Theatre Design & Technology - Summer 1981 - 34

available camera that works on this principle is the Widelux™
manufactured by Panon Camera of Japan and distributed by
Olden Camera of New York. A panoramic photograph can also
be made by a conventional camera mounted on a tripod and
turned between exposures; a panorama head can aid in giving
precisely overlapped frames. The panoramic image is made
by assembling the successive exposures. The disadvantage
to this method is that space is presented as folded rather than
curved so it is impossible to match everything on the frame
edges. A third possibility for making a cylindrical photograph
is to use a pinhole camera with the film formed in a cylinder.
This approach has experimental application although its use is
not as practical as the use of the Widelux or a conventional
tripod-mounted camera.

History of Cylindrical Perspective
Although isolated examples of Western paintings suggest
that the representation of straight lines as curved may be perceptually correct, little evidence of a complete system is available until the development of the diorama and panorama in
the nineteenth century. In the first panoramas, a scene was
painted on a circular cloth surrounding the audience occupying a central platform. Later innovations altered this basic arrangement. Today the terms diorama and panorama are often
used interchangeably.
The scenic technique of the diorama can be seen today in
natural history museums. Displays in which a natural environment is extended onto a painted plaster cyc are called dioramas. The modern counterpart of the panorama, however,
exists in motion pictures. Wide screen projection systems
such as Cinerama, Cinemascope, Cinemiracle, and Circlerama have a significant impact on one's viewing habits. This
fact alone makes cylindrical perspective a potentially significant drawing system. Film designers and matt artists use cylindrical perspective, but until the advent of non-proscenium
theatres and concepts that brought scenic elements into the
auditorium, theatrical designers had not needed it.

Cylindrical Perspective as Both Flat and Curved
Space
Cylindrical perspective is unique because it presents space
as simultaneously flat and curved. This has implications for
both constructing and viewing a panoramic drawing. A panoramic drawing should be drawn large enough that 45° segments of the drawing can be viewed from a 45° angle of view.
Designers should always consider the viewing angle when
constructing design drawings, but this is especially important
when constructing a cylindrical perspective. In practice, most
viewers of a panoramic perspective will not discern the difference between this projection method and planar perspective.
This is because a 45 ° arc approximates a flat picture plane
(Fig. 4). At 25° only the most discerning viewer can distinguish a segment of a panoramic photograph from a conventional photograph. The fact that small segments of a pan-

orama approximate a planar perspective is also a help to the
designer. Elements within the 45° angle of view can be drawn
on the cylindrical grid in linear perspective and maintain reasonable accuracy.
A large segment of a panoramic photograph will show objectively straight horizontal lines as curved. This is the objection to this system and possibly a reason why it is not more
generally described. Architects, for example, will not want a
proposed building to be presented to clients as curved when it
is objectively straight. But this system can be useful to the architect under the right circumstances. If, for example, the proposed construction presents small buildings placed separately on a site, the curved lines need not be a problem. For
the architect this limitation of cylindrical perspective need
never occur. The whole issue can be avoided by moving the
station point sufficiently far back to make the planar perspective fall within the 60° cone of vision. The theatrical designer cannot solve this wide angle problem so simply. Often
the station point cannot be sufficiently removed, making cylindrical perspective the only possible graphic preview of the
effect of the finished setting.
The representation of long horizontal lines as curved is not
only a conceptual problem, but is also the most fascinating aspect of this drawing system. Curved horizontal lines are completely eliminated when the drawing is viewed as a cylinder,
rather than as a flat plane. When the drawing is viewed from
within the cylinder it becomes anamorphic, that is, it takes on
special qualities when viewed in this specific manner. The
curved horizontal lines seem to drop away, becoming straight.
The drawing seems to exist not on a cylinder, but in space itself. The viewer, as when observing the actual scene, can
focus on separate aspects of the scene, still enjoying about
140° of the scene with his peripherial vision. In order to view
the panoramic drawing as curved, the cylindrical drawing can
surround the viewer. A half cylinder (180°) can also be
viewed as a diorama.
In order to appreciate the perceptual effects of cylindrical
perspective, it is suggested that the freehand grid developed
below (Fig. 12) be re-drawn larger. The perceptual effects of
this anamorphic drawing may be enjoyed by viewing the completed grid formed as a cylinder. The grid itself can be saved
for use in designing.

Developing the Freehand and Measured Grids
The freehand and the measured cylindrical perspective
grids are developed and demonstrated separately for the sake
of clarity. In practice, both grids can be combined into a single
grid, and both the measured and freehand techniques can be
combined into a single drawing. These methods when combined provide a system that is both easily understood and is
as precise as the designer desires.

Full-Scale Assumption
One of the conceptual difficulties in developing a perspective in a non-proscenium theatre is in providing a refer-

Figure 4

Flat Grid

Theatre Design & Technology

Cylindrical Grid

Flat Grid

Cylindrical Grid

USITT /Summer, 1981

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Summer 1981