Portal Xmas tree

Some unknown genius (possibly redditor Tmyakal) created this insanely great Portal-themed Christmas Tree that presents the illusion of a tree being shoved through one of the interdimensional portals in the kick ass Valve game.

Update: Ryan Kelly sez, "I'm a big fan and can't tell you what a great Christmas present it was to see our Portal themed Christmas tree posted on Boing Boing. It was done by myself and my two business partners as a nice, stress-relieving break from working on a film we are making and was posted by a friend of ours on Reddit."

A Very Portal Christmas Tree (imgur.com) (via Super Punch)

Ryan writes,

Basically, it's our artificial tree which comes apart in three sections. The top section is suspended from the ceiling by an adhesive hook so it simply hangs downwards. The other two sections are connected and placed upside down on the floor - the tricky part is that the branches are meant to be kept extended out by gravity, so there is fishing line attached between each branch and what is usually the base of the tree, pulling the branches up towards the ceiling.

We then got two sets of rope lights (blue and red as we couldn't find orange). We laid the red out in a tight circle around the tree on the floor. The blue was wrapped in a circle, scotch taped to hold together, and then hung on to more adhesive hooks on the ceiling. Then we cut two circles of black poster board and placed these beneath the rope light rings to give them the feeling of holes. You barely see the black with all the branches and the portals lit up so it plays fairly well.

Finally, the hanging top piece didn't have branches that extended all the way up to the ceiling, so to cover the obvious gap we bought some artificial garland and wrapped that around it to match up with the ceiling. That way it looks like the tree continues up into the surface.

With a little bit of finessing, you can hide any of the obvious gaps and have one seamless tree.

• [ronj]

  |ble idea!________________________Incredi|

• [PhosPhorious]

  The figgy pudding is a lie!

• [Heartfruit]

  The people at Valve are probably kicking themselves for not thinking of this for their corporate tree first.  

• [Keith Anselm]

  Nonsense – they’re cheering the free advertising.

• [Mordicai]

  I snickered!  For actual, meaning it was 80% more than most internet lulz.

• [Ipo]

  I don’t need to know the game to appreciate the interdimensional humor. 
  The tree is lovely. 

  And Frohe Weihnachten everyone!

• [gehringer]

  Please be aware that the Aperture Science Bi-Located Yuletide Arboreal Device can, and has caused side effects such as Chuckling, LOLing, Joy, Holiday Cheer, Nostalgia, the desire to spend time with family and friends, the spontaneous appearance of presents, and, in semi-rare cases, Radiation Poisoning.

  The Enrichment Center thanks you for your cooperation, and wishes you a [Test Subject's Preferred Holiday Greeting Here]

• [PatGund]

  Treey thing goes in, treey thing comes out.

• [noen]

  You monster.

• [CountZero]

  Love the [ee____________tr], lol’d at ronj.

• [Eark_the_Bunny]

  Oh great, someone has jammed a Christmas tree in my transport portal!  Now I will never get home for the holidays! RATS!

• [petz79]

  http://www.aperturescience.com/ still has the holiday vault video up.

• [Chico]

  Hahahah these guys are so clever….me and my dad are huge portal fans. We shoud’ve come up with this first…

• [Tony Karr]

  ah no way!! my wife and I did our own as well. But the rope lights are a kick ass idea!

• [dnietz]

  Very cool. I’m stealing this idea for next year’s office Christmas tree.

• [hostile_17]

  That is awesome. Almost makes me want to have a Christmas tree!