quote:Originally posted by neo-dragon: Wait... WTF?! I made it switch! It still looks clockwise most of the time, but I can make it switch if I focus on her legs when they appear to overlap.
I find that interesting...
I can only see clockwise, and the legs are the most convincing part. The way that right leg *appears* to block out the shape of left, and then the left appears to block out the right, combined with the movement seems to only suggest a clockwise rotation.
Now if I looked at just the feet, I might be able to imagine that it's a back and forth motion, or that the direction changes, but we have more than just feet with which to analyze.
*I say appears because the motion is the only thing that suggests 3 diminsions, when otherwise a silhouette would have 2.
Posts: 369 | Registered: Apr 2007
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posted
The easier way for me to switch it is to focus on the tiny tab icon that firefox puts up at the top of the browser. It's easier to mentally manipulate the tiny dancer and then look down to the big dancer if you want to see her spin in both directions.
Posts: 14316 | Registered: Jul 2005
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When you guys say "clockwise" or "counter-clockwise", do you mean as if you changed position so that you're looking down at or, or as if you changed position so that you're looking up at her?
Posts: 16551 | Registered: Feb 2003
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quote:Originally posted by neo-dragon: Wait... WTF?! I made it switch! It still looks clockwise most of the time, but I can make it switch if I focus on her legs when they appear to overlap.
I find that interesting...
I can only see clockwise, and the legs are the most convincing part.
That's exactly what I thought too. When others mentioned looking at the feet/legs I thought, "what are you talking about? That's the part that makes it so obviously clockwise." But then, I just managed to see it differently somehow.
Posts: 1569 | Registered: Dec 2004
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quote:Originally posted by mr_porteiro_head: When you guys say "clockwise" or "counter-clockwise", do you mean as if you changed position so that you're looking down at or, or as if you changed position so that you're looking up at her?
Which way would you prefer to imagine it? Posts: 369 | Registered: Apr 2007
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I'm trying to figure out what everybody means by "clockwise" or "counter-clockwise". The same direction of spin will look clockwise or counter-clockwise depending on the direction you're looking at it from.
Posts: 16551 | Registered: Feb 2003
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I meant "if I was spinning the same way as her, which way I would be spinning, from my perspective."
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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quote:Originally posted by ketchupqueen: I meant "if I was spinning the same way as her, which way I would be spinning, from my perspective."
That still doesn't answer the question. It needs to be "If I were spinning the same way as her, which way would I be spinning, from my perspective if I were looking down." (Or visa-versa)
Posts: 16551 | Registered: Feb 2003
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quote:Yeah, actually, whether you're looking up or down at her, clockwise is the same...
no it's not, it reverses.
To clarify my first post, when I first looked at her I saw her counter clockwise looking at her from above.
Posts: 2489 | Registered: Jan 2002
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As I said, I think that when we say clockwise we all intuitively assume that it means the spinner is turning to her right.
Posts: 1569 | Registered: Dec 2004
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I concur. Looking up would show relative circular direction opposite that of looking down.
Try it: stand up, look down, start turning clockwise, continue that motion and look up, it will appear to be counter clockwide compared to the ceiling. Try not to fall over.
Posts: 369 | Registered: Apr 2007
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This thing's sorta fun. Personally, I can get the image to shift at will. Except there's a few foreshortening gaffes that make some parts of the animation seem much more convincingly to be spinning in one particular direction.
Posts: 15421 | Registered: Aug 2005
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quote:Originally posted by neo-dragon: As I said, I think that when we say clockwise we all intuitively assume that it means the spinner is turning to her right.
posted
Really? If I asked you to stand up right now and start spinning clockwise you wouldn't turn to the right? I don't know why, but that just seems natural.
Posts: 1569 | Registered: Dec 2004
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quote:Originally posted by neo-dragon: Really? If I asked you to stand up right now and start spinning clockwise you wouldn't turn to the right? I don't know why, but that just seems natural.
That makes sense.
But I still didn't assume that I knew that that's what people meant.
Posts: 16551 | Registered: Feb 2003
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Looks like I wasn't the first to figure it out. I say Mph wins the thread. The thing we can be sure of is that she's spinning to HER right.
Posts: 1314 | Registered: Jan 2006
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I think you are missing the point Launchy. The direction she is spinning is entirely determined by your brain. There is no objective answer.
Posts: 5656 | Registered: Oct 1999
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This is the coolest gestalt switch image I've ever seen. It took me a few minutes to be able to see her turning counterclockwise, and then it took me a few minutes to be able to see the clockwise motion again.
I think the floating up-down cycle might have something to do with why it's so good. As she completes one cycle of up-down, her toes and her heels are in a straight line toward you/away from you twice, so you can't make the gestalt switch in the middle of the up-down cycle.
I also can't focus on the whole image at once, so sometimes that made me switch, and sometimes that locked me into the same one for a while.
The shadow is also awesome. At first, I couldn't see how the shadow could possibly be in that position if she were going the other way, but after I switched back and forth a few times, I could see how it works from a different vertical angle each way.
