Duration: 5 secs.

A video of a black and white image of a smiley / wink emoticon – a variation of the default flickr buddy icon. The image has been mapped onto a transparent sphere.

Playing the video emphasises the spherical illusion. As the features move further away, they become darker, as if veiled by dark smoke. This method of indicating distance is known as a depth mapping.

The focus of this render is slightly "far sighted", appearing a little more "crisp" and "in focus" where the face is "further away". Despite the fact that (for younger humans with good eyes at least) "everything" always appears "in focus", depth of field effects are widely used by photographers and cinematographers.

Modelled and animated using Maxon’s Cinema 4D CGI package.

Part of a set of photos exploring illusions of depth and space.

By: Dominic’s pics