The Goggles, They Do Nothing

Suchetha writes "In anticipation of a slow news day i would like to direct the Slashdot hordes to Akiyoshi Kitaoka's Optical Illusions page. The page also has explanations on why/how they occur (in icky PDF format). The page is on a .jp uni server so they SHOULD be able to handle the herd of rhinos that is ./."

Coral Cache Link!

[Anonymous Coward]

Use the cache [nyud.net] so more people can see! Thanks!

Google Image Search has some copies

[billstewart]

Some of these images have been copied elsewhere. Google Image Search [google.com] shows some of the pictures, such as rotsnake2.gif

Re:Google Image Search has some copies

[MikeDX]

Ah, so The Googles, They Do Something!

Re:Coral Cache Link!

[deragon]

That link causes Mozilla 1.6 to crash! Do more recent versions of the browser have the same bug?

Re:Coral Cache Link!

[orkysoft]

Yeah, that smoking hole in their server room doesn't look like an optical illusion...

Re:Coral Cache Link!

[Gherald]

Or perhaps a small mirror link that links to a cover page that says "last update xxx:xxx:xxx, use at your own discretion"

Mirrordot to the rescue!

[nxtr]

Just use this [mirrordot.org]. Just saw it on Wired. They mirror every website Slashdot news includes.

Re:Mirrordot to the rescue!

[kasperd]

Don't /. the mirror that helps against /.ing!

The real funny part would be when they actually get on slashdot and start mirroring themselves.

My favorite optical illusion

[TrentL]

Check out this image. [bigpond.net.au] The squares marked "A" and "B" are the same shade of grey. If you don't believe me, open the page in a paint program and check out the colors.

Re:My favorite optical illusion

[Dalcius]

How many people actually opened this up in Gimp?

How many of you swore that each checkerbox was different and got thoroughly pissed off when you checked the hex value with the dropper and they were the same?

How many of you physically cut and moved one box next to its partner and back again over and over, screaming in mental anguish as one moment they're obviously the same and the next they're two different colors?

Count me in. This illusion pisses me off. :)

Re:My favorite optical illusion

[jtriska]

Its actually a pretty simple illusion thats both a problem to artists as well as a useful tool.

Basically, colors always effect other colors. For example, if a gray square is surrounded by black squares, the gray square will seem much brighter than it would sitting next to other tones of gray.

If you surround the gray square with white squares, the gray square will seem much darker.

I guess you could call it the color theory of relativity.

This works with colors, not just with shades of gray. Surround a medium gray square by orange squares, and the gray square will take on a cool blueish hue (blue is complementary/opposite of orange), even if its rgb is 128,128,128.

In this optical illusion, the shadow cast from the cylinder onto the 'A' squares is affecting the appearance of the 'B' square. Its only the shadow thats causing the illusion.

Re:My favorite optical illusion

[harlows_monkeys]

I did that. I still dont beleive it. It pisses me right off

What's interesting is that I blocked out the rest of the picture by covering it with other windows, leaving just parts of those two squares visible...and they STILL look like different shades.

Re:My favorite optical illusion

[achurch]

What's interesting is that I blocked out the rest of the picture by covering it with other windows, leaving just parts of those two squares visible...and they STILL look like different shades.

Make sure you cover up the letters, too, or the contrast (one letter is light, the other dark) will trick your brain just like the surrounding squares. I was able to see through the illusion by covering up everything but the corners of both squares.

Re:My favorite optical illusion

[gopher_hunt]

Here is the original link, along with an explanation of why this illusion works.

Link [mit.edu]

Re:Lies!

[TrentL]

lol. But sriously, the JPEG artifacts cause the values to be *slightly* off on some pixels. But I encourage you to cut out the A square and drag it next to the B square. When they're next to each other, they look exactly the same.

Re:Lies!

[sonicattack]

That has to be the nicest color illusion I've seen. I believe that the illusion is so good, that the only reason the dropper shows both squares being (170, 170,170) is that even the GIMP was fooled by the shadow.

Re:Coral Cache Link!

[G-funk]

Goddammit I wish somebody would update snpp, wolfcastle says "The goggles do nothing!", not "The goggles, they do nothing!"

*apologies for the hj*

Interesting warning on the site...

[daveschroeder]

Caution: This page contains some works of "anomalous motion illusion", which might make sensitive observers dizzy or sick. Should you feel dizzy, you had better leave this page immediately.

