Early Optical Illusions

Thaumatrope

What is it?

A Thaumatrope is a round disc with half of one image on each side. When rotated quickly the image halves blend together and appear to make one single image. The most famous example of this is the bird and the cage.

Does it work?

My Thaumatrope does not work very well at all, one half of the image is not very obvious and so the eye only sees half of it unless specifically looking for the other half.

What could be Improved?

The second half of the image, the apple and the arrow, could be much cleared and so easier to see.

Zoetrope

What is it?

A Zoetrope is a slip of paper with several frames of animation drawn on, inserted into a round drum which is rotated quickly. When looking through the slits in the drum the frames blend together to create an illusion of fluid movement.

Does it work?
My Zoetrope does work rather well, just not so easily on camera. I was also rotating the drum a bit too fast for it to be completely clear. However it is clear

What could be Improved?
The images are not very similarly drawn which results in some frames not blending together very well, so I could re-draw some of them to make it appear more fluid.

Praxinoscope

What is it?

A Praxinoscope is a series of images drawn in a circle which are shown reflected upon angled mirrors. Again, when the device is rotated, it gives the illusion of fluid movement.

Does it work?

To an extent, yes. The images are much clearer than either of my other two devices. However, it appears a little jumpy between frames, and so is not very fluid.

What could be Improved?

Each frame could be slightly more similar to the one before it to give a more fluid illusion of movement between the images of the circle rotating.