Comments on: Ecrans Transparents: 'transparent' Mac screens. An homage to Magritte.

Ecrans Transparents: 'transparent' Mac screens. An homage to Magritte.

Slithy_Tove — Tue, 29 Mar 2005 00:01:28 -0800

The Human Condition. A Mac-based homage to Magritte. [via]

By: shmegegge

shmegegge — Tue, 29 Mar 2005 00:13:55 -0800

some of those are better than others. Some of them are done by people who clearly understand color and photography and the recursive properties of both. Like the first one. Really incredible. I'm now going to go home and do this. thanks.

By: kenchie

kenchie — Tue, 29 Mar 2005 00:14:17 -0800

Excellent! I think I'll give it a try myself.

By: mr.marx

mr.marx — Tue, 29 Mar 2005 00:53:34 -0800

Flickr: Transparent Screens

By: louigi

louigi — Tue, 29 Mar 2005 01:27:42 -0800

Here's a video from the site (embedded QT). Thanks for the link, Slithy_Tove: great stuff.

By: ori

ori — Tue, 29 Mar 2005 01:52:31 -0800

So, so cool.

By: panoptican

panoptican — Tue, 29 Mar 2005 02:10:01 -0800

Those are nifty. And the idea really caught fire because of Flickr. Yet another reason to love it.

By: Silky Slim

Silky Slim — Tue, 29 Mar 2005 04:44:30 -0800

ok, i get the stills, but the video has to be a fake. it's much too perfect. there's definitely manipulation afoot.

By: Thoth

Thoth — Tue, 29 Mar 2005 06:20:37 -0800

Yes, that video required a few double takes. I don't believe it can be real either.

By: Scoo

Scoo — Tue, 29 Mar 2005 06:34:44 -0800

The video is a very nice piece of fakery, easy enough to do with After Effects and a tripod. I have to admit, I'm a bit puzzled by the popularity of the transparent desktop meme. It's a cute trick and all, but it seems to be EVERYWHERE this week.

By: taz

taz — Tue, 29 Mar 2005 07:02:02 -0800

Fabulous... but how the hell did someone manage this one? *weeps for the poor cat, glued to the bedspread*

By: mkultra

mkultra — Tue, 29 Mar 2005 07:02:53 -0800

That's pretty cool. Is the trick all in lining up the second shot with the first?

By: Silky Slim

Silky Slim — Tue, 29 Mar 2005 07:28:30 -0800

taz, i like this "imperfect" one. the cat has s a mysterious extra paw, breughel-style.

By: mic stand

mic stand — Tue, 29 Mar 2005 07:29:09 -0800

I've been out of the loop. When did these come out? Is it only available for Macs?

By: squirrel

squirrel — Tue, 29 Mar 2005 07:38:00 -0800

There's a very good chance that someone put hours of work into making those shot legitimately... but there's also a very good chance that someone put a few minutes of work into a food screen mask for the PowerBooks and pasted in a treatment of a regular photograph of a desk, or what have you. Either way, I was blown away. Gusto mucho.

By: Vidiot

Vidiot — Tue, 29 Mar 2005 07:43:04 -0800

I think that one could put together a pretty decent one in half an hour or so, particularly if you have a tripod or are working with a laptop screen that you can easily fold out of the way. (Heck, I did this in about three minutes; it's not terribly great (I need to work on lighting and the line of the wallcovering), but it was fun.)

By: vacapinta

vacapinta — Tue, 29 Mar 2005 08:01:53 -0800

Fabulous... but how the hell did someone manage this one? *weeps for the poor cat, glued to the bedspread* Taz, the cat behind the screen doesnt have to be in the same position - only the part thats showing has to line up - the backend and tail. These were posted to MacBidouille, a French Mac Site run by this guy. He then started posting some of them to Flickr where they were noticed and others started joining in after w00kie sobered up and created a group (as linked by mr. marx above) Within a day, every site on the Internet was linking to this. I guess I could have posted this myself five days ago...there's something fun about this in that cheap illusion kind of way, like seeing a good card trick.

By: taz

taz — Tue, 29 Mar 2005 11:10:11 -0800

Yeah... I see what you mean, now. Too bad I just wasted all that glue on my kitty....Kidddding! I'm kidding!

By: themadjuggler

themadjuggler — Tue, 29 Mar 2005 11:24:11 -0800

Yeah, this shot only took me about 30 minutes. You can adjust for bad cropping of the background by taking the ensemble photo from a different angle/position to match the four edges. Color correction is then the harder part.

By: pmbuko

pmbuko — Tue, 29 Mar 2005 12:56:19 -0800

my votes for best execution: 20,29,41,45,49,52

By: HTuttle

HTuttle — Tue, 29 Mar 2005 21:34:20 -0800

Mac people are so friggin annoying. Did'ya ever have to actually work with one?