Optical Spy
Welcome to the world of optical illusions
  • Opticals
  • Spy Base
  • Spy Blog
  • Escher
    • Escher
    • Escher in Color
  • Galleries
    • David Arthur-Simons Gallery
    • Optrix Gallery
    • John Langdon Gallery
    • Gianni Sarcone Gallery
    • Redmer Hoekstra Gallery
    • Donald Rust Gallery
    • Optical Spy Gallery
    • Tech Art Gallery
    • Animated Art Gallery
    • Body Art Gallery
    • Guido Daniele Gallery
    • Banksy Gallery
    • David Macdonald Gallery
    • Oleg Shupliak Gallery
    • Ben Heine Gallery >
      • Ben Heine Biography
    • Liu Bolin Gallery
    • Erik Johansson Gallery
    • Major Drapkin Gallery
    • High Speed Photography Gallery
    • Tom French Gallery
    • Willard Wigan Gallery
  • List of Illusions
  • Street Art
    • Street Art
    • Evol Gallery
    • Banksy Gallery
  • Contact
  • About
    • Conditions
  • Slide
  • SiteMap
  • Good Stuff
  • Personal Illusion
  • Store
  • Optical Illusions
  • Oleg Shuplyak
  • Oleg Shuplyak Gallery
  • Untitled

Zeotrope

1/31/2013

0 Comments

 
Picture
A zoetrope is a device that produces the illusion of motion from a rapid succession of static pictures. The term zoetrope is from the Greek words ζωή (zoē), meaning "alive, active", and τροπή (tropē), meaning "turn", with "zoetrope" taken to mean "active turn" or "wheel of life".

The zoetrope consists of a cylinder with slits cut vertically in the sides. On the inner surface of the cylinder is a band with images from a set of sequenced pictures. As the cylinder spins, the user looks through the slits at the pictures across. The scanning of the slits keeps the pictures from simply blurring together, and the user sees a rapid succession of images, producing the illusion of motion.

The earliest known zoetrope was created in China around 180 AD by the inventor Ting Huan (丁緩). Ting Huan's device, driven by convection, hung over a lamp and was called chao hua chich kuan (the pipe which makes fantasies appear). The rising air turned vanes at the top, from which translucent paper or mica panels hung. When the device was spun at the right speed, pictures painted on the panels would appear to move.

Picture
A zoetrope is a device that produces the illusion of motion from a rapid succession of static pictures. The term zoetrope is from the Greek words ζωή (zoē), meaning "alive, active", and τροπή (tropē), meaning "turn", with "zoetrope" taken to mean "active turn" or "wheel of life".

The zoetrope consists of a cylinder with slits cut vertically in the sides. On the inner surface of the cylinder is a band with images from a set of sequenced pictures. As the cylinder spins, the user looks through the slits at the pictures across. The scanning of the slits keeps the pictures from simply blurring together, and the user sees a rapid succession of images, producing the illusion of motion.

The earliest known zoetrope was created in China around 180 AD by the inventor Ting Huan (丁緩). Ting Huan's device, driven by convection, hung over a lamp and was called chao hua chich kuan (the pipe which makes fantasies appear). The rising air turned vanes at the top, from which translucent paper or mica panels hung. When the device was spun at the right speed, pictures painted on the panels would appear to move.

The modern zoetrope was invented in 1833 by British mathematician William George Horner. He called it the "daedalum", most likely as a reference to the Greek myth of Daedalus, though it was popularly referred to as "the wheel of the devil". The daedalum failed to become popular until the 1860s, when it was patented by both English and American makers, including Milton Bradley. The American developer William F. Lincoln named his toy the "zoetrope", meaning "wheel of life". Almost simultaneously, similar inventions were made independently in Belgium by Joseph Antoine Ferdinand Plateau (the phenakistoscope) and in Austria by Simon von Stampfer (the stroboscope).

