differences, technically speaking.
A perspective is easy. It is inaccurate and prone to some 'liberties' at the sketching time. It requires, however, an important detail: non visible reference lines that have to be defined or kept in mind. The main reference line, the line of the horizon is called an imaginary line. It is said that depicts the line that separates the ground and the sky. But we know, because our concept of a 'visual' line is different, that two planes or two colors, or two surfaces generate a line.
Inside POVRay, that's exactly what happens. The horizon will appear when you determine an infinite plane. You do not *have to* draw that line. You will be able to move and change your point of view. This seems a logical and simple statement. Not to us. Changing a point of view means a lot of sketches until we find what we were looking for.

Introduction


There are many concepts and opinions about what is called art. I will refer here to drawing and painting only. Although the scope of digital art is -in my opinion :-)- greater and deeper than what was originally thought.

In the serious field of representation, one of the defining moments is that in which we face a blank canvas (or paper, board, or any kind of surface to work with). That's the moment in which we ask ourselves "Now what?". Anything can happen. What empowers an artist is precisely that moment, the moment of freedom of expression. So, regardless of the wide world opinion, a monitor is a canvas. By the same token, though, all similarities end right there.

The way we see
We've had to learn to "see" again. In a sense, perception is available to everyone, and everyone is able to focus on certain parts of that which is perceived. In fact, that's what every human being is doing all the time inside a context. It's the way we de-compose and take-from that context what makes our perception unique. Sometimes that context is called reality, but, as you think about it, far from being objective reality is subjective, different for each one of us.

From that perception of the whole, we have to take just a piece. What do we take? Essentially, what we choose. To learn to see again is simply to focus, slowly, from the big whole to that part we choose. We are driven by managing references -everything is placed in relation to something, along with the skill connected to our particular ways of perception. A healthy exercise prompts you to think before tracing any line at all, and then, it is possible that you spend three hours or more analizing a chair on top of another, and then draw them in 5 minutes.
Why do you need to invest all this time ? Because after that, you see your context with new -and trained- eyes. It is possible that first, you find out where everything is in relation to you; secondly, you see your context as a group of different volumes like playing in a concert, each one with a function; and finally you distinguish between what it is and what you see. At the end, and in my humble opinion, art is just a way to de-compose and express what we perceive, whether this perception comes from inside, or outside, or both.

3D...really?


It's a matter of concepts and understated terms. The three dimensions we know are still the same. In a sculpture, we have three dimensions (volume) and virtual space. The virtual space is that space you perceive and cannot see. To this regard, a virtual space belongs to the sculpture as it is in architecture. It's been suggested that even the time you interact with a building, for example, is another dimension: the fourth. Just imagine the amount of virtual space a mime has to work with.
Thus, the space in which we work in the "3D" environment is virtual. (However, we'll get a "2D' output). This space has to be worked out in what could be called "reverse mode". From "here" to "there", from the tiny components to the whole. That's why composition is harder this way, you really have to compose while creating a world, because you're working 'backwards'.

Camera and lights, no objects.

A red sphere but, where is it?

Background added.

Infinite plane at Y.

Sphere and plane are out, then. Here you have X, Y and Z represented by thin and long cylinders. X is red, Y is green and, blue is Z

Moving the camera just a bit, will show them better

To the previous view. This little white sphere is at x=0, y=0 and z=0. The sphere is at <0,0,0>

The sphere has been translated to 1 unit along x, -the positive side-, so it is at <1,0,0>

Now there is another sphere located at -1 along the x. The sphere to the left is at <-1,0,0> and the sphere to the right is at <1,0,0>

another at <0,1,0> (1 unit along y)

and another at -1 along Y. <0,-1,0>

...Them all

Three spheres. Orange at <-1,0,0>, Turquoise at <0,0,-1>, White at <0,1,0>

Three spheres. Red at <1,0,0>, Light Blue at <0,0,1>, Green at <0,-1,0>

Now a plane at -1*y has been added.

So, objects can be anywhere. We know that this sphere is above the plane

We can add a box to its side

And move the camera, changing our point of view

and again...

Now the simple sketch. I had to trace the horizon line (horizontal line) and then establish two reference points. As all vertical lines are parallel, it is easy after we determine where in the world is the first cube, and determine, arbitrarily of course, the height, or "h".

Here, I moved the camera, and -still with my useful axes- put a box which center point is at <0,0,0>

And another similar box, translated along Y

Axes out

A plane and a background added

Camera moved down

...and up,

and behind