Originally published at: Watch: These rotating cubes are definitely moving — except they're actually not | Boing Boing
…
7 Likes
Are they rotating or pivoting? I demand an answer.
3 Likes
Cubes rotate. Governments pivot. Heads spin.
Except when they don’t.
6 Likes
I think there’s something going on with the direction or frequency of the strobing. Even if I block off all but a corner, I “see” changes in the cube.
4 Likes
5 Likes
Once I focused on the upper left triangle, yeah, I could see it was just blinking, not moving at all. Fascinating.
1 Like
Spoiler, it’s not the arrows. (Try putting your fingertips, or little pieces of post-it, over them.)
The “strobing” of the lines has a directional quality that’s guiding the perception of motion. If you crank the speed down to 25% you can kind of see it. Basically the “leading edge” (or maybe trailing edge – can’t quite tell!) changes color first, so the color change subtly propagates across the lines, triggering the perception of motion.
14 Likes
Yes. Insofar, the cubes are actually not stationary. Parts of them - alternating black an white lines in the edges - are actually moving in the perceived direction. So it’s not so much an optical illusion as it is us perceiving actual movement as movement - BFD.
This topic was automatically closed after 5 days. New replies are no longer allowed.
