By Vurdlak on March 6, 2009, with 63 Comments
Francis Tabary is a magic performer from France. True to his calling, he decided to take one step further in this direction, and create objects that could apparently not exist in three dimensions! The first challenge he tackled was Penrose’s famous triangle (which had actually been created by Reutersvärd in 1934). His researches and efforts eventually resulted in the making of some three-dimensional “impossible” objects you see today. Francis Tabary has made fifteen or so such objects, as well as many “ambigrams” designed as sculptures. One of the most successful ones in my opinion, is the Love-Amor ambigram we blogged about in the past. Today, Tabary dedicates himself entirely to the creation of magic objects, thus giving a unique grandeur and personality to the otherwise ephemeral art of illusionism. Hah! And you thought I had problem spelling harder words! (In truth, I’ve copy-pasted much of Tabary’s biography). Enjoy!
Btw, if you would like to write some in-depth featured articles on following topics: “Optical Illusions in Hollywood Movies”, “Optical Illusions in Education”, “Top 10 Optical Illusions” (from our archives), or some other topic related with Moillusions community, optical illusions used in education, psychological illusions, reflections on recent discussions within our community, be sure to send me an email. You can also think of your own topic, and if we like it, we can give you some space to be featured on our main page! Be sure to use higher-level writing and mind your grammar ;) hehe.
(26 votes)
Whoa that’s cool! That bar-thing is awesome! The mirror also looks messed up.
My Mind = Blown.
Hi im a BIG fan of the site love the illusion btw. PLZ show more illusions lyke this! :-)
Awsome illusion. Gets me every time.
mm, i don’t think he offers anythigng new. It looks like too many ideas togethere with no reason.
Very interesting!!
huh…i keep looking, but still can’t figure out how to build it…
Wow, that’s cool, I’ve always thought that they were totally impossible, very creative of him to do it. Thanks for this great website!
I know how he does that! The “third” bar in the middle is actually carved into the other two bars.
I bought three of those from ikea, but couldn’t work out how to fit them together
Crazy! how does this work?
damn sneaky objects!
That’s cool. Note the triangle on the side table. My fav in this pic is the mirror. It looks like an illusion, too. Is it convex or concave?
COOL!!!
wow how do they do that ^_^
How the frick?
Pretty cool!
AWESOME!
Bloody Marvelous
Woah, a triangle too? I didn’t notice that at first…. Even more bloody marvelous.
niceee
woot nice
this is so unbelievable….it blows my mind trying to think how he did this…
These are great. Where do you find all the intersting illusion?
Coolio!
Very impressive. I love the way that the illusions trick your mind and I try to work out how they’re done.
Great site been checkin’ in every now and then for a while now first time I have left a comment.
Keep up the fantastic work.
That’s really cool.
Honestly, I didn’t realize what I was seeing at first, but once I saw, it’s amazing.
=D
first comment i think.
this is really cool.
i wonder how u do this.
I doubt if this is the first comment, but the objects are great.
Ron49ky
I dont know how he does that. Either he paints it in the wall or use special lighting and positions of the object to create the effect
Whoah! This one’s new!
GOOD JOB!!!
cool i love these things they are great.
p.s.Keep up the good work, i love your site.
These are great, they look like real impossible objects. I’ld wish I had these in my house!
That is soooo weird!
incredibleee!
Very clever. I like it
How did he fix that? Pretty cool, though.
Nice, very impossible :D
woa cool
It was bugging me for ages how this impossible object was achieved and finally it came to me when I saw the difference in the shading on the centre piece. Its inverted.
haha this is really cool!
That’s the most obvious trick ever! computer animated shadows. First Comment!
cool! the middel peice of wood never starts
#9 poster has the closest answer. The middle block is an inverted box. Probably made out of thin wood laminate. You are looking at the inside of a box but you think it is the outside. Notice how it is lit from below and is bright. Also the slot is bigger.
Pretty much similar to the Pillars Illusion, don’t you think?
PUT TOGETHER NICELY HOWEVER EVERYONE SINGLE ILLUSION IN THESE PHOTOGRAPHS ARE ESCHERS…..
way to steal somebodys credit
I’ve been visiting this site for a while but have never posted before…but these pictures are AMAZING! The first picture is FILLEd with optical illusions! Can’t figure out how he does it :0
I think it’s just computer graphics, how do you explain that in the first pic the left bar, at the bottom, is shorter than the right one and in the second picture this is the opposite? I’d like better description, if I’m wrong
Cool!!!!!!!
Its the bottom part that makes it look impossible.. great illusion!
more illusion !!! =]
HaHa Excellent. My brother suggested that the sticks are actually 2 sticks with another one painted onto the inside.
There is another optical illusion here. If you scroll down, really fast, it appears if the objects are moving!
haha zachs rite
it makes my head hurt…
the stick thing is only 3 4ths inch wide check the shadow in the first image
Your mind obviously thinks that this is impossible because the 3rd stick (if it were there) would blen in with the sides of the 2 poles.
He he your right Zachery
It makes sense now! It actually took looking at the metal one for me to get it. It’s concave, not convex, and I KNOW how the third one that disappears works- I can see it, and I could draw it, but I can’t for the life of me figure out how to explain it. But I GET IT!
If I could just touch that dang thing, I could build one…
did anyone notice his mirror box on the top right that is also an illusion? it looks like the inside and outside of a box….if this doesnt really count then dont start being rude just tell me…
i see it after the silver one too. they are connected and the one in the middle is just concaved…like a design marked into the two connected sticks…yeah that probably made no sense to you guys but i see it.
I got it they just got rid of the end bit