Pseudoscope

Today I’ve finished my pseudoscope, following a tutorial found online.

pseudoscope

From wikipedia: “Whereas stereoscopic depth perception is the result of fusing the different images received by the two eyes, pseudoscopic perception is the result of switching the inputs to the eyes before they are fused, so that the right eye receives information normally received by the left eye, and the left eye receives information normally received by the right eye”

pseudoscopeFor some years now, the pseudoscope intrigued me. A device that reverses depth perception, how exactly would this work? What would it look like?

I was looking for pseudoscopes at local flea markets, eBay, etc. but of course found none. It seems it’s quite a rare device. So, I was very happy I discovered a blog entirely dedicated to a project of creating a custom pseudoscope. My pseudoscope is basically an exact copy of the results from that blog. I’ve even ordered the suggested high reflective surface mirrors from eBay.

The results are not as extreme as I perhaps hoped them to be, but it’s certainly fun to experiment with the pseudoscope. Sometimes, the effect is really bizar. In my first experiments, I’ve found that objects that are placed slightly in front of each other really do appear to be depth-reversed. Sometimes you have to wait a little, to begin to see there’s something strange going on. Very subtle :) The effect also works very well with convex and concave objects.

I’ve made an A3 .PDF of the dimensions of the piece of wood (where I converted the original inches to centimeters.)

6 Responses to “Pseudoscope”

  1. Else Says:

    wow, wat een gaaf ding. Ik wil er ook een!

  2. Wimer Hazenberg Says:

    Grapjas, hij is al van jou.

  3. Geoff Says:

    Hi there:-)
    Can you give me the overall dimensions of the original piece of wood you constructed your pseudoscope from please?
    Cheers
    Geoff:-)

  4. Wimer Says:

    The whole think fits on a 390mm x 176.5mm piece of wood. The exact dimensions of the various sides are in the .PDF.

    Let me know when yours is finished :)

  5. Geoff Says:

    Thanks Wimer:-)
    I’ve ordered the front surfaced mirrors..I’ll let you know how I get on:-)…I know that a prismatic scope is a little iffy in the view it offers but I’m going to try using right angle prisms and see if I can optically enhance the effect with lenses…dunno if I can..but its worth a shot:-)
    Best regards
    Geoff:-)
    by the way…would your version be enhanced in any way by putting a “top” on it?

  6. Wimer Says:

    You mean like this:

    http://www.grand-illusions.com/pseudoscope.htm ?
    Yeah, could be. You’d probably become a little less distracted from the surrounding view.

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