Comments on: You think it's moving but it's not.

You think it's moving but it's not.

xmutex — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 12:17:28 -0800

You think it's moving but it's not.

By: dabitch

dabitch — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 12:22:24 -0800

trippy!

By: blueshammer

blueshammer — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 12:24:28 -0800

[commence gibbering]

By: Hildago

Hildago — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 12:28:38 -0800

"Hello, Dell customer support, how may I help you?" "How does my computer know which one I'm looking at so as to make it stop turning?" "WHY IS EVERYBODY ASKING THAT TODAY?!"

By: quonsar

quonsar — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 12:31:36 -0800

You think it's moving but it's not. yes it is.

By: Salmonberry

Salmonberry — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 12:33:13 -0800

Whoa. Whooooaaaaa. Very cool. And I'm a little freaked out now.

By: xmutex

xmutex — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 12:39:27 -0800

yes it is. liar.

By: tommasz

tommasz — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 12:40:29 -0800

Maybe there's nanotech in my monitor now, too.

By: soyjoy

soyjoy — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 12:43:34 -0800

I thought it was there, but it's not.

By: Johnny Assay

Johnny Assay — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 12:44:26 -0800

Ow, my brain!

By: Songdog

Songdog — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 12:45:29 -0800

All right. How does it work? My first guessing is that it has to do with the normal involuntary movements of the eye, but maybe it's a brain thing. Does anyone know?

By: Witty

Witty — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 12:49:47 -0800

Must kill the Queen!

By: zeoslap

zeoslap — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 12:52:07 -0800

i think it has something to do with pikes..

By: pjgulliver

pjgulliver — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 12:52:18 -0800

That's awesome

By: Orange Goblin

Orange Goblin — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 12:52:25 -0800

I would guess its to do with the way the peripheral of your eye handles contrasting colour, but I have no idea. Whatever, its disgustingly cool.

By: i_cola

i_cola — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 12:54:14 -0800

The Queen is Dead

By: y6y6y6

y6y6y6 — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 12:55:17 -0800

Still the best illusion ever. In fact even if I have the image in Photoshop where I can verify the colors are the same, I still can't convince my brain it's true.

By: letitrain

letitrain — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 12:56:10 -0800

I searched for "raar effect," but I think the Dutch word raar means "strange."

By: jonmc

jonmc — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 12:57:14 -0800

**sound of bongwater bubbling** I saw God, dude...

By: fvw

fvw — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 12:59:49 -0800

letitrain: Yeah, it does. Also available in green by the way (don't let the url fool you, SFW)

By: quonsar

quonsar — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 13:05:18 -0800

hahaha, i love that xmutex thinks those aren't moving.

By: Tin Man

Tin Man — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 13:05:49 -0800

Gaaaaaah. y6y6y6's link freaks me out. You think it's moving but it's not. I think this sentence is going to be twisted and adapted over and over to make a new MetaFilter catchphrase.

By: pizzasub

pizzasub — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 13:06:28 -0800

y6^3, that is truly freaky. I have to go lay down now.

By: widdershins

widdershins — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 13:07:41 -0800

y6 - I just don't buy that one. If they're the same color, then why aren't the A & B the same color font? Am I being totally dense?

By: pizzasub

pizzasub — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 13:09:11 -0800

You think it's moving but it's not. I think this sentence is going to be twisted and adapted over and over to make a new MetaFilter catchphrase. Metafilter: You think it's freaky but it's not.

By: wanderingmind

wanderingmind — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 13:11:21 -0800

Ow. That is freaky... I found a way to make them stop (appearing to be) spinning, though. Defocus your eyes a bit and they'll just be greenish yellowish blobs that are safe to look at. Of course, focus on the screen again, and they'll start writhing around like before.

By: ptermit

ptermit — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 13:13:50 -0800

Cool... it seems to be a peripheral vision illusion, which is why it stops moving when you look at it directly. Also, the "spirals" are actually concentric circles. On preview... just googled illusion and "peripheral vision" and came up with this page. "Allergen" matches this one very well, and that's about the least freaky illusion on the page.

