Parametic Reutersvärd Illusion Generator

thingiverse

This OpenSCAD script can generate variations on Oscar Reutersvärd's 1934 optical illusion. My approach was inspired by a picture of Artur Tchoukanov's model that I saw in the news (which in turn was inspired by Ulrich Schwanitz). Unfortunately, the news article didn't include the math behind the illusion's construction (they so rarely do!), so I had to rederive everything from scratch. Fortunately it took only a few minutes of basic geometry. This program demonstrates the math behind the illusion; it can generate triangles of arbitrary size and complexity. After some research, it seems that all these figures are in fact inspired by the work of Marcel Duchamp, who was producing impossible-figure photographs by playing with concavity/convexity as early as 1950. Duchamp's techniques are presented alongside the Reutersvärd illusion in this 2004 article: http://www.toutfait.com/online_journal_details.php?postid=1375 I learn something new every day! Instructions Open the file in OpenSCAD and adjust the N, S, and T parameters. Remember to check your toolpaths before attempting to print -- this script will happily produce unprintable results if you're not careful! I'm hoping to improve printability so that I can use the N=2 version (middle image at left) as a part holder on my desk.