Pseudo-3D

Two and a half dimensional (shortened to 2.5D, known alternatively as three-quarter perspective and pseudo-3D) is a term used to describe either 2D graphical projections and similar techniques used to cause images or scenes to simulate the appearance of being three-dimensional (3D) when in fact they are not, or gameplay in an otherwise three-dimensional video game that is restricted to a two-dimensional plane or has a virtual camera with a fixed angle. By contrast, games using 3D computer graphics without such restrictions are said to use true 3D.

Common in video games, these projections have also been useful in geographic visualization (GVIS) to help understand visual-cognitive spatial representations or 3D visualization.

The terms three-quarter perspective and three-quarter view trace their origins to portraiture and facial recognition, where they are used to describe a view of a person's face which is partway between a frontal view and a side view.

In axonometric projection and oblique projection, two forms of parallel projection, the viewpoint is rotated slightly to reveal other facets of the environment than what are visible in a top-down perspective or side view, thereby producing a three-dimensional effect. An object is "considered to be in an inclined position resulting in foreshortening of all three axes", and the image is a "representation on a single plane (as a drawing surface) of a three-dimensional object placed at an angle to the plane of projection." Lines perpendicular to the plane become points, lines parallel to the plane have true length, and lines inclined to the plane are foreshortened.

They are popular camera perspectives among 2D video games, most commonly those released for 16-bit or earlier and handheld consoles, as well as in later strategy and role-playing video games. The advantage of these perspectives are that they combine the visibility and mobility of a top-down game with the character recognizability of a side-scrolling game. Thus the player can be presented an overview of the game world in the ability to see it from above, more or less, and with additional details in artwork made possible by using an angle: Instead of showing a humanoid in top-down perspective, as a head and shoulders seen from above, the entire body can be drawn when using a slanted angle; Turning a character around would reveal how it looks from the sides, the front and the back, while the top-down perspective will display the same head and shoulders regardless.

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