My websites were always targeted primarily for the hardcore fans who almost know it all. The purpose of my sites was too shine light on some very obscure interviews and facts that aren't accessible in well known books or extras that are still available for purchase. However, times change, and new generations and fans come along - and I realized that a lot of my audience consist of fans who aren't diehards who know every book and interview by memory for decades (like all the fans at the Terminator Files Forum years ago), or just never went outside the films. So this is part of a different type of FAQ section, for those less initiated in Cameronverse. James Cameron is one of those very few storytellers who leave the fans with more answers than any scifi fan would hope for, certainly much more than any other scifi storyteller. While movies are about the kinetic energy, emotions visual art and story, and they are certainly not obligated to explain or elaborate on every fictional aspect of it, Cameron, often praising the audiences as 'smart' and ones who 'get it', spread just enough clues and sprinkled bits of information that are enough for the viewers to draw they answers from, without a need to do it through dialogue, ruining the flow, pace and running time of the film. And he always goes extra miles unlike anyone else to give reason and logic behind everything, even fictional made up tech.
Novelizations used to be for fans who wanted that extra insight into the story, unburdened by the limited running time of a movie and it's pacing - they dwelled on character's thoughts and explained things that couldn't be visually or weren't absolutely necessary or crucial to explain in the film, and so they're often almost like the Bible of the film, along the script. Let me underline that none of the answers are my own opinions, they are an intent of the filmmakers and official sources will be quoted when necessary. And have in mind, this entire site is just about Cameronverse only.
Let's continue with ""How Does The T-1000 See?"
The viewers never get to see how the T-1000 vision is like in the film, and that's because it would be something very difficult to show visually. The T-1000's vision is just part of many different ways the T-1000 registers the environment. That does not mean he sees 360, it means that vision that's located where human eyes would be (the novelization mentions the nanobots responsible for audio systems usually go where human ears would be, so the assumption is that it's the same with visual), is just part of an entire environment mapping. Below, excerpt from the novelization
The novelization also mentions that he doesn't need lights to "see", and we also know that the T-1000 senses through some kind of wave emitting. So something like this is simply impossible to express in one visual image.
There is a shot that’s from the T-1000’s point of view when he’s approaching the cop from behind the pillar, however, while it’s a view from his perspective, it is not a view through his eyes - same thing was done for the first film in its first half (see HERE). So that shot does not mean the T-1000 sees like normal people because at that point of the story the viewer is suppose to think the T-1000 is a human protector (see more on the subject HERE) and again, that technique was done in the first film’s first half as well
The T-1000 vision IS shown in one place, but I wouldn't get too excited about it since it shouldn't really be taken seriously. There was a promotional mini documentary on Universal's T2 3D (no, not the one that's available on some DVD and Blu Ray extras) as a part of a video press kit, and in it editors of the documentary got creative and shown a very underwhelming T-1000 vision. But again, it's something done outside of Cameron's knowledge and approval, and it was purely the video's creative choice in order to add some "exciting" graphics to the presentation. Screenshot below
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