By Vurdlak on June 19, 2010, with 468 Comments
Spinning Girl optical illusion was the one responsible for skyrocketing our traffic back in the old days. Then we have received Spinning Man version. Unfortunately that one didn’t gain as much attention, I hoped it would. Let’s see if spinning some cats helps. User called Pech Misfortune (oh, the irony) created this animated gif using ImageReady in addition with 3D Studio Max. The illusions is simple – all you have to do is see the cat rotate in both directions. At first you may think it’s impossible, but after some practice you’ll soon be able to switch the direction with each round. I’m also interested to hear your comments about the original direction you saw the cat spin at? When I first saw this, it appeared to move clockwise. Now each time I see it – it’s just the opposite (concentrate on it’s tale to switch).
(108 votes)
Took me a while to get this initially. I wasn’t looking directly at it when it switched the first time. But it’s not a scam.
If you look at it long enough you can learn to make it do what you want. It can go back and forth without ever making a full circuit, or it can spin a certain number of times one way and then switch on command. Takes some practice, but it works. Watching the paws might help, imagining they’re coming from or going to the back (whichever’s opposite of what you think it’s doing now).
Some people find this one easier http://www.moillusions.com/2007/06/spinning-sihouette-optical-illusion.html
haha… discover simple way to change its rotation… dont look at it directly…. look at the side of your computer screen (you could still see the spinning cat but focus on the side of the screen.) and you could easily alter its rotation….. this is a neat illusion… SUPER LIKE!!!
It spins both ways because the image looks the same either way. There is no depth in the image so our minds put it there making it spin one way or the other. With enough practice you can make it appear to change directions at will.
Once you can make it go back n forth over and over again from left to right is when the real fun starts. Makes you feel like you have special powers.
Heres a trick I’ve found that works….If the cat is going counterclockwise, close your eyes for a split second and imagine the cat going the other direction when its facing the back-left, if it’s going clockwise do the same with the front-right…I’ve come to the point I can easily control the cat at will…
Watch this optical illusion with a friend and you will see it is real coz ive seen it with a friend and we did saw diffirent rotation at the same time. Me im seeing a clockwise rotation while my friend sees counter-clockwise.
It took about 10 minutes before i could make it go from clockwise to counterclockwise at will. Now i have figured out how to make it turn left to right and then right to left with out go completely around…great illusions
Omg. This is awesome.
When you carefully look to cats tail , positions is like reversing.
When you are looking with it being closer to the top, it usually spins clockwise. When you move down far enough, it switches to counterclockwise.
Just so you know, it’s a “tail” not a “tale” A tale is a story, a tail is a part of an animal.
This is really a cool illusion. I can make this cat change direction at will. I can even make it sway from left to right, left to right without even rotating. Cool.
I say fake.
I scrolled so that all I could see was the head. It was spinning counter-clockwise, so the face would appear to the left, then the right, then left, then right… Then all of a sudden it went left, then right, then BACK to right, then left, then right, then left. This is no illusion, just a spinning cat that changes direction of differing intervals…
It doesn’t seem to change at the interval every time, but if you refresh the page, you’ll notice that the intervals are the same as the first time.
I guess it’s real. The trick behind it is that one way, it resembles a cat spinning clockwise WHICH YOU LOOK UP TO, and a cat spinning counterclockwise WHICH YOU LOOK DOWN TO. So generally exactly the same pictures CAN cause both impressions. It’s still hard to switch for me, but I can do it.
this seems to be a peripheral optical illusion for it seems to change direction when my eyes were diverted. great illusion but hard on the eyes
I watch this cat for like 10 mins and I can’t make her go counter-clockwise :(.
the illusion is easy to control…peripheral is the key
it changes when you stair it for a while…..don’t take ya eyes off it and u would see it does..
If you watch its legs after a while then you will see them cross.
This is the way you make the cat switch sides!!!
****Note you must look at the tip of the tail
Look to see When the arms are extended fully (9 oclock) *****make sure your not staring at the tip of the arms your eyes must be at the tip of the tail***** once the arms reaches 9 o clock, look at the tip of the tail and blink
Then do the opposite
look to see when the arms are extended and reaches 3 o clock…. look at the tip of the tail and blink again…………..
