A small fixed angled mirror on a stick_

Tim Hutton - 2014-06-12 15:32:24+0000 - Updated: 2014-06-12 15:32:24+0000

A small fixed angled mirror on a stick above the canvas. When a point on the canvas is blocked from sight by the mirror then the reflected ray from the scene is always the same, whatever your eye position. That allows you to use the mirror as a tiny window to compare the scene against your painting. It's so simple, it's genius.

I'm going to go out and buy a dental mirror tonight!

via HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7872661

Read Tim Jenison's article about recreating the 17th century room in Vermeer's "The Music Lesson" http://boingboing.net/2014/06/10/vermeers-paintings-might-b...

Shared with: Public, Ivan DeWolf

+1'd by: Philip Horger, stefan jeffers, Mosh Jahán, Scott Vorthmann, Gitesh Khodiyar, Nick Holder

Reshared by: Nick Holder

Ivan DeWolf - 2014-06-12 17:05:34+0000

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/neolucida/neolucida-a-portable-camera-lucida-for-the-21st-ce

Ivan DeWolf - 2014-06-12 17:06:04+0000

http://neolucida.com/

Nick Holder - 2014-06-12 17:08:07+0000

That looks great, will have to watch that at some point.

Ivan DeWolf - 2014-06-12 17:09:37+0000

the movie is truly amazing. The idea is cool, Tim's dedication is incredible to witness, and the film is well made. hits on all cylinders.

Tim Hutton - 2014-06-12 17:22:04+0000

+Ivan DeWolf Thanks for those links! Not having used one I wonder if a mirror would work better than a prism at comparing colors, avoiding the blending issue.

Ivan DeWolf - 2014-06-12 17:28:49+0000

I think it's using total internal reflection in the prism, which is the same as a mirror. 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camera_lucida
at only $50, it's worth trying. You could always duck tape a mirror to it.....
(I chipped in on the kickstarter and got a coupla prisms, I haven't had 5 minutes to play with 'em yet....)

Tim Hutton - 2014-06-18 14:13:52+0000

I just tried with a dental mirror and an improvised clamp and the first thing to note is that the mirror has to be tiny - only a few mm across, else the same scene point can be reflected in different parts of the mirror and be drawn in different places.

Tim Hutton - 2015-08-28 11:24:05+0000 - Updated: 2015-08-28 11:24:17+0000

Just watched the film. He uses the edge of the mirror as the location of comparison, which makes a lot of sense. One question though: why does he need a lens at all - why not just look at the scene directly through the mirror?

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