Perspective View

A Perspective View is a visible appearance, image or represented view of a spatial object or scene from a particular viewpoint. As a Perspective Product, the view is an outcome of a perspective process: something that can be seen, formed, captured, displayed, constructed or represented.

View as a Perspective Product

The Product level asks what a perspective process produces. One of its most fundamental products is a view.

A view records or presents some aspect of a spatial object, scene or representation relative to a particular viewing position, direction and set of perspective conditions.

Natural and Live Views

A view does not have to be a drawing or photograph. A person looking directly at a spatial object or scene has a live perspective view.

The appearance changes when the observer changes viewpoint, viewing direction, distance or orientation relative to the spatial target. The object may remain physically unchanged while its perspective appearance changes.

Represented Views

A Perspective View may also be represented through drawing, painting, photography, film, computer graphics, diagrams, optical instruments or digital displays.

Such represented views preserve or reconstruct selected relationships between viewpoint and spatial reality according to the method, projection or imaging system employed.

View, Image and Representation

The terms View, Image and Representation overlap, but they emphasise different aspects of a Perspective Product.

View emphasises an appearance relative to a viewpoint.
Image emphasises the visual result that has been formed, captured, projected or displayed.
Representation emphasises something that depicts or stands for spatial reality.

A photograph may therefore simultaneously be a View, an Image and a Representation.

Viewpoint and Viewing Direction

A Perspective View is inseparable from the conditions under which it is obtained. The Viewpoint establishes where the observer, eye, camera or imaging system is located, while the Viewing Direction establishes the direction in which the spatial target is observed.

Changes in either can change apparent shape, visible surfaces, relative size, overlap, foreshortening, vanishing relationships and other features of the resulting view.

Single and Multiple Views

A perspective process may produce a single view or many views. Multiple views can reveal spatial information that is hidden or ambiguous from one viewpoint alone.

Multi-view drawing, stereoscopic imaging, moving cameras, holography, computer models, virtual reality and interactive systems all extend perspective beyond a single fixed view.

Information Contained in a View

A Perspective View may provide information concerning visible form, apparent size, position, orientation, arrangement, texture, colour, depth relationships and other properties of a spatial object or scene.

What can be reliably inferred depends upon the perspective system, available depth cues, viewpoint, field of view, scale, resolution, occlusion and other viewing conditions.

Examples of Perspective Views

a direct visual view of a room or landscape;
a photographic view captured by a camera;
a cinematographic shot;
a perspective drawing;
a view through a microscope or telescope;
a computer-generated view of a 3-D model;
a stereoscopic view;
a panoramic or spherical view;
a virtual-reality view;
a view generated from a changing or moving viewpoint.