By Vurdlak on April 29, 2007, with 67 Comments
Joseph Mohmed created something very simple, yet astonishing. By opening the picture full size, and scrolling up and down very fast, I managed to see a scary black widow spider. This is probably only one effect among dozens. Be careful not to stare at it for too long, or your head may start hurting. You can easily get hallucination effect as well. Let’s give Joseph a chance to describe it:
“I was messing around in Photoshop a long time ago and got this by making a half black/half white canvas and using the twirl filter a bunch. There’s quite a few effects you can get by doing different things, though looking at it is already weird as hell. Try moving your head around while looking in the center, or keeping your eyes in the middle for 15 seconds then looking at a wall and blinking repeatedly. Oh and good job with the website and all that, I got the new widget in my Dashboard”.
(32 votes)
Awesome! I saw the spider, and now my eyes hurt. x-x
Oh.
Awesome!!! It’s so nice !! I saw the spider !! I love this optical illusion ! :) ;)
This is one of the best illusions on the site. It seems to vibrate randomly when you stare at it, and then stretch. When u stare at it for 15 seconds and then look at a wall and blink rapidly, you can see something that looks like a flower. pretty cool
that spider is awesome, how does that work? anyone know?
AHHHHH! I’m scared of spiders!! Well, cool illusion though.;)
Yeah it ‘s once again awesome!
First it did’nt work for me either
…
—> you have to move it up and down very quick. It’s not necessary to move it al the way up and back all the way down. Just garb the side-bar (with left mouse button) and move it a little bit up and donw. Just let the picture vibrate…
>> how does that work? anyone know?
Your brain doesn’t like moving complex shapes. If he doesn’t want to have a headache, he has to simplify the shape (with a maximum of horizontal and vertical line). You see a spider, but it’s just a coincidence (oblic lines were “rounded” to a horizontal or vertical direction).
stare at the centre of the spiral for about 30 seconds then look at you’re hand. pretty cool i think!
That is creepy!! Very cool illusion!
I’ve got a mission for you. Count all the lines without help from mouse =]
Wow! That’s amazing! I also noticed that when you look at the center for a prolonged period of time, it seems that the edges are bulging in and out.
Keep up the good work Vurdlak,
NYIslanders2121
I see a comic book style action star shape… like the cheesey ‘Bang!’ thingies.
saw the spider too, and the halucination
This is cool. I got the spider thing. And the flower thing. But now I am very confused…
my eyes hurt now but i was a sun flower some how
Just gave me sore eyes.
Wow it really messes up your vision
very nice illusion!
On my google widget, the illusion wont come up. It just says “Invalid data”, but if i click on it it comes to the site. I dont know what wrong with it!
if you stare at it for a while and close your eyes you can see something that kinda looks like the sun
really kl! yh i saw the spider 2. does hurt ur head thou…
I used to make op-art paintings like this illusion. My favorite was where I hid the names of song titles in a particularly psychedelic design. I might have some of these paintings in storage.
Thats really amazing I’ve seen something similar by Akiyoshi Kitaoka, can anyone see colours or is it just me, maybe it is somthing to with the monitor because I doubt it would happen on paper
“Keep up the good work Vurdlak”
I’m the one that made it >:(
“Count all the lines without help from mouse =]”
2
i saw a spider too
This is jsut you seeing waves like magneitc waves, this makes it look like it is a spider or a flower etc.
stare at the center then shut 1 eye
wow I still see a low transparency of this image over everything I look at 5 minutes after looking at it.
i think u can c it scrolling up and down
I tried opening the image. Bad idea. I almost had seizure and when I clicked “back” the screen looked distorted.
dizzy and i saw the spider to.
aaaaaah spider! :D great illusion, it does so many things! it has a hidden spider, it ripples when u look at it and if u stare at it for a few seconds and then the writing above it, the writing seems to fold in at the centre!
IS the spider simply an artifact from the digitilisation of the curves. I don’t think you would necessarily get it from a print?
after staring at the pic i got soo dizzy and everything for a few secs looked so blurry around the edges…neva lookin at stuff like that again!! but they r actually quite cool…:)
look at it for a while and then look at the page…everything will look like that spiral…dizzy…and if u stare at the centre, the spirals will pulse
i was staring at the spiral for a moment then snapped out of it then i scrolled down to the comments and the whole page was all distorted like a black hole effect in the center whoa.
AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!I saw a flower!If you stare at it and move your head in a circle, you see weird shapes!!!
AWESOME i saw the joker from batman
I saw a flower and the spider:)!!!
When I look at it for a long time then look at the writing on top explaning what it is, the writing looks like it’s going in, you have to try it…
I saw the spider too, but it didn’t seem to work very well – wasn’t that scary. “keeping your eyes in the middle for 15 seconds then looking at a wall and blinking repeatedly” was super sweet. Thanks Joseph.
i love it…
i saw many designs all in colour i wonder why?!
i saw a spider wen i scrolled up and down
hahaha I saw a flower when I stared at the center
and blink hahahahaha
I saw a flower at first and then a spider when i was scrolling down to comment.
whoa whoa whoa thats wiggity-wiggity-wacked
look at the center for 15 seconds …then look at the wall ..blink few times u’ll see man(stick man shape) with his arms up lol no kidding
that is so cool
i hate spiders but anyway tht was awsome even if it was a spider
When i close my eyes and look away i see kaleidoscope designs. trippy
when i keep it still i saw a pot leaf… when i scroll i see the spider… weird
holy shit I see the pot leaf toooo, and the spider when I scroll
i saw three effects
1.a gothic cross
2.widow (with scrolling)
3.after moving away the world seemed distorted…
i’m agree with ya!!
i saw abe lincoln
and im not even american
Wow, I agree with Jacob. And top 5!
God why are these characters so tiny??!
Look to the outer edges and I see what looks like electricity dancing inside the circle.
it a spider yaaay!!!!! i like spider s
Look at that spider sit!
the spider freaked me.
spiral illusions, and if u look30 sec then see wall its halunicating
When i stared at it for 30 secs it started moving CREEPY!!!1
Hey there
DO THIS stare at this spiral for a while and than look at the writing it will do ….. just do it
I see a cross when I get back from the screen, and a spider when I scroll…
Shit that is f*************king mad
thats so cool!
that spider is…..AWESOME!!