Concept

Diminution — where it appears

3 essays name this object, across 3 fields. What follows is each of them, and the objects they name alongside it.
horizonequal stepshalve thetaper byworst error, in metres of depthequal steps to the horizon11.72 mhalve the remaining gap225.13 mtaper by eye347.80 mcorrect from 26 cm, at 160 mm wide34° across

Dividing depth by eye

Three methods for spacing a receding row, all of them taught, all of them wrong. Read back as distances, the best misplaces a post by 3.5 metres in a row that is supposed to be spaced 1.4. And the obvious way of checking them gives one of the three a perfect score.

wrong · deptheye
0100200204060distance of the object, metresits drawn height, pxa pinholean oblique systemdrawn height of a fixed object against its distance20.0× against 1.000

A picture with no size–distance signal

In a system with no diminution the drawn size of an object falls at exactly zero pixels per metre, so nothing in the picture says how far away anything is. Depth has to be carried by something else, and what carries it is height on the page — linearly, and without a horizon.

conventions · diminution
a centretrue measurediminutionbounded depthstraight linesperspectivehandscrollisometricdimetrictrimetriccavaliercabinetelevationfilled means the system keeps itmeasured from each system's own projectionno row is filled in both of the first two

A centre and a measure are exclusive

Eight drawing systems, measured on five questions, with the pinhole as a row rather than the header. Exactly one has a centre of projection and it is exactly the one with no true measure — and loosening the measure test by a hair lets it in, which is what says the boundary is real.

choices · exclusion

Named alongside it

The objects these essays reach for when they reach for this one.

HorizonDrawing systemOblique projectionParallel projectioncentre of projectionCross ratio testDemonstrationDepth compressionDepth cueDepth divisionForeshorteningInverse projection

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