Homepage. Mini images for your site | Optical Illusions. Geometric illusions | Optical Illusions. Go back a couple of centuries and there were no chains of shops or malls. In the high street in the UK you would have found the type of shop you were after by looking out for a sign hanging out. There were signs for pharmacists, tobacconists, pawnbrokers, whatever. Nowadays there’s just one traditional sign still sometimes to be seen – the barber’s pole, as left in the animation. The barber’s sign shows a famous illusion. The cylinder is rotating horizontally, but the stripes look as if they are rising – which would be impossible, unless you had some long pole sliding through the cylinder. You can begin to see why in the demo on the right: focus on the vertical slot and the grating seems to be moving vertically (as in the barber’s pole). But focus on the horizontal slot and in a moment the grating may seem to move horizontally.
That leaves the brain struggling to guess which way the grating is actually travelling, and being pretty indecisive about it. Geometric optical illusions. Optical Illusions - Introduction. Introduction What this web site is about This web site illustrates a new theory of visual illusions, which I developed. The theory is of a computational nature. It predicts many of the well known geometric optical illusions, illusions of movement in line drawings, as well as illusions of three-dimensional shape. If you search the net you will find many sites on optical illusions.
And if you search for explanations, you will probably form the opinion that nearly every illusion has a different cause. Illusions are fascinating to most people. Theories about illusions have been formulated ever since their discovery. Arts: Crafts: Paper: Origami: Geometry and Modulars. Super Origami.