My art teacher called it a Lucy, which I incorrectly thought was short for luciscope, which apparantly doesn’t exist.
It’s completely machanical, no electronics.
It was a sort of triangular prism with a mirror on one side, on a stand, with a lens.
You would aim it at something, which would then be projected onto your drawing pad, so you could get a realistic sketch, such as of a scene or a person.
I suppose it’s the same general idea as a camera obscura, but the size of a tablet.
I want to see if I can still buy one, but I can’t figure out what it’s called.
It’s called a Camera Lucida, as opposed to a camera obscura. Hence “Luci”
They used to sell these on the backs of comic books.
Astronomer and pioneering photographer John Herschel in the 1830s was a camera lucida enthusiast, making lots of sketches using his. They’re as unsophisticated as disposable camera snapshots… which, in a way, they were.
If you’re not made of money most people aren’t, you can pick up a projector at school auctions. Often they go for about $20-$80. Some tape and tricky mounting can make this work well.
No, an opaque projector is something else entirely. When I was a kid I found plans for one in a circa 1900 "Activities for Boys’ book, and built my own for projecting post cards.
The device linked by twanchic is an opaque projector. The bright lights inside the box illuminate the copy and the lenses project the image onto a wall or screen.
The “luci” doesn’t use any illumination, at least as part of the device, and allows the user to view the paper and subject at the same time.
Yeah, as GaryM says, it’s doesn’t actually PROJECT anything at all, but rather is just a binocular trick so that you look at the object and at your hand/paper at the same time.