ANAMORPHOSIS
What is anamorphosis It is a distorted projec:on or perspec:ve requiring the viewer to use special devices or occupy a specific vantage point to see the image.
Source: http://www.mediagang.co.uk/artists-for-hire/3d-street-artist/history-of-anamorphic-images/
Etymology
It is derived from the Greek prefix ana‐, meaning back or again, and the word morphe, meaning shape or form.
Source: http://www.mediagang.co.uk/artists-for-hire/3d-street-artist/history-of-anamorphic-images/
Types of Projec:on 1. Perspec:ve (oblique) • we need to stand with an eye • at the height of the picture's horizon level, directly in front of its central vanishing • point and at a distance equal to that indicated by its distance point.
Source : Veltman, K.H. (1986). Perspec:ve, anamorphosis and vision . 21, 93‐117.
2. Mirror (catoptric) • a cylindrical mirror is placed on the drawing or pain:ng to transform a flat distorted image into a three dimensional picture that can be viewed from many angles. The deformed image is painted on a plane surface surrounding the mirror.
Source: http://www.mediagang.co.uk/artists-for-hire/3d-street-artist/history-of-anamorphic-images/
Perspec:ve Anamorphosis
Source: h\p://imageshack.us/photo/my‐images/15/pavementart.jpg/sr=1
Mirror Anamorphosis 
Source: http://www.mediagang.co.uk/artists-for-hire/3d-street-artist/history-of-anamorphic-images/
Short history 1. Leonardo’s Eye (Leonardo da Vinci, c. 1485) (video)
2. Prehistoric cave pain:ngs at Lascaux
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3. Hans Holbein the Younger ‐Viewing this from an acute angle transforms it into the plas:c image of a skull. ‐The Ambassadors
Source: http://www.mediagang.co.uk/artists-for-hire/3d-street-artist/history-of-anamorphic-images/
Source: http://www.mediagang.co.uk/artists-for-hire/3d-street-artist/history-of-anamorphic-images/
4. During the 17th century, Baroque trompe l’oeil murals ofen used this technique to combine actual architectural elements with an illusion. Church of St. Ignazio in Rome, painted by Andrea Pozzo, represented the pinnacle of illusion.
Source: http://www.mediagang.co.uk/artists-for-hire/3d-street-artist/history-of-anamorphic-images/
Source: http://www.mediagang.co.uk/artists-for-hire/3d-street-artist/history-of-anamorphic-images/
3D STREET ART ILLUSION (video)
The Spinning Ballerina Illusion
Bistable Percep:on ‐ form of perceptual phenomena in which there are unpredictable sequences of spontaneous subjec:ve changes. ‐ can be evoked by visual pa\erns that are too ambiguous for the human visual system to recognize with one unique interpreta:on. ‐ arises when a s:mulus is consistent with at least two interpreta:ons.
Brief History • Nobuyuki Kayahara
• On an online survey, about 2/3 of the par:cipants said they saw the image rotate clockwise • The other 1/3 reported they reported otherwise • Interes:ngly, those who said they perceived the image go clockwise found it hard to reverse the rota:on
• The illusion derives from the lack of visual cues for depth. • Her arms could be swinging either closer to the viewer and to the lef or farther from the viewer and to the lef • Hence with her circling clockwise or counter‐ clockwise on either her lef or right foot
• Kayahara's dancer is presented with a camera eleva:on slightly above the horizontal plane.
Other Examples