Hello, today we have a new Illustrator tutorial in which we’re going to show you how to leverage the Perspective Grid to create some pretty amazing designs. Since the CS5 version, the Adobe team incorporated a new tool known as the Perspective Grid, this tool allows you to easily create artworks in perspective by adapting all the objects to this grid, you can harness this tool to represent scenes as they are supposed to be seen by the human eye.

Among the things you can do with the perspective grid tool we have defining up to three vanishing point perspectives, adjust different perspective parameters, draw objects directly into the grid, work with real measures and more. To activate the Perspective Grid simply click in View>Perspective Grid>Show Grid or hit Ctrl+Shift+I (on Windows) or Cmd+Shift+I (on Mac), now you can start working in your perspective designs. Let’s take a look at the different parts of this tool so you can take advantage of all its features.

Perspective Grid Illustrator

Click on the image to enlarge

I just took the original graphic from Adobe and re-scaled it for the site, these are the different parts that make part of the perspective grid.

A. Use that icon to switch between planes in the perspective.

B. This is the left vanishing point.

C. Vertical Grid Extent

D. Perspective Grid Ruler

E. Right Vanishing Point

F. Horizon Line

G. Horizon Height

H. Ground Level

I. Horizon Level

J. Extent of Grid

K. Grid Cell Size

L. Ground Level

M. Extent of Grid

N. Right Grid Plane Control

O. Horizontal Grid Plane Control

P. Left Grid Plane Control

Q. Origin

In addition to these features, you can also select the Perspective Selection tool by pressing Shift+V or selecting it from the Tools panel. This tool snaps the objects to the perspective grid while you move, scale, duplicate or bring them into the perspective grid. The Perspective Selection tool allows you to:

  • Bring objects, texts and symbols in perspective
  • Switch between active planes using keyboard shortcuts (press 1, 2 or 3 while dragging an element to place it in another plane).
  • Move, scale, and duplicate objects in perspective space
  • Move and duplicate objects perpendicular to its current position in the perspective plane (press the 5 key before or while moving an object change between regular Perspective movement and Perpendicular Movement).
Mishës Perspective
Because objects are aware of the height and depth laws that rule perspective, performing a perpendicular movement of an element, its dimensions will remain as they are supposed to be. The Perspective Selection tool works in object’s plane, so Scale/Move adjustments take place in plane where the object belongs and not in current plane height/distance. Multiple bounding boxes are shown in case objects selected are at different heights (even if they are currently in the same plane). Transform Again (Cmd/Ctrl+D) works for Perpendicular Movement. Scale would scale the objects whose bounding box is used for scaling even when multiple objects are selected.
Perspective Plane Selection
If you press the Shift key while using the Perspective Selection Tool, only the current plane will be displayed, making it easy for you to work on a determined section of your design. If you go to View>Perspective Grid you will find some additional options that can help you harness the power of this great tool.
Perspective Grid options
Probably the most relevant option is the Define Grid dialog, here you can customize many different aspects of the grid to generate pretty unique grids that will help you create the most amazing designs.
Define Grid Dialog
I changed some of the parameters randomly just to give you an idea of the different perspective grids you can build by just altering one of these values, let’s take a look at how my grid changed after modifying the parameters:
Modified Perspective Grid
And those are the basics behind the Perspective Grid Tool, now it’s just a matter of trying until you find the best way to make this tool work at your benefit, if you like this article or if you want us to write about something in special, please let us know in the comments sections, but this is not the end of this post!.

Some useful links about Perspective Grid Tool

While searching online I found a few examples that can help you learn more about how to use the Perspective Grid tool to create pretty impressive artworks, I hope you find these useful:

Typography with Perspective

Adobe TV

Night City

Text Perspective tips

Realistic Cruise design

Julian Russi Díaz (54 Posts)

Graphic Designer, Digital Marketing Strategist and Community Manager. I'm one of Mishës founders. Bike promoter, Photoshop addict, video games fan, Japan lover and photographer. I'm currently studying to get my master's degree in Digital Marketing and saving for my trip around South America.


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