The zoetrope worked on the same principles as the phenakistoscope, but the pictures were drawn on a strip which could be set around the bottom third of a metal drum, with the slits now cut in the upper section of the drum. The drum was mounted on a spindle and spun; viewers looking through the slits would see the cartoon strip form a moving image. The faster the drum was spun, the smoother the animation appeared.

The praxinoscope was an improvement on the zoetrope that became popular toward the end of the 19th century. The earliest projected moving images were displayed using a magic lantern zoetrope. This crude projection of moving images occurred as early as the 1860s. A magic lantern praxinoscope was later demonstrated in the 1880s.

Zoetrope development continues into the 21st century, primarily with the "linear zoetrope". A linear zoetrope consists of an opaque linear screen with thin vertical slits in it. Behind each slit is an image, often illuminated. A motion picture is seen by moving past the display.

Linear zoetropes have several differences compared to cylindrical zoetropes due to their different geometries. Linear zoetropes can have arbitrarily long animations and can cause images to appear wider than their actual sizes. Via Zoetrope
0 Comments

The Monty Hall Paradox

1/26/2013

0 Comments

 
Picture
The Monty Hall problem is a probability puzzle loosely based on the American television game show Let's Make a Deal and named after the show's original host, Monty Hall. The problem, also called the Monty Hall paradox, is a veridical paradox because the result appears odd but is demonstrably true. The Monty Hall problem, in its usual interpretation, is mathematically equivalent to the earlier Three Prisoners problem, and both bear some similarity to the much older Bertrand's box paradox.

The problem was originally posed in a letter by Steve Selvin to the American Statistician in 1975. A well-known statement of the problem was published in Marilyn vos Savant's "Ask Marilyn" column in Parade magazine in 1990:

  • Suppose you're on a game show, and you're given the choice of three doors: Behind one door is a car; behind the others, goats. You pick a door, say No. 1, and the host, who knows what's behind the doors, opens another door, say No. 3, which has a goat. He then says to you, "Do you want to pick door No. 2?" Is it to your advantage to switch your choice?

Vos Savant's response was that the contestant should always switch to the other door. If the car is initially equally likely to be behind each door, a player who picks Door 1 and doesn't switch has a 1 in 3 chance of winning the car while a player who picks Door 1 and does switch has a 2 in 3 chance. Consequently, contestants who switch double their chances of winning the car.

Read More
0 Comments

Troxler’s fading

1/25/2013

0 Comments

 
Picture
Troxler’s fading or Troxler’s effect is a phenomenon of visual perception. When one fixates a particular point, after about 20 seconds or so, a stimulus away from the fixation point, in peripheral vision, will fade away and disappear. The effect is enhanced if the stimulus is small, is of low contrast or equiluminant, or is blurred. The effect is enhanced the further the stimulus is away from the fixation point. Troxler’s fading was discovered by Ignaz Paul Vital Troxler in 1804.

Troxler’s fading has been attributed to adaptation of neurons in the visual system vital for perceiving a stimulus. It is part of the general principle in sensory systems that an unvarying stimulus soon disappears from our awareness.

0 Comments

How To Animate The Impossible Triangle

1/22/2013

0 Comments

 
0 Comments

Penrose Stairs

1/20/2013

0 Comments

 
Picture
Picture
The Penrose stairs, also dubbed as the impossible staircase, is an impossible object created by Lionel Penrose and his son Roger Penrose. It can be seen as a variation on the Penrose triangle. It is a two-dimensional depiction of a staircase in which the stairs make four 90-degree turns as they ascend or descend yet form a continuous loop, so that a person could climb them forever and never get any higher. This is clearly impossible in three dimensions; the two-dimensional figure achieves this paradox by distorting perspective.

The best known example of Penrose stairs appears in the lithograph Ascending and Descending by M. C. Escher in 1961, where it is incorporated into a monastery where several monks ascend and descend the endless staircase.

The staircase had also been discovered previously by the Swedish artist Oscar Reutersvärd, but neither Penrose nor Escher were aware of his designs.

In terms of sound, the Shepard tone is a similar illusion.


