Comments on: Relative Coffee Cups

By: Joshua

Joshua — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 09:42:18 +0000

Hey I believe that whole brown square the 2 cups are sitting on is a drawing. That would explain the inconsistancies of the shadows. They’re the same size, just a few feet apart.

By: robert connelly

robert connelly — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 02:59:37 +0000

it is not elevated how do i know look at the floor wood flooring then carpet then more wood flooring so the cups are on a carpet with a cube on it, how it works is your eyes are lieing to you, because of the 2d image with the 3d cups in a 2d picture so all of the 3d is 2d to u cant tell what is what

By: Detective Kitty

Detective Kitty — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 14:49:41 +0000

I must admit that this one stumped me for awhile until I read a comment that told the answer…I was very much dissappointed in myself for not figuring it out but of course stumping me get’s a five star rating on my side….

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 21:54:58 +0000

dear vurdlak, i feel so sorry for you… i enjoy coming to your site whenever i see something nice on my igoogle gadget and each time, out of curiosity, i read the comments people post… i’m sorry guys, but some of you are a real pain… who cares how vurdlak writes the article? this site is about illusions/mind tricks, not bbc latest news. also, why does everyone attack everyone else when they have different opinions? it’s all relative – of course the two cups are the same size (or so we can assume otherwise what would be the point of this illusion?) but it is true that if you’re talking about the picture, not the actual table with the two cups, they’re different sizes. ok, i personally think that’s a lame remark that doesn’t need to be pointed out, but still it’s true so just let people think what they want if it makes them happy… having said that, i do need to say that i love david redman’s comment… LOL!

By: Cody

Cody — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 10:41:38 +0000

fried man,

perception is recognition and interpretation, the way our brain perceives things but it is never THE reality. That’s why it is an optical illusion, when our brain is tricked to see what isn’t really there.

And here, it’s not the question if these cups are different in 2D. If it were the case, it would be too obvious and pointless to do this optical illusion.

By: fried man

fried man — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 02:50:57 +0000

cody

perception IS reality.

The cups are different sizes IN the 2d picture. That is the perception, which makes it reality.

The cups are the Same size if you were to see them in person, hold them, etc…..that is a different reality than what is shown in the 2d pic.

By: David

David — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 15:29:11 +0000

One of the keys to making this coffee cup illusion work is knowledgeable use of the camera. The photographer needed to use a very small aperture to get a big depth of field in order to not give away the distance of the coffee cups from the camera by way of focus or lack thereof. Viewers have learned to judge placement in a 2D image by focus, so removing that information is critical. They could have done a better job of faking the cube shadow, but otherwise pretty good.

By: Victor

Victor — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 11:25:12 +0000

Being given the context (the site we are on), I wonder (without a hint) if the “large” cup isn’t in fact SMALLER then the “small” one…

By: Smudge

Smudge — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 10:30:39 +0000

The cups are visually different sizes, but we are led to believe that they are the same size “in real life” (although this is absolutely inverifiable).

Good illusion, though this could be done much better.

By: Scott

Scott — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 10:16:42 +0000

I don’t think the illusion is supposed to be “are the two cups the same size?” I think it’s supposed to be “are to two cups the same distance away from the camera?” and the answer is yes. The cube that the smaller cup is sitting on is right next to the larger cup, but the smaller cup looks like it is farther away, but can’t be.