By Vurdlak on June 21, 2009, with 140 Comments
I’m not particularly inspired today, thus you shall receive this short question and a belonging optical illusion that goes in companionship with it. I can guarantee you that the picture below wasn’t manipulated with, and that the object you see can truly exist in real life. Only question that jumps out, is how? It may take you some time before you understand the logic behind this “impossible” wooden object, but after seeing all of our previous examples you should be an expert by now in solving something like this. Does it have something to do with special materials? Or is the secret in angle under which the photo has been shot? This is for me to know, and for you to find out ;)
How would you create this impossible object, without tempering with the image?
(54 votes)
freakyyyyy
freaky dude
incredible but I can’t solve it.
thats mad ! i cant get my head over it o.O
That’s awesome! It’s an impossible object with a real hand and real wood! My guess is that no, it cannot be real. But Im trying to type fast to get the first post! LOL. Thank’s for the post!
ahhhh my head!
i really like this one
i think there is a mirror/reflecting film involved…and the hand is covering a cut…but i’m not sure…^^
i got it the back end of the top piece is transparent??
To mee it seems as if the upper part (seen from the left hand side) has been “colored” grey, exept the top right corner. The ilusion is, that the top right corner seems to be in the light.
The top of the bottom piece is actually the side of the top piece. The illusion is formed in the top right corner of the top piece with the discolouration, probably done through photoshop to make it seem like it is part of the bottom piece.
To say it more simply, put your finger on the lightly coloured top right portion of the top piece and the illusion dissapears!
The object is drawn on to the black background and the individual ofcourse has his hand on top of the object to make it seem like it is real wood. In reality, it is just a drawing unlike any other one of these illusions :)
I think there a cut in the part, like half diamond, that’s the only way i can explain it ^_^
I think I know how it was done, but I’m not sure if I’m right.
What you do is you have 2 peices of wood, wedge shaped. one has a step in it so it can look like 2 pieces and tapers to half the size vertically at the end furthest away.the secons is paper thin at the end mearest to us and a similar size to the first peice at the furthest end. top half of the long est side we can see has a face that rotatesfrom vertical to horesontal, thereby completeing the illution.
I got this at first glance.
It’s just 2 blocks of wood on top on each other. The top one is just painted to make it appear that it could also be beside each other.
Look really close at the right end. You should see the difference in colour
The colors of the bottom stick are off. At the front end it’s yellowish and at the back it has the same color as the top stick.
Therefore, my guess is, that it is just two square bars on top of eachother with the ends treated in such a way that they look as if the slide down from eachother.
But then the shadow of the hand isn’t correct. In fact when you remove either one of the ends from the picture, it looks perfectly normal. If you remove the left part, it looks like two bars, next to eachother. If you remove the right part, it looks like to bars on top of eachother. As I said before, they can’t be on top of eachother or the shadow would be different.
Perhaps it are actually three pieces of wood, and the picture was taken under such an angle as to make the shadow look unbroken. I want to know the answer, Vurdlak… Please post it soon!
i know how it works XDXDXD!!!
i know how it works
if you draw on the wooden block after cutting it in a certain way you should be able to create this illusion
…How??….
./l /l.
(( .. ))
…__…
sorry vurdlak, but u missed an “e” in “creat_”
and it prob has something to do with the hand covering it
looks like 1 piece of wood to me
what is cut in the right shape
The farthest side looks a bit like a mirror to me. Maybe? I have no clue. Hawtstuff.
I solved it! The whole thing is a block with scrapes on it forming a 3-d view! It’s just one block with 3-d effects on it! Like, we know a pic of a circle with shade on it’s sides is a sphere because of it’s shade! Without the shade it would look like a circle!
it’s an optical illusion. Actually one block is sitting in top of the other. The top piece is shoter than the bottom, and it has been painted at the corner to create the illusion. Look at it long enough and you will see it.
Its carved from a single block of wood, right?
The pieces of wood are actually just on top of each other. Try covering the bottom one and just focusing on the top -it’s easier to see.
