Moving Images

This section contains a collection of optical illusions that appear to exhibit motion of some description even if the images themselves are completely stationary. Many tricks of the eye can create the illusion of movement including warping, wave motion and rotational effects.

Shimmering waves illusion thumbCategory: Moving Images
Shimmering waves illusion
Added: February 12, 2013 | 6 comment(s)
Running across this optical illusion you can see three wavy shaped white lines. If you stare at this picture you will think the white lines change to a silver colour and start to shimmer giving the ap...

Slithering snakes illusion thumbCategory: Moving Images
Slithering snakes illusion
Added: February 12, 2013 | 3 comment(s)
This amazing optical illusion was created by Akiyoshi Kitaoka, Professor in the Department of Psychology, Ritsumeikan University, Kyoto, Japan. In this image you can see what appears to be four rows o...

Spinning jigsaw puzzle pieces illusion thumbCategory: Moving Images
Spinning jigsaw puzzle pieces illusion
Added: February 12, 2013 | 2 comment(s)
In this picture there are a number of shapes resembling jigsaw puzzle pieces in a mixture of light and dark grey colours. If you stare at this picture you can clearly see the pieces start to move in a...

Sunshine illusion thumbCategory: Moving Images
Sunshine illusion
Added: February 12, 2013 | 5 comment(s)
To help brighten up the cold winter months here is an optical illusion that will hopefully cheer up your day too wherever you are. It is a picture of the Sun in all its shining glory, you can almost f...

Rotating flower petal rings thumbCategory: Moving Images
Rotating flower petal rings
Added: February 12, 2013 | 2 comment(s)
Here we have an image showing what looks like two rings of lilac flower petals on a green background. When you look at this picture it gives the very relaxing illusion that the petal rings rotate towa...

Revolving arrows illusion thumbCategory: Moving Images
Revolving arrows illusion
Added: February 12, 2013 | 3 comment(s)
In this optical illusion we have an image of a yellow-orange square box with five rows of turquoise and white arrows in the middle of it. As you can see the arrows form a circle and vary in size star...

Rotating ferris wheel illusion thumbCategory: Moving Images
Rotating ferris wheel illusion
Added: February 12, 2013 | 2 comment(s)
Anyone who has ever been to a fairground will recognise the object in this picture which to me looks very similar to one of those ferris wheels that you can ride on, hence I have called this optical i...

Expanding coil illusion thumbCategory: Moving Images
Expanding coil illusion
Added: February 12, 2013 | 5 comment(s)
This is an interesting looking optical illusion of what appears to be a rolled up coil. If you cast your eyes over this image you should be able to see the coil expanding. For best results I recommend...

Blue eye spiral wheel illusion thumbCategory: Moving Images
Blue eye spiral wheel illusion
Added: February 12, 2013 | 2 comment(s)
This is an image of a spiral wheel with a blue eye in the middle. If you focus on the white dot inside the blue eye the lines in the wheel give you the illusion that they are moving when in fact the w...

Rotating watermelons illusion thumbCategory: Moving Images
Rotating watermelons illusion
Added: February 12, 2013 | 0 comment(s)
Here we have an image of what appears to be rows of green and yellow watermelons. If you stare at the image it gives the illusion that the watermelons are starting to rotate....

Moving squares illusion thumbCategory: Moving Images
Moving squares illusion
Added: February 12, 2013 | 1 comment(s)
This is one of those optical illusions where on first glance nothing much seems to be happening. But if you keep looking at it you can see it move, in fact it moves quite a lot as you will see for you...

Birds in flight thumbCategory: Moving Images
Birds in flight
Added: February 12, 2013 | 2 comment(s)
On first glance you might be forgiven for thinking this illusion does not appear to be doing very much, but if you stare at the image long enough the birds will start to move. Can you tell which birds...

Drink Driving Sign Illusion thumbCategory: Moving Images
Drink Driving Sign Illusion
Added: February 12, 2013 | 21 comment(s)
This sign post designed to stop people from drink driving is a unique take on the "waves" illusion, if you look closely you'll see the words on the sign moving in a wave-like fashion to simulate how y...

Pulsing Vortex thumbCategory: Moving Images
Pulsing Vortex
Added: February 12, 2013 | 29 comment(s)
Here's another illusion that seems to move, the image is completely stationary however when you look at it there appears to be a pulsing effect. Its a bit like a large booming speaker, imagine some lo...

Moving Dots thumbCategory: Moving Images
Moving Dots
Added: February 12, 2013 | 30 comment(s)
To see this illusion try staring at the yellow dot in the center for a short time. You should start to see the blue dots around the outside begin to disappear and reappear intermittently. ...

Scintillating Grid Illusion thumbCategory: Moving Images
Scintillating Grid Illusion
Added: February 12, 2013 | 10 comment(s)
The scintillating grid illusion is very similar to the Hermann grid illusion and was devised in 1994 by E. Lingelbach. Like the Hermann illusion the image consists of a grid of black squares divided b...

Hermann Grid Illusion thumbCategory: Moving Images
Hermann Grid Illusion
Added: February 12, 2013 | 6 comment(s)
This illusion was first devised in 1870 by Ludimar Hermann, it consists of a series of black squares and interconnecting white lines in a grid formation. When you look at it there appear to be grey do...

Warped Dotted Surface thumbCategory: Moving Images
Warped Dotted Surface
Added: February 12, 2013 | 17 comment(s)
This headache inducing illusion is simply a static image of a green background with a series of blue dots, however when you look at it the whole thing appears to move and warp in a wave-like fashion....

Spinning Spiral Circle thumbCategory: Moving Images
Spinning Spiral Circle
Added: February 12, 2013 | 25 comment(s)
This image is completely stationary however when you look at it the circles appear to be moving, especially if you move your eyes across it. The circle in the center appears to be moving clockwise and...

Moving spirals thumbCategory: Moving Images
Moving spirals
Added: February 12, 2013 | 24 comment(s)
This image of coloured spirals appears to be moving if you stare at it, however in reality it is completely stationary. One of the most impressive moving illusions we've ever seen.

Warning:...