Awesome Infographics

The Sydney Opera House is one of the most recognizable buildings on the planet, but most of us have only ever seen its outside. 3D illustrator Jared Owen shows off a precise digital model of Jørn Utzon’s architectural masterpiece, then takes us underneath its sail-shaped exterior to look at its structural engineering, concert hall, and other performance spaces.

Getting off the ground in an airplane takes a reasonable amount of speed. Still, there’s a substantial difference in each plane’s speed potential. This fascinating video from Red Side compares the speeds of all kinds of aircraft, from The Wright Brothers’ famed flyer to Mach-3.4 military jets like the SR-71 Blackbird and NASA’s rocket-powered experimental X-43.

With the advent of computers, typewriters became pretty much obsolete. But it’s still amazing to see the incredible engineering that went into this once ubiquitous office equipment. Jake from Animagraffs takes us deep into the inner workings of a mechanical typewriter using a detailed 3D model of an early 20th-century Underwood.

The physics of Star Wars aren’t the same as our reality, so you have to take this video from RED SIDE with a grain of salt. But they did their best to convert science fiction to reality and calculate the relative speeds of various vehicles and spacecraft. Place your bets now on the fastest way to travel in a galaxy far, far away.

If you’ve ever looked through the case back of a mechanical watch, you know they can be incredibly complicated inside. Jake from Animagraffs created this detailed 3D animation which shows how all of those intricate gears, axles, springs, and dials work together to accurately tell time without batteries or electronics.

Except for Ant-Man, most Marvel characters appear in a consistent size. Global Data put together this neat 3D infographic to help understand the relative sizes of Marvel’s superheroes and villains to show us just how much bigger Galactus and Living Tribunal are than everyone else.

Over the eons, animals have appeared in all shapes and sizes – from tiny tardigrades to building-sized dinosaurs. Global Data created this video to illustrate the relative sizes of some of Earth’s many creatures, including both thriving and extinct species. The Giant Hairy Scorpion wins our award for best animal name.

There are lots of faster ways of getting around than walking or running. Red Side put together this animated infographic that compares the speeds of various means of transportation, from bicycles to bullet trains to satellites in orbit. The sound effects enhance the experience, so headphones are recommended.

Scientists estimate that roughly 20 quadrillion ants are marching around the planet. Then they said visualizing them all was “unimaginable. VFX artist Wren from Corridor accepted that challenge and came up with a way to generate a massive virtual ant pile. The 2.5 million ants-per-person ratio is gonna keep us up at night.

MetaBallStudios is known for its infographic-style comparison videos. This time they took a slightly different approach, showing off the relative heights of different cliffs by driving a simulated car off of each one and watching how long it took to fall all the way to the bottom.

Jared Owen has made some pretty amazing 3D illustrations to teach us how things work, but his digital model of the Titanic is the most awe-inspiring yet. This incredible video shows us virtually every detail of the ill-fated ship from the outside and in – deck-by-deck, and part-by-part.

Most cars sold these days have an automatic transmission. But it’s hard to beat a manual gearbox and its three-pedal setup when it comes to driver engagement. Jake O’Neill from Animagraphs created this 3D animation that shows us how the clutch, gears, and shifter work in concert to send power to the drivetrain.

VCRs might be obsolete technology, but they still featured some pretty smart engineering. That’s why illustrator and educator Jared Owen put together this in-depth look at the mechanisms that lie behind the VHS cassette flap. It’s cool to see how VCRs loaded and unloaded tapes without tangling them… most of the time.

Jake O’Neal from Animagraffs creates detailed see-through 3D illustrations which show how things work. In this video, he walks us through the inner workings of a typical fire engine for a look at how firefighters ride inside the truck, its lights and sirens, its powerful water-pumping system, and onboard safety gear.

Earth gets hit by small meteorites all the time, but most full-size asteroids burn up into smaller pieces when they hit our atmosphere. Still, they do make it through now and then, causing serious damage. This video from MetaBallStudios estimates the relative destructive power of asteroids based on their size and mass.

We keep thinking MetaBallStudios is going to run out of things to compare the sizes of. But as long as they keep coming up with new videos, we’ll keep posting them. This time, we’ve got a look at the relative sizes of piloted Mecha robots, from The LEGO Movie’s tiny Construct-o-Mech to the mighty Super Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann.