it’s an illusion!

Professionally I have found myself in the field of data visualization, where I help people turn data into pretty pictures. The point is usually to help communicate the data in a more digestible form, yet I find myself strangely drawn to the idea of using those same techniques to make people lose their lunch!

The above image my attempt at reproducing a particular “coffee bean” optical illusion. I’m not sure where it comes from, having it seen it somewhere on the internets, and this is the top google hit: http://www.guy-sports.com/humor/pictures/picture_fantastic_illusion2.htm

I actually implemented this illusion using d3.js and recorded the process using a G+ hangout. You can play with the resulting code yourself (hit the play button to mess with your head) and try changing the colors too!

http://mainstem.org/delta/2840354/coffeeillusion.js

The trick to an optical illusion is getting a few visual cues just right, and I’ve found using Tributary is an excellent way to play with those cues interactively.

If you’re interested in the techniques for doing this kind of thing you can watch the 45 minute video and see the illusion come to life before your eyes :)

This isn’t the first optical illusion I’ve recreated with d3.js, and if you know of any other good ones I’m always game for playing around. In fact, my mad scientist goal is to find the visual brown note >:D

EDIT: I’ve stumbled upon what seems to be the source of this and all optical illusions on the internet, professor Akiyoshi Kitaoka: http://www.ritsumei.ac.jp/~akitaoka/wave-e.html