By: quonsar

quonsar — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 13:17:06 -0800

I just don't buy that one buy it or not, when loaded into PSP and eyedroppered, the squares are the same color. boggling.

By: tomharpel

tomharpel — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 13:17:33 -0800

Discs to the left of my center of vision turn counter-clockwise, discs to the right turn clockwise.

By: squirrel

squirrel — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 13:21:42 -0800

Do you hear helicopters?

By: widdershins

widdershins — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 13:22:43 -0800

OK, I retract - when you look at the partially shaded squares you can see that they are in fact the same color. I'll be damned. on preview: thx, quonsar...

By: donnagirl

donnagirl — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 13:22:46 -0800

Widdershins, it's true. Your brain just expects all the light squares to be equal, and tries to compensate for the shadow. You can watch an animated version here. What's really cool is to open the jpg in photoshop, take a little rectangle from A, copy it, and slide it across the board to B. You'll swear it changes color as it goes. You can also drag it around on the big green thing for the same effect. If you do it just right, you can make it look half light, half dark all at once. Who needs drugs when you've got a brain?

By: Tin Man

Tin Man — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 13:23:18 -0800

y6 - I just don't buy that one. If they're the same color, then why aren't the A & B the same color font? Am I being totally dense? widdershins: the squares are the same shade of gray. But the A is lighter than gray and the B is darker than gray. In fact, that probably helps create the illusion.

By: tdismukes

tdismukes — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 13:24:48 -0800

widdershins - In regards to ybybyb's link: try what I did the first time I saw it. Print out the picture. At this point the squares look like 2 different colors. Then cut out squares A & B from the sheet of paper. As the context changes, the 2 squares will suddenly look the same. Really spooky. (Some other folks reported doing the same thing on the screen using Photoshop.)

By: me3dia

me3dia — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 13:26:19 -0800

It is a peripheral vision illusion. keep your eyes focused on the white space between them for a few seconds -- steady, now -- and they all stop moving. Twitch again and they move.

By: George_Spiggott

George_Spiggott — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 13:27:10 -0800

Songdog, it's a brain thing. In this image for example, the circles appear to be growing because the brain is trained to treat the yellow color as an afterimage of blue, so it looks like the circles are moving away from the yellow direction. See also this one. It's all about afterimages, or the brain's belief that it's seeing an afterimage.

By: da5id

da5id — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 13:29:21 -0800

In the words of Neo - "Whoa"

By: mazola

mazola — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 13:29:32 -0800

y6 - I just don't buy that one. If they're the same color, then why aren't the A & B the same color font? Am I being totally dense? Numbers don't lie, here are the hex values: 'A' square: #6B6B6B; 'A' Text: #ADADAD 'B' square: #6B6B6B; 'B' Text: #313131 The different coloured text provides for a smoother illusion, but it still works fine if you just cut-and-paste the 'A' block over the 'B', like so.

By: furiousthought

furiousthought — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 13:29:45 -0800

I think I've seen this kind of illusion before, but only as one set of spirals. The illusion was generated when you moved your focus to the right and left. (I don't remember the explanation for it.) What makes this one so creepy-crawly is that there are enough of these spirals set along the page that your vision shifts from one to the other as you (involuntarily) scan it. So it's not the fact that some spirals are in your peripheral vision that causes it - it's the motion. I just don't buy that one. If they're the same color, then why aren't the A & B the same color font? Am I being totally dense? The shadow makes the colors darker but not lighter - it doesn't reverse anything. It's a whole local-color-vs.-light-source thing. The shadow could easily be darker or lighter, and you'll still perceive the checkerboard as a checkerboard. You just won't get the neat coincidence of the white square in the shadow being the exact value the black square in the light is.

By: George_Spiggott

George_Spiggott — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 13:31:19 -0800

Here's a better example. The motion always appears to be occurring such that the yellow is on the trailing side.

