Draw in perspective

This guide covers the perspective grid: the View → Perspective Grid commands, the Perspective Grid tool that adjusts the grid, drawing on the grid’s planes, the Perspective Selection tool that moves art along them, the Object → Perspective commands and grid presets.

Shortcuts are written for Windows and Linux first, then macOS. You can change these keys in Edit → Keyboard Shortcuts….

Command or tool	Windows and Linux	macOS
View → Perspective Grid → Show Grid	Ctrl+Shift+I	Cmd+Shift+I
Perspective Grid tool	Shift+P	Shift+P
Perspective Selection tool	Shift+V	Shift+V
Left plane, horizontal plane, right plane, no plane (while the grid shows)	1, 2, 3, 4	1, 2, 3, 4

The Perspective Grid and Perspective Selection tools share a group that the default toolbar does not show. Press their keys, or choose Window → Toolbars → Advanced to show every tool group.

Show the grid and choose a preset

Choose View → Perspective Grid → Show Grid (Ctrl+Shift+I, or Cmd+Shift+I on macOS). A new document shows the [2P-Normal View] grid, fitted to the first artboard. While the grid shows, the menu item reads Hide Grid.

To start from another grid, choose one from View → Perspective Grid → One Point Perspective, Two Point Perspective or Three Point Perspective:

Submenu	Presets
One Point Perspective	[1P-Normal View], [1P-Low View], [1P-High View]
Two Point Perspective	[2P-Normal View], [2P-Low View], [2P-High View]
Three Point Perspective	[3P-Normal View], [3P-Low View]

The Low and High views place the horizon lower or higher on the artboard than the Normal view does. Your own presets of each type are listed below the built-in ones.

Set the grid’s view options in the same menu. These options are not undo steps.

Option	What it does
Show Rulers	Shows a ruler up the line where the planes meet, in the grid’s units at its scale. It is off by default
Snap to Grid	Art you draw or move in perspective lands on a gridline when it comes within a quarter of a grid cell. It is on by default
Lock Grid	Stops the grid’s handles from being dragged. The plane switching widget still works
Lock Station Point	Dragging one vanishing point moves the other one with it, around the viewer’s position. It works on two- and three-point grids

Choosing a preset keeps art that is already on the grid attached, and keeps these four options as they were.

Adjust the grid with the Perspective Grid tool

Press Shift+P for the Perspective Grid tool. If the grid is hidden, the tool shows it. Drag the grid’s handles:

Handle	Where it is	What a drag does
Vanishing points	On the horizon where each wall’s lines meet, and above the grid in three-point perspective	Moves the vanishing point. The horizon moves with it; hold Shift to keep the horizon where it is
Horizon	On the horizon line, above the corner where the planes meet	Raises or lowers the horizon
Origin	The corner where the planes meet, at ground level	Moves the corner. Hold Shift to keep the move horizontal or vertical
Ground-level points	On each wall’s base, next to the origin	Moves the whole grid. Hold Shift to keep the move horizontal or vertical
Wall ends	At the far end of each wall’s base	Makes that wall longer or shorter. Hold Alt (Option on macOS) to change both walls, and Shift to move by whole grid cells
Wall height	At the top of the line where the planes meet	Makes the walls taller or shorter. Hold Shift to move by whole grid cells
Grid cell size	On the line where the planes meet, a few cells up from the origin	Changes the space between gridlines

Press Esc before you release the mouse button to put the grid back as it was. Art already on the grid stays where it is when you change the grid.

A tall violet building on a street corner at dusk, its walls lined with lit and dark windows, drawn on a two-point perspective grid with blue, orange and green gridlines. The end of the right wall’s base has been dragged to the right, so the orange right-plane grid and the green ground grid now reach past the building toward a street lamp

Double-click the tool’s button in the toolbar to open Perspective Grid Options. Show Active Plane Widget turns the plane switching widget on or off, and Widget Position puts it in the Top Left (the default), Top Right, Bottom Left or Bottom Right corner of the document window.

