Select the Perspective Grid tool to view the grid in the document.
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Learn how to draw objects, bring them into perspective, and modify them to add depth and realism to your artwork.
As an artist or designer, you can use perspective grids to create the illusion of depth and space with shapes, text, and symbols. In Illustrator, you can draw and render artwork in perspective using the perspective grid.
You can use shape and type tools to draw objects and add text to your perspective. Previously, you learned how one-point, two-point, and three-point perspectives are defined. Now, you can start drawing objects in perspective to create the intended visual effect.
Before you begin:
- Learn the basics of creating and editing the perspective grid.
- Use Smart Guides to align the object to other objects when you draw them on the perspective grid.
- You can enable the Snap to Grid option from View > Perspective Grid > Snap to Grid to snap objects to gridlines.
Draw objects in perspective
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Select the active plane where you want to create the object using the Plane Switching widget.
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Use the drawing tools to draw objects on the perspective grid.
Tip:You can specify the object's height, width, and other properties in perspective as you specify them in regular mode.
Select objects in perspective
The Perspective Selection tool snaps the objects to the grid of the active plane while moving, scaling, duplicating objects in perspective, and bringing objects into perspective.
Select the Perspective Selection tool or press Shift + V to display the left, right, and horizontal grid controls. Use the Perspective Selection tool to select objects on the perspective grid.
When you bring an existing object or artwork into perspective, the appearance and scale of the selected object change. To bring regular objects into perspective, do the following:
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Select the object using the Perspective Selection tool.
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Select the active plane where you want to place the object using the Plane Switching widget .
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Drag and drop the object at the required location on the grid.
Use the Perspective Selection tool to bring objects into the perspective grid
Attach and release objects from perspective
If you've already created objects, you can attach objects to an active plane on the perspective grid. To add an object to the left, right, or horizontal grid:
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Select the object and then select the active plane on which you want to place the object using the Plane Switching widget .
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Select Object > Perspective > Attach to Active Plane.
If you want to release an object from a perspective view, select Object > Perspective> Release with Perspective. The selected object is released from the associated perspective plane and is available as normal artwork.
Move, scale, and copy objects in perspective
You can move, copy, or scale objects in perspective using the Perspective Selection tool. You can also move objects in a perpendicular direction to the current object's location.
Do the following to move the object:
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Select the Perspective Selection tool.
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Drag and drop objects to the required position. To constrain the movement, press Shift + drag.
Tip:While moving the objects, press 1, 2, 3, or 4 to change the plane.
Ensure that the Perspective Selection tool is selected when moving, scaling, or copying objects on the grid.
Move objects in perpendicular direction
The technique is helpful when creating parallel objects, such as the walls of a room.
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Select the object using the Perspective Selection tool.
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Press 5 key as you drag the object to the required position.
Move grid planes in the perpendicular direction
When you move an object perpendicularly, it's placed parallel to its existing or current location.
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Select the Perspective Selection tool.
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Press Shift and drag the grid plane control depending on the grid plane where the object is placed.
Move all objects in precise perpendicular direction
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Double-click the required Right, Horizontal, and Left Grid Plane Controls using the Perspective Selection tool.
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In the Vanishing Plane dialog box, specify the Location where the objects has to be moved.
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Select any of the following options:
- Do Not Move: Restricts the movement when repositioning the grid.
- Move All Objects: Moves all objects on the plane along with the grid movement.
- Copy All Objects: Copies all objects on the plane.
The automatic plane positioning allows you to create objects by inferring the height or depth of the object. For example, to draw a cube, the height of the top face of the cube must be known. With automatic plane positioning, the perspective grid automatically adjusts the horizontal grid plane to match the size of the cube's top face. Do the following to ensure that Automatic plane positioning is enabled:
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Double-click the Perspective Grid tool.
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Select Anchor Point of Perspective Artwork and Intersection of Gridlines checkboxes.
When you draw or place objects, the object height can be inferred from:
- Other objects by pressing Shift as you hover over one of the anchor points (getting the anchor label) that temporarily hides other planes.
- Grid lines by pressing the Shift as you hover over the intersection point. Changing the plane in this state brings that plane to the selected offset.
Press Shift as you hover over one of the anchor points to temporarily hide other planes
Move plane to match object
When you want to draw or bring objects in perspective at the same depth or height as the existing object:
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Select the existing object in perspective.
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Select Object > Perspective > Move Plane to Match Object to bring the corresponding grid to the desired height or depth.
Scale objects in perspective
You can modify the dimension of objects by dragging its bounding box using the Perspective Selection tool. While scaling objects in perspective, the following rules apply:
When you scale an object, the height or distance is scaled based on the object’s plane, not the current or active plane.
For multiple objects, scaling is done for objects on the same plane.
Copy objects in perspective
- To copy the object, you can press Alt (Windows) or Option (macOS) as you drag the object.
- To duplicate the object in a perpendicular direction, press Alt + 5 (Windows) or Option + 5 (macOS) as you drag the object.
- To create a copy of the object parallel to its current position, press Alt (Windows) or Option (macOS) as you drag the grid plane control based on the grid plane where the object is placed.
Tips and tricks
Here are a few things you need to know while using keyboard shortcuts on the perspective grid:
- Keyboard shortcuts used to draw objects in regular mode can be used on the perspective grid.
- The arrow keys don't work when you move objects perpendicularly.
- The keyboard shortcut 5 for perpendicular movement and the keyboard shortcuts 1, 2, and 3 for plane switching while drawing or moving objects don't work on the extended numeric keypad.
Bring text and symbols into perspective
You cannot directly add text and symbols to a perspective plane while the grid is visible. However, you can bring text or symbols into perspective after creating them in normal mode. Functionalities like replacing a symbol, breaking links when expanding the symbol instance, and resetting transformation don't work on symbols in perspective.
To bring text or symbols into perspective, do the following:
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Select the text or symbol from the document using the Perspective Selection tool.
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Drag the object to the required position on the active plane of the grid.
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In the Control panel, select Edit Text or Edit Symbol to edit the object or double-click the object to edit text or symbols in isolation mode.
A. Edit Text B. Edit Perspective C. Isolate Selected Object
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