Perspective

visual systems by which an illusion of depth is created by either linear or aerial/atmospheric means, on a two-dimensional surface, and usually organized from a single point of view. Perspective becomes considerably more complicated when it involves more than one vaniship point, more than one eye-level. It has been for some one of the chief criterion of excellence in Western art for many centuries since its laws were codified during the Renaissance.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perspective_%28visual%29 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perspective_%28visual%29

Relevant Types of Perspective

* Pre-Renaissance above

* Renaissance – above
* Forced perspective: 17^th century Baroque architecture Palazzo de Spada, Rome

* Non Western perspectives:

* Chukchi People

* African: certain cultures within Africa have no sense of linearity due to the fact they live in circular dwellings and gather in circles.

* Egyptian: two dimensional wall surfaces showing 3d life experiences. Torso facing viewer, feet and legs and face in profile to help in recognizing the figures.

http://www.shira.net/ancient-scenes.htm

* Chinese perspective is not based on optical principles, no vanishing point. It parallels reality, height width and length true to scale of reality. Scenarios not subjects: scrolls: revealing and concealing narratives, taking the viewer through an experience in space and time, continuous and seamless visual image.

chineselandscapepainting.jpg

Viewing, A History & Overview

Other: Drawing as Transformation

I.Orthographic Projection

A). Axonometric Projection is a method of drawing a plan view with a third dimension. It is used by interior designers, architects and landscape gardeners.

Axonometric works by drawing a plan view at a 45 degree angle with the depth added vertically. All lengths are drawn as their true lengths. This gives the impression that you are viewing the objects from above. http://www.compuphase.com/axometr.htm

1.) Isometric Projection

RPI campus map:

http://www.rpi.edu/virtual_tour/RPI_Campus_Map.pdf

Isometry is technique adopted from Chinese perspective and European geometry, no distortion to the object portrayed. CAD.

* Aerial Perspective and the “Other Worldly”

* Multiple Perspectives: new ideas:
::zero point perspective: Due to the fact that vanishing points exist only when parallel lines are present in the scene, a perspective without any vanishing points ("zero-point" perspective) occurs if the viewer is observing a nonlinear scene. The most common example of a nonlinear scene is a natural scene (e.g., a mountain range) which frequently does not contain any parallel lines. A perspective without vanishing points can still create a sense of "depth," as is clearly apparent in a photograph of a mountain range (more distant mountains have smaller scale features).
::infinite-point perspective if the scene being viewed is not a Cartesian scene but instead consists of infinite pairs of parallel lines, where each pair is not parallel to any other pair.

* Surveillance & Videotape

People Cringed, but 12 Cameras Never Blinked Dan Barry chronicles a crime as viewed later from 12 Surveillance Cameras; the earlier edition headline read: "On Videotape, A Bronx Ballet Turns Tragic" The link is Times Select, but you can view the videotape w/DB's narration.

"TWELVE security cameras bear witness at the White Castle on Webster Avenue in the Bronx. Mounted high in unobtrusive places, they create a multiframed silent film of life unfolding in a place of transience, a fast-food pit stop. The cameras are meant to see all. Early Saturday morning, they did. By now the city knows that on that morning, in this White Castle, several young men pummeled an apparently intoxicated off-duty police officer named Eric Hernandez. They kicked and beat him until he managed to crawl out the door....The police have zeroed in on the painfully long minute of violence preserved on videotape. But the 12 cameras also captured many small moments that more fully present the everyday Bronx ballet, brutally interrupted. ...Life as captured by these stop-action cameras has a herky-jerky quality, as though every character on this small, unnaturally bright stage pauses to contemplate every move."

Gaming:

See Civilization 4's bold attempt to push as much information out to the main map

http://www.thunderboltgames.com/news/viewnews.php?nid=1230

Project Eden is an action-adventure game along the lines of Tomb Raider. Earth's severe overpopulation has fostered the growth of towering mega-cities, each inhabited by millions of humans. In these giant human hives, only the rich feel the rays of the sun and breathe the cleanest air. The city's condition declines as its levels descend. Below the slums is an underworld of criminals, cultists and worse. Players control a team of four members of the UPA (Urban Protection Agency). The team investigates problems at the "Real Meat" factory, where technicians sent to repair the machinery are missing....

Machinima
sarahammond-end.avi