Dec 15, 2015 | By Kira
Three 3D artists and design students from the Köln International School of Design Dieter Pilger have just released a stunning 3D printed kinetic sculpture, that, either as a pure work of art or when illuminated as a lamp, plays with our perception of reality in a truly mesmerizing way without the use of strobe lights, rapid camera shutters, or any external devices other than your own two eyes.
Dieter Pilger, Janno Ströcker and Frederik Scheve designed the dizzying yet beautiful 3D printed zoetrope using the mathematics of the Fibonacci sequence, and 3D printing inspiration from Pier 9 Artist-in-Residence John Edmark, who previously created his own 3D printed, strobe-animated zoetrope sculptures, which he titled Blooms.
Just to clear up a few of these math-meets-art-meets-motion terms, a zoetrope is a pre-film animation device and produces the illusion of motion by displaying a sequence of drawings or photographs showing phases of motion—you may have seen or even made versions of these in school, most often depicting a horse or other animal running in stages. 3D zoetropes are a more modern variation that use a rapidly flashing strobe light to illuminate the models and create the illusion of smooth, indefinite movement. As for Fibonacci numbers, they are a sequence of numbers, wherein each number is found by adding up the two numbers before it. When squares are made with the widths of each number, beautiful geometrical spirals—much like those found in pinecones, sunflowers, or other natural phenomena—emerge.
When John Edmark designed his 3D printed Blooms series, he created the illusion of indefinite, fluid movement by spinning the sculptures at 550 RPMS while videotaping them at 24fps at the very fast shutter speed of 1/2000 sec. The same illusion could be achieved in real time by lighting the sculpture with a strobe light, which produces the same dizzying effect as the camera shutter’s rapid opening and closing.
What makes FLUX stand out is that no strobe light, camera, or external devices are needed to create that beautiful sense of infinite movement. Instead, it rotates on its own and is illuminated from within. “We envisioned a sculpture that displays an animation in the open physical space. The sphere is constructed according to the Fibonacci sequence. It rotates in a certain speed and gets illuminated in a specific frequency,” explained Pilger and his fellow designers. “The animation can be seen just by looking at it with your eyes. No external devices like a strobe or a camera are required.”
“Visual information is forwarded to the brain, where it is processed, interpreted and translated into sensory impressions. Generally speaking, visual perception is the product of filtering and reducing data, which enables us to depict our environment distinctly,” they continue. “The Fibonacci sequence thereby isn't anything that only appeals to mathematicians, but is of great significance in the process of understanding aesthetics and harmony as a whole - as far as an impression can be expressed as visual perception.”
Whether you are as intrigued by the philosophy of mathematical aesthetics and visual perception as these young 3D designers, or are just looking for something mesmerizing and beautiful to stare at for a couple of minutes (or as long as you need to, really), look no further than the beautiful 3D printed FLUX.
Posted in 3D Printing Application
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"What makes FLUX stand out is that no strobe light, camera, or external devices are needed..." In fact, a strobe light *IS* required to animate these. Rather than being on the outside, the strobe light is simply placed on the inside of the translucent 3d print. In order for the animation to work it needs to be shown in a dimly lit room.