I am guessing it is the angle the picture was taken at. The front piece has an angled cut on the top, but due to the angle of the picture, you can’t see it and it makes it look as if it was one piece. ??????
“Tempering” with the image? Sure – no problem – as long as i can “Tamper” with the image…
I KNOOWWW THE AWNSER!
NO ITS NOT ONE BLOCK OF WOOD OR A MIRROR OR PAINT OR ANYTHING
ONE WORD:
MAGIC
DUUUH!
It’s definitely not one piece of wood… The growth rings on the end don’t match.
And I can’t believe that they are on top of each other, the placement of the hand is all wrong…
ouch! my eyes XP
Easy.
The photo was taken close to a massive black hole, that has distorted space-time to such an extent that teh two wooden blocks actually inhabit the same space at the same time, in two dimensions.
Oh – and are there three blocks. One on at the bottom which is a whole one, one on top of this to the left, up to the forefinger, and another behind. THe hand just covers the gaps.
The grain of the wood is cleverly matched on two of the pieces to make it look continuous.
Or it’s magic?
This isn’t strange at all.
If you look closely you can see it are just 2 pieces of wood on top of each other.
The illusion is there because of the 2 screws in the wood. But those screws have no function at all. They don’t even hold the pieces of wood together.
Focus on the top piece and follow it till the end. Especially focus on the lines in the wood.
After that try the same with the bottom piece.
I’ve got it. The left end of the block in the front has a wedge shape cut out of it, through which you can see the front end of the back block. This way the end of the first block stays visible and the end of the one in the back is visible also. The colour difference between the surfaces on either side of the cut-out is because the cut had to take a small bit of of the top at the left.
You can easily see this because the darker line (which makes the corner of the ‘top’ block) runs down through the edge between both blocks.
I don’t really see the illusion… the shape is natural. But again, I do have problems to recognize most illusions…
this is another impossible object (cf.impossible box, penrose triangle, etc.) the object is possible, but only from ONE point of view…
excellent job.
Perhaps the wooden block is painted on a surface and it doesn’t exist. The angle make it look real…
cant solve it but im sure the hand has something to do with it
This seems to mimic the Penrose type of figures for which there is no real “three dimentional” resolution that is common or likely. I belive the hand is lying on a photograph ( the lightihng on the wood results in reflections directly back to the point of view -check out the highlights on the rims of the counter sunk screws) while the lighing on the hand is not directly from the point of view as there is a shadow under the fingers. My guess it that what appers to be the bottom piece of wood in the forground is actualy the side and top of the same pice from the background but the photo has been intersticed with an exacto knife.to form the dark contour that is paralle with the thumb. While the grains look as though they are on a vertical surface they are actually the same horizontal surfacer that extends from the background.
IF YOU JUST HOLD YOUR THUMB OVER THE ENDS OF THE WOOD IN THE FORGROUND THE ILLUSION IS ELIMINATED DUE TO THE LACK OF ANY VISUAL CONFLICT IN RESOLVING THE ORIENTATION OF THE WOOD WHICH CONTINUES TO LOOK LIKE TWO PICES OF WOOD SIDE BY SIDE.
a strong visual effecet due to the difficultye the brain has developing a resolution for the conflicting views.
It is a lighting illusion. The bottom piece is a solid rectangle block and the top piece is a shorter solid retangle block. There is a light that is out of the frame to the upper right corner of the picture. It is aimed up at the back end of the bottom piece of wood creating a shadow across the back end of the top piece making that piece look like it is a continuation of the bottom piece, but it is not. Both pieces have the same grain pattern therefore creating the illusion due to the shadow across the front side of the back end on the top piece. Like someone above side, cover the bottom piece with your hand and then you will see it. It is not photoshopped or painted and there are no mirrors at all, just the light that is out of the frame. Very good illusion!