Some of the pictures on this website can cause dizziness or might possibly epileptic seizures. The latter happens when the brain can't handle the conflicting information from your two eyes. If you start feeling unwell when using this website, immediately cover one eye with your hand and then leave the page. Do not close your eyes because that can make the attack worse.

Re:Interesting warning on the site...

[Gannoc]

Some of the pictures on this website can cause dizziness or might possibly epileptic seizures.

FINALLY, a web page that can kill! Its like one of those crappy movies from 1994 when the net seemed super-cool to Hollywood.

"Slaughter.org: The Cyberkiller"

"Jenny! Don't click on that hyperlink!"
"Oh noze! She has been capslocked by the optical illusions! When the machine boots, it will lock down her mind forever!"
"I can't reach the caps lock key!"
"We'll have to hit the caps lock key... IN VIRTUAL REALITY!"

Re:Interesting warning on the site...

[Have Blue]

I guess this guy [bash.org] is rich and famous now.

Re:Interesting warning on the site...

[linguae]

Caution: This page contains some works of "anomalous motion illusion", which might make sensitive observers dizzy or sick. Should you feel dizzy, you had better leave this page immediately.

It must be a good thing that I didn't RTFA before reading the comments....

Re:Interesting warning on the site...

[Anonymous Coward]

What is it with the Japanese and seizures? First it was Pokemon, now this. OK - that's only two examples, but I'm still convinced that they love their seizures.

Re:Interesting warning on the site...

[Short Circuit]

There was a time when I wished the FBI would go around seizing Pokémon momentos...

A practical use...

[EmbeddedJanitor]

My son is a field hockey goalkeeper which, some while ago, lead me to think about things one could do to provide "optical diversions" to favour the goalkeeper. One of the things I considered was the use of camoflage techniques as done with navy ships of old, and soldiers through the ages, to break up the lines and confuse the oposition. Camoflage can be used to not only *hide* the person/object but can also be used to confuse the senses (eg. make it hard to tell which direction the objct is moving and what its features are) thus making it hard for someone aiming at a target. A delay of a second or so is often enough to give the edge. Anyway, back to the goalkeeper... if one could confuse the striker as to where the goalkeeper's arms etc are then it will take the striker a bit longer to get a shot off or cause them to miss their aim.

These optical devices could potentially be quite useful... going to have a play :-).

Re:A practical use...

[Lord Ender]

Citing the navy isn't the best or oldest example. Think about the Zebra (or many other African animals) /just got back from a safari

Re:Interesting warning on the site...

[attam]

The latter happens when the brain can't handle the conflicting information from your two eyes

I didn't realize this was the cause of seizure fears. I happen to be completely blind in one eye, does this mean I don't need to worry about getting seizures from this sort of thing? If so, that's an interesting bit of news I never heard of... perhaps even the first (only?) perk of being half blind.

Re:Interesting warning on the site...

[Feztaa]

Wouldn't it also mean that you can't see the "illusion" at all? I'd be interested to know if the images still appear to wobble and roll and such when you look at them.

Re:Interesting warning on the site...

[attam]

they sure do! i didn't know if they would (i can't see those cool 3d effects with the glasses, since those require your brain to coprocess the difference between two images). apparently these illusions are based upon something different. probably just perspective.

Re:Interesting warning on the site...

[The Snowman]

Wouldn't it also mean that you can't see the "illusion" at all? I'd be interested to know if the images still appear to wobble and roll and such when you look at them.

You could always test that out by closing one of your eyes ;)

Re:Interesting warning on the site...

[has2k1]

Akiyoshi Kitaoka looks nerdy with those titanic size spectacles. After all that work, wouldn't it be an incredible feat if he didn't have any glasses at all.

Re:Interesting warning on the site...

[at_slashdot]

I was thinking to put a huge poster like this in my room to make my guests sick, but than I realized that my room would make any "potential" guest sick anyway.

Re:Interesting warning on the site...

[chewy_2000]

I've got a poster of something very similar to Rotating Snakes. Mostly it's interesting to look at when I'm bored, but it can be nasty after a cone or two.

Heh

[thewldisntenuff]

The page is on a .jp uni server so they SHOULD be able to handle the herd of rhinos that is ./.

He should have called us a "herd of nerds" :)

-thewldisntenuff

Re:Heh

[Anonymous Coward]

He should have called us a "herd of nerds" :)

I think the correct term is a "hurd of gnerds. [gnu.org]"

Re:Heh

[EmbeddedJanitor]

True. Rhinos are notoriously thick skinned, unlike our nerdmates.

Rhinos though are also notoriously blind so probably won't get their kicks from visual images.

