|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Mirage® is a Special Gift — for a Special Person — for a Special Occasion!
Classrooms Come Alive with Compelling 3-D Optical Illusions
|
Teaching Philosophy Ask the Chairman of Trinity's Philosophy Department, Richard Lee, what philosophy is and he will respond that it is the "process of making the familiar strange – and the strange familiar." Ask what he mans by that, and he will very likely smile, turn to his desk, and open a drawer. There, amidst the paper clips and manila folders, is a box containing a black, convex disk with what looks like a stainless steel tack on top. Rotating the disk so as to rotate the tack, he'll then ask you what you see. If you say that you see a stainless steel tack rotating on a black, convex disk, he'll ask you to pick up the tack, which may seem simple – until you try. As your fingers close around it, it dissolves just as surely as a handful of light. If that tack seemed to be there, it was only courtesy of several well-placed mirrors. And just as tacks aren't always where we think, things aren't always what they seem. TRINITY COLLEGE, Hartford, Connecticut
 A MATRIX ANALYSIS of the "MIRAGE" OPTICAL-ILLUSION TOY Sriya Adhya, John Noe and Harold Metcalf, Sriya's Analysis:
 Newspaper report of young Bill Wright of West Virginia, USA who used a Mirage® 3-D Hologram Maker to win in Science Fair Fifth grader Bill Wright from Meadows Elementary School in Huntington, WV, won the school Social Studies Fair in the Psychology category with his project titled "You Won't Believe Your Eyes" and advanced to the Cabell County Social Studies Fair. After winning at the county level, Bill advanced to the State Competition in Charleston, WV on April 22, 2005. To enhance his project for the tough competition at the state level, Bill added an Opti-Gone Mirage® to his project and built a model to demonstrate how the light reflection made the object rise above the surface. He also conducted an email interview with Michael Levin of Opti-Gone International about the Mirage® and added this interview and his findings to his abstract on optical illusions and how your eyes can deceive you. The competition was fierce, and Bill was called back for a second interview with one other project since there can be no ties at the state level. At the awards ceremony "You Can't Believe Your Eyes" won Second Place for the State in the Psychology Category.
The Mirage® 3-D Hologram Maker is a "Keeper" as a Promotional Item
Add to Your Wizardry with Mirage® Magic!
Mirage® Mania in the Media |
Dalai Lama marvels at Mirage® while visiting Switzerland. |
|
 |
LEXINGTON-HERALD-LEADER Mirage relies on light to create optical illusionIt's amusing to see most people's reaction of the desktop optical illusion known as Mirage. At first, they reach out to touch the illusion. But when their fingers pass through the image, they jerk back quickly, as though they've been burned. Then, with the sheepish expression of one who has been fooled, they demand to know the secret. Though it has been on the market for 15 years, the Mirage continues to prompt a head-scratching curiosity among those encountering it for the first time. I've seen pictures of the Mirage in publications like the Edmund Scientific catalog, but one-dimensional photography doesn't convey what is a startling effect. The device resembles two automobile headlight reflectors stacked nose to nose with a hole in the center. It's also been described as looking like a covered wok. Most anything small and flat - coins, a paper clip, a breath mint, that kind of thing - placed at the base of the hole seems to float magically in midair above the Mirage's concave surface. The effect can't be seen at every angle. But when the right angle is found, the effect is viewable from 360 degrees. The Mirage's magic is an example of "real imagery" in which light rays reflected inside precisely ground concave mirrors cross to create something that isn't really there. A professor at Ventura College in California has used the mirage as an example of the practical application of mathematics. "This is an effect that doesn't occur naturally. It's a peculiar facet of optics that is rarely encountered," said Michael Levin of Chatsworth, Calif. Levin's company, Opti-Gone International, makes and sells the Mirage, which was discovered by accident several years ago. "It's been a difficult product to manufacture, and sales have had their ups and downs," he said. "But this is the best year we've ever had, since it's our first year for breaking into the market in Japan, where people are crazy about this thing." Levin said that a janitor working in a storeroom in the physics department at the University of California in Santa Barbara was cleaning around a stack of search-light reflectors when he noticed something strange: The "dust" he was dusting around the reflectors wasn't there. The janitor summoned a nearby physics professor. "One thing led to another, and the professor decided to go into business, making these things in partnership with the maintenance man," Levin said. "They had a factory that made them from glass." Levin eventually learned of the product, bought the rights to it, changed the glass parts to acrylics, and now owns the patent. Levin has been told that President Bush has been among Mirage buyers. "He supposedly bought one from Al's Magic Shop in Washington, D.C., back in the 1980s as a present for then-President Reagan, and I'm told it sat on his desk in the Oval Officer for a time," Levin said. The biggest Mirage was custom-built by Levin's company for an effect in a pavilion display at Disneyland in California. He builds the giant models by special order, mostly for museums and trade show applications. Mirage is sold directly from the distributor for $45, which includes shipping. |