Oooh… nice one!
the object is cut, the hand is covering the part where the top bloc goes into the bottom one, and the top and bottom blocks are positioned like this:
_______
| /
| /
| /
| /______
| |
| |
| |
|________|
photoshop
why do people feel the need to correct others?
““Tempering” with the image? Sure – no problem – as long as i can “Tamper” with the image…”
yeah you’re a cool guy, smartass
this one is impossible to figure out
you’re gonna have to give us your secret, V
xD
O boy, why did I have to look at this right before i slept, now i can’t sleep.
I thought I would mention that the growth rings on the bottom piece (bottom left corner) are not correct, and this leads me to believe the bottom section is another photograph that was photoshopped in.
Look at the growth rings on the bottom piece: The way the grain is oriented, with the rings going horizontal, would result in a quartersawn face on the front/right side of the “bottom” piece. So the grain lines would be close together, similar to the front/right side of the “top” piece. As it appears however, the front/right side of the “bottom” piece is flatsawn, with wide arcing grainlines. This is absolutely impossible in nature, and I’m sure there is a photo splice between the front/right side and the endgrain side.
It is clearly two pieces of wood the top one is shorter than the bottom one by the same distance at each end. If you still can’t see this then turn your computer upside down!
oh yeah the screws are there just to mess with you turn your damm computer over if you don’t belive me still.
it is impossible: same idea and illusion as Maurice Escher’s art.
i think it has something to do with the angle of the wood. we are assuming all the angles of the wood are 90 degree angles. i think it can be done if the ‘top’ of the piece on the right slanted and flattened out as it goes to the left, making it flush against the ‘top’ piece. the whole bottom/right piece expands outward as it goes to the right, but from the angle they give us, we cannot tell.
Just a guess, but i think it is possible, even if my theory is wrong.
Yeah it is only two pieces of wood sitting on top of eachother. The fingers and screws throw you off, But the tips of the fingers are not touching anything they are just hanging. The thumb and the ring finger are the only one’s resting on the top block.
The bottom wood is longer than the top piece.
It is easiest to see if you follow the line in the nearest part of the blocks. See where they join resting on top of eachother? Follow the line of the join all the way to the back. Ignore the fingers and screws. You can tell that the blocks remain on on top of the other the whole way.
I do think someone did mess with the shadow of the fingers though- the shadow should look different than it does.
The place where these 2 parts seem to be on top of each other, might be painted on,and not real.
And the only real part is where they are side by side,… i think.
the guy has his hand over were the trick is so it is possible
really easy actually. The top block has been painted in the far right corner or whatever, to look as if it really is part of the bottom block, but it is not.
Possible from only one point of view, cut with the top one at a slant to provide the appearance of them being side by side? something like that?
photoshop anyone??
then again, it doesn’t seem to be. have to agree with edwoodshoes, this is indeed possible but from one angle only. haven’t figured it out yet though.
It is just 2 blocks screwed together the screw on the side of the lower block and the way the grain of the side of the top block looks (seeming to be tthe grain on the top of the lower block) tricks your eye into thinking this is impossible. I’m not sure how it would work from different angles but I dont think it would
First time posting here, but I have a good idea on this one, from what I can see:
- more than one piece of wood.
- hand is obscuring a fact. By following the grains from left to right, you can see that it’s not the same grain of wood, it’s close but not quite. the right side has 3 major grains with more closer to the screw. while the left plainly has more.
My thoughts on this would be a combination of angle and construction.
the entire thing is likely laying on it’s side at roughly a 30-40 degree angle and the camera aiming downwards onto it.
Ali is right. It’s one piece on top of another. The farther end of the right face of the top piece is painted to make it look like it’s beside the bottom piece.
Very clever!
I know how it’s done! The shadows on the right end of the wood have been altered to make it look like the wood has twisted, when the top piece of wood is in fact on the top all the way. It’s just the placement of the hand and the altered shadows on the right that give the effect of it being twisted. The screw is just a decoy and does not go through the top piece of wood at all!
