This optical illusion will freak you out, say more than 850,000 people who have watched a YouTube video showing several objects, when in fact just one is real. The trick is called anamorphic illusions – distorted projections that only work if you see them from a specific vantage point, or in this case, from the video camera’s vantage point.
The picture contains what appear to be a table top, a cup on a piece of paper, a camera with photos below it, a framed picture of a cat, a notepad with a pen, and a baseball cap. The only real object there is the cap, the rest are all flat 2-D prints on a single large sheet of paper.
Prominent YouTube illusionist Brusspup created the anamorphic illusions and posted the video on Tuesday. Since then, over 830,000 fascinated viewers have watched it.
Do you see lots of objects on the table? The only real one is the baseball cap. Look at the next picture below. (Image: brusspup/YouTube)
You only realise that just the cap is real when the illusionist picks it up and then lifts the single sheet of paper.
In an interview with the Daily Mail, Brusspup said:
“Anamorphic art never works as well in person, but through a camera lens it can be magical. I love moving the anamorphic images and watching as they morph from a stretched, unidentifiable image into a perfectly shaped, identifiable object.”
“Anamorphic art has been around for years so with this video I wanted to try and add that extra element of surprise by making the audience feel comfortable that they have learned what’s going to happen on the last object, but then they realise they’ve been tricked again.”
According to Brusspup, the whole 129-second video took 10 days to create, from planning, testing, videoing and editing.
The gifted illusionist insisted there are no cuts or editing tricks – every object in the video, except for the baseball cap, are simple 2-D prints.
When it is lifted, you realise it is just one sheet of paper with prints on it. The objects are not real. (Image: brusspup/YouTube)
Effect is possible thanks to the camera lens
The anamorphic effect works well through the camera lens because there is no perception of depth. If you were to stand in front of the image, you would immediately see that it was just one single piece of paper with a cap on it. If you closed one eye and really concentrated, you would then be able to see the effect, Brusspup explained.
Brusspup has been creating science and illusion videos since 2008, along with a few music videos and parodies.
Apart from this latest illusion, Brusspup Facebook is full of interesting illusions and scientific tricks. (Image: facebook.com/brusspup)
According to www.brusspup.com:
“He’s always had a love for magic, science, music and cinematography and YouTube has given him a chance to combine all of those. With more than 1.8 million subscribers and 370 million views, Brusspup continues to create content and amaze his viewers.”
Brusspup Video – Amazing Anamorphic Illusions
Brusspup invites viewers to download the images and try it out! The original paper size should be 11 X 17. Make sure you print at 100%. Do not re-size. If you don’t have 11 X 17, you can try scaling down the images to 8 1/2 X 11. However, the results may not be as good.