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Dragon Optical Illusion

This little dragon appears to be looking at you.

But if you rotate the base this way or that the
dragon's head appears to turn the other way...

Or if you stand the dragon on a shelf and walk

about, the dragon's head follows you around the
room. And yet it is simply a sheet of paper, cut
and folded in a certain way. How does it work?

When we see a solid object rotating, there are

all sorts of clues that tell us what is going on,
which way it is rotating, etc. The dragon gives
us the wrong clues, because we mis-interpret
what its shape is. The nose of the dragon
appears to be pointing out towards the viewer,
but in fact the dragon's head is concave. Have a
look at the dragon from the back...

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Can you see the strange way the dragon's head

is folded? The dragon was designed by Jerry
Andrus, and he calls it 'Eye-Foolery'.

To see the wonderful effect created by this

illusion, you can -

Download the video.

Right click to save the video to your computer.

Choose 'Save Target As...' The file is 1.6 MB so
it will take a minute or two to download. (The
copyright in this video is owned by Grand
Illusions. You may not post this video on
another website without written permission).

Download the Dragon itself

You can download a copy of the actual dragon

by using the right button of your mouse on this
link and try this illusion for yourself if you wish.
Please note that this is a 219 K download, and
that you need to load the JPG image into a paint
package (e.g. Adobe PhotoShop or Paint Shop
Pro) and then print it out. The resolution of the
image is 200 dpi, and it will be around 19cm x
25cm, and will more or less fill an A4 sheet in
portrait layout. Do not load it into your web
browser, since these display at 72 dpi and you
will end up with an enormous (and low
resolution) image filling several sheets of paper.

Alternatively you can download the dragon as a

PDF file. If you have the Adobe Acrobat reader
on your computer, this may be a better option.
Again, right click to download the file. This is a
244k download. Thanks to Simon Powell for
creating this version.

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.

Please consider a small donation...

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If you like the dragon, or just like what the

Grand Illusions site is doing, you might like to
consider a small donation, to suppport new stuff
on this site!

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.

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Here is what one of our viewers has to say...

I printed the 3D dragon illusion, and found that although

it works well enough by itself, placing it inside of a clear
glass vase makes the illusion absolutely uncanny,
apparently since the slight distortion caused by the glass
makes it even more difficult for the brain to detect the
true nature of the assemblage.

I placed the dragon, in its vase, upon a shelf in the

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kitchenette in my office this afternoon, and my coworkers

and I cannot help but stare at it in amazement. We
consciously know the true nature of the contrivance, and
still the veracity of the illusion is unsettling.

I suspect that placement of the dragon inside of a glass

fishbowl or other such thing would produce similar results.

Thank you for making the dragon available on your site!

You have turned a dull weekend at the office into an
exploration of the wonders of the visual centers of the
brain.

Sincerely,

Jim Snider
Buffalo, New York

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http://www.grand-illusions.com/dragon.htm 11/04/2005