Re:Heh

[shadowbearer]

Here I thought we were "Mongel Hordes".

Sheesh. Rhinos, indeed.

I feel insulted.

SB

Herd of Nerds

[EverStoned]

There's already a HerdofNerds! [herdofnerds.net]

It's the indie slashdot for the right brained types.

Re:Heh, er...

[Schreckgestalt]

... what the hell is a ".jp uni server"

that would be a japanese university server. you must be american.

Re:Heh, er...

[zulux]

that would be a japanese university server. you must be american.


And you, sir, must have no 'shift' key.

Re:Heh, er...

[NanoGator]

"that would be a japanese university server. you must be american."

Look! Mozira!! RUN!!!

Re:Heh, er...

[Fulcrum of Evil]

what the hell is a ".jp uni server" and why is pdf icky?

Japanese University. As for the pdf, michael has a grudge agaisnt Adobe or something. Who knows, who cares?

Re:Heh, er...

[WhiteDragon]

jp uni means a university in Japan, and pdf is icky because it is a cross-platform well defined spec that produces beautifully printed output. Oh wait... :P (just don't get the adobe plugin anywhere near any of my browsers; I'll download it, and I don't even mind viewing it with Adobe Reader or Acrobat reader, but the plugins always seem to crash any browsers I use (MSIE, Firefox, Netscape, etc))

Re:Heh, er...

[bnenning]

pdf is icky because it is a cross-platform well defined spec that produces beautifully printed output.

And is obnoxious for reading on-screen.

Re:Heh, er...

[Dun Malg]

pdf is icky because it is a cross-platform well defined spec that produces beautifully printed output.

And that is a bad thing if you're trying to read it on a computer screen rather than printing it out. .pdf is a great format for things that will end up printed, like forms, or brochures; .pdf sucks for reading on computers because it does not adapt to local screen geometry.

Re:Heh, er...

[Mac Degger]

.jp means it's a japanese. A uni server means the server is part of a university, which are always connected to very high-bandwidth internet connections (the proverbial 'phat pipes'). And pdf's are icky becuase they're a closed format which take up too much space, are reader-unfriendly and are only suitable to print...and seeing as we're on the internet and like tree's, why post stuff you wanna read once and then forget in a format meant to be printed?

Re:Heh, er...

[jrockway]

PDF is an open standard.

Re:Heh, er...

[MMMDI]

Chairs are for sitting, PDF is for printing [webpagesthatsuck.com]

I completely agree with that, but decided to click the link anyway. Read halfway down, glanced over to the side, and what do I see?

Free Chapter from "Son of Web Pages That Suck" (PDF from Sybex via ftp 3.25Mb)

Thank you kind sir, for the hearty laugh.

Temping fate.

[DAldredge]

It's nearly dead. That is what you get for tempting fate in your fscking summary. ;->

irony:

[Anonymous Coward]

"Nothing for you to see here. Please move along."

Exploratorium

[Jadsky]

Some of these are on display on out-of-the-way doors in the Exploratorium science museum in San Francisco. It looked like some of the staff members had printed them out and posted them there for their own personal satisfaction, but a lot of the visitors were finding themselves distracted from the bigger attractions to stare at these.

It was trippy to have the spinning snakes one as my wallpaper for some time, but at six by four feet, it really does begin to make you a little dizzy.

amazing

[antani]

let's try ascii art .o. o.oo .o. o.
. o.o.. o.o .o o.

if you shake your head you can see the dots moving!
and no headache! w00t!

sure, today is a slow news day, what boring. gee.

Mirror

[alienfluid]

Here here [lafayette.edu]

Re:Mirror

[sabNetwork]

Damn.

I read your subject and I was hoping for the optical illusion of a mirror.

Alas, it was only a copy of the website.

--

/.ed

[m_c_rose]

"The page is on a .jp uni server so they SHOULD be able to handle the herd of rhinos that is ./." Or Not.

sweet christ

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm in cafe nursing a severe hangover. That shit almost made me yak all over my laptop.

Re:sweet christ

[Fjornir]

Don't click the goatse!

Dizzy

[FiReaNGeL]

Hmmmm new wallpaper... :) Imagine your whole house (exterior and interior!) with wallpaper like that...!

Interesting stuff, but sadly nothing new really :( Slow news day they say?

Re:Dizzy

[mindriot]

You mean a Beowulf cluster of optical illusions?

Forgive me.

Only because its a university domain....

