Rubik’s Cube optical illusion: How artist paints photo-realistic pictures that your brain thinks are 3-D

A new video on YouTube shows how what appears to be a fully formed Rubik’s cube is in fact a two dimensional color drawing that tricks the brain into believing it has three dimensions.

The optical illusion is called anamorphosis, which plays on how our brains make sense of the world and causes us to see something from one angle only that might not necessarily be there.

Presented from the appropriate angle, or sweet spot, the viewer looks at the right angle and suddenly what was once a straight forward drawing becomes a three dimensional object – even though your brain knows it isn’t.

Offered contradictory information, the brain simple reassembles the painting into what it expects it to be, but all the viewer has to do to re-set reality is to step an inch off your position.

Created by YouTube illusionist extraordinaire Brusspup, the Rubiks cube, shoe and question mark are all positioned on the table alongside regular objects.

However, when the video begins, the photo-realistic images are rotated allowing the viewer to experience the anamorphosis.

Recognized since the Renaissance, anamorphosis demonstrates how the brain can be fooled into seeing things that aren’t really there.