Archive for the ‘Optical Illusions’ Category
The Cool Talking Comic Book Cover
Check out this clever talking comic book cover for X-O Manowar.
They way it works is you use your smartphone to scan the QR Code, then place your phone on the dotted line and an animation begins that causes the illusion of the character speaking. Very clever and possibly one of the best uses I’ve seen for QR Codes.
Via BoingBoing
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OK Go Does it Again with Toast
OK Go
has once again created a great creative music video. This one also includes creative animation, which is something I love, which you might know from the flipbooks and other items we carry at Dave’s Cool Toys.
Their new video uses 2,430 pieces of toast with animation burned onto each one. I’m not sure, but I think they re-used some.
Anyway, it’s wonderful and I hope they keep it up! Enjoy
Via Gizmodo
Cool Toy of the Day: Hasboro Reinvents the ViewMaster with my3D
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View-Master my3D
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This is awesome!
Hasboro has reinvented the View-Master.
OK, at first that sounds like a really bad idea, and maybe it is. We’ll see. They’ve tried to update the View-Master before and I thought it sucked. One example is the Talking View-Master
The View-Master
But this sounds great. At least to me. It’s the View-Master my3D. It’s basically 3D lenses in a device that will hold an iPhone or iPod Touch at the other end. In it’s most basic form it will view 3D images just like the original View-Master. But with both free and paid apps, it could be much, much more. For example, with the motion sensing capabilities of the iPhone, 3D images can move around as you move your head, so you can be looking around at an entire 3D environment. There will certainly also be 3D movies, trailers, etc. And there will also be 3D games. This could be great.
The View-Master my3D will be available in Spring at a price of about $30.00. Presumable, it will include at least one app. Of course, it will also require and iPhone or iPod touch. I will be looking for it at Toy Fair in February. Check back.
My Favorite Artist in Lego
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Lego version of Escher’s Ascending and Descending
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I seem to be stuck on Lego lately. Oh well.
Today’s post combines two of my favorite things, Lego
Who would have thought that you could create the wonderful visual illusions of M.C. Escher in three dimensions with Lego? Apparently Andrew Lipson did. He has created some amazing lego versions of Escher’s artwork along with his friend Daniel Shiu. He has used some photographic cheating in a couple of instances, but mostly they are pure models that depend more on the photographic angle for their illusions.
He makes other great things from Lego, but his Escher works are truly masterpieces and I can’t even imagine the amount of time, space, and clutter it must take to plan and construct them. Apparently he has too much spare time.
Scroll down to see some examples of his work and be sure to visit his website to see how they were done and information about construction.
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Lego Balcony
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Lego Belvidere
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Lego Relativity
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Lego Waterfall
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2010 Illusion of the year. We agree!
The amazing video below is of the 2010 Illusion of the year as named by the 6th Annual Best Illusion of the Year Contest held by the Vision Sciences Society.
The illusion was created by Koukichi Sugihara at the Meiji Institute for Advanced Study of Mathematical Sciences, Japan.
The coolest thing about this illusion is that it is a 3-dimensional model. Everything that’s happening is actually happening while it’s being recorded. No, it’s not magnets or anything tricky like that. Watch the video and at about 25 seconds in it will show you how it works.
The illusion clearly only works from one very specific angle. Any other angle shows how it works.
Check out the Illusion of the Year site for the other winners and other great illusions.
Want to build your own? The creators have plans you can download here.
via Gizmodo