As a not quite middle aged dude, I only just now figured out how to see magic eye stuff. I tried a couple times in elementary school but didn’t get it so I stopped. Had a few drinks earlier, stumbled on some magic eye pic that I could see clear as day and it blew my mind a little
I didn’t think I could but interestingly enough discovered a technique that works earlier today. Basically get really close whilst staring at a point then gradually move away. It actually is an amazing effect
Being legally blind in one eye precludes me from using those
I can
My tip is to try to look past the picture, like you’re focusing on something 10ft behind the wall. Then squint your eyes.
Inconsistently. Haven’t tried for yonks. Back when they were brand new I got maybe 50%.
How many yonks has in been?
Late 80s early 90s?? Whenever Good Weekend did a weekly.
Wow, I must be the only person on Lemmy that cannot
Someone said that they did some research on people who were able to use 3d TVs and 10% couldn’t, or maybe you just haven’t gotten a hang of it yet?
one of us
I had a friend who couldn’t see them and the following explanation is how I got her to be able to:
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Stand two arm lengths from the picture, holding you arm out in front of you with one finger up, so that your finger is halfway between you and the picture and lined up with near the bottom of it (or you could use any distance and put your finger halfway there).
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Both the picture and your finger should now be in your field of view. Focus on the tip of your finger. Maintain your eyes in that focus state and shift your attention from your finger to the picture, remembering not to let your eyes change their focus.
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Once you have your eyes stuck into that focus length you should be able to move them around and view all parts of the picture seeing the 3D effect. But if you still have problems you can move your finger to keep it in front of your eyes and in focus while you move your eyes, but you’ll quickly learn how to keep them in the correct state with a little practice.
This also works if you focus on twice the distance of the picture, but most people find the half-distance focus easier.
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Now that you’ve figured it out, behold: Stereograms!
The above satellite images from NASA allow you to SEE the topography in 3D.
Off to find my house!
Weird question if anyone happens to know: when I look at these combined, it looks like the elevated parts go INTO the image rather than pop out, like it’s 3D but inverse. I have always been able to see Magic Eyes with no difficulty, but I’ve also had some form of exotropia that I can control to trigger the depth. Should I be doing something different with these stereograms?
Edit: realized this might be expected? Since the instructions on these say to cross your eyes, but the exotropia makes one eye go outward, but I guess I’m confused how I can see any combined depth image at all now lol
You’re doing “wall eyed” viewing. These are for “cross-eyed” viewing. “Wall-eyed” means your eyes are focusing at a point behind the image. You need to cross your eyes for these. Try putting your finger in between your screen and your eyes, varying the distance until the dots merge. Then, remove your finger, focusing on the image itself. That should allow for cross-eyed viewing.
These are awesome thanks for sharing. Also, if you can do magic eye and stereograms, try crossing your eyes when playing those “find the differences between these two pictures” games. They are incredibly easy if you cross your eyes.
Nope. Never figured it out
Yep.
If you can do it, you can sometimes use that skill to quickly compare whether two adjacent vertical images are identical. If they are, you will just see a single version of the image as normal. If they are different, you will easily see a ‘fuzzy’ part of the image that won’t resolve and stay still (hard to describe, it’s like when I try to read text in a dream).
A practical application I use now and then is when I want to compare two columns of data on a screen. Use the magic eye technique to overlap the columns and any differences will be immediately obvious, even with a lot of data.
Took a few minutes when it was introduced to me, but I can see them
I can see them.
Or at least I could. When LGR recently made a video about them, I was having a very bad time viewing them. I was either too drunk or not used to seeing them with this TV setup or I just need new glasses. Probably the last one.
How far away from the tv were you?
Tried various distances, that didn’t help too much. I’m afraid I have to hold to the theory that I’m officially old now and need bifocals.
I first looked at a pic on my phone and it worked so i thought it would look even better if I put it on my tv. Did that and I wasn’t able to get it to work, googled something like “can’t see magic eye on large tv screen but can on phone” and apparently it’s a lot more difficult on large screens. Or maybe you just are old lol
Yes, but only if I take off my glasses.
Thought this might do it for me, but still no.
I can see the 3D, but struggle to put together what they are sometimes because I don’t have colors to put the image together.
Yes. They require stereoscopic vision. When I was doing research on 3D displays about 10% of subjects had to be rejected because they were stereo blind. They had no idea they were that way.
One woman said that explains why she had the nickname clunk in high school. She had a habit of rearending cars.
I’m one of the stereo blind. I was kind of glad when I found out from the eye doctor. It explained why I could rarely catch a baseball without getting hit.
So depending on why you might be able to train it. If you don’t have a lazy eye and have good vision you may want to look into it.
If your brain is just not fusing two good images there is a good chance you can train it to do so. Having done experiments in this field I can tell you it makes a measurable difference in performance.
A good read on the subject is below. The part where she first sees a tree in 3D is a good example of what you are missing.
Fixing My Gaze: A Scientist’s Journey Into Seeing in Three Dimensions by Susan R Barry
Lmao clunk is brutal
