How it works
This illusion is a sculpture of small cubes floating over a plate. Look at it straight from the front, and each row of the painting is the front face of the nearest cube in that row. Look straight down, and each square of the QR code is the top of the highest cube in that column. The generator solves both at once: every row of the painting and every dark square of the code gets a cube, and each cube is colored twice, with the painting on its sides and the code on its top.
Between the two views the sculpture looks like a cloud of colored confetti, which is what makes the reveal fun to watch.
Tips for a striking illusion
- Pick a picture with strong shapes and colors: The Great Wave, The Starry Night and the synthwave sunset read well even at Chunky detail.
- Ultra detail builds each square of the code from 3 × 3 cubes, which triples the painting’s resolution.
- Keep the code colors dark on light (dark blue on pale blue here): the painting’s colors never affect the scan.
- The PNG download saves whatever view is on screen, so you can save the painting and the code as two images.