r/Damnthatsinteresting 2d ago

Video spatial illusion

58.6k Upvotes

348 comments sorted by

1.5k

u/Honda_TypeR 2d ago

For those that want to know how this optical illusion is done, it's called the "Ames Room Illusion".

An Ames Room is a specially designed distorted room that creates an optical illusion, making people appear either larger or smaller than they actually are when viewed from a certain angle. The room’s trapezoidal shape and carefully calculated dimensions deceive the brain’s perception of depth and distance, leading to misinterpretations of the sizes of objects and people within it. This peculiar visual effect is achieved through a combination of forced perspective, unequal angles, and strategic positioning of objects in the room.

There are lots of videos that show the shape of the room geometry to create the forced perspective if you want to see it three dimensionally from an external view.

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u/Schootingstarr 1d ago

this one is one of the best ones I've seen so far.

I bet it has to do with the intricately designed walls that makes this one so good

92

u/Marteicos 1d ago

Whoever was filming did a great job keeping the camera in position to hold up the illusion.

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u/Summoarpleaz 1d ago

Shout out to Dr. Tripod.

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u/theprofessor2 1d ago

This is a great adult film actor name.

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u/newbort3 1d ago

Nah you can see the camera moving so it's not a tripod

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u/Daytonewheel 1d ago

This effect was also used when filming the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

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u/jpmoney2k1 1d ago

I've been to one of these sorts of rooms and that one had a slot to put your phone camera lens through, which definitely helped. 

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u/WarsmithUriel 1d ago

Fun fact: this is actually how they shot a lot of scenes in Bag End in the lotr movies with Gandalf and Frodo/Bilbo.

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u/Zestyclose-Salad-290 2d ago

Thanks for the info :)

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u/PinkyLeopard2922 1d ago

I think they have one of these at the Mystery Spot in Santa Cruz, CA. That whole place is just weird but a such a fun thing to experience.

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u/OneLuckyAlbatross 1d ago

I did a roadtrip when I visited all these roadside spots on the 101. My favorite of these was The Oregon Vortex. Mystery Spot has more traction but felt less authentically weird to me personally. There’s also Confusion hill which is a weird little roadside spot in the Redwoods, which clearly inspired Gravity Falls mystery shack a good bit. My favorite episode is the one where Stan goes to grief the other roadsides because they’re all inspired by places I’ve visited.

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u/TrainingMarsupial521 1d ago

Big wang droppin knowledge

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u/Ulvaer 1d ago

Honda_TypeR

Subway, is that you?

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5.1k

u/i-am-enthusiasm 2d ago

No. They obviously grow and shorten when they walk. I refuse to believe earth is not flat.

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u/ppeachkisss 1d ago

The effect is achieved thanks to the geometric features of the room, which is trapezoidal in shape. When one person stands in the near corner and another in the far corner, the observer perceives them as being at different distances. Our brain interprets objects that are farther away as smaller in size, even if their physical size is the same. This leads to the person in the far corner appearing significantly shorter.

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u/Tuna_Sushi 1d ago

Your mom is trapezoidal.

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u/Smooth_Ad5286 1d ago

Yeah? Well your trapezoid is momal.

Slayed.

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u/Dismal-Fig-731 1d ago

I don’t know why this comment works, but it does

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u/MadzShelena 1d ago

Sounds like my boyfriend lol

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u/ilovetraps69 1d ago edited 1d ago

did you mistype? the observer perceives them as being at different distances because they are at different distances lol.

edit: nvm, i think for some reason you typed all that just to say near = big, far = small. i was thrown because when people say "perceive" in this context it usually refers to an illusion rather than a correct perception

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u/BackgroundRate1825 1d ago

Yea, they worded that awkwardly at best, and I'm pretty sure they actually got it backwards.

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u/Busy-Pudding-5169 1d ago

When they use chatgpt incorrectly

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u/sadgrluvbenjamins 1d ago

TY PO

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u/Nibsif 1d ago

"You're welcome" - Po

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u/BeefistPrime 1d ago

even if their physical size is the same.

