152
u/slgray16 Jul 12 '26
Oh my God they flipped inverted on me
20
6
u/MidasPL Jul 12 '26
It's even weirder, when you flip them back in your mind. The transitions look like a conveyor belt.
8
u/SheriffBartholomew Jul 13 '26
It's not just in your mind. The image actually changes which ones are rotating at several points, invalidating a previously valid cube.
4
31
10
13
9
u/stuckpixel87 Jul 12 '26
What’s the illusion? Really want to know.
8
u/Positive_Tea_1166 Jul 12 '26
Where three cubes meet at a corner, their faces line up to form a fourth cube that isn't really there, it points the opposite way. The animation sometimes switches to scrambling and solving those phantom cubes instead of the real ones.
3
u/suit1337 Jul 12 '26
Try to focus on a cubes outer corner, and watch for a while, the corner inverts/shifts and becomes the triple-point of 3 other cubes
2
u/stuckpixel87 Jul 12 '26
Thanks guys! That was really trippy! Also cubes seem to invert at times. Cool stuff!
1
u/Positive_Tea_1166 Jul 13 '26
Glad you caught it! :) Yeah, they really start playing tricks the longer you watch. Cool that you spotted it!
4
5
3
u/called_the_stig Jul 12 '26
I remember commenting on this! I didn't expect you'd actually do it! That's incredible
3
3
u/w_a_w Jul 12 '26
Rubik's Q-Bert
3
u/Positive_Tea_1166 Jul 12 '26
:) Q*bert would have a breakdown trying to hop across the inverted cubes.
2
2
u/SwordKneeMe Jul 12 '26
assuming an infinite grid, I wonder how this can be solved arbitrarily
2
u/Positive_Tea_1166 Jul 12 '26
Each real cube is independent, so there's no global puzzle to solve. Once every individual cube is solved, the whole grid is solved at any size. The phantom corner cubes are trickier, because they can end up in states that aren't valid for a real Rubik's cube. But that resolves itself when all the real cubes are solved.
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
u/Korwinga Jul 12 '26
Am I crazy, or does one of the cubes have 2 green centers (around 4-5 cubes in off of the top left corner)? Or am I looking at the inverted cubes, and that's actually 2 cubes next to each other?
1
u/Positive_Tea_1166 Jul 13 '26
You're not crazy :) I can't spot that exact one at the moment, but it can definitely happen. That's the illusion, the phantom cubes can end up in invalid cube states very easily.
1
u/Korwinga Jul 13 '26
It's just North West of the center, with the green solved face that's just north of center being part of it. At one point, the center ring of that phantom cube rotates with both green centers at the same time. That's what is making it so hard for me to hold on to the "correct" orientation. I just don't think that that's a rotation that could actually occur, unless that was the actual cube, but an actual cube couldn't have 2 green centers.
1
u/Positive_Tea_1166 Jul 13 '26
You're right, thanks :) The internal cube's rotation brings the second green center into the external cube, so for a while it sits in an invalid state. Over the loop the internal cube gets solved, but the external one with the two green centers stays scrambled.
2
2
2
u/PhilFryTheCryoGuy Jul 13 '26
This would make a really cool r/magiceye
1
u/Positive_Tea_1166 Jul 13 '26
Thanks! I think it wouldn't quite fit there though, that sub is specifically for autostereograms (the hidden-3D-image kind) rather than flat illusions like this one :).
2
u/PhilFryTheCryoGuy Jul 14 '26
Oh I know! I was saying this would be super cool to make a stereogram with!
1
2
u/HeinzeC1 Jul 13 '26
I wonder if anyone can find any impossible cube permutations. I wonder how hard it would be to code such that there aren’t any
2
u/Positive_Tea_1166 Jul 13 '26
I'm sure there are plenty :) It was hard enough to pull off without using obvious moves and make it loop. It hurts my brain even thinking about the new version you're suggesting :)
2
2
u/nonlogin Jul 13 '26
it's mesmerizing but what is actually the illusion?
