Free Optical Illusions Website

These free optical illusions will trick your eyes to make you question whether seeing really is believing.

This page contains just a sampling from our optical illusion gallery of over 120 illusions. We also have an optical illusions quiz page where you can find out just how smart you are.

Have fun.

Impossible Pools

This fun optical illusion is better than a Hawaii vacation. Well, cheaper, anyway.

This is how it works. Our mind tries to make a 3-D object out of a 2-D one. In the process, assumptions are made. The waterfall looks like it is pouring into the bottom pool but it really stops in mid air. Since the water in the bottom pool has ripples where the waterfall stops, it makes it look like the waterfall is pouring into it. The ripples around the feet of the sunbathers reinforce this illusion.

And then there’s that palm tree growing out of the side of the pool…

One of the most amazing optical illusions you'll ever see.

Chessboard Shading

Which of the two squares with the red dot is darker?

Believe it or not, the two squares with the red dots are EXACTLY the same color! If you are like most people, when you look at this amazing optical illusion, you will be sure there is a mistake.

I want Proof

Hard to believe, isn't it? We didn't think you could be so easily convinced, so we made a couple of animations you can see that might convince you in our amazing optical illusions explanation. If that still doesn't work, you are just going to have to go to take that Hawaiian vacation we mentioned above to give your overworked eyes a rest.

Color Dithering

OK.. You just got back from Hawaii and you're checking to see if it helped you see the above illusion better. If it didn't help, here's another one using the same principal. See if this helps convince you.

How many colors are there in this picture, not including the white background?

If you answered two, you're absolutely correct. Really, it's not three or four, it is only two.

Still Hard to Believe?

If you look closely, you will see that the apparently "new" colors in the top right to lower left diagonal are actually not new colors. They are a perceived change of the same colors which are used in other parts of the optical illusion. This affect occurs because the two colors are placed next to each other.

The darker colors you ”see” are the result of an effect called “dithering.” Dithering is where the colors are printed so closely together that your eye mixes them to create a new color. The process of dithering is used extensively for color printing. If you look with a magnifying glass at a magazine picture, you will see how the full-color pictures are actually made from thousands of small dots using this color dithering process.

If you still don't believe us, may we suggest yet another trip to Hawaii?

The Bowling Alley

Are the three pin lights on the wall and the pin in the lower right corner the same size?

Since you know this is an optical illusion picture, you probably guessed "yes." All of these optical illusion sites are so predictable that way. It's true, they are the same size. Our mind takes a two dimensional image and tries to convert it to a three dimensional one. In this visual illusion, we see the pins on the wall as being way down at the end of the bowling alley, therefore they must be larger. The two bowling balls add to the illusion. The one down the lane is smaller, as it should be because this is a 3D picture. Our mind compares the size of the pins on the wall to the size of the ball down the lane. Compared to the ball, they are quite large. We then assume they are larger than they really are.

One Wacky Frame

Hey, someone needs to get a new miter box before they make any more frames!

Well, not really. This frame is exactly rectangular. Hold up a straight edge to the top and bottom of it and you'll see. Better yet, just slowly scroll till the frame almost touches the top or bottom of your screen, and you'll see it's level. You do have your screen level don't you?? We don't think it's right to be looking at an optical illusion site with a crooked screen... our illusions might look normal.

"Seeing is deceiving." - Matthew Luckiesh

That's quite a statement, but before you toss it as rubbish, let's take a minute to find out more about who wrote it, and why he said it. You will find it is actually a true. The above statement was made by: Matthew Luckiesh, the author of one of the earliest, rigorous, scientific books on Optical Illusions: Visual Illusions: Their Causes, Characteristics and Applications. This is one of his illusion. He believes in the statement so much, in fact, that they are the first words of his introduction to the book. He goes on to say:

In other words, none of our conceptions and perceptions are quite adequate, but fortunately most of them are satisfactory for practical purposes. Only a part of what is perceived comes through the senses from the object; the remainder always comes from within. In fact, it is the visual sense or the intellect which is responsible for optical illusions of the various types to be discussed in the following chapters. Our past experiences, associations, desires, demands, imaginings, and other more or less obscure influences create optical illusions."

As simply as we can state it:

Our eyes use tricks to take the image they see and make it into a 3 dimensional map of reality. But our eyes themselves can be tricked in the process.

You can read Matthew Luckiesh's whole book: Visual Illusions. Meanwhile, let's look at the next illusion for an example of the truth of "Seeing is deceiving."

Moving Red Dots

Where's the Dramamine???

This is another instance of our mind trying to convert a 2D object into something that could be interpreted as representing a 3D object.

To do so we use visual clues, in this case, the shading around the circles. But wait. The shading makes no sense. It is completely incongruous. Our eyes lock onto a part of the illusion that looks appropriately shaded but then find it disjointed with the shading in other nearby areas. Our eyes keep jumping around the drawing trying to map out a 3-D solution that would make the shading illustration make sense, but it never works.

We suggest sharing this with your boss... It should convince both of you that another Hawaii vacation is in order.

Are You Seeing Right?

	If you can't figure out this "cube," read the explanation at cool optical illusion. You know, seeing right all the time can have you seeing wrong... Which reminds us.. If two wrongs don't make a right, what do two rights make? (Two Wrights make an airplane, of course.)
	For the explanation of this crazy optical illusion where the balls seem to be suspended in mid air, go to optical illusion eyetricks.
	Whoa! How did they do that? We call this one a widget and it can really mess with your mind.To get the explanation, go to fun optical illusions. Our world is so boxy and full of right angles, we think everything is made of right angles... So, when something isn't, it really messes with our perception of it.

Dizzyingly Beautiful Flowers

Hey, kids. Your mother would love these flowers.

We thought the red dots were kind of boring. So here is the same type of moving optical illusion made with a bouquet of flowers.

The Sort Of Optical Illusion That Grows On You

Stare at the black center. Do you see it getting bigger? Guess what. It's not changing. Really it's not. It's the same size. But our mind thinks it is. Don't ask us to explain it. We can't.

And Now A Test

We've been telling you the answers for all the visual illusions above... Now it's your turn to prove how smart you are.

Which of the trucks in the illusion on the right are the EXACT same size?

Are you Sure?

Our free optical illusions page has the answer... And don't forget our free optical illusion website is chock full of many more fun visual illusions that will entertain you for hours. We have over 120 fun illusions in our optical illusions gallery and an optical illusion quiz that will keep you on your toes.

Thank you for visiting and sharing our page...

The Team at Illusion-Optical.com.

Optical Illusion Gallery Choose from our huge gallery of over 140 free optical illusions.

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