Is Pictorial Perception Robust? The Effect of the Observer Vantage Point on the Perceived Depth Structure of Linear-Perspective Images

Perception ◽  
10.1068/p5657 ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 106-125 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dejan Todorović
Keyword(s):  
Vantage Point ◽  
Linear Perspective ◽  
Pictorial Perception

Production and Interpretation of Pictures of Houses by Blind People

Perception ◽  
1995 ◽  
Vol 24 (9) ◽  
pp. 1049-1058 ◽  
Author(s):  
Morton A Heller ◽  
John M Kennedy ◽  
Tamala D Joyner
Keyword(s):  
Prior Information ◽  
Control Experiment ◽  
Line Drawing ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Vantage Point ◽  
Linear Perspective ◽  
Side View ◽  
Dimensional Model ◽  
Three Dimensional Model ◽  
Top View

Subjects were exposed to a three-dimensional model of a house and were asked to draw it using a raised-line drawing kit. Independent groups of ten each of sighted controls, early-blind, and late-blind subjects were told to identify the vantage point of tangible pictures of the model, including side views, ‘bird's-eye’ views from above, and views involving linear perspective. The ease or difficulty of picture interpretation depended upon the nature of the tangible drawing, with much better performance being recorded for side views. Performance was poor for foreshortened 3/4 views. Early-blind subjects were particularly unlikely to recognize views from above. In a control experiment with blindfolded sighted subjects the influence of prior information was examined: some subjects were told that the drawings could consist of side view or bird's-eye, top view, or 3/4 view drawings. This experiment showed that performance can be greatly improved through prior information about the nature of the tangible pictures.

scholarly journals On Right and Wrong Drawings

2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 1-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Koenderink ◽  
Andrea van Doorn ◽  
Baingio Pinna ◽  
Robert Pepperell
Keyword(s):  
Visual Arts ◽  
Vantage Point ◽  
Linear Perspective ◽  
Minor Effect ◽  
Fixed Position ◽  
Making Sense ◽  
Formal Geometry ◽  
Art Works ◽  
A Minor ◽  
Pictorial Experience

Are pictorial renderings that deviate from linear perspective necessarily ‘wrong’? Are those in perfect linear perspective necessarily ‘right’? Are wrong depictions in some sense ‘impossible’? Linear perspective is the art of the peep show, making sense only from one fixed position, whereas typical art works are constructed and used more like panel presentations, that leave the vantage point free. In the latter case the viewpoint is free; moreover, a change of viewpoint has only a minor effect on pictorial experience. This phenomenologically important difference can be made explicit and formal, by considering the effects of panning eye movements when perusing scenes, and of changes of viewpoint induced by translations with respect to pictorial surfaces. We present examples from formal geometry, photography, and the visual arts.

A Distinctive Characteristic of Pictorial Perception: The Zoom Effect

Perception ◽  
1978 ◽  
Vol 7 (6) ◽  
pp. 625-633 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margaret A Hagen ◽  
Harry B Elliott ◽  
Rebecca K Jones
Keyword(s):  
Surface Texture ◽  
Flat Surface ◽  
Motion Parallax ◽  
Linear Perspective ◽  
Head Motion ◽  
Surface Information ◽  
Pictorial Perception

To investigate the role of flat surface information for the plane of projection in pictorial perception, three studies were designed in which varying amounts of such information were made available to adult subjects. The first study tested preferences for true or modified linear perspective under conditions of presence or absence of surface texture cues for the plane of projection. In the second and third studies, the absence of texture cues for the plane was coupled with the addition of motion parallax and binocular information respectively. It was found that adults showed a consistent preference for parallel perspective in pictures when the flat-surface information was provided either by visible texture or by motion parallax; but no consistent preference for either true or modified perspective in the absence of all three sources of flatness information or when the flat surface information was given only by binocular cues in the absence of visible surface texture or head motion.

Geometric and Perceptual Effects of the Location of the Observer Vantage Point for Linear-Perspective Images

Perception ◽  
10.1068/p5225 ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 34 (5) ◽  
pp. 521-544 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dejan Todorović
Keyword(s):  
Visual Information ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Vantage Point ◽  
Linear Perspective ◽  
Vanishing Point ◽  
Simple Pattern ◽  
Vanishing Points ◽  
The Real ◽  
Virtual Architecture ◽  
Viewing Position

New geometric analyses are presented of three impressive examples of the effects of location of the vantage point on virtual 3-D spaces conveyed by linear-perspective images. In the ‘egocentric-road’ effect, the perceived direction of the depicted road is always pointed towards the observer, for any position of the vantage point. It is shown that perspective images of real-observer-aimed roads are characterised by a specific, simple pattern of projected side lines. Given that pattern, the position of the observer, and certain assumptions and perspective arguments, the perceived direction of the virtual road towards the observer can be predicted. In the ‘skewed balcony’ and the ‘collapsing ceiling’ effects, the position of the vantage point affects the impression of alignment of the virtual architecture conveyed by large-scale illusionistic paintings and the real architecture surrounding them. It is shown that the dislocation of the vantage point away from the viewing position prescribed by the perspective construction induces a mismatch between the painted vanishing point of elements in the picture and the real vanishing point of corresponding elements of the actual architecture. This mismatch of vanishing points provides visual information that the elements of the two architectures are not mutually parallel.

Inverse Sideways Perspective on a Road: A Drawing by a Blind Adult

Perception ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 49 (7) ◽  
pp. 771-781
Author(s):  
Selene Carboni ◽  
John M. Kennedy
Keyword(s):  
Intermediate Stage ◽  
Vantage Point ◽  
Linear Perspective ◽  
The Road ◽  
Parallel Lines ◽  
Perspective Drawing ◽  
On The Road ◽  
The Right

An unusual drawing of a road has two lines converging sideways, from right to left. The left side of the picture is explicitly described as the location of the observer. Also, the fronts of the cars on the road face left, with the largest car on the right. This sideways perspective is novel. In linear perspective, roads running parallel with the picture surface should be drawn with parallel lines. Lines for roads running orthogonal to the picture surface should converge with elevation. The rule for roads is if converging, then upward, and if sideways, then not converging. The sketch is by a blind woman with modest experience in drawing, including perspective. It suggests an intermediate stage of drawing development, with inconsistent use of the observer’s vantage point, in keeping with theories of perspective drawing by the blind and sighted of Willats, Kennedy and others.

Introduction

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
George E. Dutton
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Vantage Point ◽  
15Th Century ◽  
The World ◽  
Catholic Mission ◽  
Historical Moment ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Main Figure

This chapter introduces the book’s main figure and situates him within the historical moment from which he emerges. It shows the degree to which global geographies shaped the European Catholic mission project. It describes the impact of the Padroado system that divided the world for evangelism between the Spanish and Portuguese crowns in the 15th century. It also argues that European clerics were drawing lines on Asian lands even before colonial regimes were established in the nineteenth century, suggesting that these earlier mapping projects were also extremely significant in shaping the lives of people in Asia. I argue for the value of telling this story from the vantage point of a Vietnamese Catholic, and thus restoring agency to a population often obscured by the lives of European missionaries.

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