Mesmerizing 3D Printed Zoetrope Sculptures

John Edmark, a designer and lecturer at Stanford, has reimagined the zoetrope with these cool 3D printed sculptures that animate when shot in sync with a strobe light. The spinning sculptures, which emulate Fibonacci sequences in nature, are filmed them using a strobe that flashed on the golden angle, 137.5 degrees. The results are trippy, with the objects’ appendages giving the illusion of movement. 

Explains Edmark:

These are 3-D printed sculptures designed to animate when spun under a strobe light. The placement of the appendages is determined by the same method nature uses in pinecones and sunflowers. The rotation speed is synchronized to the strobe so that one flash occurs every time the sculpture turns 137.5º—the golden angle. If you count the number of spirals on any of these sculptures you will find that they are always Fibonacci numbers.

For this video, rather than using a strobe, the camera was set to a very short shutter speed (1/4000 sec) in order to freeze the spinning sculpture.

Check out Edmark’s Instructables post for a breakdown of his process.