History of Morphing

THE CHINESE INVENTED IT!   LEONARDO LOVED IT!   SPIES SNATCHED IT UP!   WE ROCK IT!

Did you know that morphing is actually an ancient optical illusion trick? More than 500 years ago, about the same time Columbus was crossing the ocean, in China a special mirror device was created that came to be called an “an-a-morph-o-scope”.  The astonishing invention was then presented to Sultan Ahmed I of Constantinople, and from there it was brought to the attention of Leonardo da Vinci and others Italian Renaissance artists.

Leonardo da Vinci

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Love at first sight
In the 1550’s,  Renaissance artists were just figuring out how to create  the illusion of depth – 3-D – on a flat 2-D canvas. They were entranced by the anamorphoscope’s astonishing visual magic. Spies of the time were also smitten and they grabbed the concept as an excellent way to disguise dangerous messages. (Pssst … You need the right size mirror with the proper curve to decode the morphed images.)

Carefully guarded secrets
The secret method for creating the morphed drawings and the secret formula for making the bright glass mirrors (mirrors were all rather dark until then) were very well protected.  In fact, the formula for bright mirrors was so valuable to the glass makers of Italy, that stealing it or taking even a tiny piece of broken mirror was punishable by death.  Really!

The technology for making bright mirrors eventually developed in other countries, and for the next three centuries anamorphoscopes were the “ooh and ahh” toy in Europe and the Orient! 

We figured it out!
Over the years, anamorphosis became a forgotten, obscure science and art, but OOZ & OZ rediscovered its secrets and developed software to morph any image to share with you in timeless new Morph-O-Scope cartoon toys, activities, and party fun!  Awesome, unique, brain-tickling, celebrated, rockin’ award-winning challenges in perception, reasoning, and art.

Total OOZ & OZ!   That’s how we earned our name!

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