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apparent motion

apparent motion

7.2
A visual effect that makes still images look like they are moving, as in movies
  • noun
  • /əˈpɛrənt ˈmoʊʃən/
  • Specialized
translation icon : movimiento aparente
  • If an arrow in flight can be said to traverse every point in its path from bow to target, Zeno teases, and if at any given moment it can be said to be at and only at one of those points, then it must be at rest for the moment it's there (otherwise it's not "there"); therefore it's at rest at every moment of its flight, and its apparent motion is illusory.
  • apparent motion through the sky

Examples

  • In another recent study of RB (Chun and Cavanaugh, 1997), targets were presented in the center of two separate apparent motion streams moving in opposite directions.

    Academic text (1997)
  • Asteroids in images like this can be distinguished only according to their apparent motion by comparison of at least two images taken at different times.

    Academic text (2000)
  • OK, some mechanism is involved in which the more apparent motion you see does not play a significant role in color.

  • Stars move across the sky in daily and yearly cycles, and these apparent motions fuel human curiosity.

    Academic text (2004)
  • Based on the apparent motion of the object and the data that were found by NASA's infrared space telescope, "Spitzer," they argue that the object is a common cloud of dust.

    Blog text (19)
  • In classic animation, characters appear to move smoothly due to apparent motion, created by showing still images in quick succession.

  • The apparent motion of the stars across the night sky is caused by the Earth's rotation.

  • Movies create the illusion of movement through a technique called apparent motion, where a series of static images are played rapidly.

Synonyms

motion
vsapparent motion
  • Specialized
73 6.8

An illusion of movement created by quickly showing many pictures

focuses on the general illusion without highlighting smooth continuity
movement
vsapparent motion
  • Formal
4 6.1

The illusion of motion created by showing still images quickly

is focused on film and animation examples rather than all light displays
apparent movement
vsapparent motion
  • Specialized
7.6

An effect that makes still pictures shown quickly seem to move, as in movies

has identical meaning but uses a different word form

Surface Forms

Morphology

apparent + motion

The noun phrase directly composes 'apparent' (seeming) with 'motion' (movement), so a B1 learner who knows both words can infer 'seeming movement' — i.e., movement that is only perceived rather than real. This adjective + noun composition is a regular, cross-linguistically common pattern, so the meaning is transparent from the constituents.

Etymology

The term apparent motion comes from a simple picture trick: when still images are shown quickly one after another, the images seem to move, creating apparent motion. So it means 'an illusion in which still pictures look like movement'.