# These pictures hurt my brain... **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 7, 2006, 8:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/these-pictures-hurt-my-brain/343370 "2006-02-07T08:57:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2006, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/these-pictures-hurt-my-brain/343370/21 "2006-02-08T17:13:17Z")
The artist is [Felice Varini](http://www.varini.org/01act/act0a.html). Many more samples on his web site. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2006, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/these-pictures-hurt-my-brain/343370/22 "2006-02-08T23:05:54Z")
> [@Homebrew](#): > > And there are more problems that to me scream “hoax”. The idea that these would be as difficult to fake in Photoshop as to do for real is absurd. Have you seen some of the morphs at [http://www.worth1000.com](http://www.worth1000.com) ? of course I have; the images I’m saying would be difficult to fake are not the ones where you see the various coloured parts apparently assembled into a coherent whole; I’m talking about the ones where you see it at the wrong angle and it’s all broken up; mapping a plausible set of shapes onto all those surfaces in photoshop would be just as difficult as constructing the illusion in real life. If someone identifies the supposed location of these works, visits them and tells you they are real, will you believe that? ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2006, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/these-pictures-hurt-my-brain/343370/23 "2006-02-08T23:31:10Z")
> [@Patty O'Furniture](#): > > I don’t see any giant bunny. Maybe he’s referring to [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=357749). And I don’t really see the point of creating such an image in Photoshop. It should be very simple to do in real life. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2006, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/these-pictures-hurt-my-brain/343370/24 "2006-02-08T23:44:15Z")
A google search on _3D Painted Rooms_ brings up lots of results including better versions of these same photos with less jaggies and all-round better detail. I have not yet tracked down the source of the images, but I have some art and gallery contacts I can quiz on it. ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2006, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/these-pictures-hurt-my-brain/343370/25 "2006-02-09T00:23:51Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > I have not yet tracked down the source of the images, but I have some art and gallery contacts I can quiz on it. The artist is [Felice Varini](http://www.varini.org/01act/act0a.html). Many more samples on his web site. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2006, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/these-pictures-hurt-my-brain/343370/26 "2006-02-09T01:46:50Z")
Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![The\_Seventh\_Deadly\_Finn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6bbea6/32.png) [@The\_Seventh\_Deadly\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Seventh_Deadly_Finn)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2006, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/these-pictures-hurt-my-brain/343370/27 "2006-02-09T02:11:10Z")
Wow, sure got quiet in here all of a sudden. I hope people aren’t having their comments Photoshopped out. ---
**Author:** ![JpnDude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/838e76/32.png) [@JpnDude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JpnDude)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2006, 9:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/these-pictures-hurt-my-brain/343370/28 "2006-02-09T09:20:10Z")
> [@scr4](#): > > Very neat. If I had my own house I’d be tempted to try it. > > I think these are more impressive though: > [+++ Kurt Wenner - Master Artist and Architect +++](http://www.kurtwenner.com/street/) > [Virtual Street Reality](http://www.rense.com/general67/street.htm) This particular Wenner work: [http://www.kurtwenner.com/public/p-art06.htm](http://www.kurtwenner.com/public/p-art06.htm) is located at Tokyo DisneySea, as one of the rooms in an attraction. ---
**Author:** ![Homebrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Homebrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homebrew)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2006, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/these-pictures-hurt-my-brain/343370/29 "2006-02-09T15:51:59Z")
> [@thetruewheel](#): > > Wow, sure got quiet in here all of a sudden. I hope people aren’t having their comments Photoshopped out. You talking about me? I’m not on 24-hours a day, you know. It seems I may have been wrong. However, I think the images in the OP have been enhanced for the reasons I mentioned. Take [this example](http://www.varini.org/02indc/28indcg05.html) from Varini’s site. Notice how the the colors vary by the surface. This is much more realistic than the far too consistent colors in the OP links. [This image](http://www.varini.org/08agra/26indca03.html) is on both. The original is much easier to believe. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2006, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/these-pictures-hurt-my-brain/343370/30 "2006-02-09T23:00:16Z")
I could agree with that (in fact I already did, in post #16). ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2006, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/these-pictures-hurt-my-brain/343370/31 "2006-02-10T05:25:04Z")
> [@](#): > > **Homebrew** : However, I think the images in the OP have been enhanced for the reasons I mentioned. Take this example from Varini’s site. Notice how the the colors vary by the surface. This is much more realistic than the far too consistent colors in the OP links. > This image is on both. The original is much easier to believe. That is easy to explain when the photographs are made possibly by different photographers or with different lighting. And with these images, perspective is everything! What may seem perfect from one spot may show its imperfections immediately if you step even inches away. The illusion of two demensions reproduced in three demensions doesn’t work for very long when you continue to change your 3\_D perspective. That’s why the photos look different. The man is an internationally known artist. His works don’t have to be “enhanced.” They do have to be photographed carefully for the full effect. No two shots will be exactly the same. ---
**Author:** ![sturmhauke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47c2d/32.png) [@sturmhauke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sturmhauke)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2006, 8:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/these-pictures-hurt-my-brain/343370/32 "2006-02-10T08:39:55Z")
When I worked at 3DO (now defunct) there was a game I tested called Warriors of Might and Magic that used this sort of illusion in one of the dungeons. The image used was a complex mural, but the presentation was simpler - instead of being painted all over a bunch of irregular surfaces, it was instead done on a series of flat arches down a hallway, so that when you stood at one end it appeared as a wall with a mural. I wonder if the artist who did that was a fan of Varini. I wouldn’t recommend trying too hard to find the game, though. It was OK, but fairly generic and rather buggy. In fact, I found a serious bug on the day they laid me off along with a bunch of other testers. Rather than fixing it, they tried to pass it off as intentional. (This sort of thing is why they’re now defunct.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/these-pictures-hurt-my-brain/343370.md?page=1)