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Optical illusion tees look different depending on your perspective

Cory Doctorow at 9:00 am Thu, May 17, 2012

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Answersquestions sez, "These shirts designed by an Architecture professor friend of mine at Carnegie Mellon depend on perspective and distance in order to be seen. Check out that SKULL!"

Most tees are the same: splashy graphic or logo centered on a shirt for others to read. Vantage Tees are site-specific art pieces using optical illusions and body-specific effects to change everything about how people interact with their attire. Some shirts look different if you are looking at them or wearing them. Some ask you to be really close or really far. Others take time to see them. Vantage Tees will look different to everyone—it all depends on your vantage point.

Vantage Tees — Home (Thanks, Answersquestions!)

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

MORE:  fashion • optics • submitterator • t-shirts

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  • http://www.facebook.com/charles.decosmos Charles de Cosmos

    Meh. No Fear and Mossimo have been doing this for decades. 

    • Keith Jackson

      Ha! As soon as I saw this I thought “Well, isn’t that a sight for sore eyes.”

  • Rider

    I think saying these are optical illusions and look different depending on how you look at them is a bit of an overstatement.

  • nox

    I can’t be the only one who finds the r-rated ones to be completely obvious regardless of perspective. Think we should warn them?

  • inedible

    You can make your own with a program called Rasterbator.

    Anyways, I don’t think that this qualifies as an optical illusion any more than the screen you’re looking at now. If you press your face up against it, you see red green and blue dots, but from a distance you can read this text. So what?

    • alfanovember

      Whoah…    It ….     WORKS!

  • registeringforyetanotheraccoun

    And the guy modelling is wearing camouflage pants and has a Zelda tattoo. 

    • http://www.xradiograph.com/ OtherMichael

       Who doesn’t?

      • renke

         Zelda pants and camouflage tattoos would be more interesting

  • http://twitter.com/DJ_Solar_Bear Jason Carl

    Goddammit, I have to sweat off my love handles. 

  • http://twitter.com/chrisjimson chris jimson

    Looks like the “hidden” skull from that Hans Holbein painting.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ambassadors_%28Holbein%29

  • rattypilgrim

    Not an optical illusion. It’s the way photos in newspapers used to be printed called “Ben Day dots”. It allows gradation in  B&W images. These t-shirts use blown up Ben Day dots, like looking at an old newspaper photo with a magnifying glass.

    • http://profiles.google.com/stephen.schenck Stephen Schenck

      Nope. Ben Day dots aren’t of varying size like this, and are used for color reproduction. This is a simple halftone.

      And wadya mean how newspapers USED to be printed?

      • rattypilgrim

         I stand corrected.

      • graywh

        Wait, they still print newspapers?

  • penguinchris

    I agree that it’s not necessarily that original or even very effective at its purported purpose, but I still think it’s pretty neat.

    I’m not into the whole skulls thing myself, and I rarely wear graphic t-shirts, but if these came in different designs and if I had money I’d be tempted. It’s a cool effect even if it’s been done before. I like this version more than similar things I’ve seen in the past.

    The non-skull one they have I like too, but I think it’d be better with a different image.  The boobs (which I assume is the “R-rated” part they’re mainly referring to) and other bits are clearly recognizable no matter how you look at it. Something more extreme (like the hidden skull that @twitter-87239128:disqus refers to, I’ve always liked that one) would be better.

    Might have to rip off this idea myself. I can think of some more geeky type things that might work well.

  • David Carroll

    This can work for buildings too:
    http://johnfowler.photoshelter.com/image/I0000k_WWQVfSHko