Gem of Rasterization

July 7, 2024 2:25 AM

Pixel Mirror is a hand cut gemstone by Hakusi Katei / Monoli that creates a window to a pixelated world.
posted by lucidium (10 comments total)

A nifty idea! But unlike the page's title, it doesn't turn everything you see into 8-bit pixel art, but rather 16-bit pixel art. The real world has significantly greater color depth than the NES! (One of the depicted versions, the "Pixel Mirror GB," might apply a Gameboy-style monochrome effect, but it wasn't demonstrated in the photographs so I don't really know if it works like that.)
posted by JHarris at 2:49 AM on July 7 [5 favorites]

such transformation would make a character in an xkcd comic happy [content note: nsfw(?)]
posted by HearHere at 3:05 AM on July 7 [2 favorites]

Did it explain what the actual gem.material is? Maybe rock crystal...
posted by Czjewel at 3:44 AM on July 7 [1 favorite]

Google translating their shop page it sounds like the clear ones are natural quartz, and the tinted ones are synthetic quartz, also there are a couple videos of the GB one on twitter.
posted by lucidium at 4:10 AM on July 7 [2 favorites]

Oh I'd be generous and say it's 24 bit color at least :-) Technically infinite analog color. Only mentioning this because there's an interesting modern game style where the art is chunky and pixelated but the color palette is 24 bit. Animal Well and Dead Cells both have that distinctive look.

Thanks for that shop page lucidium. $120 or so, if anyone's curious.

I wonder if it's feasible to make one of these but much larger, several inches in diameter? I wonder what's going on optically.
posted by Nelson at 8:06 AM on July 7 [2 favorites]

I saw this on another site last week and it occurred to me that a piece of glass that captured photos or even videos like this (mebbe with more pixels) would be one helluva keepsake.

Cameras are great but the photo lacks the physical context of its moment of being 'taken'

iPads come close but are still heavy on the device vs. glass side.

I should patent this
posted by torokunai at 9:17 AM on July 7

Pretty cool. If there were an obvious way to buy one in the US it would be even cooler. Maybe I just got tired of exploring links, I see someone else found something. If they could post the link?
posted by Gilgamesh's Chauffeur at 10:25 AM on July 7

They're hand-made and it looks like there are a number of orders queued:

For people from other countries]

The next mail-orders will open on July 20th
(Domestic shipment only this time).

■The next international mail-orders will be held on August.
There, you can make orders for PixelMirror and Spectrum series from overseas.

The latest info will be announced on Twitter(X).
Follow @Hakusi_Katei to get more.

[Attention]
■Due to a sudden increase in inquiries from overseas,
we are currently building a new site that includes
English translation and a reservation service.

■The new PixelWindow (tentative) is still developing and not for sale for now.
I'm doing my best aiming for mail-orders within this year.
Stay tuned for updates. Thank you!

posted by Rhomboid at 11:51 AM on July 7 [2 favorites]

I wants it!
posted by doift at 1:34 PM on July 7

But unlike the page's title, it doesn't turn everything you see into 8-bit pixel art, but rather 16-bit pixel art.

As a regular visitor to browser game websites back in the days of Flash (and an observer of game tagging practices), I can affirm that the technical definition of "8-bit" is "there are right-angles".
posted by polytope subirb enby-of-piano-dice at 10:40 AM on July 8 [3 favorites]