What if a flat painting could feel alive—immersed in a tiny, self-contained 3D world? By simulating the effect of convex, domed, button-shaped cabochons (smooth, round gem-like covers often used in Victorian-era art), AI turns ordinary paintings into optical illusions.
Each curve of the glass extends and bends, forming brushstrokes and details into hypertactile shapes. The result isn’t just depth. It’s a self-contained reality where the images feel connected and expansive, inviting the viewer to peer into the small world inside.
Magnification effect
I first noticed this quiet magic while examining a small Victorian cabochon of a horse portrait. The animal’s head was raised properly within the arc.
Glass didn’t just protect the image. It gave him presence. Each brush stroke begins to bend and swell as the light follows the shape of the dome, intensifying texture and local features. The horse was no longer sitting flat. It spun, lifted right up, as if held in suspension.
Victorian miniaturists understood this easily. Under a cabochon, even the smallest portrait or scene can appear sculpted, as if held in liquid light. Reproducing this technique…