> Hi,
>
> Does anyone know how these two optical illusions work?
>
> http://www.officebuffoon.com/funny/castle.asp
This one is a computer trick, about 30 seconds after going to the page,
whether you stare at the dot or not, moving the mouse onto the picture
changes the picture.
> http://www.officebuffoon.com/funny/dotty.asp
Staring at the pink dots selectively bleaches the retina of the
pigments responsible for detecting pink without affecting those that
detect green. You can test this by looking away from the cross, you
will see a pattern of green dots.
The computer program sequentially flashes the pink dots off and on in
order, the green dot is seen when the pink dot is missing.
> Regards, Buffoon
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> http://www.OfficeBuffoon.com - Making your day at the office more fun...
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Buffoon - 22 Jul 2006 09:31 GMT
It's not a computer trick, I think maybe you didn't read the instructions
for this
one, they are a little long winded :)
Changing the picture to a black and white one using the mouse is a required
part of
the illusion. The confusing part is why the black and white picture appears
to be
in full colour for as long as you remain staring at the center dot...
The fact that the black and white picture looks like it's in colour is
happens in
your mind, not in the computer...
...either that or it's just magic :)
>> http://www.officebuffoon.com/funny/castle.asp
>
> This one is a computer trick, about 30 seconds after going to the page,
> whether you stare at the dot or not, moving the mouse onto the picture
> changes the picture.
The Real Bev - 05 Aug 2006 03:39 GMT
> It's not a computer trick, I think maybe you didn't read the
> instructions for this one, they are a little long winded :)
[quoted text clipped - 14 lines]
>> page, whether you stare at the dot or not, moving the mouse onto
>> the picture changes the picture.
Ever been to the Exploratorium in San Francisco?
http://www.exploratorium.edu/exhibits/nf_exhibits.html
One/some/all of these seem to require windows-only software, so I don't
know whether they actually are any good, but I'd bet they are.

Signature
Cheers, Bev
==============================================================
"Arguing on the internet is like running a race in the Special
Olympics: even if you win, you're still retarded."
The Real Bev - 05 Aug 2006 03:34 GMT
>> Hi,
>>
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
> whether you stare at the dot or not, moving the mouse onto the picture
> changes the picture.
Duh. For a slightly different effect, move your eyes away from the dot
just before moving your mouse onto the picture. How does the computer
know you weren't looking at the dot?
>> http://www.officebuffoon.com/funny/dotty.asp
>
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
> The computer program sequentially flashes the pink dots off and on in
> order, the green dot is seen when the pink dot is missing.
I couldn't see the black cross. I saw only one pink dot with two pink
fragments of something, possibly a rectangle. Nothing moved. Yet
another windows-only thingy.

Signature
Cheers, Bev
==============================================================
"Arguing on the internet is like running a race in the Special
Olympics: even if you win, you're still retarded."
good ones!!!
my guess is:
if an image is there on retina, it gets saturated and disappears.
the second one is if the saturated retina is turned elsewhere
(or the color changed) a sort of negative color takes its place
(color perceived by the unsaturated cones), that sort of 'flips' the
color
of original.
so:
in the first castle pic, the original pic is already in a sort of
negative/flipped/
one color missing mode. fixating on the dot will saturate retina and
then
when moused over, the image is changed to B&W *but* for the retina the
color will be flipped. hence the blue sky and green grass.
[if one stares at the dot long enuf after mousing over, the image comes
to B&W]
second is similar wrt pink dot becoming green, additionally, fixating
on the pink
dots long enuf saturates the retina and they disappear.
> Hi,
>
[quoted text clipped - 8 lines]
> http://www.OfficeBuffoon.com - Making your day at the office more fun...
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
ummwellduh - 21 Jul 2006 19:09 GMT
i must add, what is puzzling to me is, why it happens only in the
peripheral vision
(when fixating on the dot/cross)
ie if you directly look at the pink dot, it stays pink, but rest of the
ones in the
periphery disappear.
> good ones!!!
>
[quoted text clipped - 33 lines]
> > http://www.OfficeBuffoon.com - Making your day at the office more fun...
> > ----------------------------------------------------------------------------