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Design

Man Turns Bike Shadow into a Galloping Elephant

A Swiss graphic designer hacked his bike so it now throws an elephant silhouette when he rides.

When is a bicycle an elephant? Well, when it's been modded using a speedometer, a projector, a car battery, an iPad mini, and openFrameworks software. That's what Swiss coder and graphic designer Michael Flückiger did, turning the humdrum shadow of his moving bike into a walking elephant.

As he peddles along at night the bike "casts" an elephant's silhouette onto buildings running parallel to him, giving anyone opposite glancing out their window a quick shock, no doubt. Flückiger calls it "shadowmodification."

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The projector is strapped onto the back of the bike, giving the illusion of the shadow, with the speed of the bike affecting the animation. At one point the elephant appears to be galloping along at quite a speed.

It makes you think there could be a whole market out there for elaborate, bike-based shadow projections.

Image via @miflck

GIFs by author

Click here to visit Michael Flückiger's website.

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