Abstract
Here, we report a novel combination of visual illusions in one stimulus device, a contemporary innovation of the traditional zoetrope, called Silhouette Zoetrope. In this new device, an animation of moving silhouettes is created by sequential cutouts placed outside a rotating empty cylinder, with slits illuminating the cutouts successively from the back. This “inside-out” zoetrope incurs the following visual effects: the resulting animated figures are perceived (a) horizontally flipped, (b) inside the cylinder, and (c) appear to be of different size than the actual cutout object. Here, we explore the unique combination of illusions in this new device. We demonstrate how the geometry of the device leads to a retinal image consistent with a mirrored and distorted image and binocular disparities consistent with the perception of an object inside the cylinder.
Highlights
Etienne-Jules Marey created one of the first Zoetropes to use three-dimensional figures representing the sequential phases of a bird’s flight, and Antoine Claudet pioneered devices stimulating the eyes successively to create moving stereoscopic images (Carpenter, 1868; Mannoni, 2000; Wade, 2012, 2016). Inspired by this history of proto-cinema optical devices in association with the Asian shadow puppet theater tradition, we present a new addition to this line of optical illusions: the ‘‘Silhouette Zoetrope.’’ The Silhouette Zoetrope produces the perception of animation within an empty, slotted cylinder that rotates concentrically with sequentially cutout objects placed in front of each slit
We discuss the unique combination of illusions occurring in the Silhouette Zoetrope
We present a simple but counterintuitive innovation on the traditional zoetrope
Summary
Horner first published an article about a new invention, the Daedaleum, a new type of optical device that would become popular much later under the name Zoetrope. Coming from a long history of inventors simultaneously working on similar ideas from different perspectives, these devices were created as both entertainment and as tools to study human vision. From Michael Faraday’s mathematical studies to Joseph Plateau’s scientific and artistic investigations, many have contributed to evolve this long lineage of optical illusions. Etienne-Jules Marey created one of the first Zoetropes to use three-dimensional figures representing the sequential phases of a bird’s flight, and Antoine Claudet pioneered devices stimulating the eyes successively to create moving stereoscopic images (Carpenter, 1868; Mannoni, 2000; Wade, 2012, 2016)
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