Vision, Illusion and Perception – serie

This book celebrates binocular vision by presenting illustrations that require two eyes to see the effects of cooperation and competition between them. Pictures are flat but by printing them in different colours and viewing them through similarly coloured filters (included with the hardcover book) they are brought to life either in stereoscopic depth or in rivalry with one another. They are called anaglyphs and all those in the book display the ways in which the eyes interact. Thus, the reader is an integral element in the book and not all readers will see the same things. The history, science and art of binocular vision can be experienced in ways that are not usually available to us and with images made specifically for this book. The study of vision with two eyes was transformed by the invention of stereoscopes in the early 19th century. Anaglyphs are simple forms of stereoscopes that have three possible outcomes from viewing them – with each eye alone to see the monocular images, with both eyes to see them in stereoscopic depth or rivalry, or without the red/cyan glasses where they can have an appeal independent of the binocularity they encompass. Through the binocular pictures and the words that accompany them there will be an appreciation of just how remarkable the processes are that yield binocular singleness and depth. Moreover, the opportunities for expressing these processes are explored with many examples of truly binocular art.

This book celebrates binocular vision by presenting illustrations that require two eyes to see the effects of cooperation and competition between them. Pictures are flat but by printing them in different colours and viewing them through similarly coloured filters (included with the hardcover book) they are brought to life either in stereoscopic depth or in rivalry with one another. They are called anaglyphs and all those in the book display the ways in which the eyes interact. Thus, the reader is an integral element in the book and not all readers will see the same things. The history, science and art of binocular vision can be experienced in ways that are not usually available to us and with images made specifically for this book. The study of vision with two eyes was transformed by the invention of stereoscopes in the early 19th century. Anaglyphs are simple forms of stereoscopes that have three possible outcomes from viewing them – with each eye alone to see the monocular images, with both eyes to see them in stereoscopic depth or rivalry, or without the red/cyan glasses where they can have an appeal independent of the binocularity they encompass. Through the binocular pictures and the words that accompany them there will be an appreciation of just how remarkable the processes are that yield binocular singleness and depth. Moreover, the opportunities for expressing these processes are explored with many examples of truly binocular art.

Archaeological and anthropological investigations of depictions seldom extend beyond a single culture or a single geographical location, although there is a powerful factor common to all depictions, the factor of human perception. In this volume an attempt is made to show how this factor affects both creation and recognition of depictions, how, in common with everyday vision of the environment, typical contours are derived and used, not merely to depict individually readily recognisable models, but also how by concatenation they lead to such a splendid figure as Australian Kakadu crocodiles, or by distortion to creation of illusions of pictorial depth, such as is evoked by Leonardo da Vinci’s perspective and by inverted (Byzantine) perspective  thought by some to be an aberration. Bartel’s studies show that pictorial depth is often achieved to the artist’s, and many a viewer’s, but not to geometer’s satisfaction by partial distortion, and Chinese masterpieces embody, side by side, ‘normal’ and inverted perspective.The visual process is universally uniform (if it were not, one would not be able to recognise an Altamira bison as a bison) and its foibles can be freely exploited.Its best known exploiter is probably Cezanne. His pictures are admired by many and puzzle many. Strzemiński postulated that they compound distinct lines of sight, thus endorsing primacy of central vision, a concept thought by Gombrich to be of greater import to geometers than to artists.

Archaeological and anthropological investigations of depictions seldom extend beyond a single culture or a single geographical location, although there is a powerful factor common to all depictions, the factor of human perception. In this volume an attempt is made to show how this factor affects both creation and recognition of depictions, how, in common with everyday vision of the environment, typical contours are derived and used, not merely to depict individually readily recognisable models, but also how by concatenation they lead to such a splendid figure as Australian Kakadu crocodiles, or by distortion to creation of illusions of pictorial depth, such as is evoked by Leonardo da Vinci’s perspective and by inverted (Byzantine) perspective  thought by some to be an aberration. Bartel’s studies show that pictorial depth is often achieved to the artist’s, and many a viewer’s, but not to geometer’s satisfaction by partial distortion, and Chinese masterpieces embody, side by side, ‘normal’ and inverted perspective.The visual process is universally uniform (if it were not, one would not be able to recognise an Altamira bison as a bison) and its foibles can be freely exploited.Its best known exploiter is probably Cezanne. His pictures are admired by many and puzzle many. Strzemiński postulated that they compound distinct lines of sight, thus endorsing primacy of central vision, a concept thought by Gombrich to be of greater import to geometers than to artists.