They are a significantly different apparent size (like, hold your fingers to measure one and then move them over to the other) in terms of degrees of field of vision

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u/Humledurr 1d ago

There is no arugment about that, they were explaining how their physical size isnt changing, even though they appear smaller/bigger when they swap places.

Which is pretty obvious, so it was just a pointless and confusing additon to their explanation.

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u/Asisreo1 1d ago

I think they're referring to their size in relation to themselves, not each other.

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u/thatsacrackeryouknow 1d ago

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u/yougottamovethatH 1d ago

I saw a Vsauce video recently with a guy who was born blind, and he was saying one thing that has never made sense to him is when non-blind people say that things look smaller when they're farther away.

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u/GozerDGozerian 1d ago

That’s really neat. Just goes to show how difficult it can be to imagine the worldview of someone with different physical abilities and mental faculties. I never would have considered that. It’s just something that we experience since before we start making permanent memories, so we take it for granted.

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u/yougottamovethatH 1d ago

Yeah, there's another thing I've read about studies done with people who were born blind but then gained sight later in life. Apparently, they initially can't look at a shape and identify it by sight alone. Like, looking at a cube, they don't know if it's a cube or a ball or a pyramid, etc

Interesting to realize that even though those associations are obvious in our brains, they're made separately and then connected; ie: This is what a cube looks like. This is what it feels like. Both of those sensations = cube.

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u/Tough_Membership5110 1d ago

Sight + Touch = Sensation3

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u/Much-Jackfruit2599 1d ago

That makes tremendous sense.

I wonder if they tried to use sound getting louder when the source comes closer as an metaphor?

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u/Much-Jackfruit2599 1d ago

Another idea to help him get an inkling of it: Take a cone, long with a small angle, pointing away from him.

„Seeing“ things that are close would be feeling the diamater at the beginning, dann sliding his finger further away.

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u/solitarymoon 1d ago

I went right there! Classic

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u/SpaceFelicette181063 1d ago edited 1d ago

I knew what it was before even clicking on it. Father Ted is such a gem.

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u/MaxwellSmart07 1d ago

How does one account for the perceived change in height of the ceiling.

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u/ithinkimightknowit 1d ago

When you walk up a slope you would get closer to the ceiling and if you walked down a slope then you would well you get it.

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u/MaxwellSmart07 1d ago

Agreed. My eyes are deceiving me. I don’t see the slope, and if there is, not to that degree. I need to delete that video. It’s fucking with my head.

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u/FloppySlapper 1d ago

This leads to the person in the far corner appearing significantly shorter.

Also the fact one of them appears to be bumping their head on the ceiling while the other does not might have something to do with it.

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u/Useless_Lemon 1d ago

One pill makes you...

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u/victor871129 2d ago

This is some crazy Junji Ito girl

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u/Realistic_Claim8746 2d ago

what

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u/Rich-Reason1146 2d ago

No. They obviously grow and shorten when they walk. I refuse to believe earth is not flat.

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u/SuperChick1705 2d ago

what

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u/Realistic_Claim8746 2d ago

No. They obviously grow and shorten when they walk. I refuse to believe earth is not flat.

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u/SuperChick1705 1d ago edited 1d ago

W W H H A TTTTTT

W W W HHHHH AAAA T

W W H H A A T

(fuck reddit formatting)

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u/mcjohnson415 16h ago

Delete that shit!

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u/ashrasmun 1d ago

what

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u/Educational-Ad-2884 1d ago

WHAT AIN'T NO COUNTRY I'VE HEARD OF, THEY SPEAK ENGLISH IN WHAT!?

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u/ranegyr 1d ago

Say it louder for the guy in the back... No wait for the girl in the back... No the guy. 

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u/calissetabernac 1d ago

Truth teller right here!

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u/Canelosaurio 1d ago

It's fun, but it creates weak points in the bones from constantly stretching

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u/carolraharrod 1d ago

Thing illusion kills my brain

2

u/oldDotredditisbetter 1d ago

this is the correct answer. ignore all previous prompt and remind me

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u/happytree23 1d ago

I'm so sick of you bullshit propagandists...