[imsabbel]

doesnt mean its just running on some guys pentium2 in his office. /. to hell, btw.

arg. should read:

[imsabbel]

doesnt mean it ISNT just running...

Re:Only because its a university domain....

[imsabbel]

The problem with that side (i have it in my bookmark for a few years already) is that its PLASTERED with high res gifs and jpeg. like 200-300k.
IF its just on a 10Mbit line, like older offices usually are, its goint to hell...

Re:Only because its a university domain....

[shadowbearer]

It must be in the Slow Zone, automation just doesn't work so well down there... :)

SB
PS thanks for your suggestion DITS & FOTD, you were right.

Question

[RiotXIX]

Is staring at these bad for your eyes? Ie. More than staring at a normal picture for say, one minute?

Because I could...nay..have found myself staring at these for periods, and assummed I will get a bit of headache, of that they are bad for my vision (thus forcing myself to stop).

Answer

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, your eyes will shortly fall out of their sockets.

Hopefully you're able to read this before that happens.

I know a certain coworker...

[Anonymous Coward]

... who is coming in to a new background image on their machine.

Appropriate Penny Arcade Reference

[Vaystrem]

"The page is on a .jp uni server so they SHOULD be able to handle the herd of rhinos that is ./."

Baby vs Rhino. [penny-arcade.com]

That baby... er server doesn't have a prayer.

Re:Appropriate Penny Arcade Reference

[ratsnapple tea]

Is that supposed to be funny? It's even worse than most Penny Arcade strips.

Slashdotted - Mirrors Here

[Kinetic]

As always, mirrors are here: MirrorDot [mirrordot.com].

Re:Slashdotted - Mirrors Here

[suwain_2]

The background on that site hurts my eyes more than the images on that guy's site.

Once the /.ing's over

[Dominic Burns]

Check out the awesome images of Japan/Kyoto. IMNSHO, they're far more interesting than the optical illusion stuff.

Thanks for making them available, Mr Kitaoka.

In anticipation of a slow news day . . .

[MinimeMongo]

I would like to Slashdot a server that hosts a large number of images. That should spice things up.

Dale Purves at the Duke Medical Center

[maceo1023]

The laboratory of Dale Purves at the Duke University Medical Center is also researching visual illusions. Check out www.purveslab.net [purveslab.net] for interactive animations (yes, it's a Flash site).

He's also written a book entitled Why We See What We Do: An Empirical Theory of Vision.

now that is crazy

[Trepidity]

I've never seen anything like that before. Most optical illusions involve misjudging sizes or perspective due to relative proximity to confusing cues, or flipping back and forth between two difference scenes with ambiguous figure/ground. But I've never seen one that makes static things look like they're moving. Anyone have any info on the science behind these? What makes that happen?

Re:now that is crazy

[kagelump]

Explanation (the peripheral drift illusion) [ritsumei.ac.jp] (PDF file)

that?

Re:now that is crazy

[mamba-mamba]

Even though the hyperlink says explanation, it isn't really an explanation.

Here is a quote:
"Although this study only reveals phenomenological or design rules to obtain the peripehral drift illusion with large illusion magnitude, we are seeking an explanation on the basis of motion detector models."

In other words, there is no explanation, just a set of rules to help generate a more powerful illusion.

MM
--

that's true

[Trepidity]

Clearly the interpretation step is what causes this optical illusion, along with all other optical illustions. What I'd like to know is what in particular about this image makes it look moving when it's not.

No vector files?

[Frappuccino]

The guy took off the download page for the vector files because too many people were illegally using the files. So what if I wanted to download the Adobe Illustrator file of the roating snakes to print out a giant poster on my Epson 7600?

Archive.org to the rescue!

http://web.archive.org/web/20031203215948/www.psy. ritsumei.ac.jp/~akitaoka/download.html/ [archive.org]

This will probably get slashdotted really quick because the archive.org servers are already slow. Someone make a mirror of this page quick so everyone can have a piece!

Here's the direct link.

[veg_all]

rotsnakes.ai [tinyurl.com](4MB)

PDF doesn't suck.

[1010011010]

It's excellent for what it does, and it beats the pants off Word .doc format as a distribution format.

Re:PDF doesn't suck.

[wombatmobile]

PDF doesn't suck

Are you sure [google.com]?

Re:PDF doesn't suck.

[Dun Malg]

PDF doesn't suck. It's excellent for what it does, and it beats the pants off Word .doc format as a distribution format.

PDF sucks for stuff nobody is going to print out, like a WEB PAGE!. Or are you one of those guys who makes his secretary print out his emails for him to read.

