Tales from the Prep Room: The Ames Room

The Ri's Andrew Marmery takes a break from Christmas Lecture rehearsals to describe how he designed a built a life-size Ames room for the show.
The distorted room was named after ophthalmologist Adelbert Ames, who invented the optical illusion in 1934. The floor, ceiling and side walls of the room are trapezoidal in shape but when viewed from a specific fixed point it appears to be rectangular. As Andy demonstrates, anyone standing inside the room appears unusually large or unexpectedly small.
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[@NoriMori1992]

"If you did ever wonder what on Earth you learned trigonometry for, this is it right here."

[@OptimusEven3]

Still useless, bro!

[@bradendredge8792]

What if you were to put a mirror on the left and right side of the room? What will the reflections look like?

[@sofia-zj5jp]

Braden Dredge oml wait that’s acctually a really good question

[@garyhayes5751]

it would be like the "Lilliput" story 😂

[@tasangerbakes]

H. Mmmmm

[@qorilla]

You would see the distortion. The room only looks normal from this vantage point. If you put a mirror on the wall and look through it, you essentially see a copy of the room from further away. It would be similar to walking away from the small hole and looking at the room from the side. You'd notice that the angles don't look right.

[@jenniferortiz9563]

Yeah what if

[@Miss_Darko]

I like the idea of a room like this being used for a psychological film of some kind. Not to make use of the big person/little person illusion, however. I just think it creates an interesting feel when the camera looks into the room and moves around a bit, you can tell something is a bit off about the room even if you can't quite put your finger on it. So a shot of the room with the camera moving very slowly across the room would create a nice, subtle off-kilter sensation. Would be cool.

[@Ostsol]

Cool! Didn't know there was a name for that kind of room. First saw one in "Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory" (1971).

[@LeprechaunJackson]

Somehow I feel that there should be a comedy sketch filmed in a bigger scale Ames room... people can walk in and out of the doors and they're suddenly bigger/smaller than the room until they walk to the other side

[@kyle8442]

Willy Wonka

[@joshsolomon4825]

The Simpsons when homer builds a house for Flanders

[@chairwood]

wow thats awsome. i learned trigonometry for the off chance that i decide to build the ames room in real life at some point. thats pretty useful

[@derekbenkovich5687]

Came to this video for information on Ames rooms, accidentally did it exactly ten years and a day after it uploaded

[@rosylemons]

Love this! Great video. Nice to see “behind the scenes”

[@samlupson8705]

Hey it's my physics teacher...

[@TheRoyalInstitution]

Tell Mr. Marmery that we say hi.

[@EGG-jl3fi]

Huh

[@jwm239]

...and even more convincing if a little bit more light is shone toward left corner....! A splendid construction!!

[@DaScribbler]

2:45 that little demo made me laugh.

[@TheMADGUY50]

Its hilarious xD

[@MelatiKamah]

cute xd

[@vivek28patil]

I'm unable to hear what that guy is speaking even at full volume!

[@aminmakhlouf1247]

Werent you born deaf tho?¿

[@AFRoSHEENT3ARCMICHAEL69]

So could something like this be used against us in some way?

[@offxcialminimaltm]

All people say in this video is “how?”

[@WilliamRussell314]

Hehe, nice to see the humans behind the moden RI Christmas lectures!

[@codypetersen9723]

idea make a caffe out of this

[@arunpr3540]

hey.. can you pls tell the exact dimensions of the room??

[@aryanghadge]

😂 You are definately Indian

[@Coldo3895]

oh my god !!! That's amazing !!!

[@hatunayas2243]

Hello, I am doing the same. Is the window in the floor, the door, the laminate equal in length?

[@johngaynor7819]

Wtfff so if we removed everything and he did the same walk his size wouldn’t change? What I’m seeing is my brain being tricked?

[@Olearius]

I have never seen the Ames room live and have a question with regard to this optical illusion:
Why does the visual system not detect the different distances through the accommodation?
Why does the depth cue of accommodation (eye focussing) not work here?
Thank’s in advance for any hint.

[@clayflix9569]

The illusion is usually viewed through a peephole rather than simply viewing it with both eyes. That’s also why this illusion works a lot better on camera. It relies on removing depth perception.

[@BigStrongBear]

That's what it is at the Willa Wonka Movie

[@iHammiiee]

Is there any chance you can upload the plans?

[@DaltonPepple]

0:38 WTF

[@TimpBizkit]

I'm sure Homer Simpson ended up with rooms like this when rebuilding Ned Flanders' house.

[@buggaman2009]

Why the floor need to be white and black

[@siennayay1]

WHAT THE UFCK

[@jwinkelm88]

UPLOAD THE PLANS!!!

[@mssong2939]

Verry nice

[@WilliamRussell314]

I meant modern, of course...

[@funkyfr35h]

666 thousand subscribers wow

[@onesyphorus]

film it from a slightly different angle n boom

[@remenraj]

Cool

[@EnergeticWaves]

well he doesn't look very royal to me.

[@marioyluigiatravesdela2dad702]

2:36

[@pettson3816]

So this is how they made the hobbits look so small in The Lord of The Rings.

[@hmk5812]

സാധനം കയ്യിലുണ്ടോ?

[@Rehman_Sir]

Ali mirza recommend you this 😀😀

[@Holy-Terrorist]

Holy-Terrorist:>*=* Wow, illusion!

[@deeppreshown8685]

Talk to much