This book offers a thought-provoking exploration of dynamic geometry and its connections to self-reference and theoretical biology. The authors explore how a self-referential boundary can be translated into remarkable relations between expanding geometrical forms, with a particular focus on triangles and circles.The essence of this work lies in revealing not only how these forms expand and interact with others but also how their interactions lead to closed loops of definitions between processes, where triangles and circles reciprocally define one another. These unique geometrical relations offer fresh perspectives on the interaction and emergence of forms. Through the introduction of time and a fixed velocity of expansions, a rich tapestry of encounters and coalescences unfolds, pushing beyond the boundaries of traditional insights on context dependence and state transitions of systems.These captivating movements elude prediction other than by numerical approximation within unpredictable durations. Unlike cellular automata, they defy stepwise progression on a predefined grid, presenting themselves as unprogrammable construction processes that leave readers in awe of their unexpected elegance.This book is essential reading for researchers and students in theoretical biology seeking to deepen their understanding of the intersections of geometry and systems theory and seeking to gain new insights into the processes that underlie the origination of complexity."What is unique to the authors' attempt is to shed a new light on extending the notion of cohesive interaction so as to make it applicable even to biology at large without offending the established physics so far. To the best of my knowledge, their work has been the first attempt of this kind in explicating the intricate relationship between geometric topology of the network and the realizable temporal cohesion to be observed widely in biology." (Professor Koichiro Matsuno, 1st foreword to this book) "I am delighted that the authors use Robert Rosen's (M,R)-systems — impredicative networks that are inherently geometrical — to illustrate (see Chapter 4 of this book) their self-referential systems of geometrical expansions." (dr. Aloisius Louie, 2nd foreword to this book)

This book offers a thought-provoking exploration of dynamic geometry and its connections to self-reference and theoretical biology. The authors explore how a self-referential boundary can be translated into remarkable relations between expanding geometrical forms, with a particular focus on triangles and circles.The essence of this work lies in revealing not only how these forms expand and interact with others but also how their interactions lead to closed loops of definitions between processes, where triangles and circles reciprocally define one another. These unique geometrical relations offer fresh perspectives on the interaction and emergence of forms. Through the introduction of time and a fixed velocity of expansions, a rich tapestry of encounters and coalescences unfolds, pushing beyond the boundaries of traditional insights on context dependence and state transitions of systems.These captivating movements elude prediction other than by numerical approximation within unpredictable durations. Unlike cellular automata, they defy stepwise progression on a predefined grid, presenting themselves as unprogrammable construction processes that leave readers in awe of their unexpected elegance.This book is essential reading for researchers and students in theoretical biology seeking to deepen their understanding of the intersections of geometry and systems theory and seeking to gain new insights into the processes that underlie the origination of complexity."What is unique to the authors' attempt is to shed a new light on extending the notion of cohesive interaction so as to make it applicable even to biology at large without offending the established physics so far. To the best of my knowledge, their work has been the first attempt of this kind in explicating the intricate relationship between geometric topology of the network and the realizable temporal cohesion to be observed widely in biology." (Professor Koichiro Matsuno, 1st foreword to this book) "I am delighted that the authors use Robert Rosen's (M,R)-systems — impredicative networks that are inherently geometrical — to illustrate (see Chapter 4 of this book) their self-referential systems of geometrical expansions." (dr. Aloisius Louie, 2nd foreword to this book)

This book delves into the nuanced interplay of colour in human perception and its applications across diverse fields, highlighting the transformative impact on art, design, digital media, and technology. The book introduces an innovative approach by integrating scientific research with practical applications, making it a pivotal resource for designers, psychologists, and technologists. Its scope ranges from foundational aspects of colour vision to futuristic applications in virtual reality and artificial intelligence, offering fresh insights and forecasting emerging trends. This comprehensive exploration is essential for anyone interested in the strategic use of colour to enhance user experience and cultural expressions.

This book delves into the nuanced interplay of colour in human perception and its applications across diverse fields, highlighting the transformative impact on art, design, digital media, and technology. The book introduces an innovative approach by integrating scientific research with practical applications, making it a pivotal resource for designers, psychologists, and technologists. Its scope ranges from foundational aspects of colour vision to futuristic applications in virtual reality and artificial intelligence, offering fresh insights and forecasting emerging trends. This comprehensive exploration is essential for anyone interested in the strategic use of colour to enhance user experience and cultural expressions.

We delight in using our eyes, particularly when puzzling over pictures. Art and illusionists is a celebration of pictures and the multiple modes of manipulating them to produce illusory worlds on flat surfaces. This has proved fascinating to humankind since the dawning of depiction. Art and illusionists is also a celebration of the ways we see pictures, and of our ability to distil meaning from arrays of contours and colours. Pictures are not only a source of fascination for artists, who produce them, but also for scientists, who analyse the perceptual effects they induce. Illusions provide the glue to cement the art and science of vision. Painters plumb the art of observation itself whereas scientists peer into the processes of perception. Both visual artists and scientists have produced patterns that perplex our perceptions and present us with puzzles that we are pleased to peruse. Art and illusionists presents these two poles of pictorial representation as well as presenting novel ‘perceptual portraits’ of the artists and scientists who have augmented the art of illusion. The reader can experience the paradoxes of pictures as well as producing their own by using the stereoscopic glasses enclosed and the transparent overlay for making dynamic moiré patterns.

If you find visual illusions fascinating Programming Visual Illusions for Everyone is a book for you. It has some background, some history and some theories about visual illusions, and it describes in some detail twelve illusions. Some are about surfaces, some are about apparent size of objects, some are about colour and some involve movement. This is only one aspect of the book. The other is to show you how you can create these effects on any computer.The book includes a brief introduction to a powerful programming language called Python. No previous experience with programming is necessary. There is also an introduction to a package called PsychoPy that makes it easy to draw on a computer screen. It is perfectly ok if you have never heard the names Python or PsychoPy before. Python is a modern and easy-to-read language, and PsychoPy takes care of all the graphical aspects of drawing on a screen and also interacting with a computer. By the way, both Python and PsychoPy are absolutely free. Is this a book about illusions or about programming? It is both!