The Perspective Grid Options dialog over the street corner, with Show Active Plane Widget selected and Widget Position set to Top Left. The Perspective Grid tool is highlighted in the Advanced toolbar on the left, and the plane switching cube sits in the top-left corner of the document window

Define a grid by values

Choose View → Perspective Grid → Define Grid… to set the grid by numbers. Clicking OK applies the changes as one undo step.

Option	What it sets
Preset	Loads a preset’s values into the dialog. It reads [Custom] once the values differ from every preset. Save Preset… saves the values as a new preset
Type	One Point Perspective, Two Point Perspective or Three Point Perspective
Units	The unit the lengths below are in. Every document unit except Feet & Inches is available
Scale	1:1, 1:2, 1:4, 1:8, 1:12, 1:24, 1:48, 1:96, 1:100 or Custom, which adds Artboard and Real World fields. The lengths below are real-world lengths at this scale
Gridline every	The space between gridlines
Viewing Angle	Where the viewer stands between the two vanishing points, from 0° to 90°. The built-in presets use 45°. Only two- and three-point grids use it
Viewing Distance	How far the viewer stands from the picture. A shorter distance foreshortens the planes more
Horizon Height	The height of the horizon above the ground
Third Vanishing Point	X and Y of the vertical vanishing point, measured from the center of vision, X to the right and Y up. Only three-point grids use it
Left Grid, Right Grid, Horizontal Grid	The color of each plane’s gridlines as a hex value. The defaults are blue (#3366ff), orange (#ff8c1a) and green (#2eb84a)
Opacity	The opacity of the gridlines, from 0% to 100%. The default is 50%

A new type, viewing angle or viewing distance moves the vanishing points around the viewer’s position.

Pick the active plane

New shapes and art you drag onto the grid go on the active plane. The grid has a left plane, a right plane and a horizontal (ground) plane.

Click a face of the plane switching widget, the small cube in the corner of the document window, with the Perspective Grid or Perspective Selection tool. The left face picks the left plane, the top face picks the horizontal plane and the right face picks the right plane. Click the dot beside the cube to work with no active plane.
While the grid shows, press 1 for the left plane, 2 for the horizontal plane, 3 for the right plane or 4 for no plane.
With the Perspective Selection tool, click an object that is on the grid. Its plane becomes the active plane.

Each plane also has a diamond-shaped widget on the grid, in the plane’s color. With either perspective tool, drag a plane’s diamond to move that plane forward or back. Hold Shift to move the art on the plane with it, or Alt (Option on macOS) to move copies of that art. Double-click the diamond to open the plane’s dialog (Left Plane, Right Plane or Horizontal Plane). Type a Location and choose Do Not Move, Move All Objects or Copy All Objects.

The street corner with the right plane’s orange diamond being dragged with the Perspective Selection tool. The orange right-plane grid has moved out in front of the building’s right wall, and the building’s windows stay where they were

The Right Plane dialog over the building, with Location set to 0 px and Do Not Move selected above the Move All Objects and Copy All Objects choices

Draw on a plane

Show the grid and pick the active plane.
Choose the Rectangle, Rounded Rectangle, Ellipse, Polygon, Star, Line Segment, Arc, Spiral, Rectangular Grid, Polar Grid or Flare tool.
Drag on the canvas. The shape is drawn on the active plane, foreshortened toward its vanishing point. With Snap to Grid on, its corners snap to gridlines within a quarter of a cell.
To draw at an exact size, click once and type the size in the tool’s dialog. The shape keeps that size measured along the plane, starting where you clicked.

The Rectangle tool part way through a drag on the right wall of the street-corner building, with the right plane active. The amber rectangle leans toward the right vanishing point under the roofline, a label reads W: 212.34 px and H: 87.00 px, and the status bar lists the tool’s keys

With no active plane (press 4), the shape tools draw flat shapes.

