Yesterday’s posts about lying proved very popular – please keep them coming and I will have a look at them all tomorrow.
Last week I staged another battle of the clever stuff, and put the emerging circles illusion against the weird purple moving thing. The purple thing won easily, so it stays on. This week it is up against a wonderful piece of face art. Have a look at them both….
….here is the weird purple thing….
And here is the new contender….
Vote now and feel free to explain your decision.
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September 23, 2009 at 6:44 am |
The second one is a photo mosaic. I guess its impressive because there are only a few tiles. The purple one is more neat because I don’t have an explanation for the mechanism.
Googling for photo mosiacs can find you more images.
http://images.google.com.au/images?hl=en&rlz=1C1CHNG_enAU344AU344&um=1&sa=1&q=photomosaic&btnG=Search+images&aq=f&oq=
September 23, 2009 at 7:19 am |
I went for the weird purple thing, because the face mosaic freaks me out. I think it’s the eye. The eye is a mouth. With teeth. Creepy.
September 23, 2009 at 7:52 am |
Face mosaic by far – the top one is only applied colour theory/after image stuff, a throw back to the 60′s – the mosaic draws you in and makes you use your own brain …… [obviously I haven't got one ..... but that isn't the point - tee hee]
September 23, 2009 at 8:15 am |
I picked the face mosaic as it’s weird and freaky and therefore rather thought-provoking; to my twisted mind, anyhow.
September 23, 2009 at 8:25 am |
I’m still with the purple thing because I just find it really funny. Face thing is cool tho – but mainly because it’s using so few tiles. I can imagine a computer program selecting the tiles from a large library tho (that’s how I’d do it), so not as impressed.
September 23, 2009 at 8:25 am |
I went for the purple thing, because though the mosaic is cool, I can see how it’s done. Purpley weirdness’ effects are involuntary.
September 23, 2009 at 8:26 am |
The weird purple thing makes me go “huh?”; the face thing makes me go “huh?” and then makes me think.
Definitely going for the face thing.
September 23, 2009 at 8:57 am |
The face thing is clever, and I do like those sorts of pictures (seen a great Darth Vader picture made of scenes from Star Wars) but I don’t like the overall picture. I went for the purple thing
September 23, 2009 at 8:58 am |
The face art type thing can be generated by a computer and you can buy any one of hundreds of these things for your wall cheap in the touristy mercados.
The purple thing is endlessly trippy and eyeball-hurting. I found that as I was reading the words above, the thing never stops moving. As long as you keep your eyes moving along the words and don’t fix them on any one point, it just endlessly moves as if you’re going through a tunnel.
I can ponder why these optical illusions happen and marvel at the mechanics of optics and brain signals, all while getting a little visceral thrill from the sensation of the illusion. The face art is eh, interesting enough for a minute, maybe a little cheesy. Doesn’t blow my got-dam mind like that purple thing!
September 23, 2009 at 9:32 am |
Images mde of images are always cool!
September 23, 2009 at 9:46 am |
A few weeks ago I cast a vote for emerging circles over purple thingy. Purlple thingy won. In asking myself if face art is better than purple thingy I wondered how it stacked next to emerging circles. I maintain that emerging circles has these beat. And so, if common wisdom states that purple thingy is better than emerging circles, and emerging circles to my sensibilities is better than face art, then purple thingy must trump face art. Lets go to the flow chart…
Ah forget it. You’ve tuned out by now anyhow.
September 23, 2009 at 9:46 am |
I’ve gone for the Face because I think it’s compiled of paintings made by the same artist – clearly not a selection of images picked by a computer programme. So I’m impressed by the artist who can not only paint faces, but then go one step further and see how to make them into another face…or maybe they did it the other way round…?
And the purple thing makes me feel as if my eyes are about to bleed
September 23, 2009 at 9:49 am |
I went for the purple mosaic, the face one is really cool but still i liked the purple one. First impression leading to the best impression.
September 23, 2009 at 10:59 am |
Oooh it’s a tough one this week! The purple one gets my vote though as I have seen how the mosaics can be created on the computer with pretty much any pics.
September 23, 2009 at 11:01 am |
I chose the face because it holds my attention for minutes rather than seconds.