0 Comments

History of the Impossible Triangle

1/15/2013

0 Comments

 
Picture
Picture
Picture
The impossible triangle was first painted in 1934 by Swedish painter Oscar Reutersvдrd. He drew his version of a triangle as a set of cubes in parallel projection. Although, many painters later used the  impossible triangle in their art, Oscar Reutersvдrd opened the fantastic world of impossible figures. He created thousands of impossible figures during his life and now he is known as the “father” of impossible figures. In 1980 the Swedish government decided to place his impossible triangle and two other his figures on postage stamps, which were printed for about two years.

But the shape of impossible triangle is also well known as a Penrose tribar. In 1954 english mathematician Roger Penrose  first drew the impossible triangle in it’s common view. Unlike Reutersvдrd’s triangle, he painted the triangle as three bars connected with right angles. He gave perspective effect to it, which increased effect of impossibility. He published his version  in the British Psychology Magazine in 1954 in a joint article with his father Lionel Penrose.

Penrose sent a copy of the article to M.C. Escher and in 1961 he created the famous lithograph ”Waterfall”. Impossible triangles have appeared many times in numerous artworks since that time. Although it is impossible to construct, it is possible to create three-dimensional objects that looks impossible from a single point of view and looks ordinary from all other points of view. An impressive example is the 13-metre high sculpture of the impossible triangle created in Perth (Australia).
We have designed our own versions of the impossible triangle - take a look at our opticals the Rubick's Triangle and the Steelwork Illusion.

