We've all seen our fair share of perplexing optical illusions.
If you thought "that dress" was the greatest conundrum of all time, you clearly haven't seen the newest illusion confusing the hell out of the Internet. If you felt scarred by that disturbing Adele optical illusion, I don't blame you for taking a break from optical illusions altogether.
But I digress. Today I'm showing you the "Ambiguous cylinder illusion"
Kokichi Sugihara is the mastermind behind it.
Although Sugihara didn't win first prize in the "Best Illusion of the Year Contest", his eye catching illusion definitely deserves some recognition.
At first glance, this optical illusion seems pretty simple. Sugihara places some plastic tubes next to a mirror and starts to rotate them around.
But if you take a closer look at the spinning tubes, you'll quickly notice the shapes are changing before your eyes. Seriously, I have been watching this video on loop. Are they squares? Are they circles? Squircles? What is going on?
If that isn't enough to make you look twice, things get even more confusing when you realize that the shape of the tubes on the table don't even match the shape of the tubes' reflection in the mirror.
Yep, after a couple of spins, the tubes start to switch back and forth between circular and rectangular shapes, and it basically looks like some sort of geometric voodoo magic.
Seriously, how the hell does he do this?
I am pretty much doubting everything I have ever known now. Especially what little I remember of grade school Geometry.
Also, how did this optical illusion only win second prize? Here's the winner of the conversation. You judge for yourself.
Update: someone with a large brain, a 3D printer and a YouTube channel has put us out of our misery. Well, thank goodness for that. We can all sleep at night now.
Citations: This Illusion Was A Finalist In 'Best Illusion Of The Year Contest' And I Dare You To Figure Out How He Does It (Bro Bible)
