Note: This tutorial requires at least a basic familiarity with two-point perspective drawing on the part of the reader. This is just an example of how to use the two-point perspective method in a drawing program.

Although the latest version of Macromedia FreeHand has a built-in perspective drawing grid, this technique uses guide lines to rough out the object you are drawing. As shown below in the following steps, I was able to draw a DSL modem using this technique.

1. Setup your drawing area and draw a horizon line either with the Line tool or the Pen tool. Constrain the line with the Shift key so it is perfectly horizontal.

2. Click View > Snap To Point, then use either the Pen or Line tool to draw the first guide from the left. The left point of this line will be the left vanishing point. Its position is arbitrary and of your own choosing but it lays on the horizon line. By enabling "Snap To Point", you can snap any number of additional lines to this vanishing point.

3. Similarly, create the first right hand guide. The right point of this line will be the right vanishing point.

4. Continue roughing out the drawing in this fashion as a series of guide lines. At this stage you can easily adjust the endpoint of any line while preserving the ends that converge into the vanishing points. By roughing out the drawing this way, you can make changes until the desired form begins to take shape.

5. When you are satisfied that you have enough guide lines for your drawing, click Edit > Select > All, then click the Guides layer in the Layers panel to send all the lines to the Guides layer. Next click View > Snap To Guides to enable snapping to these guides.

6. With "Snap To Guides" enabled, you can build your drawing piece by piece, aligning the objects to these guides as you go. You can always make new guide lines on any layer and send them to the Guides layer where they become guide objects.

7. Here's a closer look at the finished drawing with the guides.