Blooms 2, Hypnotizing 3D Printed Sculptures That Appear to Morph While Spinning Under Strobe Lights

In 2015, we wrote about “Blooms“, artist John Edmark‘s mesmerizing 3D sculptures that became animated when spun under a strobe light. Edmark has since followed up on this project with a new set of 3D sculptures entitled “Blooms 2” that also appear to magically morph under the same conditions. Edmark created the sculptures while at the Pier 9 Artists in Residence program at Autodesk in San Francisco.

Unlike a 3D zoetrope, which animates a sequence of small changes to objects, a bloom animates as a single self-contained sculpture. The bloom’s animation effect is achieved by progressive rotations of the golden ratio, phi (?), the same ratio that nature employs to generate the spiral patterns we see in pinecones and sunflowers. The rotational speed and strobe rate of the bloom are synchronized so that one flash occurs every time the bloom turns 137.5º (the angular version of phi).