The mind-blowing optical illusion in the video below, which turns squares into circles, has been baffling internet users since it was posted on YouTube last month.
More than 6 million people have viewed the stunning clip that shows a series of circular shapes reflected as rectangles. But when the shapes are rotated, a different shape is reflected in the mirror.
This mind-boggling mirror illusion was created by Professor Kokichi Sugihara from Meiji University in Japan. Sugihara won second place in the 2016 Illusion of the Year contest.
Luckily, the secret is out, and you can stop scratching your head!
A 3D printing specialist, Devon from the 3D printing company ‘Make Anything,’ has solved this mind-bending optical illusion.
He explains that the secret behind this optical magic is reverse engineering. He reveals that one side of the object is shaped like a square, while the other is shaped like a circle.
The different heights of the sides distort how it looks based on the angle that the object is being viewed. The camera is angled so we see a cylinder while the mirror is angled so it sees the square shape.
