Dynamic Optical Illusions

Where nothing is as it seems.

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The Eclipse of Mars

See a new colour you've never seen before!!
...Well... at least never before on your monitor. This illusion has been voted the greatest out of all the optical illusions in the poll, and also appeared as illusion of the month at Amos Storkey's optical illusions page
If the 'Glowing Core' didn't work for you, then this one surely will. The colour you are about to witness is actually true Cyan ... a colour that is heavily diluted on the vast optical illusions 10

majority of TVs and monitors (thanks to colour pollution). It's a pity one needs an optical illusion to demonstrate this, but at least you can see what you've been missing ;-) Anyway on with the illusion....

Stare at the white dot in the centre of the red circle. The longer - the better (two minutes and you'll get a much stronger effect). Always try to keep focused on the white dot. It'll be worth it.
Soon after staring, you'll start to see a thin rim of light around the edge. Don't stop staring though yet! Wait another minute - keeping your head perfectly still.
Once you've done this, very slowly - move your head backwards - making sure to keep your eyes focused on the dot at all times. The circle's rim will glow brilliantly with true Cyan! Keep on moving your head slowly backwards, and witness the Eclipse of Mars!...

The blue/cyan colour chart to the right isn't part of the illusion, but there to demonstrate that the ultra cyan you have just seen is not in the monitor's color palette! It should be, but isn't.
It's an amazing effect and something I created whilst researching the problem with monitors and their inability to display real cyan. These 2 colours (red and this exact shade of cyan) work better than any other colour combination for many reasons.
Also visit Skytopia's very own Light and Colour trivia page which speaks about and demonstrates effects similar to this illusion.

If you enjoyed the Eclipse of Mars, you're gonna love
the Eclipse of Titan (luminous green!) and Eclipse of Neptune (firey!) on our new page.

Trilock

(left) The Crooked Skyscraper.
All of the red lines are completely parallel would you believe?

Tube of illusion

OK, this one really belongs in the Skytopia 3D stereoscopic gallery, but I just couldn't resist. If you can cross your eyes, so that both pictures slide 'into' each other - to form a third, 3D image between them, the effect you will see is truly stunning!

Try focusing on something in between you and the monitor to help see the illusion. If you're still stuck and you really want to see the illusion, try this site to help practise seeing 3-D stereo.

If you can't manage to see this cross eyed version below, then try the parallel version here. For this parallel version you look behind the monitor and just like the cross eyed version - try to get the two tubes to match up. Unfortunately though, it needs to be made around four times as small due to the nature of parallel vision.

Wheel of Confusion Which way is the wheel turning!? Focus on the red dots and follow them round... it appears to be rotating anti-clockwise. However, if you follow the yellow dots round instead, the whole wheel will be turning the other way! - clockwise!

Magic Zoomster

This cool optical illusion has been seen before, but I've spruced it up by adding colour, multiple layers, and making it bigger!! The idea is to focus on the dot in the centre and then move your head constantly towards and away from the monitor. You should see the circles rotate spookily! Press the F11 key in your browser to see the illusion at full screen!

For more optical illusions similar to this one, visit Akiyoshi Kitaoka's Rotational illusion page.

If you enjoyed that, we have a much better and more effective version (on top of other fascinating new lllusions!) as shown here.

Flickering Fog

Based on an illusion by
Akiyoshi Kitaoka
Just like you did for the Eclipse of Mars, stare intently at the red dot in the center of the left block for about a couple of minutes.
Once you've done this, look over to the center of the right block. It should act weird - by fading out and 'flickering'. If you move your head closer and further from the monitor (while focussing in the center), you should see some interesting interference effects too.

If you like the optical illusions on this page, then you'll probably want to see the new special set. (We've slaved away over the past year on these, and believe that they are amongst the cream of illusions found anywhere in the world (internet or otherwise)).

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