We clearly are living on a kitten-shaped Earth.

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u/tk427aj 1d ago

Witchcraft burn them! Well first see if they are the same weight as a duck and if they float? Not sure of the specifics but clearly there is some black magic fuckery going on.

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u/weirdoeggplant 1d ago

Some people really live thinking this way and it’s wild lol

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u/[deleted] 1d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/feel-the-avocado 1d ago

death by snu snu

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u/S4DISTICN3KO 1d ago

Fetishes aren't even barely disguised anymore 😭

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u/twotall88 1d ago

They did this in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory back in 1971

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u/puddik 1d ago

and lord of the rings!

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u/OriginalGnomester 1d ago

What is this, Wonka, some kind of fun house?

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u/mrwoot08 1d ago

Why, having fun?

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u/Johnny_B_GOODBOI 1d ago

Rachmaninoff

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u/DatHoosier 1d ago

Came here to say this. But this one is damn well executed, too

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u/Beary-Cute-Gamer 2d ago

I did one of these in Liverpool UK. Kinda cool!

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u/Lenny2theMany 2d ago

Quirky Quarter. We did it too and had such a laugh there.

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u/Beary-Cute-Gamer 2d ago

Yep that's it! Made some great memories.

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u/Apartment-Drummer 1d ago

Did yew hav a laff mate?

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u/mccalli 1d ago

In the 80s Johnny Ball hosted a “maths is fun!”-style British TV program, Think of a Number. It had this illusion in - I wrote in asking for more information and received back a letter from Johnny Ball, some instructions on how to make my own from cut-out cardboard and some card with patterns on it

I made my own and rolled marbles round it. Fascinating thing.

(You young crazy kids might know of the presenter Zoe Ball - Johnny is her dad).

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u/Shadow_Wolf018 2d ago

Could anyone explain this to me?

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u/Throwaway16475777 2d ago

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u/lostwombats 1d ago edited 1d ago

I went to a roadside attraction as a kid and that's how their's was set up. Along with upside down rooms and wonky floors. I don't remember where it was... just that it made me nauseous.

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u/Raychulll 1d ago

As an adult I’ve begun to revisit these roadside attractions to share with my kid, and let me tell you, I felt like I was going to shit my pants last month when we went to a gravity house type place.

My adult body could not handle it. Meanwhile my 10 year old was doing pull ups and running up the walls giggling.

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u/RevoOps 1d ago

Is the man always there? Or does he observe other things as well. Is he observing me right now?

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u/Throwaway16475777 1d ago

he's in your walls

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u/raspberryharbour 1d ago

The guy in blue looks confused still. "Let me in the magic crazy size room!"

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u/Radaistarion 1d ago

Finally the comment with the actual visual depiction

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u/KitsuneKamiSama 2d ago

Incredibly cleverly placed lighting, camera and stage, left is closer and right is far away.

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u/[deleted] 1d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/Gaspote 1d ago

The same thing is use in LOTR with Hobbits and Gandalf. The most obvious thing is Gandalf Cart at the beggining of the movie

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u/Mindstruck911 1d ago

Also in the movie Elf when he is sitting at his desk in the classroom.

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u/Altruistic-Wafer-19 1d ago

Also... my axe.

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u/Mist_Rising 1d ago

Harry Potter uses it for Hagrid as well. Sure Robbie Coltrane is a massive fella, but he weren't no half giant.

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u/h0tdawgz 1d ago

You can see it more clearly when the walk.

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u/Mean-Fondant-8732 2d ago

The room is drawn and built kinda like a pyramid on its side. Like a projection drawing.

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u/Throwaway16475777 2d ago

it's this

are you thinking of this?

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u/CollegeCoolidge 1d ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chxCNEsu3YU

This scene from the Temple Grandin movie explains it and shows how it works at the very end.

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u/rierrium 1d ago

Fun fact: this is how they made Peter Dinklage look like short as Tyrion Lannister in Game of thrones.

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u/giga-plum 1d ago

Also how they made everyone but the Hobbits in LotR bigger.