0 Comments

    Optical Illusion Website



    Why not subscribe to our Spy Blog

    Subscribe

    RSS Feed


    Picture
    Picture
    Picture

    Archives

    October 2017
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013


    Illusions

    Sitting in the Pool -  Balloon Dog Illusion -  Deer Tree -  Driving through an Earthquake -  A Mind Bending Optical Illusion -  Houdini Illusion -  Can you read this? -  Faces in the Woods -  Self Filtering Swimming Pool -  Is Sylvester on Twitter? -  Pretty Lady -  Flying on the Beach -  Invisible lady -  Blocks and Lines -  Road to nowhere -  Rubik's Triangle -  Perspective -  What Lies Beneath? -  Escaping Flower -  Which Building is in Front of the Other? -  Steelwork Illusion -  Eyeball in the sink -  Leopard Illusion -  Cliff Face -  Yesterdays News Today -    Checkerboard Illusion -  It's a Small World -  Office Illusion -  The Lamp is a Lie -  Checker Board Illusion -  Can You Sleep? -  Green and blue Optical illusion -  Australian Building Optical Illusion -  Not Wavy At All -  The Winners of the 2014 Best Illusion of the Year Contest -  Is Religion an Illusion? -  Doctor Who? -  Which One is Real? -  Mind Your step -  Animal Illusion -  Animal Illusions -  Pig Owl -  Impossible Jenga -  The Lady Is For Turning -  Moving Balls Illusion -  Building on Tilt - Really -  Building on Tilt -  Psychedelic Dylan -  Man Lands on Moon -  Nice Dancing Spot -  Can you see the hiden Animal? -  Moon Illusions -  Coming or Going? -  Big Ben in the Shade -  Stereographic Monsters -  Spiricles -  Toulouse Lautrec Illusion -  Boat Illusion -  Mondrian Slide Puzzle -  Scaffold Illusion -  Chair Position -  Eye - Optical illusion -  Man changes color of rose -  Invisible Chinese Artist -  Magnifier -  Bendy Straws -  Cow Illusions -  Victorian UFO -  Infinite Zoom Illusions -  Movie Quiz -  Archway -  Butterflies -  Dancers on Stage -  Going Down -  Texas leaf cutter -  Cubes -  It's behind you! -  Cricket Illusion -  Ambiguity -  Tech Art -    Alphabet -  Whoops! -  Magic Eye Video -  Marie Celeste -  Beach Art Illusion -  Can You Name This Famous Couple -  Which Way are the Cars Moving? -  Suzi Perry Optical Illusion -  Black Spot Illusion -  Rainbow IllusioN -  Miniature Food Art -  Mobius Wall -  3D Snake Chalk Art -  The Maric Arrow Optical Illusion -  Three Legged Lovely Optical Illusion -  Amelymeloptical illusion -  This Hot Chocolate is Good Enough to Eat -  Alien Illusion -  Body Illusion -  Back of Hand Illusion -  Union Jack Illusion -  Grid Illusion -  Floating Circles Illusion -  Hidden Message -  Bird Glasses -  Houses -  What's wrong with this picture? -  Frozen Illusion -  Body Paint Babes -  Big Girls Illusion -  Funny Illusions -  Indoor Anamorphic art -  Plate Size Optical Illusion -  Which Cigarette is the Biggest? -  Veg Man -  Amazing Paper Illusion with a Twist -  Left or Right Illusion -  Good or Evil? -  How Many Zebras? -  Spinning Disk Illusion -  Amazing Secret Monitor -  Upside Down Couple Illusion -  A Simple Question of Shape -  Hole or Mirror? -  Hiding in the Stones -  Floating Illusion -  Right Angle illusion -  Two Straight or Wavy Line Illusions -  Block Illusion -  Black & White Illusion -  Hole in the Street -  USB -  Animal silhouette? -  Bart Simpson Illusion -  Balls Illusion -  Kissing the Sphynx -  Crossed Lines Optical illusion -  Bridge Line Illusion -  Between the Lines Optical Illusion -  Pencils Optical Illusion -  Twisted Lines Optical Illusion -  Spear Optical Illusion -  Moving Traffic -  House Tilt Illusion -  Boat After Image -  This will Make You Chuckle -  Moving Lines Illusion -  It's an Up and Down World -  3D Animated GIF Illusion -  The McGurk Effect -  Houdini's ghost -  Ring Pull Barrel -  Extra Square Illusion -  Ladder Illusion -  Ape Tree Illusion -  Moving Words Illusion -  Steak Faces -  Winter Olympic Rings -  Marbles and Eyeballs -  Statue of Liberty Illusion -  Eye Color Illusion -  Which Pencil is Longest? -  Kate Russell Illusion -  Star Trek - Back to the Future -  Box Lid Illusion -  Stairs Illusion -  One Direction Illusion -  Line Illusion -  Spinning Head Illusion -  Toblerone's Logo Illusion -  Physics Illusion -  Amazing Video -    Dice Illusion -  Can You Read This? -  White or Black Crosses Illusion -  Alien Tiger Missing