 |
What People Are Saying About Mirage®
 |
The Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center is in Hutchinson, Kansas Our gift store has been selling the Mirage® for over ten years and it is still a top seller. It is fun to see the reaction on our customers faces when they see the Mirage® for the first time. It makes everyone smile from the oldest to the youngest. We have two displays so that everyone will get a chance to see it. The Mirage® sells itself and many of our customers will call us and order more for family and friends. It's a guarantee sell and I can't imagine our gift store without it. It's been a pleasure working with Opti-Gone. - Phyllis Cole |
||||||||
|
|
Texas Man Still Shows Off Mirage® Bought in 1977 The letter below from Jack Dunn, of New Caney, Texas, is perhaps the greatest testimonial I could ever hope to receive. When Mr. Dunn called Opti-Gone to inquire if we still made Mirages, I got to chatting. When he related his delight with Mirage® and how long he had owned one, I asked if he would be good enough to send me a letter allowing me to share his experience with others. It is quoted in full, below: February 9, 2002 Dear Michael: I am the proud owner of one of your Mirage® devices which was purchased in late 1977. I have really enjoyed the Mirage® and amazed many people with the illusions it creates. Everyone that I show it to tries to touch the image of the objects and are really surprised when they grab empty space. My Mirage® is in perfect condition even though it is nearly 25 years old. I still have the original box and instructions and still get a kick out of playing with it myself, besides being able to amuse other folks with it. I have got my money's worth many times over and will still enjoy the Mirage® for years to come. I leave the Mirage® on my desk by my computer to have it handy when I have a visitor. I also take it to a "crackerbarrel" store where I hang out to demonstrate it to cronies of mine. Thanks for a lot of fun! Sincerely, Jack M. Dunn |
||||||||
  |
Nearly 4 years ago, in Cadiz, Kentucky my friend, Joyce, who painted pictures in my antique shop on Saturdays, brought in her "Mirage®" she had purchased in the Denver Airport, years ago. During our Annual Country Ham Festival that year, everyone enjoyed having fun with "Mirage®", especially my husband and I! It was decided we needed to find out if "Mirage®" was still being made. Many of our customers asked to buy Joyce's "Mirage®", so we were so happy to find Mike and his brilliant family of Mirage Makers still in business. Now... "Mirage®" is one of our most popular "Loose Treasures", here in Cadiz, Kentucky. When customers come into our store we enjoy welcoming them with "Mirage®" and a little story about how it came be a part of "Hog Heaven", here in Cadiz, Kentucky. "Mirage®" never seems to grow older. It adds to the memories "floating" around so freely and helps to make a few new ones in the process. Not everyone buys "Mirage®", but everyone smiles when they experience the amazement of not having "Little Baby Bud" there when they reach for him. This is the name we have given our display pig inside the mirrored sphere. Joyce painted a little rose bud on its forehead for us, to match "Mother Rosebud" which is a big cement pig in front of our store. Cadiz, Kentucky has painted pigs on the sidewalks and yards, they all have names and stories, so "Mirage®" fits right in and feels right at home here with us! |
||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
 |
- Joe Slevcove, Discover Nature, Seaport Village, San Diego, CA |
||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
 |
|
||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
|
I filled a phone order from a BNL retiree who wanted to send some gifts to her granddaughter in another state for her birthday. I highly recommended the Mirage® maker that we have in our BNL store, along with some pens and such. Well, the phone call I just received was just gushing with praise for the Mirage maker! Her daughter & granddaughter LOVE it. I'm really glad we carry them! Regards, Christine B. Carter, CMP |
|||||||||
|
|
Secrets of Real Images and Holograms
|