Pretty cool when you get this trick down!!!!!
just moving left to right
took me 20 minutes but I finally mastered it (:
HOLD AN INDEX FINGURE MIDWAY BETWEEN YOU AND THE SCREEN AND FOCUS ON IT TO SEE TWO CATS. THEN TRY TO MAKE ONE CAT GO CLOCKWISE AND THE OTHER ANTICLOCKWISE. ANY DOUBTS ABOUT THE ANIMATION BEING FAKE WILL DISAPPEAR IN AN INSTANT.
What i do is wait until the cats hands are exactly pointed to the left or right. at that time during the continuous spin, because of the angle of the cat, your eyes and mind can not tell if it is going clockwise or counter clockwise. at that exact moment you must either blink and turn your head away, then quikly look back. I can now switch the cat on command
ok i had my mom look at it and it was going one way for me and another for her rarely the same for both of us
i solved it yay!!! when its going left look at the upper fight corner of your computer screen…and when its going right look at the upper left of your computer screen an then you’ll see it just going side to side without a rotation but if u look at it constantly it rotates non stop
Actually i figured the Illusion out my way but im not sure. it worked when i looked away from the cat. my Peripheral vision made it look like it turned the other way. and i tested it a couple of times. and the reason for me it because when you cant see the cat fully when his back is other towards you, or his 4 legs pointing at you while rotating, it makes it seem its going the other direction.
its real— i did this with a friend. just stare at the legs and tail for a couple minutes. we both started counter clockwise, but then shes like WOAH. and i didnt notice anything. i looked at her, back at the screen, ten seconds later happened the same thing. it happened at different times for both of us. i cant seem to make it go back though, but she can.
FAKE! watch the legs! the higher legs is on its left when it rotates clockwise, then the higher leg is on its right when it rotates counter-clockwise. The image is actually being switched. anyone that has friends that see it two different directions is lying.
HOLD AN INDEX FINGER MIDWAY BETWEEN YOU AND THE SCREEN AND FOCUS ON IT ALL THE TIME TO SEE TWO CATS. THEN TRY TO MAKE ONE CAT GO CLOCKWISE AND THE OTHER ANTICLOCKWISE. IT ACTUALLY HAPPENS. ANY DOUBTS ABOUT THE ANIMATION BEING FAKE WILL DISAPPEAR IN AN INSTANT.
Ive been staring at this for a while… all I see is the cat rotating counterclockwise…
I looked at it for 10 minutes, at 5 minutes I was able to make it switch from left to right by looking at the tail.
At 7 I was able to make it flop from side to side.
At 10 I was able to make do all 3.
Cool trick… now I gotta go bash my head on the wall to feel normal again.
sweet … the chap or gal up there said u let it be in the corner of ur eye .. and it will switch … and it duz
the thing is the cat is making semi circle .. it duznt turn around completely ..so semi circle clock wise .. then semi circle anti clock wise … took me sometime to get it !!
cheers guy/gal up there .. cant remember wot ur nick was : )
This illusion seems to work on our tendency of visual motion suggestion and filling in gaps. One way to switch the illusion of direction at will is by mentally preparing to look at this as shape morphing instead of motion. So take out the pre-conception of the word “spinning” out of your mind and try to see it as a shape morphing its ink blog on the corner top right, simultaneously it grows two long ink blogs at the bottom left corner, and conversely within second on the order side. It would also help if you don’t see it as cat.
If you can’t take the image of a cat out of your head, then try to take out the word “spinning” and replacing it with the word “swing.” Now imaging that you are looking at the back of the cat, and simply see the cat swing its side profile to the right and left in one seconds interval without its ever facing you.
Our mind is the emergence of million years of evolution. It is complex but it can be explained in term of symmetry and energy efficiency. Watch for my book, explaining intelligence and consciousness, coming out next couple of year.
If you don’t think it works or think it’s a timed animation try doing it with a friend/parent.
After a while i was able to change it at will but i still didn’t believe that it was real so i got my boyfriend to stare at it too. After 20 minutes it hadn’t changed directions for him even once yet for me it had changed many times. He says this illusion is stupid but I bet he’ll be trying it again soon XD.
who’s your boyfriend??
I spent a total of 15 mins going insane. I got it to go left after staring at it for 5 mins…then I got it stuck going right again. I can’t do it looking at the image directly, but if I glance to the top of my monitor and to the bottom of it, I can get the cat to go both ways. Lol, I guess everyone is different. Kinda feels good after you get it…kinda like, HA! Take that cat.
