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eriban — The Thing That Wood Not Be
#penrose #povray #penrosetriangle #3d #cff #coffee #desk #dovetail #escher #illusion #impossible #mug #puzzle #raytrace #raytracing #render #rendering #triangle #eriban #coffeemug #opticalillusion
Published: 2009-01-20 19:46:08 +0000 UTC; Views: 13559; Favourites: 42; Downloads: 133
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Description
Finally it had arrived, his construction set for the square wooden frame. Its apparent simplicity made his heart pound faster. Four wooden pieces. All shaped exactly the same. What a lovely sight. He could hardly wait to see the resulting frame on his table. So many ways to use it. So many ways. Maybe he should have ordered more than one.Putting the frame together was not as easy as he had expected. Joining two pieces by way of the double dovetail connection was just as impossible as separating them. He considered himself fortunate when he realized that he possesed an old puzzle magazine that revealed the secret behind the double dovetail connection.
Still, the manual that came with the wooden frame clearly showed that you needed all four pieces. Four? What had he done wrong? He went over it once more. No, there was nothing wrong with any of the connections. All angles were orthogonal. As they should be. How then had he managed to make a closed loop from only three pieces? He didn't know. He didn't even want to know! Maybe it was best to drink some coffee first. But isn't it always?
Technical Details
This image has been rendered using the POVRay raytracer. I created the original scene file more than ten years ago, but recently made a few improvements to it, and rendered it again at a much higher resolution.
Note: No post-processing has taken place on the image to make the illusion work; this is the 3D scene as it is rendered by the raytracer. "How can this be?" you may wonder. That's a good question indeed.
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Comments: 48
Ah yes, that's the big secret, or maybe I have just forgotten by now…
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Thanks.
By the way, please consider joining the MC Escher Style group and share your Homage to Escher there.
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I'm new to this site. How do I join the MC Escher group?
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That's easy. Go to the groups homepage [link] and click "Join our group". Depending on how the group is configured, this is either automatically approved, or an admin has to accept it first. In this case, I think it's the former. Once you've joined, you can use the "Submit to a group" link at the right of your deviation, to submit it to the group's gallery. That will require an approval in this case, but that should not be a problem.
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Thank you very much, I've started the process of joining.
Below "friends and favorites" everyone's page has a series of icons eg. give a gift, whereas on my page there's nothing but "edit". How do I get these icons?
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Meanwhile I see you managed to submit your deviation to the group. Good!
Your page also has those icons, except not when you view it yourself.
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The cast shadows are well done. I really enjoy mind twisters like this, the playing with perspective. The textured table surface is a very good design for enhancing sense of dimensionality. Excellent work. I really enjoy seeing such attention to detail.
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Thanks! It required quite a bit of thought and effort to create this image, it's not something I quickly hacked together, so I am happy to hear that it is appreciated.
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That is why I admire the work, because it takes imagination, creativity, thought, and effort to create.
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MEHHH! i do not like these things that i do not understand!!! nyahhh! i am confuzzled!!!,
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Ah, but that's nice. Increase your understanding and you'll become a happier person
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I'd so love to see this rendered from a different angle, to see how it was done.
I'm very impressed with this being a 3D render.
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Thanks! 
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Very clever sir. I'd like to see more work like this. Images that tell a story are great.
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Thanks. I also like the story this image tells. Pretty much everything fell into place here, as all elements contribute to the story, small it may be. I like to embed a story in the images I make, as long as it can be done naturally, but it's not always that easy. This has admittedly been my best attempt so far in my collection of impossible scenes.
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i love how you took it a step further with the double dovetail connectors. and the shadows are great. Shadow work in optical illusions is one of the most difficult parts.
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Thanks for the feedback. Yes, I thought the double dovetail connections were a nice twist. If nothing else, I liked the idea when it occured to me. The shadows were indeed the most difficult to get "right".
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For me, the most interesting part of the rendering is the imperfections: bubbles along the rim of the coffee, a notch in one of the dovetails.
Sure, the shadows are difficult to line up.. but it's also the small imperfections that "sell" the realism.
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Thanks for the comment. The imperfections are indeed important to make the image work. They don't stand out, but they do increase the realism more than one might imagine. It was only after adding the imperfections that I was happy with the image.