I think it’s two pieces of wood, one on top of the other. The front side of the top piece is painted so when viewed from that exact angle it looks like it’s behind the bottom piece. The hand isn’t hiding anything. The hand, combined with the positioning of the lighting to produce just the right shadow, are just to further trick your brain into seeing it as impossible.
Here’s a link to the picture where I outlined the front side of the top piece. Everything (except the fingers and shadows) is painted onto that piece.
http://tinyurl.com/lrltk4
What is going on here is just another optical illusion (obviously…) but what I think he has done is cut the top piece of wood in half and screwed it onto the side instead, so technically it isn’t an optical illusion. He also must’ve matched the grains on the wood perfectly on the side of the first piece with the top of the base piece, and then there isn’t a shadow because the light is angled the right way.
It’s three pieces of wood. The front piece (the one nailed to the side of the other piece) has been cut at the frontmost end to match the contours of the top and bottom pieces when photographed at that particular angle. The hand is only there to demonstrate the reality of the object, and to make you *think* it’s hiding something.
Well this can be achieved by the pieces of wood being manipulated by paint, but i just honestly think that the picture is photoshopped.
rachel is right, they are just stacked up on one another, its the grain of the woods matching up that throw you off.
The block is made of 3 pieces of wood. The bottom (or right depending on what side you look at) is the only full length one. If you look at the top one where it meets the fingers shadow is where the cut is in an arc shape. The shadow is not really a shadow from the finger, it is an angle cut strait down to the other piece of wood. Then a third piece of wood is placed behind the the long piece and lays flat. Just look at the shadow below the finger. It is a cut not a long shadow. Do you see any other long shadows on the piece. no.
I think it’s like this:
http://sidener.com/photos/blocks.jpg
okay… that’s kinda strange… I reorganized my Google-gadget with something lika a container-gadget and now I got this illusion in a jokes-gadget. I think the container messed up ;)
by the way: pretty cool illusion. I think the wooden oobject is just a photo
the front most piece (the one that looks impossible) has probably started life as a rectangle like it appears on the left side.
it has then been shaved to a wedge (like a doorstop) at the left end. and then notched and glued to the face of the block in the back. with the corner gently feathering to a flat surface.
you will notice that the light source is coming from the right and at an angle the equally lights both the top and side, that way the gradual disappearance of the corner is not obvious because it isnt shadowed.
i think its just a 2-dimensional picture that he’s touching.
Turn this picture upside down, O.o I just figuring it out
I think Rachel has it right and Leep’s modified photo demonstrates it. Two pieces, top piece is slightly shorter than the lower one. A triangle is painted on the far corner of the top piece to make it appear side-by-side with the lower one, and the top of the lower piece at that end is painted to look like the side of the top one.
The give-away is the finger shadows. The middle finger has no shadow, but it should if it is as close to the wood as it appears. The “trick” was having the lighting at an angle where the shadow of the index finger does not appear to bend as it crosses the angle from the side to the top of the upper piece.
Its to hard to tell since the background is solid black. You can’t see the shadow of the object. I’m gonna say it is both the way the materiel’s were put together and the angle of the shot.
Post #2 by Rachel is correct (as are several of you). It took me awhile and then it blew my mind.
The top right corner of the top piece of wood has been shaded lighter by chalk or something else to make it look as if the light is hitting it differently.
I am suspect of the thumb shadow…however, the took such great pains to line everything up correctly, I am sure they figured out how to make the shadow lie the way it is. The hand does look a bit “unnatural”.
WELL DONE!
It’s rather easy, they are on top of each other, the the top one is shorter on bothside,and there is a triangle of wood cut and pasted to give the illusion of being longer the light on the picture gives you also the illusion of being next to each other
It is photoshopped. SURE!!!
But no part has been painted in.
The bottom piece has two other pieces nailed to it, one from the top and the other from behind. These two pieces are short, so the top one ends right where his forefinger lays. There is where the image has been photoshopped. Watch the wood lines as they “melt”. See how the edge disapeares.
Er det her lavet Photoshop eller er det mere raffineret?