I rendered some mirascope animations to easily get an idea of what
configurations would give good results.  To get a good handle on what I
was seeing, I used an object somewhat more complex than a cube, with a
gradient pigment for improved discernment.  The dimensions I used are
annotated at the upper left of the frames, with HEIGHT referring to the
height of the bottom mirror.  For mirascope-02.mp4, I used the
proportions from the illustration at the University of Wisconsin at
Madison at the link BE posted in p.general:

https://www.physics.wisc.edu/ingersollmuseum/exhibits/opticscolor/parabolicmirrorillusion/

That model has a rather small opening, so I rendered mirascope-04.mp4
with double the hole diameter.

It is not easy to see both the object and its reflected apparitions
simultaneously.  With both diameters, there was an angular sweet spot
between when the object itself appears, and when the opening becomes
reflected in the bottom mirror.  At low viewing angles, only the
reflections are visible.  As the viewing angle gets higher, the
reflection of the opening appears soon after the top of the actual
object comes into view, then expands quite rapidly.  At higher viewing
angles, the reflections cannot be seen.

Post a reply to this message

Attachments:
Download 'mirascope-02.mp4.dat' (260 KB) Download 'mirascope-04.mp4.dat' (306 KB)