By: widdershins

widdershins — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 13:46:48 -0800

Wow. I am ... flattered that so many of you took the time to explain it to me. You could have been trying to prove me wrong, of course, but in my world you were all gently, sweetly, lovingly educating. *birds chirping, sun glowing, hammock swinging, tall glass of cold homemade lemonade in hand, bare foot dangling over side and playing w/dandelion* Aaah. It's nice here.

By: soyjoy

soyjoy — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 13:46:51 -0800

Also available in green by the way (don't let the url fool you, SFW) Thanks for posting that, fvw. I still can't get into the original link, but had no prob with that one (perhaps my proxy server at work has gotten so jaded that it wants to see "porn" in the URL before letting something through). And speaking of jaded, mazola, I thought I was over the whole checkerboard illusion, but seeing it that way maded me say "whoa!" all over again. Excellent stuff, all round.

By: mcsweetie

mcsweetie — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 13:57:05 -0800

dude I saw it move! thats so effed up. mother effers.

By: carfilhiot

carfilhiot — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 13:58:46 -0800

for all the y6 disbelivers go here and then select the 'Kofka Ring'. It's an interactive demonstration of the same thing

By: Raindog

Raindog — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 14:07:27 -0800

That green ones makes grrrreat desktop wallpaper. (Except of course for the nosebleed and convulsions every time you switch your monitor on).

By: answergrape

answergrape — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 14:12:30 -0800

It has to do with how your eyes/brains perceive color, in particular these colors. Though it will work with other colors of the appropriate shades/hues. For instance, if I put a piece of purple see-through plastic in front of it, they stop spinning. My assumpion would be that blue and red would work too."

By: gottabefunky

gottabefunky — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 14:13:07 -0800

make it stop MAKE IT STOP. *eyeballs throbbing*

By: mathowie

mathowie — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 14:21:42 -0800

Here it is, to prove to one and all, via waxy:

By: quonsar

quonsar — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 14:25:43 -0800

bah! a fiendish al qaeda plot.

By: Raindog

Raindog — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 14:31:54 -0800

Obviously some kind of photoshop / printed paper virus thing. Cool.

By: swerve

swerve — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 14:35:48 -0800

From George_Spiggott's link: Caution: Please escape from this page before you feel sick. By the time the warning loaded, I was already queasy. Holy moly. Time to step away from the computer and find a motion-sickness pill. Thanks to xmutex for the link and everyone else for the explanations.

By: Armitage Shanks

Armitage Shanks — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 15:00:00 -0800

Also not moving.

By: mrmanley

mrmanley — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 15:16:01 -0800

Man, there should be a "may make your head explode" warning on this thread! My head hurts....

By: moonbird

moonbird — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 15:16:55 -0800

I think I'm moving but I'm not.

By: quonsar

quonsar — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 15:35:39 -0800

yes you are.

By: mnology

mnology — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 15:36:16 -0800

Do I need to be looking at the blue/yellow illusions in a particular way? I don't seem to be picking up on the illusion. Not really seeing anything that seems to be moving. Though the repititious nature of those do provide some interesting effects( different diamond patterns at different layers become visible when focusing on certain areas). What's wrong with me?

By: quonsar

quonsar — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 15:37:19 -0800

never, ever ask that question here!

By: WolfDaddy

WolfDaddy — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 15:41:31 -0800

What if everything's moving but the things that are supposed to be moving which don't appear to be moving unless I'm not looking at the things that are moving but aren't supposed to be moving. Whoa. I think I moving back and forth ... through time.

By: anathema

anathema — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 15:43:08 -0800

What's wrong with me? You my friend, are what we call a Cyclops.

By: mnology

mnology — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 15:45:32 -0800

I've been exposed!

By: trigfunctions

trigfunctions — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 15:49:42 -0800

Matt Howie: Thanks for posting that animated checker illusion thing, but I STILL can't get my brain to accept it unless I cover up the green checker on the right with my hand - then it works. My brain, that is.

