Editing 2.5D (section)

{{short description|Simulation of the appearance of being three-dimensional}}
{{Other uses|2.5D (disambiguation)}}
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{{VG Graphics}}
'''2.5D''' (basic pronunciation '''two-and-a-half dimensional''') perspective refers to [[gameplay]] or movement in a [[video game]] or [[virtual reality]] environment that is restricted to a [[Plane (mathematics)|two-dimensional]] (2D) plane with little to no access to a [[Three-dimensional space|third dimension]] in a space that otherwise ''appears'' to be three-dimensional and is often simulated and rendered in a 3D digital environment.

This is related to but separate from pseudo-3D perspective (sometimes called three-quarter view when the environment is portrayed from an angled top-down perspective), which refers to [[2D computer graphics|2D graphical projections]] and similar techniques used to cause images or scenes to simulate the appearance of being [[Three-dimensional space (mathematics)|three-dimensional]] (3D) when in fact they are not.

By contrast, games, spaces or perspectives that are simulated and rendered in 3D and used in 3D level design are said to be ''true 3D,'' and 2D rendered games made to appear as 2D without approximating a 3D image are said to be ''true 2D''.

Common in video games, 2.5D projections have also been useful in [[geographic visualization]] (GVIS) to help understand visual-cognitive spatial representations or 3D visualization.<ref name="MacEachren">[[Alan MacEachren|MacEachren, Alan]]. "GVIS Facilitating Visual Thinking."  In How Maps Work: Representation, Visualization, and Design, 355–458. New York: The Guilford Press, 1995.</ref>

The terms ''three-quarter perspective'' and ''three-quarter view'' trace their origins to the [[three-quarter profile]] in [[portrait]]ure and [[face perception|facial recognition]], which depicts a person's face that is partway between a frontal view and a side view.<ref>{{cite journal|title= Reassessing the 3/4 view effect in face recognition|journal=Cognition|date=February 2002|volume=83|issue=1|pages=31–48(18)|doi= 10.1016/S0010-0277(01)00164-0|pmid=11814485|last1= Liu|first1= C|s2cid=23998061}}</ref>