Introduction: See Through Shirt

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About: Hi! I'm Christopher, and I make all kinds of cool stuff. I mostly focus on upcycling materials (see Cardboard Box Furniture), making complex projects more accessible (see Cloisonne Tea Tray), and making cultur…

There's been tons of science done on invisibility, to the point that there's real invisibility cloaks!

I was inspired by Mark Rober's halloween costumes to make a costume that makes a chunk of your torso invisible, making it appear like there's a hole in your body.

Supplies

  1. Old hoodie + Old shirt/fabric, preferably of the same color
  2. Two iPads/tablets
  3. Scissors, needle, thread, safety pines
  4. Chalk or tape

Step 1: Mark Hoodie

Using masking tape or chalk, mark off the area where the iPad will be placed. Mark off the corresponding spot on the back side of the hoodie as well.

Step 2: Cut Holes

Cut a ragged hole within the taped/chalked area. Make sure that the hole size is smaller than the screen size. Additionally, make sure to not cut too tall of a hole, as the weight of the iPad will stretch the hole vertically.

Keep the pieces that you cut off, in case you need to attach them back on later to cover up parts of the iPad.

Step 3: Cut Cloth for Pockets

Cut out a rectangle from the old clothes that is slightly bigger than the iPad. This should get you 4 rectangles, allowing you to double-layer the pockets.

Step 4: Sew Pockets

Turn the hoodie inside out to make the sewing easier.

If needed, place a cardboard spacer inside of the hoodie to stop you from sewing the front and back sides of the hoodie together.

Sew all but the top edge of the pocket to the hoodie, so it covers the hole. This way, you can drop the iPad into the pocket and the screen will be visible.

Repeat on the back side.

Step 5: Set Up the Magic

Get both iPads to join a Zoom meeting, Google Meeting, or some other online conference tool. Make sure both devices use their front camera, and that the camera isn't blocked. Adjust the settings on each device so that only the other device's camera is visible.

Slide the iPads into the front/pack pockets, and test!

Step 6: Future Steps

This costume still has some issues.

If someone is looking at the screen at a skewed angle, they won't see the correct image. One way to correct this is to have multiple screens forming bumps (just like 3D bookmarks), but aside from the cost and weight issues, this would also flip the images horizontally for anyone who can see multiple screens. And that isn't even taking into account the third dimension (perspectives of shorter and taller people).

Of course, there's always the lazy solution of adding a tube-shaped protrusion to the costume so people can't see the screen from a skewed angle.

Additionally, the perspective is all wrong: a viewer will see the perspective if they were standing a distance forward, making closer objects appear larger in proportion to farther objects than they should. This isn't as noticeable in the See Through Shirt because the iPad's screen size results makes everything too small, like it would be if you zoomed out.

I'm not sure how to properly correct all of these issues. If anyone has any ideas on how to fix them, feel free to comment OR try to build it yourself!