We have featured terrific motion illusions from optical artist Kaia Nao in the past.  If you missed them, you may want to take a look at the floating star illusion and tunnel vision.  Below, he has created a design that features ten very colorful caterpillars.  When you look at the entire image, do they appear […]

Stare at the center of this figure.  Does it appear that there is scintillating activity (or movement) within the purple rings? This figure, titled “The Enigma”, was painted by Isia Leviant in 1981.

This is a pretty powerful example of a motion illusion.  Do the green, purple, white and black “tubes” appear to be moving in a swirling motion?  It almost appears as though the objects are made of wax and melting on the screen.

The Ouchi illusion is named after Japanese artist Hajime Ouchi.  The central disk with vertical black and white bars appears to float above the background with the horizontal black and white bars. This version of the Ouchi illusion was drawn by Japanese profressor Akiyoshi Kitaoka for Visiome in 2005.

Look at the black dot in the center of this image and move your head closer to your screen and then back again.  Do the outer circles appear to be moving? This illusion, known as the Pinna illusion, was the first visual illusion to show a rotating motion effect.  It was discovered by Dr. Baingio […]

The four squares appear to float on top of the wavy pink background.  As you watch this image, the background seems to flutter slightly to both the left and the right.This illusion was designed by French artist Daniel PICON.

Optical artist Kaia Nao designed the following star that incorporates a peripheral drift effect applied to a random pattern.  Does it appear to be moving? This illusion was selected to be a finalist in the 2012 Best Illusion of the Year Contest.