This illusion by “Brusspup” (Facebook page here) is pretty amazing, and it’s not computer generated but it’s real. You’ll see at the end how the dino was made to create the illusion—and you can make your own using the links below. It’s easy; you just print the figures, cut them out, and fold.
The creator adds this information:
I created the song in this video. A download link for the song will be available shortly.
You can visit my profile on iTunes for other songs I’ve created.
Song name: The last sun.
Thank you to my friend Kath for creating the T-rex design!
I’ve included a link for you to print out your own. The trick looks best through a camera. If you close one eye and move back and forth it works pretty good too.GreenT-Rex image
Red T-rex
Blue T-rexThis is based on the famous dragon illusion which was inspired by Jerry Andrus. I’ve always wanted to try this illusion with several of these at once. I wanted to use 20 or 30 but after I tried a test with only 12, I realized 20 or 30 was going to be too many. So another thing I’ve always wanted to try was to have a large version. The original file was about 9 feet X 9 feet. I had to split the image into 4 files so the printer as my local print shop could print it. I traced all of the pieces on cardboard which I used to build a support structure for the prints. I used small pieces of cardboard and hot glue to make the structure really solid. One problem that I had was that the paper for the large dragon was really shiny. So if you look closely you can see the reflection of the eyes on the “top” and side panels. I bought some matte spray to try and minimize the reflections. It worked a little. Over all I was happy with the results.
The t-rex design is an original design used with the Gathering for Garder 3D dragon template. The original 3D template design (dragon) was inspired by the work of Jerry Andrus to celebrate Gathering for Gardner 3.
h/t: Michael, Matthew
Well done!
It was instantly obvious that this was a variation on the mask illusion, but it wasn’t until the reveal that I was able to figure out how he had constructed it.
I just might have to print me up some….
b&
Absolutely. I knew instantly how it had to have been done, but even with that knowledge I just couldn’t ‘see’ it (the 3D reality, that is, not the illusion) until the camera moved right round behind it. It’s certainly a powerful illusion when you know the answer and are looking very hard for it and just can’t see it.
I think it is brilliant! Saw it yesterday thanks to Digg. 😀
Way cool
Really cool!
V cool.
I’ve just printed one off, made it up and impressed my wife and a visiting friend!
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Does it still work when viewed in person? I thought that as soon as you have use of depth perception the illusion would fail.
If it’s anything like ones I’ve seen, it works best when parallax is minimized, such as by closing one eye or viewing from a distance. However, with practice, you can convince your brain to see the illusion even at close distance with both eyes open.
Cheers,
b&
That’s interesting that you can still be “fooled” by it with both eyes open, especially at close distance. I would have expected that your brain would be able to figure out the hollow shape. That the illusion works with one eye closed makes sense, as it would reduce your depth perception.
I “demonstrated” it by asking them to close one eye, but found it worked pretty well at a distance of about 2 m when I put it on the mantelpiece.
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Wow, that’s fantastic!
This illusion was the most popular among several given at a workshop at Camp Quest West in 2010.
A slightly less convincing version with ghosts of people is employed at the Haunted House ride in Disneyland, but it’s a bit easier to detect the mechanism behind it.
I tried the green dragon, and it does work. BUT, I found staring into the eyes will help the head to pop out into the illusion.
I also found this page with one for a CAT!
http://imgur.com/gallery/zXhBT
As Johnjay points out, I think that the eyes are a significant part of the illusion. There is something about human face perception (neurological) software which recognises eye shapes as eyes, and that forces the subsequent (I do mean to imply a time sequence there!) steps of the brain’s model construction to follow a pattern for faces.
The shrinks have a name for the peceptual bias, but I forget whatt it is.
I brought my little green dragon to a Christmas dinner with relatives. Some looked and shouted with wonder. Others, not so much, and said “Oh, yeah, I see it”. I knew from their reaction that they didn’t get it. I said try it again with one eye closed. They then all shouted with glee. As someone mentioned up-thread, with one eye it is reliable; with two, it’s so-so and really takes work. I guess that’s why the videos are so good (no binocular vision).