Nice, a niche topic I am in on. I've experimented with a few of these materials for photography.<p>One thing that is good to know is that the extreme darkness you typically see in demonstration videos where any sense of depth disappears, is not true to life.<p>Even indoors, with plain daylight shining inwards, and judging the object with your own eyes, will not give the effect. You'll perceive it as gray and extremely matte.<p>The difference can be explained by Youtubers picking favorable light conditions, but also because the camera capturing said video tends to have a smaller dynamic range compared to your own eyes. I believe it has been experimentally established that human beings can detect even a single photon:<p><a href="https://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-human-eye-photon-20160719-snap-story.html" rel="nofollow">https://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-human-e...</a><p>So don't expect full magic. Fun can still be had though, like half-magic. I have a background painted with a very dark paint (more on the brand in a minute) with inside of it a figure painted with the same paint. With artificial lighting in my office, you can't see the figure at all. When picking up the figure, even directly looking at it won't give away any sense of depth.<p>Anyway, the paint I use is Musou Black, which is claimed to be darker than Black 2.0 or 3.0:<p><a href="https://www.ko-pro.black/product/musou-black-paint/" rel="nofollow">https://www.ko-pro.black/product/musou-black-paint/</a><p>Their darkness is compared by their maximum light absorption rate, supposedly Musou has the highest: 99.4%. Do know that actual absorption depends on your method of painting. Ideally, you thinly spray paint several individual layers for maximum effect.<p>This same company (I promise I don't work for them) has a material I find far more intriguing. It's called Fineshut Pro.<p>Whereas the paints you can see as organic, meaning the way you apply it matters, the sheet is "pre-engineered". In the real world, the difference is huge. In particular the sheet also has the full darkness effect in unfavorable light conditions (direct daylight). However, only when light hits at a particular angle.