Since 2009, our family has made short videos to welcome the new year. These videos are great fun to create, often requiring days of discussion, planning, construction, shooting and editing. They are always typographical in nature, often with a visual twist or illusion. We have no budget to speak of—$10 is around as much as we have ever spent. Below is our latest effort, titled Perspective, shot on our dining table with a budget of around 7 dollars. Enjoy, and yes have a great 2017.

Perspective: Goodbye 2016, Welcome 2017
From Shreya, Soham, Smita & Punya

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Those interested can see videos from the years past by going to
Illusory New Year Videos.

How was this done? 

The fun part of creating these videos is constructing the illusion itself. In this particular case, the challenge was to create a set of 3-D shapes that would make sense even when rotated by 90-degrees. The trickiest one by far was the number “2” – which needed to read “2” after rotation. The “6” becoming a “7,” in comparison, was relatively easy.  In addition, the words “Goodbye” had to become “Welcome” at the top of the image. We printed the letters in pairs, on little wooden cubes and placing them in the right orientation. Here are some photos from the process, sketches, final designs and more…

Initial sketches

Final designs

Goodbye and Welcome – as seen from different points of view

The final setup