Square Illusion -  Three New images Added to Our Liu Bolin Gallery -  SPY LINES -  Little Girl Laughs Her Head Off -  Patrick Hughes Corner Stores -  Sketchy Cube Illusion -  Seattle UFO -  Big Cubes - Little Cubes -  See Through Tree Illusion -  Grid Shade Test -  3D Dotted Grid -  December 31st, 2013 -  Road Markings -  Stephen Fry - Alan Davies Illusion -  Bruegel's Illusion of a Magician -  Glass Floor? -  Tom French -  Merry Christmas Illusion -  These Four Images Are Just One Single Picture -  Star Shade Illusion -    Crossword -  Strange Bandstand -  Which is the Biggest? -  Holding Up the Moon -  What a Lot of Balls! -  Now that is what you call CamoUflage -  How Many Squares -  A Waist of Time -  Animal Face -  Tartan Illusion -  Ring Illusion -  Scary Room -  Hole or Hill? -  Colorado River Illusion -  Richard Branson Optical Illusion -  Slow Ball 2 -  Train Wheels Illusion -  Disappearing Star Illusion -  Moving Balls Illusion -  A Spyral that is not a Spiral -  Graph Illusion -  Stripey Illusion -  Can you find the cat? -  Le Blanc-Seing - Rene Magritte -  Circling Arrows Illusion -  Parrot Illusion -  Balance Beam Illusion -  CatMan -  Pollyanna Woodward Upside Down Illusion -  Famous Painting Quiz -  Snow Face Here! -  Looking Down -  Honda's Illusion Ad and How It's Made -  How to create chocolate out of nothing -  Hidden Animals -  Checker Board Balls Illusion -  Moving Patterns Illusion -  Penn Jillette Optical Illusion -    Clocks Illusion -  Three Movers -  The Mouse and the Lion Illusion -  Semi Circles -  Old Spyral -  Tyre Art -  How Many Faces? -  Incredible Illusions & Science! -  Vintage Car Illusion -  The Ball Switch Illusion -  What's hiding here? -  Jungle Illusion -  The Hand of God -  Color Illusion -  Bouncing or Crossing Balls? -  Sisters in Arms -  Perspective Motion Illusion -  Charles Darwin -  Spinning Wheel -  Don't Drink and Read! -  Where are these places? -  Tyred Tree! -  Moving Monster truck -  Hypnotic Eye -  Diagonals Illusion -  Color Strips -  Paper Face Illusion -  3 Circles Illusion -  No Swimming in this Lake! -  The Magic Hula Hoop Illusion -  Alan Mason Illusion -  Karun Chandhok -  London Eye Bike Illusion -  Frosty Babe -  In or Out Illusion -  Eye Time -  Little Bike Riders Illusion -  Target Illusion -  Erik Johansson -  Can You Spot the Photographs Hiding in Plain Sight? -  Black and White -  Sun Bean -  Clouds or Tsunami? -  Left or Right -  The Melancholic Princess -  Moving Flowers -  More Hidden Faces -  Hidden Faces -  ForeArms -  Two Trains Coming or Going? -  Is this Train Coming or Going? -  Up and Down -  Color Words Challenge -  Shahrukh Khan Illusion -  Orange cross Illusion -  Pyramid or Skylight Illusion -  Rory Cellan-Jones Illusion -  Office Sign Illusion -  Moving Spy -  Historical Illusions -  Shiva by Luke Brown -  Juggling on the Beach -  Assumptions -  London, the Kitchen of England -  Philosophical Question -  Devil in the Sky Illusion -  Looking Around -  Tiger Nuts Illusion -  Bobbyllew Illusion -  Desktop Puzzle -  Desktop Puzzle Answers -  Hidden Words -  Chair Illusion -  The Tree of Life -  A Clockwork Illusion -  Rollercoaster -  Fly Past -  Snakes Illusion -  Which Line is Longer? -  Short Pack - Long Pack Illusion -  A, B or C? -  Kissing Shadows -  Moving Stone -  Hiding in the Pebbles -  Who are these two? -  Umbrella Illusion -  Be Very Careful -  Hold that Plane -  Dolphin Illusion -  Bulge -  Color Puzzle -  Japanese Fighting Bots -  Pen Holder Illusion -  Garage Door Illusion -  Why the Long Face? -  Key Places -  Invisible Spy -  Orange Spin Illusion -  Brain Numbing Illusion -  Banana Illusion -  Violin Island -  Window Illusion -  Moon Illusion -  Blue Diamond Illusion -  Rabbit Cat -  Waves -    Video No1 -  Owl Eyes Illusion -  Halo Halo -  Rock Climber -  London Eye Illusion -  Disappearing Stars -  Barber Shop Illusion -  Barber shop Illusion Revealed -  Find the Stars -  Spinners -  Optical Owl -  LadyBird -  Hollywood Face Illusion -  Strips -  Vortex -  Eyeball -  Amazing Anamorphic Illusions! -  Heavenly Body -  Lovers -  Pick the Pattern -  Lizard Haircut -  Moving Shapes -  Brick Wall Illusion -  Rotating Disk -  Don't Lose Your Head -  Eye Eye -  Magic Eye Message Illusion -  Mona's Pets -  
Copyright © opticalspy.com. All rights reserved. | News