct viewing, optical imaging, graphical construction, mathematical projection, digital rendering or simulation. Its outcome might be a view, image, geometrical representation, apparent form or other organised expression of spatial information.
The distinction is important because the same or similar outcomes may sometimes be produced through different methods, while a single method may be capable of producing different outcomes under different conditions.
Kinds of Perspective Outcome
A perspective outcome need not be limited to a conventional drawing or picture. Depending upon the perspective system involved, an outcome may include:
- a direct view of an object or scene;
- an optical or retinal image;
- a photographic, graphical or digital image;
- a projected or calculated spatial representation;
- an apparent form produced from a particular viewpoint;
- a geometrical or technical model of spatial relationships;
- a simulated, virtual or immersive spatial experience;
- spatial information used for measurement, reconstruction, navigation or analysis.
The precise nature of the outcome therefore depends upon the perspective category, class, type, form, method and system involved.
Perspective Outcome and Apparent Form
An important perspective outcome is Apparent Form: the appearance taken by a physical object or scene under particular viewing, imaging or representational conditions.
Apparent Form should not, however, be treated as synonymous with Perspective Outcome. Apparent Form is one important kind of outcome, whereas the broader category of Perspective Outcome can also include images, views, measurements, projections, models, representations and other products of perspective processes.
Perspective Outcome and Perspective Form
Perspective Form describes the particular form taken by a perspective result or relationship. Perspective Outcome is the broader idea of the result itself.
A perspective outcome can therefore possess a particular Perspective Form, just as it can belong to a particular perspective type or class.
Outcomes Can Be Intermediate or Final
Perspective processes frequently form chains rather than single isolated acts. An outcome from one stage can become the input to another.
For example, a spatial scene may first produce an optical image in a camera. That image may then be digitally processed, displayed on a screen and viewed by an observer, producing further optical and visual outcomes. Each stage involves a new relationship between a perspective method and its result.
This is especially important in photography, cinema, computer graphics, scientific imaging, virtual reality and other systems in which images pass through several stages before reaching an observer.
Why Perspective Outcome Matters
Separating Perspective Outcome from Perspective Method prevents perspective from being defined only by the technique used to produce it.
Linear construction, photography, direct vision, optical instruments, computer rendering and mathematical projection employ very different methods, yet each can produce outcomes that contain or communicate perspective relationships.
The concept therefore helps establish perspective as a wider field concerned not only with how spatial information is produced, but also with what spatial, visual or representational result is produced.
Relationship to the Perspective Process
A simplified relationship can be expressed as:
Spatial Reality / Source → Perspective Method or Process → Perspective Outcome
The outcome may subsequently become the source for another perspective process, creating a chain of transformations between reality, images, representations and observers.