Whoever suggested keeping the cat in the corner of your eye but looking slightly away helped me a little bit. But if i keep it out of my sight and not visualize, but “know” or sense what direction its spinning then look back it works most of the time. But thats just because of my perception lol!
Wow this is a first. I see it spinning clockwise on one half of the turn and then counter-clockwise on the other half of the turn.
Wow, I mastered it. I can change it at will now.
SECRET IS WHEN CATS BACK IS TURNED TO YOU CONCENTRATE THE hand EITHER GOING LEFT OR RIGHT AND IT WORKS!
At first after five minutes I changed it but then I couldn’t change it back it kept spinning in my head in the same direction over and over, after like 10 min, I used my left hand with pointed index finger I started to do the motion but in the different direction to what felt in sync with the motion, and voila it changes quicker.
Holy @#$% !!!
I fierst saw it rotating counter-clockwise then I looked away and it rotade clock-wise. Now, it is rotating counter-clockwise again.
Are you randomly changing the spin on the website or is it really my brain switching ???
What does that mean ?
i DO NOT BELIEVE THAT IT IS AN OPTICAL ILLUSION
i think that this person is just changing it like every five minutes. this person is just doing a lie.this is not an optical illusion.
I also saw it turning clockwise at first. I had to use the peripheral vision trick to make it switch. This seemed harder to reverse than the dancer illusion. As for this not being an illusion…well, then you don’t understand the meaning of the term.
AAAAAAAA!!!!! my brains i cant control the direction’s
wat in the world!? wen 1st looked at it it regularly changed direction..after i scrolled down n read all the comments as well as the description of this “illusion” it stopped working..it only rotates counterclockwise n i cant make it rotate thhe other way no matter wat
I had great fun with this illusion a few months when I sent it over AIM to my roommate. After several frustrating minutes of failing to see the cat rotate in another direction, I sent it to him to see if he could do it. Next thing I know, I’m hearing cries of “okay, now it’s this way…gah! it changed! okay, now it’s that way…ack! it changed again! make it stop changing!!” Apparently, not only could he see it both ways, but he had little control over when his brain would perceive it to be rotating in one direction and then switch to the other.
I was highly amused.
When cat is facing you = 6 o’clock
When cat is facing opposite = 12 o’clock
To see it go left, look at the top legs when it hits 12 o’clock, then follow it. You see it going left.
To see it go right, look at the top legs when it hits 6 o’clock, then follow it. You see it going right.
I THINK it is really going to the right, but you can see it going left when you see it spinning at the right moment. I think your eyes will follow that direction onwards.
Tricky dicky this thing was. xD
This is not a timed animation. The illusion takes effect when you attemt to stare at the bottom left of the frame while you partially focus at the cat’s hands when they are on the verge of making a frontal swing either from left to right. Using such technique the cat’s rotation changes rapidly and can even be painful in the head. Great illusion.
I have perfected the illusion. I feel very accomplised. All you have to do is when it turns its back, make your brain choose the direction.
When I first saw the cat spinning it was counter-clock wise. But now I only see it going clock wise. I don’t know how to figure this out!!!!
OMG it changed directions when I was looking away….weird!! still can’t figure it out though!!! lol
the trick is there’s a time that i spinning counter clockwise. watch the time that it counter clokwise
I have seemed to master it so much that I can make the different parts moving in separate directions if I look at them individually and make then change direction at will even in the middle if a “spin”. It’s really trippy
Van explained it a bit, but to put it in an understandable terms:
When you first look at the image, you immediately assume that the object is going to be 3D, so you perceive it going in only one direction. The reason is that you’re concentrating the .gif as a whole.
How it works is that the light in the background makes your brain think that the cat is floating in mid air and thus we perceive it as 3D going in one direction. But if you drop the 3D perception and concentrate only on the image, meaning forget about the light in the background, it will change direction. You can see it morphing back and forth as a 2D would (though I believe trying to see it in 2D is harder). However, once you figured out how you can change the direction, the cat will appear to switch direction every time it gets to 180 degrees. In order to make it stop changing, reapply the 3D perception once more, meaning add the light in the background into your mind. This will make the cat rotate back to only one direction once more.
