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A sprint cycle, after Muybridge's locomotion plates.
Select a frame to alter the rhythm of the movement.
12.0 fps
Speed1.00×
Sampled frames12
Direction
Sequence
Figure
Treatment
Press space to play or pause, ← → to move through frames in the strip.
Why does this feel like motion?
“No single frame contains the movement. The mind creates continuity from sequence.”
- Persistence of vision
- An image lingers on the retina for a fraction of a second after it is gone. Frames arriving faster than that decay never appear as separate pictures.
- Apparent motion
- Shown two positions in quick succession, the visual system prefers to read one travelling object over two flashing ones. Wertheimer named this the phi phenomenon in 1912.
- Sequential imagery
- Order carries meaning. Rearrange the same stills and the gesture changes — the sequence, not the drawing, holds the movement.
Slow the playback until the illusion collapses, then raise it until motion returns. The threshold you find is your own.