Eye Tricks

moire Circles. (Not MORE circles, moire Circles!)

This is Interactive! Click and drag the circle screen. See explanation below.

This is a fun one to play with. A Moire effect (also known as a moire pattern) is the unique pattern that is created as you merge two screenlike objects together. Circles are especially fun to use for this effect. What you are supposed to do is click and drag the one screen of circles around the other screen. You'll notice a new pattern that is created by your eyes. You'll see white areas and gray areas, usually forming a symetrical pattern. This is because the eye and your brain wouldn't normally see something like this in nature, and your brain tries to characterize an area as either light or dark, and tries to make discernable patterns from it.

An addtional optical illusion you can try with this is to move the one circle in a circular pattern over the circle in the background. Just offset the circles about the width of the innermost circle. As you do this, you'll see the moire effect cause it to look like the circles are rotating, but of course they are not.

If you really like this illusion, be sure to let me know. If there's enough interest in this moire pattern, I'll create some additional moirescreens for you to play with.