Scale or Approximate Perspective.
Real, or true perspective, represents the object exactly as it is seen in nature, where the parts that are far away from the eye of the observer appear smaller than those nearby. Occasions arise, however, in practical life, with its numerous phases of industrial requirements, where the convenience of showing the complete form of the object in a single view might preferably be coupled with the convenience of scale dimensions.
This has led to a modified perspective, that sacrifices some of the accuracy in the appearance of the object to gain the advantage of scale dimensions; this form of perspective may be distinguished by the name—approximate or scale perspective—which does not represent the object exactly as seen in nature, but where those parts that are afar off are shown of the same size as those that are near by, and where the lines that run out into space are parallel to each other and do not converge into a vanishing point.
To represent an object in perspective, the horizon and the point of vision will have to appear in the drawing as the fundamental starting points.
Three dimensions are distinguished for the fixing of an object in space from a certain reference point. They are height, breadth and thickness, and are in their direction square to each other. The height is the fundamental direction, being derived from the direction of gravity, that invariably extends to the center of the earth.
All directions in the perspective determination of an object are parallel to these.
Vertical lines and planes point toward the center of the earth, while horizontal planes, including the directions of breadth and thickness, are square to the vertical direction. In this, the principal visual ray extends in the direction of thickness.
For a clear understanding of perspective, it must be firmly fixed in mind, that for each prominent point of the object behind the picture plane, a corresponding point lies in the picture plane, in that position where a straight line or ray of sight that is going from the eye to the point of the object, cuts through the picture plane.
Suppose we could replace these rays of sight by thin, visible threads of wire that would go through little holes in the picture plane, we could then walk around this bundle of rays, and by looking at it from three different directions, we would get three different views of it. We may look upon it from the top, from the side or from the end, where the bundle of rays all concentrate in the eye of the observer.
