The Spinning Silhouette Optical Illusion
25 07 20072D optical illusions are dim-a-dozen. However, have you seen a moving 3D one before? Here’s one as seen on Maniac World.
Is the woman in the picture spinning in a clockwise or anti-clockwise direction?
very ugly ballet dancing
Whichever direction you see it spinning, try looking at the picture a bit longer - moving your eyes from the shadow to the black woman, and then back to the shadow again, continuously repeating the process.
After a short while… the direction will change! (At least it did for me)
Amazing hor? Anyone knows the trick behind this optical illusion?
Technorati Tags: opticial illusion, 3D optical illusion, spinning silhouette, singapore, alvinology, magic trick, eye test
Damn, I’m not even completely awake yet ask me to see ugly spinning ballerinas…
I don’t think it’s an optical illusion. The direction she is spinning in indeed changes after a while and you don’t even notice it ‘cos your eyes get bored and distracted and she changes direction just as you blink.
At least that’s what I think. Any scientist here care to clarify if there is some phenomenon at work here?
it just quickly changed when both legs form up into one patch of shadow.
i cannot see the change!!! i’ve been staring at it for 15min and she’s still spinning anti-clockwise. my sis saw the ballet dance change direction briefly but i still cannot see it.
and i’ve having a headache now… wahaha~
I agree with anti alvin that it does not change. But i think that it is oscillating back and forth so it can assume both directions.
Am not sure though. Anyone else cares to clarify?
OMG. i think i’m BLIND LA! i cant see it change!
It’s actually not fake. The key is: you do not know if she is facing towards you or away from you so when she’s moving from away to left she might as well has moved from towards to left, i.e. the illusion of change. The key is the lack of depth.
I figured this out after opening the gif in an edit program :).
Whoas I am impressed. But I actually still don’t quite get you… what’s the difference btw “moving from away to left” and “moved from towards to left”?
for those who cannot see , try to look at the line “After a short while… the direction will change! (At least it did for me)”…stare a bit longer and it will change directions.
I see it mostly spinning to the left, with the occasional sudden jerk back to the right ..
she spins on one leg, then she spins on the other. wake up, you dolts.
This is MY theory:
It’s just a shadow. You can’t really tell if the image is facing forward or backward, but since we are used to people looking at us, our first impression is that the dancer is looking at us. The dancer’s leg is moving left, stops, right, stops etc. If on the split-second your eyes saw the image, the dancer’s leg was moving left - you would think that she was spinning clockwise. If it was moving right - you would think that she was spinning counter-clockwise. From that point, your brain had already decided which direction the dancer was spinning and it would be very difficult to change your mind without looking away. It is about the exact split-second your eyes first saw the image.
How’s my theory?
as I watched it I noticed a subtle blur that happened just at the point when the direction changed. I hoped it up in Adobe and looked at the 34 layers of animated photos and indeed as foobar mentions and I also noticed it simply changed the picture to have the other foot down and the other arm raised, actually it looks like it does a mirror image switch. then with the opposite leg raised and it is a 2d picture rotating it appears to switch directions
http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/7246/spinningredonery3.gif
Have a look at that and reconsider what you’re saying
The image itself has no depth or shading, so the brain is forced to complete the direction of its spin. If you stop it, you can see that the leg, just as it crosses over, can be percieved as infront or behind the balerina. This is the same with the upper body. Theres some speculation that the direction it is going is the side of the brain you most prefer using (right or left). Nevertheless, I doubt this is true, because if you were to close one eye, there should be a bias in how you see it rotate. The left eye sends info to the right brain, and therefore should have a bias towards spinning clockwise. Ive tried it, and it doesnt.
Wah, so many people are still discussing about this!
The rotating direction can be controlled. Check it out under my website.
http://www.wefooleffect.com/WFE%20on%20optical%20illusion%20with%20the%20truth.htm
I’d like to respond to the anonymous poster’s statement: “Theres some speculation that the direction it is going is the side of the brain you most prefer using (right or left). Nevertheless, I doubt this is true, because if you were to close one eye, there should be a bias in how you see it rotate. The left eye sends info to the right brain, and therefore should have a bias towards spinning clockwise.”
Actually, this is incorrect. I think this illustration will help clarify…
http://fourier.eng.hmc.edu/e180/handouts/eye/node4.html
The trick is to scroll your window down so that you can only see below her knees. When you do this, the perceived direction changes take place much easier. Everyone says to stare at the shadow and then back at the figure, but I find staring at the lower portion of her legs and feet work the best.
for me, she spins clockwise…but if I stare at her long enough, she starts spinning counter clockwise…it’s so wierd
It will be much easier to control rotation if move down the screen so the head is left alone, then you will see it turn right or left as you wish. The trick? just imagine is comming in the oposite direction and it will follow your imagination Why? because right or left shows the same kind of image, the rotation depends if you are in front or behind the figure so mentally change positions and it will be turning in the other direction.
wow, this thread is still drawing comments after so long!
Keep it up guys! Mystery will be solved eventually.
i agree with foobar..
shes on different legs at different times
i understand all that giberish about lack of depth blah blah blah, but im pretty sure that they are two seperate images that are changed subtley.
hey im not genius and i could be wrong thats just the way i see it
cleary no genius, i cant even spell!!
i can see it change really easily. i just focus on the shadow and just briefly look at the dancer out of the corner of my eye, then i can see it change. that site that Tokuwuwoh suggested is really interesting. too much to read though!! but yeah, i think that part of the illusion is to focus on whether her leg is going behind or in front of the other one. so recite “behind, in front, behind, infront” or “infront, behind, in front, behind” and sort of trace it with your finger. this used to work for me, until i realised the short cut of just looking at the shadow. but if u do look really hard, u can see it when she changes legs.
The direction that the ballarina is turning changes depending on which part of your brain is taking in the image. Different parts of your brain take in images differently so the directions changes everytime you switch parts.