By Vurdlak on January 19, 2010, with 145 Comments
In which direction does it spin?
Shown optical illusion just laid there on my hard disk for years. When I opened it today, I couldn’t remember why I placed it in my illusions folder in the first place? After some puzzling, finally I managed to see its visual phenomenon!
Ok, here’s what I want you to do: concentrate on the animated .gif on your right. You’ll quickly realize it represents some sort of see-through sphere, constructed of many dots rotating in one direction. Dots in front make the front face of the sphere, while “background” dots belong to sphere’s back. It’s logical they rotate in opposite directions. Now try and switch those background dots with front-face ones. Notice any change?
If you manage to visualize this, your able to change the direction in which sphere rotates. With some practice, you’ll be able to switch the direction back and forth in very short time fragments. Don’t underestimate yourselves – many individuals have difficulty seeing this type of illusions. It’s not that they’re less worthy, it’s just that their brain operates differently… Which reminded me – did you know that more than 1/3 of all people who went to see Avatar in 3D couldn’t see the image in 3D?
There are many optical illusions of this type available; one of the more popular being Spinning Dancer Optical Illusion. Your best shot of finding more, would be browsing through our Animations category.
(67 votes)
Wow!!! I can make it stop!
Thats so cool! I had to not directly look t it to see the sphere going he other way-but its really cool-great job on the site, I go here every day!
I also see two hemispheres (split along the vertical sector with less amount of dots) rotate in opposite directions. very good one, indeed!
and, actually, the dots make elliptic trajectories; the lowest dot of all, when travelling from left to right, passes beneath all other dots. but when going right to left, another dot passes beneath it.
Best One Ever. I’m sure the majority of people see it going to the right first. Cuz we think of a the arth as globe spinning from west to east. i ‘d like to see what this image looked like from the top of the globe. that would be pretty cool.
wow. i could only see it turning left at first. to make it turn the other way i have to cross my eyes and while my vision is blurry i starte at the sphere and then i uncross my eyes and it is turning the ohter way. that is sooo AWESOME. kinda freaky too because it plays tricks on your eyes…
It was first going left for me than after a bit I would move my eyes right and got it to spin the other way. Really cool
awsome!!!!!!!
Well, actually the rotating sphere is (a 2D projection with perspective of) a 3D sphere. And it is rotating only to one direction: from left right (front side). That can be verified by tracing trajectories of single spots. If the projection were without perspective, the sphere could truly be interpreted to rotate either way round (single spots would travel on horizontal lines).
Yet it is of course quite possible to see the sphere rotating to right to left, splitting in middle, or many other phenomena reported here. These interpretations all mean though that the viewer does not see/understand/interpret the 3D clues in the projection. (Stereo vision is not needed to interpret them; they can be seen with just one eye.)
wow! yeah this is fantastÃco!!!! can make it turn and all that …blinking my eyes make it turn blink by blink …almost anyway.tried it with one eye too.
This is amazing, also the information, Thanks
oh man! i kept staring at this for about two hours and couldn’t get it to switch direction, i had to look at it out of the corner of my eye to do it, very odd, keep up the good work! you just baffled me, and i’m pretty good at this kinda stuff!
when your eyes relax you’ll see through it and it will look to you like it has turned the other way….
I can also see it turns two difficult ways in the same time. Left side turns right to left and right side left to right.
don’t be disheartened if you can’t make it spin the other way, if you can’t, then check out the “spinning sillhouette ballerin”a on this site- that optical illusion is awesome, and my favourite, it works in the same way as this, and i’ve figured a fool-proof trick to do that one, which should help you with this one too:
Look at the ballerina, it should be spinning one way.
Then, look down at your keyboard, maybe keeping the tip of her leg in your view from the top corner of your eye.
Then, concentrate, and imagine her leg spinning the other way, at one point on the screen, the corner, is where the images are looped.
Keep concentrating and imagine her spinning the other way than the initial direction you saw her.
When you look up, she should be spinning the other way.
