Mirage Optical Illusion Hologram
May 04, 2006 by Vurdlak
Can you believe this little piglet is just a mirage? Me neither! Acctually it isn't there at all! Instead it's inside the spheric box, and mirrors inside make it look as 3D hologram. You can watch the video to be sure. I found this optical illusion at Grand Illusions, so if you want to buy Mirage for yourself, jump to their website. The Mirage is one of those classic toys that has been around for several decades now, but never lost its appeal. It produces a small, full-color hologram of natural, lifelike appearance, allowing 360-degree viewing. The little plastic pig seems solid enough, but when you try and touch it, your fingers find that it is just an illusion - there is nothing there. You can find the explanation of this optical illusion inside this post. Also if you enjoy this kind of tricky toys, you might want to visit "Magical Cube Toy".
Mirage consists of two opposing parabolic mirrors. In overall appearance, Mirage resembles a small 9inch wok with a circular opening in the top. The physical object to be converted to a hologram is placed in the concave centre of the bottom mirror.
A hologram instantly projects up through this aperture, appearing to the viewer as a truly solid object. We supply the little plastic pig, but you can place any object in the Mirage, and instantly convert it into a wonderful optical illusion!
Mirage was originally discovered over 30 years ago, when a member of staff at the University of California at Santa Barbara was cleaning around a stack of searchlight reflectors (which are parabolic reflectors of course!) when he noticed that he was trying to clean off some 'dust' that turned out not to actually be there! He showed this to one of the physics professors, and the two of them started making a commercial product, based around the phenomenon that they had accidentally discovered.
Their initial product was made of glass, and was quite expensive. Later an American company called Optigone took out a licence, and started making a version in plastic, which could sell for a third of the price. There have been even cheaper copies made in the Far East, but they tend to have lower quality optics.
Mirage consists of two opposing parabolic mirrors. In overall appearance, Mirage resembles a small 9inch wok with a circular opening in the top. The physical object to be converted to a hologram is placed in the concave centre of the bottom mirror.A hologram instantly projects up through this aperture, appearing to the viewer as a truly solid object. We supply the little plastic pig, but you can place any object in the Mirage, and instantly convert it into a wonderful optical illusion!
Mirage was originally discovered over 30 years ago, when a member of staff at the University of California at Santa Barbara was cleaning around a stack of searchlight reflectors (which are parabolic reflectors of course!) when he noticed that he was trying to clean off some 'dust' that turned out not to actually be there! He showed this to one of the physics professors, and the two of them started making a commercial product, based around the phenomenon that they had accidentally discovered.
Their initial product was made of glass, and was quite expensive. Later an American company called Optigone took out a licence, and started making a version in plastic, which could sell for a third of the price. There have been even cheaper copies made in the Far East, but they tend to have lower quality optics.
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huh?
Hey!!! I have one of those!!! (had one forever actually) they are great fun. I like trying t find tiny objects and such to make holograms of. Rings work well too. You can also trick your friends,which is tuns of fun.
weird.
O YEA, I'VE SEEN THOSE, THEY ARE AWESOME... YOU TRY TO TOUCH THE THING AT THE TOP AND YOUR FINGERS GO THROUGH IT, THEY ARE FUN....
my old science teacher had one of those
what would it look like if you put water in one of those?
By the way, hai, what school do you go to, my old teacher had one too...
i wonder if you could stand in a lifesize one,
like starwars when yoda and the dark lord appear in a hollogram
It works really good ive seen one. They are soo sweet. I thought it was junk until I saw one. U absoluty must buy one of these(im not a part of the company (just like it)).
My 9th grade science teacher had one of those! Ah... Good times.
My teacher had one too, it was amazing, we put other stuff in it too and it worked. (Btw went to Zionsville HS)
WHOAH!
could u do it like a tv so it projects the light to make moving holigrams
hahaha great. I am a magical monster and i like cheese so there hahahashashshahahahahahahah yay!!!
Where can yo buy that thing??
It looks like awsome ^_^
please tell me!
preatty preatty please!
I remember seeing one of these in the mall one time.
maybe in a store like spencers or sharp image or someplace like that.
prity neato looking thingy!
That would be neat to see the result of a giant one.
But if you stood inside and the sun hit at the right angle, yould you be vaporized ? :-P
i got something that works as well as that at Burger King!
My teacher had one of these
OOh. I want one of these. Anyone know where you can get them? And how much do they cost?
WWWWWHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAATTTTTT????????!!!!!!!