# Rowing skeleton zoetrope



## hedg12 (Jul 6, 2008)

Awesome art installation at Burning Man. If I had a pirate themed haunt what I wouldn't give for this thing...


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

The illusion is fantastic. The squeaking noise is annoying as hell


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## coolbotz (Oct 21, 2009)

Saw this on Make or Hack-a-day today. Awesome.


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## hedg12 (Jul 6, 2008)

RoxyBlue said:


> The illusion is fantastic. The squeaking noise is annoying as hell


Yeah, the video is definitely a candidate for the mute button, but it shows the effect better than any other I could find.


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

Squeaking aside D), the visual reminds me of the work of Ray Harryhausen. Just put some swords and shields in those skellies' hands


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## debbie5 (Mar 2, 2007)

Ohhhh, so it's a projected image and not 3D skellies?? (looking at flying birds underneath..) What are those images called..form the 1890's when they had still images that projected onto a cylinder to look like movement..can't think of the name....


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## kprimm (Mar 14, 2009)

That is incredibly awesome! I would definately be wd 40ing that wheel though. The skeletons are so sooo cool though.


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## ouizul1 (May 22, 2010)

I believe they are actual 3D images...whirling away under a strobe light synced to the RPM of the spinning wheel on which the figures are mounted.

I'd love to build one of these zoetrope thingies, but don't think I would survive building all the characters....<shiver>.


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## debbie5 (Mar 2, 2007)

Okay...that's what I get for reading when I'm half awake. I see it's called a zoetrope, but I thought there was another name for it too??


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## ouizul1 (May 22, 2010)

praxinoscope?


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## hedg12 (Jul 6, 2008)

You can get a better look at it here.

A zoetrope (in this case) uses a light that strobes in sync with the position of the image (or skeleton, in this case) so that you only focus on the appropriate image.

A praxinoscope works on a similar principle, but uses mirrors angled in a specific way so that you only see the proper image.


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## ouizul1 (May 22, 2010)

Holy cow! The thing is freakin' huge!! I was thinking something like table top size.


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## Spooky1 (Aug 25, 2008)

I found a daytime video of it. 




That's an amazing piece of artwork.


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## Daphne (Oct 18, 2006)

I had no idea that thing was that ginormous either!! You definitely couldn't store that puppy in the basement!

So are the skeletons static and only look like they are moving when you get the speed and strobe synchronized? That thing is freakin amazing!!! I've never seen anything like that.


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## ouizul1 (May 22, 2010)

Daphne said:


> So are the skeletons static and only look like they are moving when you get the speed and strobe synchronized?


Yup. Crazy, right? Check out this thread:
http://www.hauntforum.com/showthread.php?t=27876&highlight=animated


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## debbie5 (Mar 2, 2007)

I LOVE that it has to be pulled by the observers, working together to get it at just the right speed!! I love motion-art and especially ones that have viewer involvement. At a mall a few hours away from us, there was a ball maze-Rube Goldberg contraption that was mesmerizing to interact with..then it broke. 
WHY are all the coolest things waaaayyyy across the country!!?? or in another country!!??
Burning man is the bomb...imagine THIS sucker on your lawn at Halloween!!





Vids like this reawaken my inner artist/punk rocker...totally anathema to Mom Life...it makes my soul go ZING! LOVE it...and NEED IT every once in a while...


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## psyko99 (Jan 11, 2008)

Daphne said:


> I had no idea that thing was that ginormous either!! You definitely couldn't store that puppy in the basement!


those were my first thoughts too. It definitely not something made with a few bluckies and recycled pallets. The structural steel used is also something you just can't go into Home Depot and buy either.

Summed up in one word: Wow!


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## austenandrews (Aug 22, 2010)

Burning Man has some amazing pieces. Of course it's mostly an art exhibition where participants get grant money for large-scale projects. Those 3D zoetropes are incredible.


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## fick209 (Aug 31, 2009)

Wow!!!


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## scarrycher (May 30, 2012)

*rowing*

I think that is the coolest thing I have ever seen


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