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I've acquired a new superpower

danielwirtz.com

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Re: I've acquired a new superpower

#91

Post by andrewla »

johnthedebs wrote: post #62
the__alchemist wrote: post #33

If you've done Magic Eyes, this is straightforward. Was able to get all 3 of the test images quickly. This is with focusing beyond the screen. Focusing in front of the screen is something I am unable to do, and not for want of effort. Also, your eyes might accidentally do this if looking at tiled patterns, e.g. wallpaper. Relative image size (e.g. view distance) is important.

As a kid, I got a Magic Eye book and learned to see it by crossing my eyes (ie, focusing in front of the screen). I thought it was pretty interesting when I realized that I was seeing all the images inverted ("peaks" were "valleys" and vice versa) due to the way I was focusing. Alas, I never was able to see the images "correctly".

Same -- much harder to get them to go the other way. I'm surprised that cross-eyed random dot stereograms never took off; so much easier to do.

Re: I've acquired a new superpower

#94

Post by jasonjmcghee »

alt227 wrote: post #28
satvikpendem wrote: post #4

Note that there is a difference between crossview and parallel view. See this image [0] and try to overlap them. Depending on what you see in the foreground, that is the type of view you're able to see. Basically, it determines whether the 3D view you're seeing from the stereoscopic pair is convex (pops out of the page) or concave (goes into the page). It is of course possible to learn both views but most people natu…

I find that there are different techniques to seeing both. If I stare at the image and cross my eyes until focus lock I get crossview where the image goes back into the page. If I bring the image right up to my eyes and stare through it into the distance, then slowly move the image backwards into my gaze until I get focus lock, then I get parallel view where the image pops out of the page. I have always wondered the…

I had never done the parallel view before either- spent 5 or so minutes at it and finally got it. For me it's still takes a fair amount of effort to maintain it (unlike cross view that takes effort to stop seeing it instead) but the 3d looks way more impressive somehow. Like the Toronto crowd one- hadn't seen so much depth in a "magic eye" before

Re: I've acquired a new superpower

#95

Post by jodrellblank »

teddyh wrote: post #16
MarkusWandel wrote: post #2

Wait, that's not crossing your eyes, it's uncrossing them. Ordinarily if you look at something nearby, your eyes aim at a common spot. But when viewing a stereogram, you need to convince your eyes to aim at a spot more distant than the subject. This is easy with practice, however IMHO it helps to be significantly nearsighted. Then you simply take off your glasses, and can look at something nearby with infinity focus,…

Both work equally well if you just want to spot differences. Cross-eyed view is somewhat easier to do, since people naturally cross their eyes when looking at something close to their face, but there is no natural reason for one’s eyes to diverge. But cross-eyed view also gives a subjectively smaller image, and is also not the usual way autostereograms are made to be seen.

> but there is no natural reason for one’s eyes to diverge.

When you’ve finished looking at something close to your face and your eyes need to uncross. So you do that eye movement while still holding the image close to your face. Note you are looking “past” where the image is. As long as the image is closer than your infinity focal view you can do this, it doesn’t have to be close to your face necessarily, Magic Eye posters on walls do work.

Re: I've acquired a new superpower

#96

Post by llm_trw »

I've used this to quickly read through a few hundred page documents given to us only as a scanned pdf which was too low quality to run ocr (at the time) on. The sleazy counter party was very upset when I came back with notes on them not adding the changes we asked for on the drafts they sent back within minutes of them sending them back.

Re: I've acquired a new superpower

#98

Post by shaftway »

robotguy wrote: post #61

When auto stereograms were all the rage in the late 80's I had a program on my Mac Plus that let me make/edit them and I used to edit for hours WHILE looking at them in 3D. Then one time I was walking down a hallway with a repetitive wallpaper pattern, my eyes did the thing, the entire hallway appeared to shift in front of me, and I stumbled and fell. Still to this day my eyes will sometimes automatically snap into '…

This happens to me too. Particularly when it's on a narrow horizontal repetition (like wooden slats on a wall).

I attribute mine to playing a lot of the game Magic Carpet from the mid to late 90's. It had some interesting graphics modes, including Red/Blue anaglyph 3D and a stereogram 3D mode. It was fun to try to play it, but it used noise for the pattern, so you didn't get textures, only blobby shapes.

Re: I've acquired a new superpower

#99

Post by JTyQZSnP3cQGa8B »

alt227 wrote: post #54
TonyTrapp wrote: post #30

Doesn't work for me. Just like stereograms. I just don't know how to "tell" my eyes to cross. Maybe similar to how I didn't figure out until I was 20-something how finger snipping works. Maybe by the time I'm 50 I can cross my eyes...!

You dont 'tell' your eyes to cross, you just look closer or further away. Try looking at the image at normal distance, whilst imaginging that you are looking into the distance at a beautiful view or at the horizon on an ocean. It is this difference in distance focusing which causes the illusion.

Well actually, I've been telling my eyes to cross since I was a child. I can't describe it, it's like tensing a muscle in the eyes or something and you can control the angle with the tension.
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