
Best Illusion of the Year Contest - 2019 Finalists - lisper
http://illusionoftheyear.com/cat/top-10-finalists/2019/
======
zamadatix
Site loading extremely slow due to load but thankfully the content is just
hosted on YouTube:

1st:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HC0GGkNZPgs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HC0GGkNZPgs)

2nd: [https://youtu.be/SoxRi269Slw](https://youtu.be/SoxRi269Slw)

3rd: [https://youtu.be/O5kLq7Z-pIY](https://youtu.be/O5kLq7Z-pIY)

------
matsemann
Kokichi Sugihara didn't reach quite the top this year with his "Facing-Right
Illusion", but he has won multiple years with variations of this concept. Cool
that it gets refined each year.

I have calculated some of the shapes myself and a few unique ones. They can be
seen here:
[https://www.thingiverse.com/Matsemann/collections/matsemanns...](https://www.thingiverse.com/Matsemann/collections/matsemanns-
ambiguous-cylinders)

~~~
silvester23
I think it's pretty cool, but I'm sure what exactly the illusion is supposed
to be? I mean, it's an actually symmetrical shape so after rotating 180° it
seems rather obvious that we see the exact same thing as before, no?

~~~
matsemann
One would normally think that rotating it would create the same shape, but
pointing the other way. My arrow here maybe makes it a bit more clear:
[https://github.com/Matsemann/impossible-
objects](https://github.com/Matsemann/impossible-objects)

~~~
silvester23
I actually much prefer your arrow to the example in the linked article! The
lighting of the bird shows its somewhat weird shape very clearly and pretty
much gives away the illusion, at least to me.

------
aasasd
The ‘Chunder Thunder’ is a variation of the ‘Perpetual diamond’ which
demonstrates the illusion more economically and IMO captivatingly:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20103642](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20103642)

The ‘diamond’ was published almost exactly one year ago. However, images
exploiting the same effect were circulating much earlier (beware, strobe fest
ahead): [https://i.imgur.com/4oZyQFx.gif](https://i.imgur.com/4oZyQFx.gif),
[https://i.imgur.com/2eDISOQ.gif](https://i.imgur.com/2eDISOQ.gif)

Btw, I previously tried watching these gifs frame-by-frame, flipping them
manually, and the effect still persisted for me.

------
fyp
What are some interesting applications of optical illusions?

For example, perspective illusions can be used to trick drivers into slowing
down: [https://www.insider.com/optical-illusions-3d-crosswalk-
drivi...](https://www.insider.com/optical-illusions-3d-crosswalk-
driving-2019-5) or crashing:
[https://imgur.com/a/kYr94](https://imgur.com/a/kYr94)

But I rarely see any of the crazier optical illusion effects used. Maybe these
don't affect the population in a consistent enough way to use as a feature?
(based on how white/gold and black/blue split the internet)

~~~
iainmerrick
Well, what would you use them for? Any suggestions?

~~~
fyp
A lot of illusions work so well we don't even consider them illusions anymore.
For example movies are just flashing pictures. Pictures/monitors/cameras
themselves only need to capture 3 colors instead of the full spectrum (if we
were mantis shrimps we would need 12!).

I guess I was hoping there would be some HNer with specific expertise who can
talk about how these tricks are applied in graphics. For example there was
some buzz a few years back on how a company managed to trick the brain into
seeing the color black in AR (which shouldn't be physically possible without
blocking light).

------
hrlwherjkh
Hmm, the second prize illusion, red/green versus yellow dots didn't work for
me. I was never able to see the yellow dots. I have normal vision (no color
blindness).

~~~
unkulunkulu
Try following a region on one of the lines moving strictly horizontally to the
right with relaxed vision (not focusing precisely). Choosing a point close to
the top of the lines should be easier.

~~~
hrlwherjkh
Thanks, that worked, thus it was more of a "blinking yellow led" kind of
thing, not rock solid like the red/green aspect.

------
james-skemp
Can someone help explain third place? I guess I could maybe see the white dot
stretch into a line (triangle was the most obvious with two diagonals and a
straight line), but it was barely perceivable.

I suffer from motion sickness (back seats of cars, most FPS games) and this
one had a negative effect on my head and stomach.

~~~
aasasd
The third is ‘The Rotating Circles’? You're supposed to look at the white dot,
but the behavior of the small black circle in the middle will be changing,
when in fact it does the same thing all the time.

~~~
james-skemp
Ah. Once I started taking in the whole picture that made more sense. Thank you
for the help. :)

------
Swivekth18
The second one was slightly disappointing in that I didn't really see the
yellow dots, but rather a flashing red/green. I'm assuming each color was on
the screen just a bit too long to blend into yellow for me.

Still, the changing direction motion was great.

~~~
Cthulhu_
It took a while for me, it's similar to those 'hidden images in noise' in that
you have to somehow 'switch' your eyes to see a certain way. For me anyway,
it's possible it just doesn't work for everyone.

------
kstenerud
Hmm weird... my senses didn't get fooled at all by the illusions in rotating
circles, right facing illusion, magic tic tac toe, or ambiguous cardboard
arrows.

For the other ones, it took supreme effort to see past the illusion.

------
stevage
>The Necker Cube, published by Louis Necker in 1932, ushered in an almost
200-year investigation into visual illusion. This video continues that
exploration today in-light-of what we now know about the fact that matter
equals energy. The quantum physics revolution has altered our world in ways
beyond compare. What we see in our day to day experience is quite different
from what science has confirmed. This video asserts that we must question our
assumptions about perspective. The Renaissance helped us understand how we see
3-D distance visually, and today’s science confirms that there is more to the
story.

This should win an award for the greatest pile of random words masquerading as
information.

What the hell does the first sentence even mean? How could an event in 1932
usher in a 200 year investigation - predicting something that ends in 2132?

~~~
ebg13
Louis Necker died in 1861, so it's supposed to say 1832.

~~~
mirimir
OK, that accounts for the first sentence. But the rest?

> This video continues that exploration today in-light-of what we now know
> about the fact that matter equals energy.

Huh? I see nothing about interconversion of matter and energy here. At most,
some excited electrons and biochemical changes.

> The quantum physics revolution has altered our world in ways beyond compare.
> What we see in our day to day experience is quite different from what
> science has confirmed.

No quantum effects here either. Except in the sense that protein biochemistry
and biophysics implicitly involve them.

> This video asserts that we must question our assumptions about perspective.

This one makes sense.

> The Renaissance helped us understand how we see 3-D distance visually, and
> today’s science confirms that there is more to the story.

I guess. Except that Aristarchus of Samos understood parallax in the second
century BC.

------
BucketSort
Why isn't the US economy a runner up?

~~~
dang
We've banned this account for posting unsubstantive and/or flamebait comments
and ignoring our requests to stop.