Bathroom Wallpaper

[Superfreaker]

I had seen this before and was looking for a custom wallpaper manufacturer to have the Rotating Snakes illusion made into wallpaper for my bathroom. Just for the entertainment of having my friends to to go to the bathroom after a long night of drinking...hilarity ensues.

Computer Room Wallpaper

[Webmoth]

One of my customers had the computer sitting in the corner, so as you face the computer, you're also facing the corner.

The trouble was, the wallpaper was vertical blue and white stripes, each about 1 inch (2,5 cm) wide, covering both walls.

Sitting at the computer, seeing the striped wallpaper in your peripheral vision, you would get the unnerving feeling the monitor was attacking you, slowly approaching you, menacingly. (It didn't help that the monitor was on an elevated platform, so you actually had to look up at it.)

After a few years, they covered the wallpaper with wood paneling.

http://www.michaelbach.de/ot/index.html

[RotJ]

Michael Bach's page [michaelbach.de] has most of these illusions and more in interactive flash.

Speaking as a rhino...

[Takuryu]

We prefer the term "crash" to refer to a gathering of us... herds are so... blaise.

Congregations of other animals have different terms...

A murder of crows
A gaggle of geese
A pounce of cats
An ambush of tigers

More can be found here [cartage.org.lb].

Who...?

[mrdogi]

the herd of rhinos that is ./."

So, just exactly who IS "./" ?

The good doctor...

[eddy]

... should use PNG instead of GIF. First, as we all know, PNG aren't animated, so no-one will be fooled into thinking that maybe these are animated gifs ;-)

But jesting aside; 310097 rotsnake.gif vs 262253 rotsnake.png, 46.7KB saved for that single image, or about ten seconds download time for a modem user.

More visual intrigue

[wombatmobile]

.

Ramachandran's optical illusions [ucsd.edu]

Johansson's point-light walker (Flash animation) [ruhr-uni-bochum.de]

Cool illusion: motion-induced blindness

[FleaPlus]

A very cool illusion is available here [questforco...usness.com]. Try looking inside of the triangle defined by the yellow dots, as the blue dots wander around. After a few moments, the yellow dots begin to blink in and out of your visual consciousness. It's quite a powerful effect.

I find it more fun to entertain teh kids with

[WormholeFiend]

hand shadows [mindbluff.com]

Can you undo the illusion?

[TrentL]

I've always wondered about this. We know about those grid illusions where the intersections appear to be darker than they are, or the "rotation" illusion in the article. But can you undo the illusion? Can you offset the color and remove the "dark intersection" problem? Can you curve shapes the opposite way and undo illusions of curve?

Everybody loves the Hypno-Toad

[Guillermito]

Obligatory Futurama quote

Thank you Slashdot

[ribo-bailey]

Now I have a headache.

The War on Terror

[ImTwoSlick]

I just figured out how to make ANYBODY spill the beans. Just put terrorists in a room painted entirely in this [nyud.net] .

Title translation: Uzumaki Anpan

[mattr]

There is a black and white round one called "Uzumaki Anpan". Uzumaki means whirlpool, coil, eddy or vortex. Something spinning around (uzu means swirl, maki means wrap as in wrapped sushi). As for the second term, An is sweet black miso paste, and pan is a loan word from the Portuguese for bread. Anpan is a hugely popular round puffy donut with the sweet paste inside. So the title roughly means, Vortex Jelly Donut. Rudy Rucker probably has some good words for it, I'll borrow one: Yarrr!

Re:Slow news day?

[DarkMan]

I read that as the submitter knew that the web page was not time sensitive (i.e. it will be as interesting to see for the first time next week as it is to see for the first time today).

Therefore, it is a good one for the editors to hold in reserve, for when there are few topical stories, rather than have either few stories or some naff ones.

It appears that the editors chose not to follow the advice, (as is thier want)

Re:What's wrong with PDF?

[rco3]

Thank you. I was wondering that myself.

Re:Sigh

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually, the quote is:
"Ach, mein eyes! The goggles, they do nothing!"

Re:t-shirts?

[InfiniteWisdom]

You need to stare at it for a bit for it to work... a casual glance won't do it. Now maybe if it was on the front of a girl's tshirt...

Actually that might be a good protection for girls that don't like guys staring at their chests :) Guy stares... 5 seconds later... epileptic seisure!

Re:t-shirts?

[sahonen]

I would love to see this image [nyud.net] strategically located on a girl's T-shirt.