A few things to keep in mind is to concentrate on trying to think of her spinning the other way, keep the tip of her leg in view and relax :)
Anyways, another one is the “Spinning Man”, very easy to spot and easier to get the trick :D
P.S: at one time, i saw a smaller sphere rotating in the opposit direction inside a bigger sphere- and shoot- the corner of the eye thing doesn’t work well for this one, i’ve only made it rotate clock-wise twice, when i think of the back dots mingling and coming to the front, then it goes the other way ;)
p.p.s: ah ha! corssing eyes works VERY well for this one!! Mwhahaha last post, promise xD
There are not enough words to describe it. It’s beautiful, awsome, cool, etc.,etc.,etc!!
this is great i manage to do what u said it will do, clock wise, counter clock wise, and see it going toward each other and then a small gap would appear, then like it was coming from both sides and colliding with it self from front to back
nice one, though i need some time to see it change, and more time to make it change again
can somebody explain how to change it in a blink?
and i can only see 3 versions
This is cool. I remember as a kid, sitting at the local ( small ) airport and watching the radar dish rotate. After a short period of time, it seemed to be rotating the opposite way to what it had been. Wait a while longer and it began rotating in reverse again! This is so similar to that phenomenon.
yeah these illusions make u stare at them forever. it was a while til i looked away.
that is not cool =)
This really isn’t limited to one direction or the other. I can see one half spin counter clockwise while the other spins clockwise.
Also if you can see them going in both directions you can see part of it begin to flip completely out of rotation. But at a certain point it will snap back and you lose it.
actually all you have to do is focus on the left or right edge
If you look at it just right you will see not only does it appear to rotate left or right but see it as two halves rotating on opposite directions towards eachother
caca head
Yeah i can change direction in less then a sec. nice illusion :)
that’s great I could see the different roatation that’s pretty cool oh and by the way I didn’t know that about avatar that’s interesting
Is it only me or can you make it appear as two counter rotating half spheres. Can not hold image for long but can retrieve quickly
try to see the picture as two groups of dots moving in opposite direction side to side in 2D plane. that’s a challenge because my brain keeps telling me it’s a sphere, not a 2D object.
Im able to see it moving in both directions at the same time ; < on half is going right and one left, however when I blink or stare for too long, Im losing this effect ;p
when i first see it it spins like earth from left to right when i look a little closer its left and right
thats awesome! it takes awhile though
i managed to see it like that so left part turns to left right side turns to right.
i thonk it all is turning left
think
i’ve managed to rotate it any time i want. bu in the end i end up seing it going both sides at the same time :)
I saw them going left, right, back and forth and in two different directions at the same time. All you need to do is look closely and force your mind to ignore the illusion.
I think has been animated to be confusing if ignoring the illusion, at first it goes left then after a while of staring it changes smoothly to going right, focus on the front bit then you see. CONCENTRATE!!!!!
Well for me, shifting my eyes left and right changes the rotation. Maybe it will work for you too.
changed it pretty quickly :D also, i saw the dots go in two different directions too!
I manage to change its directions very quick and after a while, you’ll see they’re going in two dfferent directions.
neither! it’s just dots moving in totally different directions
(actually certain groups)
this is my favorite illusion of all time.
yup, got three directions too, i had to visualize it morphing to get it, but after that i could ignore what my brain was trying to say was the truth.
i luv doing that. i can do it no problem
actually the sphere rotates both direction!!!! interesting…
I dont get it:c
nice illusion..it depends on how u start to see it..the sphere is divided into two and revolving in different direction and in a few seconds they both revolved in clockwise direction and few seconds again will revolve in counterclockwise an…d then they meet opposite direction once then VICE VERSA.
i find it easier to make it spin the other way if you look just to the left or right of the image. sometimes i see it going both directions at once which is really odd looking
if u look at the back dots (the ones further from u) it makes it easier to switch directions
nice illusion! couldnt figure out the spinning cat though, dont know why!!!
I can make some dots go against the flo ;-)
I was able to see this illusion as both sets of dots being the front dots (or background dots) at the same time. So it looks like two half-shells rotating into each other.
i can only see anticlockwise :/
Left at first so lol
Holy Crow i can actually make it change directions pretty quickly ive never seen this type of illusion before its kind cool
i saw another thing
two halfes of the sphere was rotating… different directions… \front\ one in leftt \back\ in right…. they were just passing by itself xD
nice…
This is really cool! :D I imagined the sphere melting (or crashing like ocean waves) whenever I wanted to change the direction it was going :D
They aren’t spinning
i see it going left when i look at it straight on, then right when i look out of the corner of my eye
it goes both ways1