A Chinese Magic Mirror, a polished bronze mirror dating back to the Han Dynasty, is an innovative type of photo booth that allows guests to take photos in front of a large, interactive mirror. The mirror is equipped with a camera and touch screen, and its creation involves leaving the mirror under moonlight overnight and sprinkling cold mugwort tea over it. This type of magic uses magnetic fluids, which requires time and patience to become strong.
In Chinese culture, mirrors are used for shadow work, self-awareness improvement, and facing demons. In ancient China, people believed that holding a magic mirror up to the moon would make one thin. Today, these mirrors are used as decorative items in Chinese households and project beams of light.
A Smart Mirror, also known as a Magic Mirror, is a monitor behind a double-sided mirror powered by a Raspberry Pi. The pattern on the back of the mirror is “embossed” onto the front when the surface is polished. Smart mirrors display an image on a screen mounted behind a two-way mirror that allows a small amount of light to pass through, allowing users to see the convex (outgoing) curves scatter light and make their areas of the reflection darker.
In summary, Chinese Magic Mirrors are a unique and interactive art form that has been used in various cultures and settings throughout history.
📹 The Magic (and Mystery) of Mirrors
How many times do you look in a mirror every day? Have you ever stopped to wonder how they actually work? Mirrors do strange …
📹 How Disney’s Magic Mirror Works | Enchanted Tales with Belle
A look at the magic mirror illusion from Disney’s Enchanted Tales with Belle attraction. Support Art of Engineering on Patreon: …
I dated an engineering student once when I lived in Claremont (Orlando. I lived 5 mins from Disney.) and she loved Disney more than the kids did. For her, Disney was a literal land of magic and mystery, of wonderous discoveries and beautiful fantasy. She would geek out over trams, rides, forced perspective and she would use a selfie stick she made that stretched to like 8 feet long to peek into construction zones with her gopro. Honestly, going to a theme park with her was like all of the best parts about going with a small child, and none of the bad parts. All of the joy and excitement and pure childlike wonder, and none of the whining or crying or begging for stuff. She loved waiting on lines.. she would use the time to investigate stuff, go through her camera and phone and look at photos and article clips and delete stuff to take another 5 million pictures of cool garbage cans or a wierd bolt she found. Instead of telling me all about the characters and cartoons like a kid, she would instead “Oooh oooh! Babe! Look! It’s goofy! Hi goofy, stand still. Ok. Babe, did you know under this suit he has a really cool fluid cooling vest system that pumps water through……” and on and on. “Oh! Wow! You hear that cool clicking noise that ride is making? Those are the safety latches on the…” “Oooooh! Look! Electromagnetic induction coils in the ground! That’s how the rides slow down so they don’t collide with eachother! Did you know that…” and so on… she would drop cool facts and fun tidbits all day long.
I got my family to go through Enchanted Tales With Belle for the first time on a whim. It was still a relatively new attraction at the time, so we thought it might be cool to see something we hadn’t before. The mirror effect was the most mind-boggling thing I’d ever experienced at a Disney park for a very long time!
My engineering side immediately came out when I was at the attraction and saw the mirror opening up to a door! However, even through my careful observation (while also being in awe), I could not figure out how did the mirror work and it bothered me a lot even after I left the attraction. I’m so happy to FINALLY know how it works! Thank you for your awesome articles! 🙂
One thing I was hoping you’d mention (sorry if you did and I missed it!) is that the bottom half of the wall (the part that moves) has marbling projected on it to make it look similar to the way the upper part of the wall is painted. When the wall moves, the marbling is static to help keep the illusion that the wall is not actually moving. I always felt like that was a key part of what helps to confuse the eye about what is actually happening here. Didn’t see anyone mention it in the comments so I wanted to point it out! (Source: I used to work there)
Great article, but here’s a suggestion. You constantly use a rising inflection in your voiceover. It makes you sound like you end all your sentences with a comma or question mark. This gives your narration a lot of tension, like you’re not finishing your thoughts. In your earlier articles, you didn’t do this, so I assume it’s to try to make yourself sound more like other articles like watchmojo. Be yourself, your articles are great! (I noticed you started doing this in your tower of terror article)
Hey Art of Engineering, could you do a article based on how the new ride at Galaxy’s Edge in Disney Hollywood Studio works? It’s a real masterpiece of immersive engineering, and I think it’d be a really interesting article! Btw great article, I’ve been looking to be an imagineer, and these articles have greatly made me more aware of everything the engineering word has to offer.
I’ve been to Disney World and saw this attraction back in 2018. and I’ve been wondering how it worked because I was totally blown away like it was actual Magic. First time I saw it my jaw hit the floor. I always considered myself wanted to know how they did it but that doesn’t spoil the magic. If anything it makes me even more appreciative of all the hard work gone into the this illusion. Thank you so much for today’s lesson
Man this wouldn’t be remotely possible without the combination of digital and practical effects, and I bet most kids think it’s legitimate magic (and a lot of adults will probably be baffled, I would be). Does make me wonder why so many people still rag on digital effects in film calling them lazy though -_- Edit: lazy and bad are not the same thing guys. There are tonnes of dedicated yet not too talented people in every discipline.
We got to experience a soft opening of New Fantasyland in the fall of 2012. Having heard nothing about the newly added attractions we were able to experience them (mine ride wasn’t ready yet) without any preconception. The mirror effect was so stunning and gave me a Disney magic experience normally reserved for the kids. Even when I went back through the attraction and was able to watch for it I couldn’t tell how they did it. Well done Imagineers!