March 13, 2006 by Vurdlak with 126 Comments
This is really a wonderful Illusion, originally invented by some English guy I think. This little dragon is made out of paper – simply print it, cut it out, stick it together, and stand it on a table or shelf. When you move around, the dragon’s head seems to follow you around the room (if you stare at it’s eyes). Have a look at the video below to see what I mean. The effect is frightening! You can print the dragon yourself by following thumbnails below (be shure to fold dragon’s head to outside, and not the presumed inside fold!) This is awesome!
How does it work? If we move around when viewing a solid object, our brain knows how the object we are looking at should behave. However the dragon gives us the wrong clues, because we mis-interpret what its shape is. We assume that the nose of the dragon is pointing out towards us, but in fact the dragon’s head is concave. Below is the dragon illusion blueprint, click on the image to view it full size, save it and cut it as the instructions say!
(203 votes)
there is one in wonderlad
That is just too cool! 8^o
IT WORKS AMAZINGLY WELL!
I can’t believe how rude some people are in their gripes about it not working. You’d think they’d paid $20.
When first viewing it after assembly, i didn’t think it was working well at all. I had to squint and couldn’t get it in the right light.
After a couple minutes of playing around with it, i’m amazed at how well it works, both horizontally and vertically.
Here are my tips:
1. For OPTIMAL effect, COVER OR CLOSE 1 EYE, to shut off your brain’s access to true depth perception, forcing it to interpret on shape and light only. 2 eyes will work. 1 is better. (I didn’t notice this recommendation on the sheet until i’d gotten it to work, but it makes it much easier.)
2. Bright but difuse lighting. Lighting which is too harsh can create shadows which break the illusion.
3. On the dragon’s head and mouth, tape/glue the tabs as shown, but DON’T sharply fold the paper where unnecessary. Seeing creases doesn’t help.
4. Use thicker paper than the cheapest printer muck, but not too stiff. I used really cheapo paper, and it’s too easy to get in situations where light comes through from the rear.
5. When cutting along the edge behind which the tabs will be attached, CUT OFF THE BLACK OUTLINE so that the colors blend unbroken.
At first i squinted a little bit and stared at his eyes, taking in the rest as peripheral. Once i could see his head as convex, i found that moving from side to side and up and down fairly quickly actually increased the ease of doing so.
It wasn’t until that point that i noticed the bit about closing one eye, which just made the effect more dramatic.
I may have to try my hand at designing my own critter.
good.. thanks
Heh! There’s one at the Science Centre in Singapore. (I preferred it when it was Singapore Science Centre. It just sounds weird as Science Centre, Singapore.)
I printed out the red one, and it works great!
Just like the previous poster pointed out though, try covering one eye and focus on the eyes and it really looks like it’s following you.
Mate, works briliantly…got it sitting next to the tv to freak my mother out
Called reverse perspective. Theres a video abt the guy who made reverse perspective in a recent post abt 2/3 weeks ago.
Sorry its 1 month go. Its called Video: Another Reverse Perspective. Go check it out i thinks its rather cool.
Oh my goodness! I watched this video over, and over, and over again ‘cos I liked it so much! I think I’m gonna go make one now. :D
Ha ha! This is so fun! I’ve made a red one, and I am going to make the two others. One trick that works for me is that if you are are a room with a ceiling (spelling?) light, put a torch underneath his chin, then the brightest spots will be on the top of his head nose – where the light would be if the ceiling light was shining on his head. A piece of trivia: whenever I went too far (and saw the white back of his head) I would throw him in shock. One again, this is so fun!
thats pretty freakin awsome☺
Look at youtube for the answers and how to make/fold the dragon.
search words as dragon 3d..
i let my pupils make over 25 dragons we had fun looking at them, really scared 25 dragons looking and folowing u around the classroom.
Love it.It seems like it’s really complicated like there’s some kind of machine behind it or it’s magic when you don’t know the secret,but when you do,you find out that it’s a simple mind trick.
One time!
lol, there is something like this in a local restaurant. there is a painting of a pirouge. the painting follows you.
Amazing. Our brains are really weird. I feel bad for all those people who are blind and miss out on all these awesome optical illusions. We take optical illusions for granted.
Great!
cooool !!!
man this is so awesome!!!!!! i Think im gonna go make one xD
they are sooooo cute
WONDERFOOOOOOOOOLING !!!!!!!
HAH HAHA enjoyed it dude…nw trying myself..
hurray !!
keep posting
I printed one from the other website, thats more cooler than this one.
great illusion still confusing how it works.
may be will understand if I try to create it.
any way thanks for sharing this.
It’s really cool, he’s on my bedroom shelf!
PS, misspelled “sure” as “shure”.
The face is caved in :P