Dancing Diamond

Michael Pickard and Alessandro Soranzo
University of Sunderland and Sheffield Hallam University, United Kingdom


See the illusion

(© 2013 Michael Pickard and Alessandro Soranzo)

Although the diamonds and patterns in the illusion seem to shift and move about, in reality this is illusory. The diamond edges do not change as their fills are cycled between dark and light where the sense of movement is amplified by changes in lightness and configuration as the ‘whole’ is viewed rather than individual parts. You can explore how different factors interact and affect the illusion of movement by using the controls to change edges, background luminance, size and orientation and see an interesting version of the illusion by pressing the ‘Gestalt-z Waltz’ link.

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Pinball Wizard

Michael Pickard

Sunderland University, UK


© 2008 Pickard

The interesting thing about the Pinball Wizard illusion is that it breaks the ‘rules’. Whilst the classic Rubin Vase illusion demonstrates how we automatically segregate foreground and background in an image, in this illusion a single image is seen acting simultaneously as both, giving rise to an illusory sense of rotation.
Using visual cues to create an impression of depth and carefully chosen colour values, a static screen is combined with an animation of horizontally traversing spheres. The screen appears simultaneously as background and as foreground surface on the spheres – inducing a sense of rotation as the spheres move.

Read more about the illusion and possible explanations

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Steel Magnolias and Breeze in the Trees Illusions

Michael Pickard

Sunderland University, UK
(© 2007 Michael Pickard)

Breeze in the Trees

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