Visual Plane
every picture states the point it is correct from
Series

Twogrounds — the series

2 essays on one idea, from the one that introduces it to the one that assumes the rest.
  1. a camera looking downthe carpet is true, the people are nota camera looking levelthe people are true, the carpet is notthe two views a miniature is assembled from90° apart, exactly

    A carpet and the people on it

    A Persian miniature draws the ground as though from above and the figures standing on it as though from in front. The two views want optical axes exactly ninety degrees apart, and the plan view does not shorten a standing figure — it replaces its height with its distance from the point under the eye.

    part 1 · conventions
  2. elevation0.0000two equal, orthographic ←cabinet0.5000two equal, obliquecavalier1.0000all three equal, obliquedimetric0.4714all three different, orthographicisometric0.8165all three equal, orthographictrimetric0.5479all three different, orthographicsmallest of the three axis scalesmeasured from each projection

    Two grounds, and what the second one costs

    The miniature convention wants its floor drawn from overhead and its figures drawn from in front, and the two optical axes it asks for are exactly ninety degrees apart. Read as a picture with two centres rather than as a picture with none, the arrangement stops being a contradiction and becomes a quantity: the rays of the composite miss their own best point by more than a metre, and the absorbed reading is a floor that leans.

    part 2 · conventions

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