Posts: 1592 | Registered: Jan 2001
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I just realized there's a flaw in the back and forth sway perception. The leading leg (the one raised) switches positions.
Posts: 1945 | Registered: Jul 2005
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quote:Yeah, actually, whether you're looking up or down at her, clockwise is the same...
no it's not, it reverses.
Yup.
Let's say that she's standing on a clock, turning the same direction as the clock hands.
If you look down at her, she's spinning clockwise.
But if you look up at her from below, she's spinning counterclockwise.
Okay, that, I don't get.
I guess I'm assuming the clock is transparent? Or is it just the way my brain processes that I picture both as clockwise?
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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kq: It might help you if you use a pen(cil). Just turn it clockwise while looking down at it and then while sustaining the rotation lift it above your head. Amazingly, it then appears to turn counter-clockwise. - But don't do it in a busy office, else people might think you're slightly loopy.
In regards to the spinning lady, I first perceived her to be spinning counter-clockwise. As it seems the majority of the posters before me saw the clockwise motion, I wonder whether this has anything to do with the fact that I'm a lefty. Any thoughts on that?
Edit: just took out some typo's and grammatical errors.
posted
Hmm, interesting. I'm also a lefty and first saw counterclockwise (I can switch now at will but it takes effort). Oddly enough, I am a right-twister, but most people I know are left-twisters.
Posts: 1810 | Registered: Jan 1999
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Mike, could you please eloborate on what you mean being a 'right-twister'? I'm assuming it doesn't have anything to do with the party-game...
Posts: 993 | Registered: Jul 2006
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When I say clockwise, I mean she's turning to her right, that is, when her outstretched leg moves across "in front" of her body, it's going right to left. This would be top-down clockwise, if that helps.
It takes some work now, but I can make the rotations switch.
EDIT - For those who can't make the switch, try focusing on the shadow at the bottom of the image. For those who can't see it going counterclockwise, every time you see the shadow sweep right to left say, out loud, "back" or "behind." That is, you're trying to convince your brain that her outstretched foot is passing behind her pivot leg. For going counterclockwise to clockwise, substitute "front."
The shadow is what really prevents me from seeing it consistently as swinging back and forth.
posted
I can't even remember what direction I saw first, but I too noticed the anatomical correctness of the mammary glands. Posts: 14316 | Registered: Jul 2005
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posted
By covering up her body and only looking at the feet, I can get it to switch directions. When I can see all of the body, however, I can't - she's stuck in whatever direction was in when I started.
Posts: 1753 | Registered: Aug 2002
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posted
OK, I've seen it switch a few times. But it's not at will. At all. And if I go away and come back, it always starts off clockwise. This will make me both sick and crazy if I keep looking at it!
Posts: 3149 | Registered: Jul 2005
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posted
Clockwise, in the regular image. The little icon in the Firefox tab switches back and forth, but is mostly counterclockwise. I've tried to change the large dancer from clockwise to counterclockwise, but I haven't yet been able to do it.
edit: Whoa. I just switched back to the tab, and she was going counter-clockwise! I noticed I was leaning to the right in my seat, though, whereas before I was looking pretty straight on. I tried leaning back to normal, but she still went counter-clockwise... but when I switched away from the tab and back again, she was back to clockwise.
posted
I haven't been able to make it switch. And I honestly wasn't sure which way she was spinning to begin with, but by applying the right hand rule and using her torso as the axis of motion. I have concluded that she is spinning clockwise.
quote:Originally posted by BannaOj: I haven't been able to make it switch. And I honestly wasn't sure which way she was spinning to begin with, but by applying the right hand rule and using her torso as the axis of motion. I have concluded that she is spinning clockwise.
(and I'm a lefty)
AJ
I love your brain. Just sayin'. Posts: 1805 | Registered: Jun 1999
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I "made" her switch to counter-clockwise by looking at the shadow for a couple seconds. Now I can't get her to switch back.
Posts: 14554 | Registered: Dec 1999
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quote:Originally posted by mr_porteiro_head: I'm trying to figure out what everybody means by "clockwise" or "counter-clockwise". The same direction of spin will look clockwise or counter-clockwise depending on the direction you're looking at it from.
Only over/under if it is a person or something on a similiar axis.; not front to back.
The gesture leg definitely has to switch for her to change directions, since she is always leading with the outside of her thigh, regardless of turning clockwise or counterclockwise.
Posts: 3936 | Registered: Jul 2000
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posted
Okay, let me explain. Imagine: Someone is standing in front of you, turning in place, clockwise. You could walk around them, and from any where you stand, they will always be turning clockwise.
Now imagine that person is standing on the second floor of a building made out of glass. If you go to the third floor and look down, they will still be turning clockwise. However, if you go to the first floor and look up from below, only then will they be turning counter-clockwise.
The face of a clock is already on this kind of axis, so if you stood behind it, it would be turning counter-clockwise; but a spinning person is on an axis perpendicular to that.
Posts: 3936 | Registered: Jul 2000
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