Wikipedia talk:Today's featured picture (animation)/August 7, 2008

wow that's cool. but how do i know if the creator purposefully intended the image to go the opposite direction after a number of seconds?--24.109.218.172 (talk) 13:17, 7 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

There is no shading on the person to indicate 3-dimensional depth, so there is no "other direction". It is just a black 2-dimensional object constantly changing shape. Take careful note of which arm you perceive as the "left" and which you perceive as the "right" arm in both rotations. You'll notice that the bent arm goes from being the left to the right. This "object" is not simply rotating in a different direction - it is an entirely different, mirrored object. This simply comes from the fact that the "3-dimensionalness" is a product of your perception of a 2-dimensional animation. — BRIAN0918 • 2008-08-07 14:39Z

The only problem being that the shadow beneath the dancer indicates that the spin can only be anticlockwise (the shadow of the outstretched foot moves in a downwards arc from right to left. It would be left to right if the rotation were clockwise). I can still *see* the clockwise rotation if I try, but it jars. GeeJo ^(t)⁄_(c) • 17:45, 7 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

GeeJo, i don't think it's a shadow; it's a reflection. so there's no problem. 82.6.96.66 (talk) 19:02, 7 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

GeeJo, it is all in your imagination. It's perfectly fine that you see one object rotate one way, and its "reflection" rotate another way. The rotation is arbitrary, because there are no 3D visual cues. Think about it - the "reflection" is simply the same object, rotated 180 degrees, and colored gray instead of black. That is it. See my reply here for more explanation. — BRIAN0918 • 2008-08-07 22:39Z