I'm trying to set up a simple 5-way vanishing point for a building composition; the horizon line, the line for the building tops, and the line for the building base for each of the buildings on either side of the street, but I just can't figure it out.

I've found the assistant tool, selected vanishing point from the tool options tab, but from there on in the thing is baffling beyond belief.

I somehow managed to get a grid of sorts set up, but then when I switch to my paint brush to start blocking in the buildings, I just get three seemingly random lines that go from the right side of the canvas and off at the left. If I click to start painting, the lines snap to wherever I place the brush stroke.

All the videos out there giving a tutorial are useless, as most of them are for very outdated versions of Krita, and the official documentation is of no help either.

I just want to draw a simple vanishing point grid which is static and allows me to free-paint over the top of.

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.

If you want a grid, the "perspective" assistant will do that. I'd recommend using the vanishing point, however - IMO it's much less obtrusive and also easier to set up.

When you create the VP assistant, there are 5 points displayed - the center is the vanishing point and the others are control points for finding the point from existing geometry. If you just want to create a vanishing point, simply place the center point with the X in it where you want the VP to be. You can create multiple points of course. It can be easier to find a VP outside the canvas by using the other control points. Try moving them around, you'll get the hang of it soon enough.

After you have the points set up, you can start painting. If you don't want your strokes to snap to the assistants, make sure to uncheck "assistant" in the tool options docker. This way, you'll see lines extending from your cursor towards the vanishing points you've defined and can use them to draw with. I prefer to do some basic setup with snap on and then disable it.

Or you can try the perspective assistant. Same thing here, if you don't want snapping, disable the assistant in tool options.

Thanks for your help, hulmanen. I had a play around with the 'perspective' guides rather than the 'vanishing point' and had a little more success.

Just a couple of things, though. I struggled to create the perspective lines for buildings on both sides of a street, I first clicked for my vanishing point (somewhere around the middle of the canvas), then I clicked towards the top-right, then down vertically to the bottom-right and my grid appeared just as I wanted.

But when I tried to do the same thing on the other side it wouldn't let me use the same vanishing point marker to create the grid. If I tried to click on the vanishing point that I used for the first grid, it just gave me a three-side triangle in red, rather than a perspective grid. I could get the grid if I clicked the final point NEAR the original vanishing point marker, but not on it.

It's obviously vital (in a single vanishing point perspective) that the vanishing point is the same for the buildings on both sides of the street, so any help you can give would be great.

Secondly it would be handy if, when I start blocking in the buildings, my paint strokes follow the lines in the grid, but I couldn't get it to do this (even though you explain how). Where exactly is this 'assistant' box that I have to make sure is ticked if I want my brush strokes to follow the grid?

There was a tick box in the tool options tab for something called 'single snap', but this was already ticked and my strokes still didn't follow the grid.

[edit] Ah, I think I'm getting the hang of it. After I create the grid for the other side I can simply move the whole grid and line it's vanishing point cross up with the first one. I also found the assistant and now my strokes follow the grid lines.

Thanks again for your help.

Can you make a screenshot of your earlier problem? It sounds like the assistant previews are not aligning with your cursor.

TheraHedwig wrote:Can you make a screenshot of your earlier problem? It sounds like the assistant previews are not aligning with your cursor.

Gladly, but perhaps I should explain that I'm almost certain the fault was my own, not Krita's.

I simply didn't know what I was doing and was trying to set additional points on the initial vanishing point cross, rather than creating a second grid and manually aligning the two vanishing point crosses by dragging the second grid with the move tool.

Also, I'm not entirely sure what problem it is you're asking me to recreate - can you be more specific please.

[edit] No idea if this is what you wanted, but after I'd created the grid on the right, I clicked on the vanishing point cross (indicated) and tried to create another grid with the same VP, whereas all I needed to do was created a second grid (anywhere on the canvas) and then drag it until the two VP crosses lined up.

No nevemind. The vanishing point assistants work a bit differently from regular conceptions of a perspective grid, because I made them based on my own experience drawing city-scapes for years, and in particular they're for solving the issue that a regular perspective grid will become messy when dealing with a ton of objects.

You can make a perspective grid with them by just putting one down on the canvas, then go back to the brush tool, toggle the assistant snapping in the tool options and draw a set of lines that intersect at the vanishing point. Then go back to the assistant tool, and move the vanishing point to another point on the horizon. Then draw those lines again. After that, you should have a perspective grid drawn, over which you can put another layer and draw with the assistant snap turned off.



Edit: No, the perspective grid is not capable of aligning to the same vanishing point. I've looked into it, but coding wise it's just too tricky.

Thank you for that, but a couple of things I should mention. The example you've posted isn't the kind of perspective I need. I like to paint streets with building on either side, from a kind of first-person perspective (as in this one I did a couple of days ago (with a grid I drew manually: http://gimpscapes.tumblr.com)

Secondly, it's handy for me if the grid lines show through my own painting (for getting the perspective of windows and doors right) until I've finished the piece. If I draw my own grid lines they will disappear under my paint.

As for the VP, the way it works is just perfect. It was me not knowing what I was doing that was the problem.

Well, it is kinda easy but first some clarification... TheraHedwid showed you two point perspective with assistant tool set to vanishing point, your image is one point perspective.
Anyway, what you want is quite easy and you can do this in two ways:

1. Do the same thing as TheraHedwig but with one point perspective - go to assistant tool, set it to vanishing point and establish vanishing point, then switch to brush, check assistant and snap to single and draw your lines.
Next thing - go back to assistant tool and delete vanishing point. Now, in that same tool choose perspective and set grid on lines that you have drawn previously.
Go to brush and do the magic.

2. Do the same as above but instead of choosing perspective after vanishing point, go to line tool and holding shift draw straigt lines... either vertical or horizontal and you have grid.

"Secondly, it's handy for me if the grid lines show through my own painting (for getting the perspective of windows and doors right) until I've finished the piece. If I draw my own grid lines they will disappear under my paint." Just keep your perspective lines on separate layer and and most important... on top of your painting layers.

p.s.
If you are using Windows, you can set vanishing points much easier with tool from Epic Games which is called Carapace... but then you still need to create vertical and horizontal lines separately.