Here is the latest work from professor Akiyoshi Kitaoka, who is never one to disappoint when it comes to creating innovative relative motion illusions. The orange rings in this optical illusion appear to rotate against the purple background. (via Akiyoshi Kitaoka)

Truly Design created this large circular anamorphic painting called Space Oddity for the headquarters of a Switzerland-based company that sells apparel, footwear, and accessories.  The blue circle (shown in the photograph below) is clearly visible from one particular viewpoint located at the end of the hallway.  As the viewer walks towards the door in the […]

In this video, you will see grey circles turn into circles of different colors (green, yellow, red, and purple) before your very eyes.  The bubbles are absolutely colorless (the same color as the background), but when the screen alternates between the colored circles and bubbles, phantom colors begin to appear. This illusion was a top […]

This purple circle created by Akiyoshi Kitaoka appears to wobble and pulsate as you look at it.  Try focusing on the gray dot int he center of the image and then moving your head around.  You will find that the circle appears to be very unstable against the black background. (via Akiyoshi Kitaoka)

The flickering circles in this video appear to wander around randomly.  The circles are not moving (just flickering), but the shapes seem to drift whenever you do not look directly at the circles.  You can frame the circles with lines and they will still appear to move.  It is interesting to note that the more […]

When it comes to motion illusions, it is safe to say that no one does it better than Professor Akiyoshi Kitaoka from Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto, Japan.  If you look at the two multi-colored rings below, which Professor Kitaoka calls “Swimming Rings”, you will notice that they both appear to rotate in a clockwise manner. […]

The four spheres (which the artist calls baubles) appear to be moving.  If you move your eyes rapidly around the image, you will find that the motion effect is enhanced. A larger, single bauble version of this image can be found below. To see more motion illusions from Kaia Nao, please check out Floating Star […]