Skip to main content

Animation basics: The optical illusion of motion - TED-Ed

  • 203,884 Views
  • 7,532 Questions Answered
  • TEDEd Animation

Let’s Begin…

How do animators make still images come to life? Are the images really moving, or are they merely an optical illusion? TED-Ed takes you behind the scenes to reveal the secret of motion in movies.

Create and share a new lesson based on this one.

About TED-Ed Animations

TED-Ed Animations feature the words and ideas of educators brought to life by professional animators. Are you an educator or animator interested in creating a TED-Ed Animation? Nominate yourself here »

Meet The Creators

  • Producer TED-Ed
Additional Resources for you to Explore
Cool interactive presentation of Wertheimer's Beta & Phi perceptual illusions, as described in "Experimental Studies on the Seeing of Motion" (1912)
"The Photoplay: A Psychological Study" (1916) by Hugo Münsterberg (pdf)

"The Myth of Persistence of Vision Revisited" by Joseph and Barbara Anderson, from Journal of Film and Video vol. 45 no. 1 (Spring 1993): 3-12. Here's a paper outlining the chronic misdiagnosis of the physiology involved in the perception of apparent motion over the years:

"Time and the Brain (or, What's Happening in the Eagleman Lab)" Neuroscientist David Eagleman discusses his research into the mechanisms of time perception.

"Animation in Palaeolithic art: a pre-echo of cinema" from Antiquity Vol. 86 No. 332 (2012): 316-324. Paleolithic researchers Marc Azéma1 & Florent Rivére describe their discoveries of sequential cave-art and thaumatropes (spinning disk animations) dating from the Paleolithic Age. Here's a YouTube video accompanying the article and link to paper (behind a paywall).

"Prehistoric cinema: A silver screen on the cave wall" by Catherine Brahic. Link to pdf file of article on the above findings from New Scientist #2896/97, 22-29 Dec 2012

Customize this lesson

Create and share a new lesson based on this one.

About TED-Ed Animations

TED-Ed Animations feature the words and ideas of educators brought to life by professional animators. Are you an educator or animator interested in creating a TED-Ed Animation? Nominate yourself here »

Meet The Creators

  • Producer TED-Ed

More from Animation Basics