Dynamic Optical Illusions (Where nothing is as it seems.)

An intriguing selection of old, new and exclusive optical illusions.Many pictures are enhanced via the use of 3D and animation.

Even though a few of the optical illusions here are already popular, I have enhanced many of them by animating them in some way - rotating, squashing, switching, sliding - you name it. Also, many of the optical illusions on display I've actually made myself =) (including... The "Rotating Dot Whirlpool", "Vision distorter", "The multi-square slicer", "Tube of Illusion", "Glowing Core", "Wheel of Confusion", "Eclipse of Mars", "Vanishing Fluff", the "Bulb Swap" thing and to some extent - the "Optical Blind Spot", "Tri-lock", "Crooked Skyscraper", "Multi-cube", "Flickering Fog" and "Magic Zoomster").

At first, there doesn't seem anything unusual about this picture. I mean, it's just a bunch of diagonal lines and a slightly distorted square in the middle - right? Wrong.
Believe it or not, the 4 lines that make up the square are actually perfectly straight. In fact it /is/ a perfect square. For proof of this, the animation will swap between the two frames so you can see the square remains the same. Also check by loading the pic into your favourite art package.

Rotating dot whirlpool Wow! Try staring at this for more than 5 seconds without going crazy. Then try following it round! =) Curves constantly die out and then re-evolve as part of another curve.

Tri-curve

Each of the 3 curves shown below are sections of the circle.
Which would form the largest circle though?


(Answer at the bottom of the page.)

Skewed lines

All these tracks look as though they've come from a broken down railway track, but in actual fact, they are perfectly parallel! To prove they really are parallel, watch the small 'hairs' gradually disappear. You will see the lines as how you would expect them to be.

Primrose's field (right) This amazing illusion to the right was created by Akiyoshi Kitaoka. It already looks quite 'wavy', but try slowly moving the mouse cursor up and down the center of the image - and focus on the cursor. You should see the picture 'waving' in an incredible way. A Bulge Also created by Akiyoshi, the lines in this picture below are completely parallel would you believe?

What does this simple green signpost say?
Guess again.
Look at the bottom of
the page for the answer.

The glowing core Look into the center (white point) and stare for a while. How many colours can you see altogether in the object? You should see a purplish circle... and the 4 rotating 'wings' are tinted green. Make sure you always keep focused on the center. Once you've done this, read on... Are those four wings really green? Amazingly, they are exactly the same colour as the circle inside. Don't believe me? Well try following one of the wings round. You'll see that the colour matches the inner circle perfectly. NB. The faster the circle rotates, the better the illusion will work. Unfortunately, Explorer has great trouble displaying GIF animations faster than about 10 frames per second, so I suggest saving the animation and then using an external such as Irfanview.

What line is longer; from a to b, or from b to c? Amazingly, they're both the same length. This is perhaps the most extreme example of I have found that distorts perception of length.	Which semicircle is brighter - the left or the right half?	Can you see dark blotches on the white 'junctions' in between the corners of these black squares?	One of the most famous optical illusions, reproduced in colour!
Green Fade illusion Another illusion I created, or rather discovered accidentally, but it turns out it's a superior version of an illusion already discovered Cornsweet illusion, also known as Craik-O'Brien-Cornsweet illusion . You'll need to have your PC in 24 bit colour to see it properly. It looks as though the green bar above is getting lighter further to the right. But in actual fact, it's exactly the same shade on the far right as it is on the far left..... "Light Green" really does equal "Dark Green"!

Above: (The Multi-Square Slicer) (Once again, this looks more impressive using the Irfanview player... Right: (The Shimmering Dots) Do you find that the white dots shimmer? (illusion originally discovered by Elke Lingelbach)