September 23, 2009 at 11:47 am |
Definitely the mosiac fact art thing. Like elsie_em said it held my attention for minutes instead of seconds on the weird..purpley..thing that hurts my eyes.
September 23, 2009 at 12:23 pm |
Oh, that’s cool .. the 2nd drawing will not even fuck up the brains of someone with a split brain .. he/she will see faces with both sides!
Me too.
I find that one a bit more intriguinig as well .. as there is more to see ofcourse .. you can work your mind a bit different and more controlled there .. use it as a new spin off if you wish (I didn’t but hey .. if you are in that mood .. you would ..).
I would not want it on the wall though .. that type of pictures .. neither one.
The purple one is not disturbing my brain so that is good. It keeps reminding me of something but I dont know what it reminds me of.
A caleidoscope in front of one eye .. that’s also a cool optical illusion .. especially if you see the real background still behind it .. tells you something about how it developped .. this caleidscope .. and from where .. if you are a good scientist in that field (I’m not .. I just experience .. hahaha ..).
September 23, 2009 at 12:31 pm |
Got to go with the purple thing. The face art is definitely good, and very cool, but the purple wonder tends to keep my attention.
Is anyone else able to make it stop moving? I can, if I concentrate enough.
September 23, 2009 at 1:46 pm |
The first one freaks me out in a good way. The second one just freaks me out.
September 23, 2009 at 1:57 pm |
Purple thing. The face art is impressive, but the fact is that I’ve seen lots of photo-mosaics. This is near the top of photo-mosaic art, yes, but still just another one.
The purple thing may be a throwback to the sixties, but I wasn’t around back then and the concept isn’t familiar to me.
September 23, 2009 at 2:30 pm |
Mosaics like the face art used to be made by individual artists, not computers, and if it was made by an individual, then it way trumps the purple thing, since the purple thing is a rather simple application of optics and color (albeit with a cool effect). I have never seen a mosaic like the face art at that scale, and I’m not sure the computer programs for creating a mosaic could be successful at that scale, so I definitely go with the face art since I choose to believe that it was made by a person, perhaps one who not only selected, but may have created or edited the tiled images as well as the larger mosaic.
September 23, 2009 at 2:36 pm |
we are used to computers making those mosaics now, but that one seems to be hand made, more Esher than PC… i like it.
September 23, 2009 at 2:52 pm |
To those claiming the face art is a simple photo mosaic, look again! It’s not possible to generate this by simple HSL calculations, like the majority of the photo mosaics out there. This one also uses the shapes within each of the tiles to define the overall image. Very clever — it gets my vote!
September 23, 2009 at 4:28 pm |
I can’t pick this week! They’re both brilliant!!!
September 23, 2009 at 4:47 pm |
I went with the Amazing Face Art only because I’d already seen the weird purple thing lost week. Both great though!
September 23, 2009 at 5:26 pm |
the face art is very clever (and a bit creepy) but I really love that purple moving thing
September 23, 2009 at 5:30 pm |
In retrospect, I wish I had voted for the weird purple thing.
September 23, 2009 at 8:15 pm |
So what’s the source on the face art? Shouldn’t it be credited?
September 23, 2009 at 8:58 pm |
I’ve never seen a photomosaic before, so i think it’s brilliant.
September 24, 2009 at 8:48 am |
I think weird purple thing still wins out for me.
September 24, 2009 at 2:49 pm |
The face mosaic is fantastic! Wonderful combination of technique and imagination.
September 24, 2009 at 8:02 pm |
You read them over the coffeetable? Not at work I hope .. behind your desk .. And the results?
September 25, 2009 at 1:22 am |
[...] Battle of the clever stuff! Yesterday’s posts about lying proved very popular – please keep them coming and I will have a look at them [...] [...]
September 25, 2009 at 1:57 pm |
[...] Here’s a nice optical illusion from Richard Wiseman’s blog: [...]
September 26, 2009 at 7:17 pm |
Don’t like the way the purple thing appears to swirl as your eyes move across the screen. Slightly nauseating.
http://doctorbeatnik.wordpress.com/
April 16, 2011 at 12:10 pm |
[...] Image: Richard Wiseman [...]
June 30, 2011 at 11:06 am |
This is cool!! I cant wait tell my friends!!
December 10, 2011 at 11:50 pm |
The second one is creepy
!