By: thomcatspike

thomcatspike — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 16:03:31 -0800

Love this, you stopped the front page from moving for close to five hours now.

By: thomcatspike

thomcatspike — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 16:05:34 -0800

should be close to 4 hours, the checker illusion boggled my timing

By: George_Spiggott

George_Spiggott — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 16:14:17 -0800

You think it's moving, but it's not.

By: jmd82

jmd82 — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 16:16:54 -0800

HAHA, I haven't laughed like that in a good while George Spiggott!!!!!

By: quonsar

quonsar — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 16:20:54 -0800

ladies and gents, we have a winner.

By: dg

dg — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 16:29:50 -0800

Do I need to be looking at the blue/yellow illusions in a particular way? I don't seem to be picking up on the illusion. Not really seeing anything that seems to be moving I don't see them moving either, although I see the first one well enough to make me see after-images for several seconds after looking away.

By: NewBornHippy

NewBornHippy — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 17:03:49 -0800

Animated jpeg. At last we get to see an implementation.

By: Jimbob

Jimbob — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 17:05:50 -0800

This one has always messed with my head. You're simply seeing something that isn't there.

By: pemulis

pemulis — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 17:48:38 -0800

I've never thrown up more in my life.

By: uosuaq

uosuaq — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 18:02:51 -0800

Truly excellent. I wonder how somebody came up with that... I notice that (a) the wheels stop moving if I hold my eyes quite steadily on one for a few seconds, and (b) they move less and stop faster with only one eye open.

By: interrobang

interrobang — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 18:32:55 -0800

Am I the only one who wishes that Matt would go in and edit a comma between "moving" and "but"? Please? All right, I'll go back to that cool Mark Twain thread where nothing's happening. (Let the insert / moving / butt comments commence.)

By: UKnowForKids

UKnowForKids — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 19:13:52 -0800

You think it's moving but it's not.

By: delmoi

delmoi — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 19:24:03 -0800

woah...

By: a3matrix

a3matrix — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 19:40:48 -0800

**sound of bongwater bubbling** I saw God, dude... HAHAHAHAHA Very good post, and an excellent thread all around. Thanks for the post, and the follow on comments. Whacky stuff for sure. I still have trouble with the checker board one, though Matthowies post gives a good visual. All in all, good stuff. Tomorrow is Friday. Enjoy it.

By: gluechunk

gluechunk — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 21:37:12 -0800

And just for reference purposes, it appears that the back cover image is from Trick Eyes II.

By: Nothing

Nothing — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 23:17:16 -0800

I had to try for a few minutes to see any motion, and then it was only when I shifted my focus around the image pretty erratically.

By: cell

cell — Fri, 25 Jul 2003 00:26:06 -0800

*sets as wallpaper!

By: walrus

walrus — Fri, 25 Jul 2003 02:29:10 -0800

Caution: Please escape from this page before you feel sick. Still waiting ...

By: DrDoberman

DrDoberman — Fri, 25 Jul 2003 04:31:41 -0800

All the wiggly lines and spinning circles are fun, but this one really freaked me out! Having something inside your head is invasive and nasty... don't do it folks!

By: Grand Wahzoo

Grand Wahzoo — Fri, 25 Jul 2003 05:10:31 -0800

IT'S ALIVE!

By: soyjoy

soyjoy — Fri, 25 Jul 2003 07:24:31 -0800

You think it's moving but it's not.

By: tr33hggr

tr33hggr — Fri, 25 Jul 2003 07:56:44 -0800

My eyes! The googles do nothing!

By: imaswinger

imaswinger — Fri, 25 Jul 2003 20:03:31 -0800

try altavista then... bah.

By: Down10

Down10 — Fri, 25 Jul 2003 20:54:01 -0800

It pleases me that posts like these get huge responses on MeFi. ...This place hasn't become completely stodgy after all!

By: donth

donth — Tue, 29 Jul 2003 01:05:07 -0800

You think it's moving and it is. via fark