Star☆Star✧Optical Illusion

Created for George Mason University Math 401: Mathematics Through 3D Printing

Based on the work of Kokichi Sugihara's ambiguous cylinders and other optical illusions, this object will show two different images when looked at straight-on and reflected off of a mirror. This object needs a supported base so that it stands up in the correct orientation. The illusion only works when viewed from above at a 45 degree, with a mirror backing it.

The illusion is based on the fact that our eyes do not see three dimensional objects. Instead, we only see the two dimensional projection of the world onto a plane normal to our viewing direction. Our eyes are slightly separated from each other to give the perception of depth, but at significant enough distances the light from an object to each eye will approach becoming parallel. This means we can approximate human vision as being orthogonal for the purposes of the calculation.

The illusion is created by creating two curves. We project one curve on