Each Mirage® you display is a scientific phenomenon called a three-dimensional real image. For decades, students often first heard of them in science labs, but very few actually saw one. The most popular demonstration, when available, was a single parabolic mirror setup that looked something like this: To reveal only the image and not the object - and to conceal the fact that you were looking into a mirror - a box was necessary to hide the object and its illumination. Primitive, yet impressive, this real image could be viewed from only one direction. Today, many educators and scientists are using Mirage® to demonstrate real images. A precision optical instrument, Mirage® has the advantage of functioning in ambient light, can be viewed from 360 degrees, and is certainly more attractive. A startling surprise for the senses. Indeed, Mirage® is capable of fooling anyone. Even with nothing in it, people are amazed when they touch the mirrored circle...their fingers go right through it. And when you place an object inside, nothing about the appearance of Mirage® will suggest that the object is not actually resting where they see it, before their eyes - until grasping and groping fingers prove there's nothing there but thin air! You'll also notice that objects which are reversed in a single mirror are reversed back again in your Mirage®, so that the illusion is "right reading," virtually identical to the original. Achieving this breakthrough in three-dimensional real imagery requires critical manufacturing tolerances. The basic principal, however, is simple. VIRTUAL IMAGES VS. REAL IMAGESMore or less than meets the eye. Two types of images exist in nature: real and virtual. A real image is one in which light rays actually come from the image. In a virtual image, they appear to come from the reflected image - but do not. In a flat mirror, for example, the virtual image of an object is behind, or "inside" the mirror, but light rays do not emanate form there. Real images form outside the system, where emerging light rays cross and are "caught"...inside camera...on a screen...or in a Mirage®. All concave mirrors can produce real images under certain circumstances. Conditions must be rigidly maintained, however, or the illusion fails to appear. Observe the path of light rays, below, as they construct a three-dimensional image of a marble: |
|
Optical Illusions vs. Mirage® Phenomenon
In the simplest terms an optical Illusion is anything that fools one’s eyes and mind into a false perception of reality. There are different types of optical Illusions, most of which are based upon precise drawings, photographs, or unusual solid objects. Additionally there is an entire technology we know as holograms, which are film-based illusions. And then there is Mirage®. Mirage® differs from all other kinds of optical Illusions in that the image produced is without question identical to a solid object but that object can be changed in just seconds without any technical training whatever. The secret to the Mirage technology is its creation of what is called in optics a “real image.” Such images are perceived by the viewer to exist in three-dimensional space, as contrasted with a “virtual image” that we see when looking into a conventional mirror. Mirage® uses two opposed parabolic mirrors of a patented design to create its magic, and offers the most compelling optical Illusion of any technology existing today. As you can see from the adjacent samples of different types of optical illusions they vary, however none begins to approach the sheer magic and reality of the Mirage® technology. Because the best that your computer screen can do is to approximate the 3D look of the Mirage® image, it can never be fully appreciated unless actually experienced in person. We hope that you will order one and see for yourself.
Actual photo as seen by the human eye. |
An optical illusion. The square A is exactly the same shade of gray as square B.
A scintillating grid illusion. Shape, position, colour, and 3D contrast converge to produce the illusion of black dots at the intersections.
Reversible figures and vase.
Floor tiles at the Basilica of St. John Lateran in Rome. The pattern creates an illusion of three-dimensional boxes.
Ponzo Illusion |
|
Meet Opti-Gone International
|
"We have been making Mirages since 1977, and the market really took off by 1990. Since then we have continued our expansion into a wider domestic market, as well as a growing international customer base. Now many years later, I find Opti-Gone products selling to a second generation of buyers who tell me they want a Mirage® because 'their father had one when they were little.' So we keep right on making Mirages!" - Michael Levin, Founder and President, Opti-Gone International Since its inception Mirage has always been manufactured in the United States. As you can imagine I pay more than double the cost of Asian manufacturing, but being much closer to the source of production has enabled Opti-Gone International to maintain its high standards of quality. |
 Shown above is a view from Opti-Gone International's world headquarters in Ojai, California - a quiet little artist's community nestled within a citrus-growing valley - only 14 miles from the Pacific Ocean. |
|
For More Information
|
For reseller closest to you, provide your CITY, STATE and COUNTRY. Click button below to address an email to us. phone (805) 640-9595
Opti-Gone International |
|
|
|
|
|
