Dragon illusion-Amazing Optical Illusions

Dragon illusion

Published 30 January 2006 by Santosh Share

This is a wonderful optical illusion. This little dragon is made out of paper-you simply cut it out and stick it together, and stand it on a table or window ledge. But when you move around, the dragon's head seems to follow you around the room. Have a look at the video, to see what we mean. The effect is really uncanny.

I cannot help but stare at it in amazement... the veracity of
the illusion is unsettling; You have turned a dull weekend at the office into an
exploration of the wonders of the visual centers of the brain. Jim S, Buffalo,
NY, USA
Want to see the video:Dragon illusions
How does it work.If we move around when viewing a solid object, our brain knows how the object we are looking at should behave. However the dragon gives us the wrong clues, because we mis-interpret what its shape is. We assume that the nose of the dragon is pointing out towards us, but in fact the dragon's head is concave.
You can download a copy of the actual dragon and try this illusion for yourself if you wish. This is a PDF file. Right click to download the file. This is a 244k download. Once you have printed the dragon out (a colour printer is best since this is a colour image) then you can cut out the dragon, fold and stick it, and you will be able to see this fantastic illusion yourself. When you print the page out, you will see that the instructions for folding the dragon are included. Please follow these instructions exactly.
The dragon is reproduced here with the permission of the American company Binary Arts, who sell a wide range of optical illusions and fun toys. Visit the Binary Arts web site to see the wide range of wonderful things they have on offer.

Labels: Videos Illusions

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13 Comments / Post a Comment

# Lolita....... 12:43:00 AM

hiya, you left a comment asking me to share a link, well id love for you to put a link from yours to mine, but i have no idea how to put blog links but ill try and also which blog am i to put a link to, you have a lot of them
# Lolita....... 11:43:00 PM

enabled the link, sorry, but Im a wittle bit on the s-l-o-w side. dankashun for the link from yours to minde, a simple question, did u want to sahre links cos u actually like my blog, or do you just want a lo of blogs to have to yours? Saying yes to the second one will not have your link delted, i pwomoise
# Santosh 12:39:00 AM

if u want u can also message on my
Yahoo Id:caughtcoolchicforu

and ya i can give u googles search bar also.
ok.
# Anonymous 3:04:00 PM

Hello

I got the print of the pic but unable to proceed further. Can any one help. How do I stick and place the dragon?
Thanks
Vish
# Pamela Hollosnap 9:17:00 AM

Absolutely Wonderful! I saved it and printed it up. I'm going to put it together tomorrow.

I'll be back Santosh, I like your blog :)

Pamela
# poopy 12:41:00 PM

why cant i open it
# spidinho 1:17:00 PM

Wow...anather amazing illusion.I will try it out!
# Steve White 5:48:00 PM

Hey, that was fun!
Never had such a productive day at the office.
Downloaded the PDF file, cut it out, bent it around, and hey presto... To anyone thinking about downloading this and making it... The effect is good... I thought that it would be pretty lame and not at all like the effect in the video, but it is really good.
Now I just have to go and explain to my boss why I'm sitting in front of my PC, staring towards the window and rocking my head from side to side.
# hmmm 11:46:00 AM

it worked for me but the illusion wasn't as good as the video....how the dragon is lit has a lot to do with it.
# Byran 3:14:00 AM

Like Steve White- I had a nice productive day at the office- cutting and pasting. It was a professional arts and crafts day- I amused the rest of the office with my little cut out. For anyone printing out the PDF, and undertaking the pasting job- pay CLOSE attention to the folds- in particular the tabs. The first two times that tried to tape it, it just didn't work, so I decided to trust Jerry Andrus (the creator- great guy he is, by the way), and follow the directions exactly (no matter how illogical). Works great- even black & white.
# Steve White 5:55:00 PM

To "hmmm".
When I first made the model, I had a corner (where the top of the panel with the eyes on folds back) where the cutting was a little rough. This left a really tiny hole, but it was enough to let the background show through (the white of the window frame). This was enough to "disturb" the illusion a little. I "patched" this with a small piece of paper and a blue whiteboard marker. After that the illusion was pretty much perfect. I think if there is anything slightly wrong with the construction, the brain will start to pick out the discrpencies and damage the illusion.
Otherwise, I am still having great fun with it (although I'm starting to get a bit dizzy)!
# Nesia 5:47:00 PM

i did the thing wrong at first then once i fixed it and it started to work,it scared me when it started to work,its very fun thanks ^^
# David 12:58:00 AM

Please close yone eye the isllusion is absolutely amazing!