3 Point Perspective Tutorial - Mechanical Drawing Perspective Grid

Techniques
Lesson in how to map out a 3 pt perspective drawing.
In this lesson we are going to create a 3 Point Perspective view drawing of the same subject
covered in the 2 Point Perspective Drawing Tutorial (Fig 1). This tpe of angle is referred to as a
!3"# $iew Perspective!% !3 Point Perspective $iew! or !&ngular Perspective $iew!.
'ollowing the instructions in the 2 Point Perspective Drawing Tutorial% our first line to draw will be
the Picture Plane Fig. . 'rom this point% we will follow ever step that is described in the 2 pt
perspective tutorial with one notable e(ception) the addition of a third vanishing point * the ! +adir!
(Fig ). This will create what is ,nown as a !-ird.s /e $iew! or !&riel $iew! of the subject.
0ou would use the e(act same techni1ue if ou were loo,ing up at the subject (Fig 3) but instead
of projecting vertical lines downward towards the +adir ou would be projecting the vertical
construction lines upwards towards the !2enith.! This angle of view would be ,nown as a !3orm.s
/e $iew.!
3e are now read to start projecting lines to the vanishing points. 4eferring to Fig. !% draw lines
from both hori5on vanishing points (6$P 7 4$P) to the reference points of our subject (green
dots). 0ou will also project lines from our third vanishing point% the !+adir.!
'or this demonstration I have chosen an arbitrar placement for the +adir. The further the +adir is
from the subject (downward)% the less !forced. the perspective will loo,. !'orced Perspective!
gives the impression that ou are viewing the subject through a !fish ee! or !wide angle! lens of
a camera. - moving the +adir downward% ou will !flatten! the perspective giving the impression
that ou are viewing the subject through a !telephoto! or !long! lens.
In Fig. " # $ we will start to construct the secondar features of the subject (green dots). The first
step will be to establish the secondar vertical plane shown in Fig. ". Then we will construct or
secondar hori5ontal plane shown in Fig. $.
8nce we have completed our construction lines we will start to !draw! our final blac, outlines b
using &dobe Illustrator.s !9cissors (:)! tool to cut the construction lines (in the location of the
green dots) and give them new thic,ness and color attributes. 'or additional information on this
line techni1ue go to the !:ontrolling 6ine 3eights 7 ;ualit! &dobe Illustrator Tutorial.
:ontinue the process of cutting the construction lines and using Illustrator.s !/edropper (I)! tool
to sample the attributes of our other blac, outlines. &s was shown in 'ig. <% ma,e our cuts in
the location of the green dots.
+ow that ou have completed the process of cutting out all of the necessar lines in out subject%
ou can eliminate the distraction of the construction lines. :ut them bac, using the !9cissors (:)!
tool% but ,eep them hand in the event that ou need to change the position of% or add additional
lines to the subject.
The last step is to dar,en the object.s construction lines% and add weight to all of the e(terior and
outside edge lines% to increase readabilit Fig. 1%. 9ee the !:ontrolling 6ine 3eights 7 ;ualit!
&dobe Illustrator Tutorial for additional information on !line! control.