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2 -- Anamorphosis
- Deformation by mirrors - There are strange pictures in which it is difficult to understand what is drawn by just a glance. However, when a metal mirror with a cylinder shape is placed on the pictures, the shapes of the pictures are reflected on the mirror, and a picture with normal shapes appears, and the mystery of the strange picture is solved. This is called anamorphosis (distorted image picture) in the West. Japanese paintings utilizing the same principle were recently introduced by Mr. Iwao Sakane in an article of "History of play" (Asahi Newspaper) and in a exhibition called "Museum of play" (Matsuya Department Store, Ginza, Tokyo) which have made them widely known. They are called "Sheath painting", and an erotic painting appears when it is reflected on a sheath of a sword. In a word, a picture looks deformed because the mirror has a curved surface. However, the original painting should be drawn in a deformed form to make the deformed painting (image) look normal. In other words, it is the picture (anamorphosis) which the original picture deformed more with shapes that a figure was more right. When the principle is investigated by drawing optical
lines of reflection, a point located in front of the mirror does not make
a normal image like an image formed in front of a plane mirror. The image
of point A which is placed in front of the plane mirror is created
at A over point O at a distance equal to AO, where
point O is at the intersection of the perpendicular of A
and the mirror surface. In other words, AOA' is a straight line
and perpendicular to the mirror, and AO=OA'. On the other
hand, when a curved mirror is used, AOA' does not align in a straight
line, and AO¹OA'. The principle
of reflection for the plane mirror is completely destroyed. In other words,
the difference is the cause of the large deformation.
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