Fun cool optical illusions - See the Classics and New Tech Illusions

Cool optical illusion pictures, magic images, cool pictures and tumbling fun!

The human eye and brain work in a way that its interpretation of depth can be altered. Therefore giving the appearance of an optical illusion. Optical Illusions can be created by using lines, color and carefully constructed geometrical patterns. Which as a result a phenomenon is created that is hard to explain. In the meantime the person questioning what is going on. By using optical illusion pictures we can therefore prove just how easy it is to fool the eyes and brain.

Optical illusions vary greatly. Artists have created magic images for centuries, experimenting with face illusions, animal ambiguities, geometric shapes, patterns, using color theory and the list goes on. Now days phenomenal illusions can be achieved. With the advent of computers and a deeper understanding of the brain, we are pushed to raise the bar higher and higher.

The illusions I have chosen for this page are based on personal preference. They range from hand drawn paintings, animation, computer generated imagery, and technical structures that date back over 100 years. Further more we can see the possibilities of what is yet to come.

Motion Graphics Illusions

The Classic Peppers Ghost

The Ames Room

The Little Dragon Illusion

The Young or Old Lady

Spinning Dancing Girl

Weird Moving Magic Images

The face of Jesus

The same Color Illusion

The Green Dot Animation Illusion

Animal Ambiguity Illusions

Hermann grid illusion

Cool Optical Illusions to give you some brain freeze!!

The face of Jesus

Focus on the four dots in the middle of the picture for 30 seconds.
Close your eyes and tilt your head back
Keeping your eyes closed, look at the circle of light and surprisingly you will see the face of Jesus.

The Young or Old Lady

Which image do you see first?
When it comes to optical illusions this is a complete classic. What you seeing here is an example of a first impression appearance again displaying an immediate illusion.

Peppers Ghost

For the past 150 year Peppers Ghost has been used in side show acts such as the girl to Gorilla trick and various avant garde theatre productions. Now days it has been used extensively in theatre, music concerts, TV, advertising, and amusement parks…Read More

The Ames Room

Download and build your own Ames room. A fantastic illusion that has been used movies such as Lord of the Rings.

The Little Dragon Illusion

This is such an awesome illusion. Download the PDFs and create your own staring dragon. Watch your friends freak out (or make some new ones ;-))

Motion Graphic Illusions

The motion graphics animation loops below are blogged on Tumblr. What I’m loving about the loops are how simple they are, but yet very effective. They are six frames in total. The first three frames are of a normal render, and the next three are the same as the first three frames, except the frames are inverted. ‘Bad Habits’ have been experimenting with some really cool animation techniques that can keep you watching the loops for ages.

The Same Color Illusion

Click on the image below to see a larger view.

This illusion was created by Edward H Adelson (Professor of Vision Science at MIT) A shadow is cast over the block with the letter B. The shadow creates the illusion that block B is lighter than block A. In reality you will find that A and B are the same color. How the mind boggles.

Spinning Dancing Girl Illusion

Click on the image to see the animation.

As far as optical illusions go this illusion created by Nobuyuki Kayahara is a great example. See how the dancing turns in one direction on the one block and turns in the opposite direction on the other. Just let your eyes take you there.

Weird moving magic images

Click on the images below to see a larger view.

Move your eyes and head around a bit. See how the images move despite any effort to keep them still.

The Green Dot Animation Illusion

Click on the image below to see the animation

Hermann grid illusion

Click on the image below to see the larger version.

This illusion was created by Jeremy L Hinton

Focus in the middle of the circle and you will find the animation of the dot rotating around will turn green. The illusion is called an after image effect.

Originally created by Ludimar Hermann
This illusion is created by black dots that appear and disappear when looking straight at the picture. For more information see Grid Illusions.