Optical and Perspective Illusion

There is widespread public confusion between optical and perspective illusions. An unclear figure/background relationship and ambiguous patterns fall into the realm of optical illusions, depending on the physiological functioning of human vision. Perspective illusions belong to a deeply different category which encompasses perspective images designed by means of a geometric process in order to create a fake spatial and morphological interpretation. Anamorphosis is a geometrical transcription of a regular image into an unrecognisable one unless the observer’s eye coincides with the centre of the perspective projection, which has distorted the original shape. Chapter 3 deals with classifying and analysing such phenomena, showing some geometrical examples of solid perspectives and reverse perspectives.