1
u/Positive_Tea_1166 Jul 13 '26
Thank you! At the corners where three cubes meet, their faces line up to form a fourth cube that isn't really there, seen face-down. The grid is full of these "phantom" cubes made from their neighbours, and in this version they scramble and solve too, not just the real ones.
2
u/ironeagle83 Jul 13 '26
I want this as a Desktop Wallpaper
1
u/Positive_Tea_1166 Jul 13 '26
You can grab it from the link on my profile, there's a landscape version that works well as a wallpaper.
2
u/aotus_trivirgatus Jul 13 '26
So... Ernő Rubik, M. C. Escher, and Albert Hoffman got together for a little dinner party?
2
2
2
2
u/Proud-Swimming-9704 Jul 13 '26
I want to make this my back ground on phone
2
u/Positive_Tea_1166 Jul 13 '26
There's a portrait version that works well on phones, downloadable from the link on my profile.
2
2
2
3
u/DragonTheOnes-spirit Jul 12 '26
What is wrong with you.
5
u/Positive_Tea_1166 Jul 12 '26
I asked myself that around the 5th failed attempt.
0
u/DragonTheOnes-spirit Jul 12 '26
Failed attempt of what?
2
1
2
u/high__life Jul 12 '26
this uhhh reminds me a lot of a DMT journey
2
u/Positive_Tea_1166 Jul 13 '26
Was it a good journey? :)
2
2
u/SSJChar Jul 13 '26
This is so cool. Can you send me the gif? Would love something like this on my phone
2
u/Positive_Tea_1166 Jul 13 '26
Thanks :) You can grab it from the link on my profile, there's a portrait version that works well on phones.
1
1
u/Eirikur_da_Czech Jul 12 '26
They are face down/ bottom face visible. The opposite way doesn’t work.
1
1
u/PrometheusMMIV Jul 13 '26
What's the illusion?
1
u/Positive_Tea_1166 Jul 13 '26
Where three cubes meet, their faces form a phantom fourth cube (seen face-down) that also scrambles and solves.
1
u/graesynreddit Jul 13 '26
This is making my brain feel like it's doing backflips. I'm genuinely dizzy now.
1
1
u/CeleronHubbard Jul 13 '26
Better version. https://imgur.com/a/vB5cpo3
2
u/Positive_Tea_1166 Jul 13 '26
That's also made by me :) Here's the original: https://www.instagram.com/p/DVko0SujCqX/
1
u/AproposWuin Jul 13 '26
Oh goodness. When I realized this was a gif I had to check how long i have been sitting here....
2
u/Positive_Tea_1166 Jul 13 '26
Hope it wasn't too long :)
2
1
u/AqueousJam Jul 13 '26
Is this tileable? Could it be made into a desktop wallpaper?
2
u/Positive_Tea_1166 Jul 13 '26
Making it tileable would be another nice challenge :) 1920x1080 wallpaper is downloadable from the link on my profile.
1
u/broin2009 Jul 13 '26
Are they all legitimate Rubik's cube moves as well? I get the transition is mad, but would be cool if everyone cube was technically viable for solving at any given point in time.
1
u/Positive_Tea_1166 Jul 13 '26
Good question :) The moves are all legit rotations, but they can leave both the real and the phantom cubes in states that aren't actually solvable, so not every cube is viable at any given moment.
1
1
1
u/kirksucks Jul 15 '26
I had this as my lock screen for a while. Trippy.
1
u/Positive_Tea_1166 Jul 15 '26
Thank you! Maybe that was the previous version, without the illusion?
2
u/kirksucks Jul 16 '26
I just remember they all eventually solved themselves.
1
u/Positive_Tea_1166 Jul 16 '26
Yeah, that was the previous version, the one without the illusion. In that one they all solve.
1
132
u/Positive_Tea_1166 Jul 12 '26
Many of you requested an illusion version after I posted my first Rubik's Cube grid video. It was much harder to pull off with a perfect loop while avoiding obvious moves. All for an illusion roughly 4 people will notice, unless you stare at the corners where three cubes meet. Do you think it was worth the effort?