OMG, Escher is alive!

[gravityblock]

Oops - deleted as I see Aaron covered what I was going to say about the impossibility of the construction in 3D. Too bad we can't find the clever guy who put this together and get the actual scoop. Is that possible?

I do agree the design itself is a problem. The whole ramp could be in a zig-zag pattern laying on the floor. This could have been done right, what a shame.

GB

[loghousenut]

It IS done right... read on...

The fellow has constructed it without CG or anti-gravity water. It MUST be viewed from one vantage point. Here's how he did it.

1... The two upright towers are standing erect.

2... The canal lays on the floor with a slight ramp from the water wheel, away from us, and to the third bend.

3... There is a drain slot cut in the floor of the ramp at the third bend and aligned with (and hidden by) the left most upright in the right tower.

4... The water falls trough the slot and is pumped beneath the canal in the space formed by the ramp and back to the first bend in the canal, where it is pumped up the right hand leg of the right hand tower.

5... At the top of the right hand tower the water is piped beneath the top of the tower and DOWN the left hand leg of the same tower to the last section of the canal which is SUSPENDED from the two towers. That is why it looks weird at the 45 second point in the film.

6... The water flows downhill and drops off to spin the water wheel and begin the circuit.


Key to this illusion will be understanding that:

a... The first three legs of the canal are laying flat on the floor allowing the water to flow down the ramp and away from us.

b... The last leg of the canal is supported by the two towers that stand straight up in the exact perspective that you eye sees them.

c... Each tower is supported by only two legs. The left tower is supported by the LEFT two legs and the right tower is supported by the RIGHT tow legs. the other legs are only pieces that are cut to look as though they are continuous behind the canal. That means that the two "inner" posts are suspended from the top of each tower and their other respective pieces are attached to the canal and standing upright to a point where they are mitered off at the correct point as to line up with the canal that is really farther away from us as it lies on the ground. The lumber for the uprights had to be milled the proper widths to accommodate this illusion.

d... I thought about not spoiling the illusion but once you see it, the true beauty of what is built here is that it is actually built and can be done.

[gravityblock]

loghousenut,

Thanks for the reveal and welcome to the forum.

GB

[ewizard]

Yes Was this your construction or just some hard looking and deductive reasoning to figure that out? Either way good job. I felt it was something along that line but didn't take the time to work it all out. The ability to think and see in 3D is something I learned in framing houses and doing plumbing both of which require a lot of 3D imagineering

[Farmhand]

Well it is obvious that it can't be built to look like that and still actually have the ramp going uphill. I wish I had time to waste like that. Looks like fun, at least untill everyone has seen the video.

Nothing like a bit of folly to remind us of what is important in life.

Enjoyment.

Cheers

[loghousenut]

Well thanks for the welcome. No, I don't have enough time to build it, just, look and think. Always been a fan of MC Escher's work and I had to figure how it was done.

[Aaron]

Escher for Real

These are examples of how Escher illusions and similar would look like
if each of the connected points were actually connected in real life to
each other.

Escher for Real