Still Waters Posted September 14, 2018 #1 Share Posted September 14, 2018 Quote At first glance this might look like a picture of someone’s driveway, but if you look a bit harder you’ll see it’s actually a close-up of an incredibly shiny car. The picture, posted on Reddit, shows a black car that has been so highly polished it perfectly mirrors its surroundings. Picture is in the link: https://uk.news.yahoo.com/picture-apparently-invisible-car-posted-online-blowing-peoples-minds-095140623.html 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guyver Posted September 14, 2018 #2 Share Posted September 14, 2018 Wow! That is amazing. It probably took me a minute or so to figure it out. Cool illusion. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myles Posted September 14, 2018 #3 Share Posted September 14, 2018 I wish I had the money to build an "invisible" car. What I mean is: Use flexible screens for the body and have cameras on the other side projecting onto the screens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoofGardener Posted September 14, 2018 #4 Share Posted September 14, 2018 3 minutes ago, Myles said: I wish I had the money to build an "invisible" car. What I mean is: Use flexible screens for the body and have cameras on the other side projecting onto the screens. Top Gear actually tried this, using a transit van. It mostly looked like a van with lots of TV screens on it. But then... amazingly..., for a few fleeting seconds, it actually worked. The van disappeared. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pallidin Posted September 14, 2018 #5 Share Posted September 14, 2018 (edited) 6 minutes ago, Myles said: I wish I had the money to build an "invisible" car. Would THAT be good driving down a highway or through even a "green light" intersection? And what about kids walking in front of you because they can't see you? Or a bicyclist not seeing you? Or a vehicle changing lanes. Edited September 14, 2018 by pallidin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torviking Posted September 15, 2018 #6 Share Posted September 15, 2018 I�m afraid I call photoshop on this. The �splash� of water is to imitate motion, and looks to be from a hose, while the wheel we can see clearly isn�t moving. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torviking Posted September 15, 2018 #7 Share Posted September 15, 2018 Sorry about the lncorrect question marks, I think my iPad is having a bad day! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noxasa Posted September 15, 2018 #8 Share Posted September 15, 2018 The car was parked, not moving. And obviously they chose the best angle for the effect. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Monk Posted September 15, 2018 #9 Share Posted September 15, 2018 (edited) It doesn't appear invisible. It IS invisible. The British military is using similar technology - which it calls ADAPTIV - to make British Army tanks invisible. Edited September 15, 2018 by Black Monk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stiff Posted September 15, 2018 #10 Share Posted September 15, 2018 I saw the car straight away. Then again, I paint cars every day for a living so I'm used to looking at paintwork from this angle to look for scratches and dents, lol Cool pic though! I might have to try something similar when I next do black 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woopypooky Posted September 15, 2018 #11 Share Posted September 15, 2018 why would anyone want an invisible car? hazardous on the road. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Walker Posted September 24, 2018 #12 Share Posted September 24, 2018 (edited) Can't see a car or tire period... After stareing at the pic for like 5mins finally able to see car Edited September 24, 2018 by Michael Walker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrLzs Posted September 24, 2018 #13 Share Posted September 24, 2018 I have some doubts about this image... Does anyone have a series 5 beemer? duznt havta be black.. if so, would you mind taking a few shots of both the front and back, trying to get your camera up very close to match the image being presented? From what I can Google about the 5 series, the door handle (?) looks wrong, and there are other problems. It is also very curious that there are no other shots of this vehicle, either at reddit or at what appears to be the source: https://www.instagram.com/niftynicholsdetailing/ (a free ad for them!) .. you'll need to scroll down about 1/4 of the way to find this pic, and then click the image and click again for a higher resolution shot. If I see one around, I'll try to get some further evidence.... If it is photoshopped - most of the work is very good to give credit where due. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stiff Posted September 24, 2018 #14 Share Posted September 24, 2018 (edited) 10 hours ago, ChrLzs said: If I see one around, I'll try to get some further evidence.... If it is photoshopped - most of the work is very good to give credit where due. To be fair, I don't think it is photoshopped ChrLzs. Finishes like this on a car are pretty easy to achieve when you know what you're doing and the rest is just playing around with angles and lighting. Obviously, having a decent camera and knowing what you're doing will help massively. Unfortunately, unlike yourself, I don't really know much (ie - nothing) about cameras and the wizardry that surrounds them There's a couple of other shots in the link you provided that have been done similarly (in fact one of them looks even more invisible than the op's) Saying that - the first pic of the two above has me pondering as to why the handle(?) at top left of the pic is there. So maybe there is some manipulation somewhere. Hmm. Edited September 24, 2018 by Stiff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrLzs Posted September 24, 2018 #15 Share Posted September 24, 2018 (edited) 4 hours ago, Stiff said: Saying that - the first pic of the two above has me pondering as to why the handle(?) at top left of the pic is there. So maybe there is some manipulation somewhere. Hmm. I think it's mirror, then door handles, then lettering, if that helps.. But similarly, if you look at the OP pic, look at where the 'handle' (??) is - behind the door and above the wheel well? OK, it's hard to be sure what we are seeing or even if it's the front or back of the vehicle, but there's enough 'strangeness' here to make me wonder. There's a few other issues and another major aspect that can be checked, but I haven't yet had time as it's a bit complicated (ie the geometry of the reflections). It'll have to wait until I have more time (and I have a few other projects already queued up... so many mysteries, so short a life!) Edited September 24, 2018 by ChrLzs 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TripGun Posted September 26, 2018 #16 Share Posted September 26, 2018 Magic is real... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gecks Posted September 28, 2018 #17 Share Posted September 28, 2018 On 15/09/2018 at 8:47 PM, Stiff said: I saw the car straight away. Then again, I paint cars every day for a living so I'm used to looking at paintwork from this angle to look for scratches and dents, lol Cool pic though! I might have to try something similar when I next do black Agreed. Im a painter as well and saw it as a pretty typical black reflection. If the lights right the paintwork doesnt even need to be good to pull this off in a photo 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrLzs Posted September 28, 2018 #18 Share Posted September 28, 2018 Just briefly, to explain my problem with the image, you'll note that the majority of the side panel reflection is relatively undistorted - it's only at the bottom edge that there is any noticeable stretching/distortion of the image, and it isn't much. But if you look at this page on the BMW 5 series vehicles, all of the doors that I can see have very pronounced and quite deep curves running horizontally along the door panels. While I haven't done the required geometry checks to check it fully.. I find it hard to reconcile those curvy doors with that pretty flat reflection - plus that door handle (?) looks horribly wrong and seems to be floating above the wheel arch, not on the actual door.... I'd like to see some other images of the vehicle, but none seem to be available. Anyway, whatever. I can't really justify spending heaps of time on it.. Some things don't *need* to go viral, imofo. (That's InMyOldFashionedOpinion, obviously..) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gecks Posted September 28, 2018 #19 Share Posted September 28, 2018 (edited) 14 hours ago, ChrLzs said: Just briefly, to explain my problem with the image, you'll note that the majority of the side panel reflection is relatively undistorted - it's only at the bottom edge that there is any noticeable stretching/distortion of the image, and it isn't much. But if you look at this page on the BMW 5 series vehicles, all of the doors that I can see have very pronounced and quite deep curves running horizontally along the door panels. While I haven't done the required geometry checks to check it fully.. I find it hard to reconcile those curvy doors with that pretty flat reflection - plus that door handle (?) looks horribly wrong and seems to be floating above the wheel arch, not on the actual door.... I'd like to see some other images of the vehicle, but none seem to be available. Anyway, whatever. I can't really justify spending heaps of time on it.. Some things don't *need* to go viral, imofo. (That's InMyOldFashionedOpinion, obviously..) Yes but you need to take into account a couple of things. First of all the wiki article states the 5 series has been in production since 1972 and the shape has changed drastically over the years. Do we have the year of manufacture of the car in question? If its an earlier model they were very slab sided in comparison to the photo of the more modern bmw on wiki. Secondly perhaps the photo is taken below the door handle? Or has this car been built and modified? Shaved door handles? I can tell you now those panels are very straight and Im betting someone's spent a lot of hours straightening that thing. Or its a later model with simply well enginered panels. Ive photographed a lot of cars over the years. Im thinking the reason the car appears so invisible is due to low light conditions and all that shrubbery behind the photo creates perfect camouflage to trick your eye when going fron reflection to reality. Edited September 28, 2018 by Gecks 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now