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?
(17 votes)
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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?
Well this is an easy one, took me a couple mins to figure it out but i got it. first off there’s 3 pieces of wood, cover the end and what do you see? two blocks of wood side by side thats all there is. the third piece with a different grain to look like the end piece of the piece of wood on the top. If you look closely to the piece of wood on the right, you’ll notice a small notch cut out of it to help level out the third piece and make it appear that its apart of the wood, which its not. the screws and hand are just there to throw you off. Good day and good night I am the best! Muhahahah!!
It was Photoshopped. End Of
there is only two pieces of wood used. one is on the top the other the bottom you get the illusion of the top piece going out from the pattern on the piece of wood but it is actually straight and the cornor is actually light which gives you the look of the bottom piece’s side. its easily made
I would have to temper with it……[O-O]
het is doorzichtig
As mentioned; The photo is not altered. I think painting the block could be done, but that could have been done in photo shop.
I think it is two pieces of wood. The front piece is as tall as the second. I show the idea at http://www.ohboychainsawcarving.com/puzzle.html
The arrows at the bottom left show where division shadows are in the origonal pic. under the hand is the transition point. the curved arrows indicate where it is sanded. The screws in the picture do hold the objects together. I feel that the illusion could be shot from more than one angle. If you could see just the wooden block it would be easy to see.
Please Vurdlak, let us know how this works!
Just take a piece of paper, print a pic of this illusion, put your hand on it, snap a photo of it, and there you go! Hehe… just kidding. Doug gives the best explanation actually :D
As I discribed earlier, 3 pieces. The bottom of the big shadow between the fingers is the end of the top piece. It is cut at an angle and slopes down to the index finger. Then the 3rd pices is just screwed to the back. The hand makes it look like a shadow and our mind doesn’t think that it should be the end of the board cut at a slope down to the finger. Well done!
I have two theories on this one
1: there are two blocks one on top of the other and it is painted (or for somereason is natural) to look like this or
2: it is two block like this and somone used sand paper to make the outer block gradually flatter..
I go more on the second one though I don’t know if any of these are possible.
I think you are all wrong. Look at the fingers. Compare the height of the middle finger to the index finger. The middle finger is definitely pressing down on the top of the piece of wood. I also don’t think you could fake the shadow of the index finger so well without photoshop.
It is two pieces of wood side by side. If you don’t look at the lower left, everything looks completely normal. The appearance of that end of the blocks is due to some clever woodwork shot from just the right angle.
The right block has a notch cut out on the far side. It is angled so that the right side of the notch looks like the edge of a “top” block. The notch goes almost completely across the block, leaving only a veneer of wood for the front face of the right block for the first 1/4 inch.
You see the complete end of the right block, but that again is a thin veneer. The little bit that looks like the top of a “bottom” block is actually a thin extension of the bottom of the left block. Look at the lack of grain in this piece. It can’t be part of the right block.
That’s the only explanation for all the elements of the photo.
They did a fantastic job in matching the grain from the end of the left piece to the top of the right piece. That’s what makes the illusion work so well.
After looking more closely at grain of the left end of right block, it looks like a separate piece of wood glued to the veneer extension of the right block. What looks like the top of a “bottom” block may be the top of the small third block.
now i know it!
after rotating and mirroring the picture I’ve got it.
it’s like this: http://sidener.com/photos/blocks.jpg and the whole front side is just a thin wooden plate covering the construction!
Argh, Vurdlak, please let us know what the solution is. I need to know!
WOW….ok…i just went out to my shop and made me one…the trick takes only 2…count em 2 pieces of wood..and a LOT of sanding….the screws are there just to give it added security as i glued my wood together before sanding them. very well done illusion!
it is just an agle while clicking the image
I see pencil lines….my guess, is the top peice of wood is somehow, flat
Easy. It’s inverted. That is, where an angle looks like it is sticking out, it is going in. It’s all in the lighting to look like two pieces of wood when it’s really multiple pieces. What looks like an end is not the end of the piece it seems to be but is an end of a piece with the other sides painted black. Hard to explain.
Two Actual pieces of wood…any one can c it.Save the photo and give it a 180 degree ( 2 consecutive rotaion in any direction) and u’ll b able to figure it out.
cheeers