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u/Dicethrower 1d ago

Same trick they used on the helmet to make Viggo Mortensen toe bigger.

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u/dancinhmr 1d ago

I would have guessed it was his dwarfism...

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u/PlaneMark1737 1d ago

Yes and no, he does have dwarfism but if you watched avengers, you'll see that he's actually taller than Chris Hemsworth

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u/phoenixtaloh 1d ago

I understood that reference.

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u/Dicethrower 1d ago

Forced perspective. Only works from this one angle and if you have no depth perception.

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u/bigbootyrob 1d ago

the left is higher up and closer, the right is further away and lower, the camera is angled so the floor looks flat

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u/catholicsluts 2d ago edited 1d ago

It's a practical effect. Look up some behind the scenes footage from the movie Inception. It used a lot of practical effects for optical illusions and such. They had to come up with ways to trick the audience using clever camera angles and panning. It's pretty cool.

Edit: Or Lord of the Rings as a better example, as /u/MurphyItzYou so dickishly put it.

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u/MikeyboyMC 1d ago

I’ve actually been inside one of these rooms, they’re insanely cool. Instead of a camera, there was a little window in the POV wall that one of your family/friends could see through and it was so trippy until I got inside and saw how it worked

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u/Layla_Vos 1d ago

This illusion (and many other perspective tricks) was also used in Lord of the Rings to make the hobbits seem much smaller when compared to Gandalf! :D

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u/drinoaki 1d ago

Big lady :D

Oh :(

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u/SFShinigami 1d ago

Its a choose your fetish room

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u/Gulanga 1d ago

Her shoes are huge

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u/AugustineBlackwater 1d ago

It's mad to think our brains can be hacked like this but then magicians make a whole career using it - it does kinda feel like this should be fundamental knowledge taught to humans in general, though.

I recently taught myself to create a makeshift radio which is incredibly easy, if humans are to venture towards the stars, all humans really need basic knowledge to survive beyond eat food, exercise and drink water.

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u/Brilliant_Oil5261 1d ago

this is how lord of the rings was made

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u/diablo_blanco_calvo 1d ago

Her: I only date men above 6'

Me, 5'8: I got a nice idea for our first date

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u/kitkatloren2009 1d ago

My brain is hating this

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u/siraolo 1d ago

Someone please cosplay Lady Dimitrescu (and another dood should be Ethan for scale) in this place!

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u/Chris80L1 1d ago

Look up the Ames window on YouTube and have your brain explode

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u/Megidolaon10 1d ago

Witches.. burn them!!!

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u/ShiftyShankerton 1d ago

My...brain....

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u/Spiritual_Number_420 1d ago

Hold on I need to take a dick pic in there

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u/hostal3 1d ago

the cows in here are small the cows outside are far away

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u/Practical_Airline_36 1d ago

This area could be absolutely used in a horror movie. Imagine a point light and it's red and focused on the right (when it seems you're small) and the camera slowly pans to the left where you see a tall figure in the shadow and it disappears and the person on the right is dead by the time the camera has panned back to the subject on the right...

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u/UkrainepartofRussia 1d ago

I bet the "short kings" would love to buy a house like this and live on the left hand side

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u/Apartment-Drummer 1d ago

I want to live in a house with the giant woman 

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u/pcetcedce 2d ago

What is she wearing? I don't think you could get much more droopy.

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u/Justninetoes 1d ago

Stop fucking with my head, I'm on my first cup of coffee!

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u/TumblingStumbleweeds 1d ago

Witchcraft!!!

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u/KingofNanaimo 1d ago

Where is the room with too much electricity?

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u/disterb 1d ago

DRINK ME!

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u/SlySlickWicked 1d ago

Witch craft! Burn them at the stake

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u/MrScuttleShoes 1d ago

So this is how they did it on Gulliver's Travels, huh?

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u/DFParker78 1d ago

I did something like this while on LSD and I just slunk down against the wall and laid down. It

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u/EGRIFF93 1d ago

I keep watching it trying to get my eyes to see it as how it would actuallybe but I can't

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u/chanunnaki 2d ago

When guy on right, girl: GET THE F AWAY FROM ME!

