P3D Re: "Hollow Face" illusion

[Dan Shelley <dshelley@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

wier@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
> 
> >I bought an interesting item from Edmund Scientific.  It is called "The
> >Living Image" and it is essentially a hollow mask (the inside of a mask)
> >mounted on a display with a fluorescent tube lighting it underneath.  This
> >display has some interesting properties, of interest to stereo vision.
> >
> >Viewed at a distance the depth appears reversed, i.e., instead of the
> >hollow (back) end, one normally sees the front of the mask, a face, looking
> >at them.  The illusion is so strong that most people have to come very
> >close or even touch the mask to get back the correct hollow image.

This is the same illusion used by Disney Imagineers in the Haunted House
in Disney World in Florida. There is a section where your car is pulled
past a series of marble looking busts of men's heads. These faces appear
to be 3D, and rotate to follow YOU as you go by. Of course, they
couldn't all be following just you if the next guy thinks they are
following him, or the next gal her... A clever use of the effect! I look
forward to seeing it again in two weeks... =)

Dan Shelley
dshelley@xxxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.dddesign.com/3dbydan