Now go back to dreaming about unicorns.

speaking of mind expansion by cognition:
I wrote recently a post that’s on a similar theme, titled “how to have eternity in an hour”
http://www.cybernoeticman.com/2011/02/how-to-have-eternity-in-hour-in-5-easy.html

“It’s amazing that no one has ever done anything impossible!”

So, in effect, what you´re saying is that the water actually flows upwards and creates an infinite loop, that this machine bends the laws of physics and that we´re back at square one.
And you even took the time to alter the drawing to illustrate this point?

I’m afraid there’s no polite way to say this: You, sir, are an idiot.

So this may be the correct scematics for how this trick is created, but it doesn’t work out any of the details, like balance or support or perspective or such.

(B) is just redundant btw. Somebody go get Occhams shaving tools.

Second, I don’t think anyone mentioned this but you can see that the “leading” edge is higher than the rest of the trough and it all flows downhill. If you look at the pour point you can see that the bottom of the trough is not on the ground. The further along the track you follow the thinner the whole device gets. It’s a uniform trough and side walls made at an angle to fool the eye.

Look at the explanation 3D model, imagine it tilted down then watch the video again. You can see it.

Anyways, amazing practical trick shot on the video and great work again on the solution!

Yes, there seem to be artifacts of post-processing, faking some shadows etc, but this is a wood model and the water flow was shot in two takes, one for the left side of the model with a bucket on the right, and the other way round.

Everything in that shot is dirty, dark and wet…except the waterfall which seems to have the most amazing and perfect lighting. And nothing else reflects in the water on the floor quite as nicely. Wierd…to get it this lit, I would expect to see lights in the water too.

It would be awesome if this were anything more than CGI…and it would be possible to make an illusion that looked like this…but it ain’t it. Actually, part of the fun of these sorts of things is to see how someone did it…and unfortunately, this is too easy.

1. The woodwork is real in the sense that he did construct something that from the right angle only LOOKS like the Escher’s waterfall. However, I don’t believe the waters runs through it in real life. This is where the CGI comes in.

2. When he pours the water, the water escapes through an exit right after the trough (hidden by the water wheel).

3. The illusion part of the video, which is water going uphill to the waterfall is done in CGI, and it’s very easy to do so. Simulating water flow upwards with CGI in straight lines is CGI 101.

4. And lastly the water dropping from the fall onto the wheel is real. This is the trick part. I believe he has a tube going up to the fall portion (obstructed inside or behind the inside column), and he probably triggers this with his free hand since he’s mostly outside of the camera view. It could also be started by someone else in the room, that part is irrelevant.

Anyhow, that’s my theory and if you can agree that Escher’s waterfall can be built to appear as such from a specific point of view (without running it, just as a still image), the rest I assure you is possible. Points 2-4 are 100% feasible.

I tried to study the movements in the video and kept pausing as he walked past the thing thinking that the shadows would help reveal the illusion but i just couldn’t get my head around it. This is awesome.

The tricky part would be timing starting the pump, so that the C->A transition is as tidy as possible. He did a great job, but there is some inconsistency in the water flow at ~0:45 in the video.

Also, you can see the water appear in segment ‘B’ for a brief second, and the reflection of the water is always apparent, so I do think it’s attached to the main track.

It is mind boggling how well he did this (if he did). Remember, in order to get forced perspective looking right, lines we assume are parallel have to be cut at very precise, non-parallel angles. To work with wood in this way would be extremely difficult. So either he’s a master wood cutter and illusionist, or perhaps this whole thing was done with rather simple tricks in ‘post-production.’ I just don’t know.

And just to say it, talking how this was done DOESN’T demean it, rather it is a teastamant to how engaging this little video is.

When he pours the blue water out of the reservoir bucket, the water starts swishing around, and stays consistently swishing throughout the entire video. If you just stare at the bucket, there’s no apparent break.

David’s diagram? Looks correct, but there’s some kind of pump back at C.