Move and copy art along a plane

Press Shift+V for the Perspective Selection tool, then drag art that is on the grid.

Action	Result
Drag	Moves the art along its plane
Alt-drag (Option-drag on macOS)	Moves a copy and leaves the original in place
Shift-drag	Keeps the move along the plane’s lines or at 45° to them
Press 5 while dragging	Moves the art forward or back, at right angles to its plane. Press 5 again to slide along the plane
Press 1, 2 or 3 while dragging flat art	Picks the plane the art goes onto
Drag a handle of the bounding box	Scales the art in perspective. Hold Shift to keep its proportions, or Alt (Option on macOS) to scale from the center
Arrow keys	Nudge the selection along its plane by the Keyboard Increment preference. Shift nudges 10 times as far, and Alt (Option on macOS) nudges a copy

Press Esc before you release the mouse button to cancel a move or a scale. While you drag, a label shows how far the art moved along the plane (dX and dY), or dZ when it moves at right angles to the plane. Object → Perspective → Move Plane to Match Object moves the selected object’s plane to where the object is and makes it the active plane.

A coral banner with amber bands being Alt-dragged along the building’s right wall with the Perspective Selection tool. The original banner stays near the corner, the copy gets narrower as it moves toward the vanishing point, and a label reads dX: 346.48 px and dY: 0.00 px

Put flat art and type on a plane

You can draw art and type flat and then put them on the grid.

Pick the active plane.
Choose one of these:
- With the Perspective Selection tool, drag the flat art. It goes onto the active plane as soon as the drag starts and then moves along it.
- Select the art and choose Object → Perspective → Attach to Active Plane. The art takes the plane’s perspective, with the corners of its bounding box where they were.

The street corner with an amber LANTERNS sign being dragged down the left wall with the Perspective Selection tool. The sign leans with the wall and shows its perspective bounding box, a label reads dX 0.00 px and dY -154.24 px, and the status bar lists the tool’s keys for moving, copying, moving at right angles and scaling

Type and symbols on a plane stay type and symbols. To change the words of type on a plane:

Select the type and choose Object → Perspective → Edit Text, or double-click the type with the Perspective Selection tool. The type is shown flat in isolation mode, and you edit it with the Type tool.
Press Esc, or exit isolation mode, to put the type back in perspective.

The amber LANTERNS type shown flat in isolation mode above the building’s left wall, with the word selected by the Type tool. The rest of the street corner is dimmed, the bar above the canvas shows Sign and LANTERNS, and the status bar reads Esc to exit editing

VectorCraft does not put art on a plane if part of it would cross the plane’s horizon.

Release art from the grid

Select the art and choose Object → Perspective → Release with Perspective. The art keeps the shape it has on the page and is no longer attached to a plane.

Save grid presets

To save the current grid, choose View → Perspective Grid → Save Grid as Preset…. Type a Name (the default is Perspective Preset 1, then 2, and so on) and click OK. In Define Grid…, Save Preset… does the same with the values in the dialog.
To manage presets, choose Edit → Perspective Grid Presets…. The dialog lists every preset and shows the selected preset’s settings.

The Perspective Grid Presets dialog listing the built-in views and two saved presets, Street Corner and Rooftop Low, with Street Corner selected. Its settings read Two Point, Points, 1, a gridline every 53 pt, a 45.0° viewing angle, a 768 pt viewing distance, a 360 pt horizon height and 50% opacity, above the New…, Edit…, Delete, Import… and Export… buttons

Button	What it does
New…	Opens a new preset that starts from the selected one
Edit…	Changes the selected preset
Delete	Deletes the selected preset
Import…	Adds the presets in a `.vcperspective` file. An imported preset whose name is taken gets a number
Export…	Saves the selected preset to a `.vcperspective` file

The built-in presets cannot be edited or deleted. To start from one, select it and click New…. VectorCraft keeps your presets with its preferences, and every document can use them.