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Great way to take this assic illusion to the next level with realism! The shadows must have been the hardest part since there's no right way to do it.
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Thanks for the kind words and the fav. And you are right, although most people may not realize it, getting the shadows to look right is indeed the most difficult part.
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Thanks very much. 
Assuming you know the basics of 3D modelling, the trick is just to start and then use your ingenuity to one by one fix all problems that break the illusion. So you start by getting the basic impossible model looking okay. If you're not clear on how to do so, various deviants have already revealed the secrets behind their impossible objects.
Next, you'll find out that the shadow is wrong. First decide how you can make the shadow appear in the final image so that it looks okay, and then find out a way to achieve this in your 3D model. The thing to realise here is that you can accurately model objects and position them. You may need some maths (e.g. vector calculus) to determine the exact shapes and positions you need to get the effect you want.
There may be other problems to solve. In this image, there are also some tricks used to integrate the pen into the scene. Be creative, think like a magician. That's all really!
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Interestingly, when I initially looked into the image, the pen said it wasn't quite happy there, but I admired the way you'd integrated it. My brain said it should be on the paper at right, but I reasoned you'd chosen the placement as a challenge. Now I understand why.
I love the think like a magician, now that IS a challenge! I'll take it on board as my modus operandum from now on. So far I've been only the humble acolyte so maybe time fr next level~ 
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Great to hear that you are now inspired to give POVRay a go!
To illustrate a bit more clearly what I mean by tackling problems one by one, I have just uploaded a deviation that shows the main steps in the evolution of my Rock The Boat image that contribute to the illusion. They're not even all steps. For example, getting the (reflective) metal surfaces to look okay also required a few tricks.
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I found the other 3-D progs challenging but will give this a go. Think I really need to go to school & learn 3-D modeling, but with costs of local courses @ $AUS 6,000 it's a no-go 4me. So, slow boat to China pun intended via the tuts, disentangling the hooked tentacles of my Apophysis obsession & a fresh start (Spring always does that to me & it's only 3-4 weeks away now) & maybe by next Autumn 2010 I'll be presenting images I can feel Ok about critical eyes perusing.
Thanks fr yr help here
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As you may have guessed by my limited output, this is only a hobby for me (one of many) and it's all been self-taught. Undoubtedly learning state-of-the-art 3D techniques and using advanced 3D tools would improve the quality and speed of my output, but for just a hobby, that would be an overkill. It is fun enough as is. So, the point I'm trying to make, it's not necessary to go on a 3D course to get at least this far.
Let me know once you've produced impossible 3D images yourself, as I'd be interested in checking them out. Good luck with it!
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Yes, I wondered about that, but here on dA you get to accept people's outputs & realise some are not able to put the 16 hour days in like me, altho there are an alarming number who do
I had a quick go with POVRay today, just to see what's what & I think it will be some months before I get the magic flowing. But I'll definitely show you if I come up with anything postable.
I like teaching myself, but I did a course in multimedia in 2006 to learn to animate in Flash & polish up on Photoshop & believe me it is the difference between taking a bus or a bullet train in terms of accelerated learning, especially in idea exchange & diffusion. I think I'm ready for 3-D modeling now, so saving $ for next year, hopefully. I live as a hermit way up in remote mountain rainforest studio, hardly see anyone for weeks as a time, so this dA is my de facto school where I learn everything digital art I can. So many generous sharing artists, yourself included. It's very nourishing. But I do look forward to some interactive group learning.
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A remote mountain rainforest studio, that sounds cool, although the living like a hermit might take some getting used to. No wonder you're so active on dA!
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Very cool 
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Thanks
I am a bit torn on whether or not to share the secret. On the hand I would like to, as I used a few nifty tricks to get all the details right, which few people will appreciate if I don't reveal them. On the other hand, keeping the mystery alive makes the deviation more intriguing I'd say. Magic tricks are best as long as you don't know how they're done.
So for now I'll keep the secrets to myself, because once the cat is out of the bag, there's no way back. I hope you understand.
Cheers, Erwin
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Yeah, for me there's no way back :s
See ya!
John
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