Disappearance at The Desk Hybrid Illusion

Although we’ve gotten over 10,000 MySpace users hooked on “Illusion of The Day” application, I haven’t received a single feedback on it till now. In my opinion this is the best widget we have published, do you share my view? I’d be more than glad to hear you opinion! So please comment. Concerning the illusion, here we have a hybrid image of some really cluttered desk. Using high spatial frequency superimposition of color onto a black and white low frequency field, results in a pretty interesting optical illusion. At close distance, there is a woman sitting at her computer amidst a somewhat cluttered desk. All these elements exist in pale colored tones. Once you move away from your screen and this image for a few meters, the woman at the desk will disappear as well as the surrounding clutter. The pale colored tones will have faded into the sea of gray scale that exists on the lower spatial frequency plane. This illusion was crated by MIT’s Aude Oliva back in 2006.

79 Replies to “Disappearance at The Desk Hybrid Illusion”

  1. Very cool illusion… I have a slight colorblind issue myself, so it took me several attempts and some focusing to see it… but when I did… wow!

  2. The illusion does work, but requires a great distance between you and the screen to allow the woman and the “clutter” to vanish. Perhaps if the frequencies were not so out of synch with one another, but closer in wave form, the illusion would appear at a shorter distance and be easier for some people to see.

  3. I went back about 3 meters and didn’t see it, but I feel that 3 more meters should do the trick. Alas, I don’t have an entire corridor behind my computer.

  4. awesome illusion ! ok, i didn’t get all the technical bits, but i did get the part that instructed us to move away from the pic/PC…

    at close range, it seems really eery for some reason…and it’s like she’s a ghost

    and from far- although the illusion doesnt work as well in the sense you can still see her…. it still looks scary- i mean her head’s gone !!

  5. Seen it, you need to be far away, i needet about 4 meters to see it ;) Its quiet good, but i think there are better ones

  6. I had to move all the way across my living room for her to disappear. So, it works, but you have to get pretty far away.

  7. It doesn’t work for me, but try just squinting your eyes on the smaller widget picture and the woman magically disappears

  8. wow thats crazy the first time i saw it i thought it was bull because it didnt seem to be workiking so i looked at some other illusions and when i went back the girl was gone

  9. I can sort of see it. The Woman seems to dissapear as well when you go away from the screen. It looks more to me like you could put on some 3d glasses and see the clutter pop out :D

  10. This is amazing!!! I had my whole family look at it. They all thought it was really cool. This is an amazing illusion. Congrats to Aude Oliva. Well done. Some things were still slightly visible because they are grayscale objects like the piece of paper on the binders, but everything else is great!

  11. woah…
    i went to go get my glasses so that i could see the illusion properly.. i was about 3 meters away when i glanced back to the computer…
    after reading the other comments, i figured that the first time i try this illusion, that it would’nt work… but i the clutter and woman was gone!!!

    this is a really cool illusion!

  12. It does work – sorta….

    If you stand 2-3 meters away and look at the desk, you will clearly see the files on the desk. Squint very, very slightly to help see only the files.

    Now as you approach the screen, the scruffy papers/pen and the cup in particular should start to appear….

    You can then practise this on other parts of the image – but the woman’s head is definitely the hardest…

  13. You keep asking for feedback on your gadget. I downloaded one version and it worked great on my Vista machine. Then I saw an upgrade. Bad move. Now the image only shows up we I first boot my machine. After the first refresh or change, I get just a black box with the name of the illusion. And now I can’t find the original version that worked. Bummer! :( and if I detach from sidebar for a free-floating gadget, I also lose the ability to cycle through the last 4 illusions. Double bummer! :( :(

  14. Wow! I see exactly what u guys r talking about. This is so cool. I could be amused for a long time going through the Illusions of the day!!! Hey…Thanks, and hope you find my comment of some satisfaction. Your friend, Leeann

  15. I’ve had this widget for about a year now and I just love it!

    I also just added the widget to my Myspace profile, and my friends talk about how cool of a little widget it is.

    I like it better than the other little games and truth boxes Myspace has anyway.

  16. For anyone who cant stand up and walk backwards for 6 meters, press ctrl and scroll at the mouse at the same time. The pic will get smaller and apears to be further away.

  17. I like this app, but you need to fix the bugs. Number one, a dark backround for the pic would fit in a lot better on most people’s pages than that ugly white. And maybe just a simple link to the other optical illusions, rather than a really long one that fades off into …’s. Other than that, awesome! Keep making cool stuff, you rock!

  18. If you squint really really hard, you get the effect that I’m guessing is supposed to happen when you take several steps backwards.
    Except when I go back 3 meters I hit the wall and I can still see everything clearly

  19. It also works if you squint!!!!!!!I was in the spelling bee against 8th graders and was in the top 15!!!!!I’m in 5th grade yeaa! Snowden School!!

  20. For those of us who’re near-sighted, just take off your glasses if you can’t see it. It took me a second till I took of my glasses to clean them and saw the woman disappear.

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