3-Point Perspective Grid Generator
Drag to rotate the camera. Choose a lens. Export a transparent layer and draw on top of it.
How to use this grid
Drag anywhere on the plate to rotate the camera; the readout shows how far you have turned. The field-of-view slider is your lens. A wide lens (16–24 mm) pulls the vanishing points close to the frame and makes the third point dramatic; a long lens (70 mm and up) flattens the scene until it almost reads as two-point.
Turn on the frame to compose inside a 16:9 or 2.35:1 shot, letterbox to see only the picture, then export a transparent PNG and put it on a layer under your drawing. Every setting is written into the link, so you can come back to exactly this grid.
What three-point perspective is
Three-point perspective adds a vertical vanishing point to the two horizontal ones. It is what you see when you look up at a tower or down into a street: verticals stop being parallel and converge above you (the zenith) or below you (the nadir). The steeper your vertical rotation, the closer that third point sits to the frame.
The reference cube is one metre on each side, standing on the ground 6.5 metres away. Use it to judge scale: a door is about two cubes tall, a person one and three-quarters, a car about four cubes long.
Choosing a lens
The lens readout is the 35 mm-equivalent focal length for the current field of view. Storyboards and concept art usually live between 24 and 50 mm; architectural renders around 28–35 mm; character shots 50–85 mm. Under 20 mm you are in fisheye territory, where straight lines want to curve; the curvilinear grid handles that properly.
Getting the grid into your app
Procreate — Copy to clipboard, then in Procreate: Actions → Add → Paste. Set the layer to 30–40% opacity and lock it. Or Download PNG and import it from Files.
Clip Studio Paint — Download PNG, File → Import → Image, then lower the layer opacity. If you would rather use Clip Studio's own snapping ruler, the Perspective Ruler lesson shows how to match it to this grid.
Photoshop / Affinity / Krita — Download PNG and drag it in as a layer, or Download SVG for editable vector lines in Illustrator, Affinity Designer or Inkscape.
Paper — Download PNG 4×, print, and use it under tracing paper or a light pad.
Questions
Can I use the grid in Procreate or Clip Studio?
Yes. Export a transparent PNG, import it as a layer, lower its opacity and lock it. On iPad, Copy to clipboard then paste directly into Procreate.
Where are the vanishing points when I can't see them?
With a long lens they sit far outside the frame. Widen the lens (lower mm) or lower the density to watch the lines converge. Vanishing points that fall outside the canvas are not drawn.
What do the three colours mean?
Red lines run to VP1, green to VP2 (the two horizontal vanishing points on the horizon), and ochre verticals run to VP3, the zenith or nadir. The dashed line is the horizon.
Is the export free?
Yes. PNG at 2× and 4× and SVG are free, with no watermark and no account.