If you stand at a specific angle and have a picture taken, the photograph will produce an impressive 3-D effect. Photos by Wu Ni / China Daily

You can be a part of the exhibits from a proper angle, Wu Ni teaches you how to pose.

Cannot get enough of 3-D movies? Try another way of experiencing the magical 3-D effect in the newly opened 3-D Fantastic Images House in Shanghai.

A total of 42 paintings are drawn on the walls of the elaborately built exhibition room, covering an area of about 500 square meters.

The paintings that come in sets of three or four pieces, form specific themes such as characters from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, images of Dunhuang grotto murals and evil monsters from Western legends.

If a visitor looks at the paintings with naked eyes straight on, he or she will not feel the 3-D effect.

But if one stands at a specific angle and have a picture taken, the photograph will produce an impressive 3-D effect.

"It involves using visual manipulation or optical illusions to create the art pieces," says Wang Xinyue, an employee of the house. "The use of colors, perspective techniques and lighting creates amazing 3-D effects."

Most of the paintings are giant pieces extending from the wall to the ground - making the final effect more vivid, he says.

There is a best-shot location for each painting, from which you can ensure the best 3-D effect.

And you don't need to bring any huge-sized professional cameras to get the most fantastic shot. A mobile phone or an iPad is enough to catch a good shot, Wang says.

Next to every painting is a reference picture with the recommended pose that you can follow. But visitors are also encouraged to design creative poses that interact with the paintings.

For example, one can pretend to huff the air stream that blew Marilyn Monroe's skirt, or pretend to hold a flashlight so that a fairy flies out of a mural.

For those who are fond of horror films, there are quite a few paintings that depict scary scenes: visitors can pose as if they are escaping from the bloody mouth of a giant snake, place their head on the tray of a devil, or burn by hell fires.

Zhang Jian, an employee of Shanghai Zhenyue Culture Media Co Ltd, says that he was attracted by the exhibition because it could help people like him to hatch creative ideas.

"These paintings are interesting. But the number and topics are limited," Zhang says. "I think they can lend more ideas from online games, hot social topics, popular films and TV dramas."

Wang says the house has a professional team to design and create the paintings, and will update the paintings based on responses from visitors.

He says the 3-D paintings they present originated from 3-D street art, which is often large-scale, breathtaking 2-D artworks drawn on the street that gives pedestrians a 3-D optical illusion from a certain angle.

The practice was transformed into an indoor art when it became popular in Asia, which focused more on the interaction between visitors and paintings.

"In China, there is great potential in this 3-D art industry. Our target visitors range from age 5 to 45, and children love them," Wang says.

The venue can house a maximum of 217 visitors. Try to avoid weekends because you may have to wait in long lines to have a photograph taken.

Contact the writer at wuni@chinadaily.com.cn.

(China Daily 07/07/2013 page15)