I got it kind of going 180 degrees back and fourth, kinda looks like a windshield wiper. I can’t get it to spin 360 again. FML
Amazing! But I can’t get it to reverse without closing my eyes and IMAGINING the direction of rotation in RELATION TO the timing “pulses” of the “arms to the right” and “arms to the left”. I count off in my head “left, right, left, right”, then I close my eyes, repeating the cadence, except I add “FROM left, TO, right, FROM left, TO right”. Then I open eyes see it rotating that way! If I start with “FROM right, TO left” it reverses rotation. But I cannot get it to switch while I’m looking NO MATTER WHAT! This is an indicator of some sort as to how the illusion works in the brain.
I look either right above the top of the pic (not the top of the cat, but the top of all of it) and get it to spin. If I look down at the bottom of the pic it’ll spin the other way.
conterclockwise is how i saw it, and im having a hard time switching them…
Well yu guys are lucky. I’ve masterd it to the point at which it no longer makes a complete 360 rotation. it just rocks back and forth. =/ no fun at all
If you just keep blinking… you’ll see that the cat doesn’t turn around at all, it’t just do a half-spin from right to left and left to right…
See Ya!
When my brother and I first saw it the cat was moving clock wise. Now if I focus on the dark square in the lower left corner it moves counter-clock wise but my brother says if he closes his left eye and focus on the cat he can see it turn counter-clock wise but loses focus when he blinks.
This is amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OMG!!
After a while, it kept facing left, right, left, right… over and over again! XD
after training my eyes how to do it.. i only see it swinging back and forth now spinning so now i cant even enjoy it!!
You can see it going around, Jake, but you cant look at the paws. Its all in the paws. You have to look at the tail or head once you get it to change direction.
i imagine eyes on the back of its head going the opposite direction works for me :D
haha that’s interesting, it’s difficult at first but once you train your eyes it is an easy switch
props on how brilliant it is
OMG!!! it’s so cool!
sweet – i took the advice of looking away and having the cat just in the corner of your vision. then i can tell myself “it’s spinning clockwise” and when i look up, it is, and vice versa. i never could get the spinning girl – she always looked to be going clockwise.
After 20 minutes of staring i understand it…its really your brain doing the switching…all you have to do is when the cats back is turned to you, imagine the cat turning in the direction you want it to turn
IF YOU DONT LOOK DIRECTLY AT IT LIKE LOOK A HALF INCH ABOVE IT YOU CAN SEE THE CAT SPINNING IN HALF CIRCLES BACK AND FORTH!!!!!!!!!!
OK MAYBE A COUPLE INCHES!!!!!!!!
WOW!!! aweosmeeee it was soooo hard to see it change at first! (:
Got it. Defocus and look up and to the left, keeping the picture in the corner of your eye to the right. If you want it to go counter clockwise, decide and look when the cat’s front paws are at 2 o’clock. If you want it to go clockwise, decide and look when the cat’s front paws are at 10 o’clock. Or, you know, whatever….
This one baffles me. Whenever I see these, I get a bit confused. Sometimes when I see them, they appear to be spinning on one direction, then I’ll open it again later and they spin in the oposide direction. Pretty cool actually.
Vurdlak i`m sorry if this affends you, but tale is spelt “tail“
I could not get this to go clock wise no matter how hard I tried. I can’t do it. I have tried every tip in these comments. it is probably the most frustrated i have ever been. >.<
The trick is to turn your computer upside down and keep doing that, now all I see is the cat going back and forth. dang it!
The trick with me was to close my eyes for a moment and at the same time picturing the cat turning the other way and open my eyes again, after a while you can time it so the cat appears at the same position.
Look at just the legs and the tail. now, when you think the tail is going in front of the legs, try to picture it as being behind the legs, and the other way around. after a while it should turn!
ahhhh creeeeeeeeeeeepy
Super cool. I saw it going counter clock wise first. It was hard for me to see it go the other way, but if you look out the corner of your eye you can see it!
I finally see it!!!!
And omg it freaks me out xD
i onli take 3 secs to changthe cat i differ words from color one uses rite side of brain and ither uses left side i thought abcdefghijklmnop then i thought red blu yellow green orange purple and so on
For me, the spinning girls is easier than this one. :L