Infinite Staircase

I'm definitely interested in your exploration of 3-D media over the digital canvases we worked on for the previous few labs. You've put much effort into your documentation and product, and it shows!

There's a funny thing about certain illusions--sometimes, the most masterful of illusions are the ones you don't recognize occurring. I wouldn't have realized the problem of making the ball the right size as it rolled 'down' the stairs unless you've pointed it out!

I find the work interesting given the figure of the clay ball rolling endlessly down the staircase. It moves with a sense of purpose that could not be properly emulated with either a completely normal ball or a more organic form, so I give you kudos for that. It is beautiful in a theatrical sense, as well. Perhaps making the animation less stop-motion-y would dissuade the illusion of it being a natural event.

I can't quite think of other works that employ the Penrose staircase, but I suppose I could mention how your project uses forced perspective to make everything look 'normal' like how Lord of the RIngs did it.

You acknowledge the benefits your project may have if you had more time. Even giving stop-motion animation and 3-D printing out a second try may show improvement. I would have little to criticize beyond what you have mentioned already.

Wow, really cool project that synthesizes the audio illusion with the visual one well. The idea to show an "impossible geometry" in a physical space was a lofty goal and I think it was executed well, albeit not completely seamlessly. I was really impressed by the amount of effort and planning that went into building the physical scene, and I think the gif feels more believable because of the use of physical scene, as opposed to using a computer animation.

Despite how wobbly/glued together the structure was, I think the fact that it was a stop motion gif and everything changed consistently made everything seem very smooth. The perspective was perfect, and I honestly couldn't see where the gif+sound looped back again. I'm kinda impressed that you guys went through the trouble of 3D printing out the stairs and actually putting together the structure though. It all turned out really well though.

It reminds me of the game (Echochrome) that Yijing put in her explanation for this phenomenon because it really used the viewer's perspective to make the transition so believable. Great job!

Woah, I love how you made a real version of a classic optical illusion! Very interesting! I really don't know what other connections you could make- you already mention Escher's work and the impossible stairs in Inception, which are the two things I think of when I see this type of illusion. One thing I would change is something you already mentioned- making it more stable so that it looks more like an impossible set of stairs. Of course, I can imagine how hard it was to do the stop motion, so a little wobbliness is completely understandable!

Woah, mad props for the 3d printing - that stuff is infuriating to work with sometimes, but it looks great! I also really love all the external skills & tools you pulled in to make this! Also, great documentation! Also also, you definitely have the best use of the Shepard tone that I've seen. Heaps of praise aside, I feel like the transistion from low point to high point is not quite as seamless as it could be. I feel like I'm still very conscious of the change, despite not initially knowing how the stairs were constructed. I might have made the structure a little bit more subtly reinforced, so that the top stairs weren't wiggling around and making it obvious that it isn't connected to the bottom stairs. Definitely the shakiness of the stopmotion animation helped conceal this, but if I'm being nitpicky (which I definitely am), it's worth commenting on. I'm also personally a little bothered by the ball's considerable change in shape from top to bottom, which I think is also making the break more apparent. Concealing the legs of the stairs through either editing or a perspective change would also be a good choice, I think.
You guys nailed the overall cohesiveness of project, interesting/engaging content, and it's really apparent that lots of effort went into this project! It's already really cool, but imo you'd be even better if you get your gif to appear even more seamless.

I love what you've created! our group had the same idea of using the Penrose stairs but we gave it up eventually, so it is nice to see you use this illusion to build this fascinating work. I'm also impressed by your use of 3D printer anyhow you changed your plan to print is separately to save time. Although you said that there was a disaster struck at the end of the 3D printing, I feel like the final product looks great.

I'm struck by how well the illusion translates over to the product. I could stare at it for a while trying to figure out the impossible path of the ball. I wouldn't worry too much about the wobbliness you mentioned as it does not detract from the illusion. On the surface, it may not be visually appealing. However, knowing how much work you put in and seeing how well the animation flows, I can look beyond the dirty cardboard.