Manipulate Perspective With The Painter Perspective Grid!Perhaps one of the most useful perspective tools available, the Painter perspective grid creates excellent guide lines to point you in the right direction for achieving depth. This particular tool creates a grid that you can manipulate into various different viewpoints. But, you will also discover that it’s not the “be all and the end all” of doing perspective. But first, it’s always a good idea to know where to find this tool in the program. 1. Locating the Painter Perspective GridAt the bottom right hand side of the toolbox, you will find the Painter perspective grid beside the magnifying glass.
The icon looks like a small 3x3 grid. Sometimes, by default, the grabber tool will be in that same location. If you don’t see perspective grid tool on your toolbox, you have to find the grabber tool and click on it to bring up the perspective grid. However, even when you click on the icon, the grid won’t pop up immediately. It’s actually a two-step process to get the grid to populate. What you need to do is to go to Canvas > Perspective Grids > Show Grid once you selected the Painter perspective grid tool. 2. Manipulating the gridWhen the grid shows up, there is usually a default setting that populates on your digital canvas.
What is great about this grid is that it extends beyond the canvas. That means the perspective can be judged out side the boundaries of the canvas so objects in perspective can be measured and drawn very accurately. You can definitely manipulate it to your liking. To do that, all you do is click on the horizon, any vertical lines, or any horizontal lines and move them to the right place. Depending on where you move the horizon, you will get different perspectives. For further manipulation options, the top bar menu will give you a few more choices to play with. If you look at spacing, it will allow you to space the lines further or closer together. Do you like a particular setting? You can save that with the symbol that has a + sign. Don’t like a particular setting? Delete it with the symbol that has a – sign on it. It’s all up to you! You can even change the colors of the perspective lines to your liking!
Play around with the perspective grid. Move the grid to a perspective that you would use in the near future and then save it! 3. Limitations of the perspective gridOnce you play around with it for a bit, you will notice that the Painter perspective grid is only capable of doing one-point, and to an extent, three-point perspective (to get the three-point perspective, move the horizon out of the general canvas area).What about two-point perspective? This is where you will have to use a different tool, in combination with the Painter perspective grid, to get the infamous two point perspective. Right near the middle of the toolbox, you will need to look for something that resembles an old-fashioned ink pen. Due to this fact, the tool is cleverly called the pen tool.
What this tool does is create perfect lines and curves. This is a good supplement to the Photoshop line tool that was explained earlier. Basically, you will draw lines that will connect two vanishing points on the Painter perspective grid. To do that with the pen tool, you have to play connect the dots. Click on one vanishing point. And then, click on a point anywhere. It will combine the two dots to form a line. The whole process means you are using two tools to accomplish two-point perspective: using the Painter perspective grid to get one vanishing point, and then using the pen tool to get the second vanishing point. 4. What does using multiple tools mean?Depending on the graphics program you have chosen, there are tools that are specialized in one program and not the other. Fortunately, this does not mean you need to buy the other graphics program just because it has a tool that you like. As a matter of fact, this illustration of the perspective grid and the pen tool just goes to show that most graphics programs behave in a similar manner. Most of them have the tools to get the job done. It depends on how you use it! Sometimes, you just need to do small modifications to the tool or combine it with another tool to get the same effects in another graphics program. And that’s the point! Do not depend on the program! Given the tools that you already have, you are more than able to duplicate specific effects. Granted, it may be easier with another graphics program, but that does not mean that it’s not doable. This is where motivation takes a center stage. Be motivated to play with your tools. Eventually, you will find out that it’s your imagination that limits your abilities rather than the graphics program. Experience and motivation are always the best teachers!
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