Right Brain v Left Brain | Herald Sun
This came up in a design theory class I help teach.
The top of the body and the legs are not spinning together. There are minor cues you can look at to establish which way it is spinning, but all that does is give us an insight as to if you're left or right brained.
Here is the spoiler after analysis:
The shadow = counterclockwise. You cannot refute the shadow. Logicians will use the shadow as the only bit of data needed to "know" the direction of the spinning. Problem is, the shadow is IMPOSSIBLE. Look at it closely. Explain how you can rotate on one leg while rotating the foot of the other pointed out in front of you, yet the pointed one's shadow never is "in front" or "behind" the center.
The crotchal region = counterclockwise. Frame 13 has a small cue (the white line) that can only be perceived as the center leg being in front at that point.
If you look from that white line in frame 13 down, without the shadow:
the pointed leg is actually moving in a semicircle from the left to the right and then back to the left, behind the woman. between 32 and 33 there's a huge jump. This jump is meant to jar you into "reprocessing" the image, it gives it that forced lack of continuity so that you reassess things (and rely on gestalt more). The cue here is that in certain frames you see the big toe. This orients the pointed leg... the jump between 32 and 33 happens when the leg would be in the facing-towards, left side position, instead it seems to hop to facing away, right side.
the centered leg appears clockwise in the same movement, but opposed to the pointed leg (its turning one way while the other is turning a different way).
Notice I say pointed and centered - if you pay attention to the top at all it should be impossible to decide which is her left and right leg...
the white line up is moving in a semicircle facing the viewer, from the right to the left.
The face semicircle and the legs semicircle are always pointed away from each other. That leaves the "logicians" to point out that the shadow and white line means she "must" be turning counterclockwise where the creatives see the possibility of it being the other direction strongly, as the shadow and white line are conflicting with the fact that her legs would be put on her torso backwards.
So, yeah, the answer is she isn't spinning in any direction. Believing any of the cues exemplifies your tendencies.
What "brained" is a person who analyzes all of the possibilities and separate components and can see both sides equally? Schizo? Because this proves that being brain "weighted" is foolish at best.
See attachments for frame 13 which is impossible to refute, as well as the top view orientation shifting of legs to upper torso. Frame 13 is more than a hinge, it is that minor cue letting us know the center leg must be in the front.
Here are a few more (famous) illusions
Ames Ames Window Chaplin
The issue is there's no rendering, on the Ames trapezoid or the spinning woman. If you had a true lightsource where you'd see gradation, as well as depth of field, the illusion would be revealed. This is why the video of the ames trapezoid is easier to see the shape of the object rotating, due to the shadows where the applet one is impossible (and the swaying back and forth is dominant in the woman.)
That's where those little cues give you the "logic" needed to decide which way it must be spinning. ffffraaaammmeeee 13
ps > chaplin mask = fucking creepy