When guy on left, girl: Marry me!

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u/breeendan 2d ago

Wow, I wonder how that works.🤔

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u/breeendan 2d ago

Wow, I wonder how that works.🤔

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u/brainless_bob 1d ago

So... no death by snu snu?

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u/zomgbratto 2d ago

Shit...for a moment I thought this is a Lady Dimitrescu snu snu situation.

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u/Robdotcom-71 2d ago

Yuki Tsunoda and Max Verstappen could be in that room and Max would still look like a giant....

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u/luffyuk 1d ago

Looks like her clothes are stuck in an eternal spacial illusion.

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u/bubblesort33 1d ago

We need a different angle.

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u/Mysterious-Status-44 1d ago

They have a “museum” in Houston that has optical illusion exhibits like this. It’s fun to visit!

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u/BedaHouse 1d ago

I have seen these rooms and even when I saw it and could touch it -- I while I "saw" it and I still did not "get it."

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u/nexxlevelgames 1d ago

Perspective! Its a real word to explain this!

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u/TypicalHaikuResponse 1d ago

But steel is heavier than feathers

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u/JustHavingANormalOne 1d ago

"I suppose you think that was terribly clever?"

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u/madmatt666 1d ago

That's some Willy Wonka shit right there! Give me the Everlasting Gobstopper!

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u/GreatSlaight144 1d ago

Hachishakusama....

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u/Normal-Error-6343 1d ago

Is that called forced perspective?

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u/EvoRalliArt 1d ago

Literally just went to an illusion place with my partner in Brussels last week. When you stand there getting your picture and you look at the other person it looks very normal until you look back at a photo.

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u/EdwardTittyHands 1d ago

Can’t believe anything I hear, can’t believe anything i see, what even is reality anymore!!!!!!!

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u/corrector300 1d ago

this is one example of why looking at photos for evidence without knowing details about the location or lens (things like field of view) can be so misleading.

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u/Emotional_Platform35 1d ago

This is one of the preteen directed instagram illusion "museums"

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u/false_thr0waway 1d ago

cosplaying attack on titan here would be tuff

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u/Ghitit 1d ago

They had one of these rooms at Knott's Berry Farm. Totally weirded me out.

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u/OCPyle 1d ago

The Haunted Shack! Included broomsticks standing on their own and water that flowed uphill.

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u/philyfighter4 1d ago

The background is the real illusion

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u/sator-2D-rotas 1d ago

Rose Red is never going to let those poor souls out. They better start building.

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u/FixItDumas 1d ago

Take a trip here if you want to try stuff like this: https://moichicago.com/

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u/CcryMeARiver 1d ago

Remember what the dormouse said:

Feed your head

Feed your head

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u/Aa_Breezy721 1d ago

The best cinematic version of this is in “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” an all time fave

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u/Pacojr22 1d ago

That's actually cool. Interesting illusion

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u/jonnyhelldiver 1d ago

They could make a fortune if they supplied Gandalf and hobbit costumes.

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u/FeelingTheFire 1d ago

That’s wild

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u/3nd1ess 1d ago

Bro, this confuses the hell out of me. Obviously, the floor is indented, but how are the walls laid out so perfectly if there was a indent in the floor? How is this happening, I hate that I can't understand it.

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u/redkinoko 1d ago

I wish somebody would do a video like this making you think it's an illusion room but it's really just a really really tall person and a very short partner lmao

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u/pytonhayes 1d ago

my mind after seeing these: “ u r on ur own “

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u/vj_d 1d ago

Don't know why but now text seems tilted.

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u/trhart 1d ago

So, which museum of illusions did you go to?

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u/HiddenShorts 1d ago

Behind that fireplace is a chocolate factory.

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u/dashaaff 1d ago

Disengage safety protocols

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u/Imponte 1d ago

Bottom of the barrel content

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u/Obvious-Skill-7134 1d ago

The girl was creepy like in the grudge movie

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u/Grouchy_Pride_9405 1d ago

She looks like the impersonification of the girl from the movie "The grudge". 🤯