4 ms·

Gravity-defying ramps take illusion prize

44 points by KC8ZKF 16y ago

gjm11 16y ago
It's well worth clicking through to the video linked from the article. The illusion is very simple and very convincing; it's a simple matter of perspective, but even after seeing how it works I can't make myself see it "right".
- cbernini 16y ago
  Same here. It's totally mind blowing. I just don't know if I'd have the same problem if it wasn't a video but I had the subject right in front of me. But since it won a illusion prize, I guess my answer is already there.
chmike 16y ago
Direct link to the video. http://illusioncontest.neuralcorrelate.com/2010/impossible-motion-magnet-like-slopes/ http://illusioncontest.neuralcorrelate.com/2010/impossible-m...
patio11 16y ago
For whatever reason, Japanese vision researchers seem to do this sort of thing a lot. At the ex-ex-day job, where we had a robot vision lab, I'd get a "Check out this demo from X at Y university" email at least twice a week. Dr. Kitaoka was our office favorite: http://www.ritsumei.ac.jp/~akitaoka/index-e.html http://www.ritsumei.ac.jp/~akitaoka/index-e.html
- mvalle 16y ago
  A true gold-mine of illusions. The "Kochi-jo castle and Kinkaku" illusison ( http://www.psy.ritsumei.ac.jp/~akitaoka/tagi3e.html http://www.psy.ritsumei.ac.jp/~akitaoka/tagi3e.html ) is quite fascinating. Close-by observers see one castle and far-away observers see an other castle. I wonder if you could use this technique in marketing. Where you would have a sign that showed different things, depending on how far away you are standing.
  - moe 16y ago
    Close-by observers see one castle and far-away observers see an other castle. There's also an old version with faces, which I found even more impressive: http://farm1.static.flickr.com/171/435058989_9d83960682_o.jpg http://farm1.static.flickr.com/171/435058989_9d83960682_o.jp... Take a few steps back and the faces swap! I have seen optical effects used on billboards but not this exact one, yet. Perhaps it's hard to achieve a good effect at billboard size.
- nhebb 16y ago
  Those are great, but I can't look at too many in succession. (Maybe a good rating system for optical illusions would be the number seizures induced per thousand epileptics.) My favorite among the contest winners was absolutely stumped by the Monkey Business illusion: http://illusioncontest.neuralcorrelate.com/2010/the-monkey-business-illusion/ http://illusioncontest.neuralcorrelate.com/2010/the-monkey-b...

44 points by KC8ZKF 16y ago

gjm11 16y ago

It's well worth clicking through to the video linked from the article. The illusion is very simple and very convincing; it's a simple matter of perspective, but even after seeing how it works I can't make myself see it "right".

cbernini 16y ago
Same here. It's totally mind blowing. I just don't know if I'd have the same problem if it wasn't a video but I had the subject right in front of me. But since it won a illusion prize, I guess my answer is already there.

chmike 16y ago

Direct link to the video. http://illusioncontest.neuralcorrelate.com/2010/impossible-motion-magnet-like-slopes/ http://illusioncontest.neuralcorrelate.com/2010/impossible-m...

patio11 16y ago

For whatever reason, Japanese vision researchers seem to do this sort of thing a lot. At the ex-ex-day job, where we had a robot vision lab, I'd get a "Check out this demo from X at Y university" email at least twice a week. Dr. Kitaoka was our office favorite: http://www.ritsumei.ac.jp/~akitaoka/index-e.html http://www.ritsumei.ac.jp/~akitaoka/index-e.html

mvalle 16y ago
A true gold-mine of illusions. The "Kochi-jo castle and Kinkaku" illusison ( http://www.psy.ritsumei.ac.jp/~akitaoka/tagi3e.html http://www.psy.ritsumei.ac.jp/~akitaoka/tagi3e.html ) is quite fascinating. Close-by observers see one castle and far-away observers see an other castle. I wonder if you could use this technique in marketing. Where you would have a sign that showed different things, depending on how far away you are standing.
- moe 16y ago
  Close-by observers see one castle and far-away observers see an other castle. There's also an old version with faces, which I found even more impressive: http://farm1.static.flickr.com/171/435058989_9d83960682_o.jpg http://farm1.static.flickr.com/171/435058989_9d83960682_o.jp... Take a few steps back and the faces swap! I have seen optical effects used on billboards but not this exact one, yet. Perhaps it's hard to achieve a good effect at billboard size.
nhebb 16y ago
Those are great, but I can't look at too many in succession. (Maybe a good rating system for optical illusions would be the number seizures induced per thousand epileptics.) My favorite among the contest winners was absolutely stumped by the Monkey Business illusion: http://illusioncontest.neuralcorrelate.com/2010/the-monkey-business-illusion/ http://illusioncontest.neuralcorrelate.com/2010/the-monkey-b...