The Eclipse of Mars See a new colour you've never seen before!! ...Well... at least never before on your monitor. This illusion has been voted the greatest out of all the optical illusions in the poll, and also appeared as illusion of the month at Amos Storkey's optical illusions page If the 'Glowing Core' didn't work for you, then this one surely will. The colour you are about to witness is actually true Cyan ... a colour that is heavily diluted on the vast majority of TVs and monitors (thanks to colour pollution). It's a pity one needs an optical illusion to demonstrate this, but at least you can see what you've been missing ;-) Anyway on with the illusion.... Stare at the white dot in the centre of the red circle. The longer - the better (two minutes and you'll get a much stronger effect). Always try to keep focused on the white dot. It'll be worth it. Soon after staring, you'll start to see a thin rim of light around the edge. Don't stop staring though yet! Wait another minute - keeping your head perfectly still. Once you've done this, very slowly - move your head backwards - making sure to keep your eyes focused on the dot at all times. The circle's rim will glow brilliantly with true Cyan! Keep on moving your head slowly backwards, and witness the Eclipse of Mars!... The blue/cyan colour chart to the right isn't part of the illusion, but there to demonstrate that the ultra cyan you have just seen is not in the monitor's color palette! It should be, but isn't. It's an amazing effect and something I created whilst researching the problem with monitors and their inability to display real cyan. These 2 colours (red and this exact shade of cyan) work better than any other colour combination for many reasons. Also visit Skytopia's very own Light and Colour trivia page which speaks about and demonstrates effects similar to this illusion. If you enjoyed the Eclipse of Mars, you're gonna LOVE the Eclipse of Titan (luminous green!) and Eclipse of Neptune (firey!) if you visit here .

Trilock (left) The Crooked Skyscraper. All of the red lines are completely parallel would you believe?

Tube of illusion OK, this one really belongs in the Skytopia 3D stereoscopic gallery, but I just couldn't resist. If you can cross your eyes, so that both pictures slide 'into' each other - to form a third, 3D image between them, the effect you will see is truly stunning! Try focusing on something in between you and the monitor to help see the illusion. If you're still stuck and you really want to see the illusion, If you can't manage to see this cross eyed version below, then try the parallel version here. For this parallel version you look behind the monitor and just like the cross eyed version - try to get the two tubes to match up. Unfortunately though, it needs to be made around four times as small due to the nature of parallel vision. On top of other fantastic NEW illusions, you can witness a whole ANIMATION of travelling through the tube. See here for more details.

Wheel of Confusion Which way is the wheel turning!? Focus on the red dots and follow them round... it appears to be rotating anti-clockwise. However, if you follow the yellow dots round instead, the whole wheel will be turning the other way! - clockwise!

	Magic Zoomster This cool optical illusion has been seen before, but I've spruced it up by adding colour, multiple layers, and making it bigger!! The idea is to focus on the dot in the centre and then move your head constantly towards and away from the monitor. You should see the circles rotate spookily! Press the F11 key in your browser to see the illusion at full screen!
Flickering Fog Based on an illusion by Akiyoshi Kitaoka Just like you did for the Eclipse of Mars, stare intently at the red dot in the center of the left block for about a couple of minutes. Once you've done this, look over to the center of the right block. It should act weird - by fading out and 'flickering'. If you move your head closer and further from the monitor (while focussing in the center), you should see some interesting interference effects too.
Checker Shadow Illusion This fantastic illusion was created by Edward Adelson. Incredibly, both A and B are the same shade of grey. These type of optical illusions usually just use simple contrast to fool the brain, but this illusion employs two effects. First of all, it plays tricks on the mind thanks to the dark shadow contrast around B - but the effect is reinforced by the bright white background contrast near A. With some 'training', it is possible to see both A and B as the same shade, but otherwise you might want to import the picture into a paint package to prove it to yourself.

Vanishing Fluff
Stare at the black dot for a minute (the longer the better), and watch the colored 'fluff' disappear!

Find your blind spot

Another popular one - and quite unnerving if you've never seen it before...
Close your left eye and just focus your right eye on the tiny cross. At some point the big circle will disappear as it crosses your 'blind spot'. If you can't see this effect, then try sitting closer/further from the screen.

Vision distorter (v2.0) Watch your very world around you distort! Seeing is believing..... or so they say. Well believe it no more, because as these animations will show, your very world is going to distort around you! Improved over time, this ranks as one of the more scary optical illusions. There are anims to make everything shrink, grow, and both! For this stunning illusion, you'll need to have flash installed, but in all probability, you most likely already have. Otherwise, you should download it, then you'll need to follow the instructions in the blue box-out to the right. INSTRUCTIONS: After clicking on the box of your choice, sit up fairly close to the monitor screen and stare into the center of the animation for a minute or 2 (the longer the better). Once you've done this, look at something else, and your vision will go haywire! Things will really look as though they're shrinking or growing! Grow! Grow + Shrink! You think those are cool? On top of other new illusions, we have 6 more types of stretch, including: SHRINK! SQUASH! THIN FA see them!

There's certainly something very ambiguous
about which way this is meant to be up...
(This intriguing "ambigram" was originally
created by John Langdon).

ANSWERS (to earlier illusions)

Tri-curve: They're all the same size

Sign says "I love Paris in the /the/ springtime".
The word "the" is repeated.