Septim741 Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/1708/image001mn9sr6.gif The image above is said to look to be spinning both clockwise and counter clockwise... Supposedly depending on the side of the brain you're "using more" at the moment... if you're thinking on math or artsy/verbal stuff.... But I think it's probably a trick... because of the sides of the body being so different.... But I don't know.... I tried to open the image on GIMP to look at each layer, but it's quite confusing, I don't usually open animated gifs with it.... With me, it did appear to be spinning in both directions every now and then.... but I also thought I saw a glimpse of the part where the gif actually changes or restarts, some brief pause of the animation (probably related with the slowness of the computer)... but in the other hand, could have been a sort of self-illusion... I need to think a bit more about that, I think the principles of the illusion, the fact that all we see is actually not spinning but "shrinking" and "enlarging" arms, legs, boobs, pony-tail and face could work, but with a simpler, less asymetrical figure... If it's not a "trick", it's quite an impressive illusion... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vagrant0 Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 It's an illusion resulting from both the completely dark figure, and the gradiant background. There isn't any spacial reference point aside from the shadow near the feet, but that moves as it plays distorting the perception of it or something. The same illusion could be found with any black figure against a background. All we see is a growing and shrinking image which our minds percieve to be rotating. If you added shadows or highlights to the figure, you would always see it the same way, it is the lack of these that allows it to be open to interpretation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mudkip Posted December 16, 2007 Share Posted December 16, 2007 Yes, my friend and I spent a while pondering this when we first came across it. We came to the conclusion that a person's perspective (whether it is CW or CCW) seems to be determined by the shading underneath the dancer. The bottom foot of the shadow disappears from view for a second or two, which is what I believe can easily change one's perspective on rotation direction. However, I have not studied this outside of casual observation, so my friend's and my musings should be taken lightly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WoogieMonster Posted December 16, 2007 Share Posted December 16, 2007 I believe I know what is happening, however I do not know much about .gifs so I do not even know if the image is able to do what I think it is doing. I think it is hard to determine which direction the girl is spinning, because you think she is only spinning in one direction. If you look at her while she appears to be spinning left, she is balanced on her right foot and swinging her left arm and leg. For a split second in the rotation, she is at an angle that her limbs can not be seen. Then suddenly, she is balanced on her left foot, swinging her right arm and leg. That "skip" you see is when the change happens. There must be a script or algorithm to make the change not happen the same interval each time, not completely random, just 2 or maybe 3 changes would keep most people from being able to time it out. So the answer is, she spins in both directions, first one, then the other. But I say again, I do not know if what I think is even possible to do with a .gif image. Another thing, I am willing to bet that this image confuses more guys than it does girls, and the sexy figure of the spinning girl has a lot to do with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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