[HN Gopher] How to Make Your Own Spooky Magic Eye Pictures (Auto...
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       How to Make Your Own Spooky Magic Eye Pictures (Autostereograms)
        
       Author : jstanley
       Score  : 132 points
       Date   : 2023-10-22 18:43 UTC (14 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (blog.demofox.org)
 (TXT) w3m dump (blog.demofox.org)
        
       | PaulHoule wrote:
       | Nice, but I still like making red-cyan anaglyphs
       | 
       | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anaglyph_3D
       | 
       | though I think the premium way to enjoy stereograms in 2023 will
       | be with a VR headset (no fan of Facebook but I just got a Quest 3
       | and wow!)
        
         | cubefox wrote:
         | Unfortunately they are hardly making stereoscopic movies
         | anymore. Maybe they come back with VR though (doubt it).
        
           | eru wrote:
           | Well, there's always porn. They are always on the forefront
           | of technology.
        
       | ksaj wrote:
       | This was interesting.
       | 
       | Stereo wideners (a switch made to cause music to sound wider in
       | audio 3D space) work very similar to the Dolby3D, except with
       | equalization instead of colour filtering.
       | 
       | Dolby3d takes chunks of red, green and blue, and filters them so
       | the left and right eye are seeing slightly different reds, greens
       | and blues in a way that isn't easily detected by the person
       | viewing them. Both eyes see apparently normal views, but together
       | they see a stereo image.
       | 
       | Stereo audio wideners take a set of audio frequencies, lowering
       | their EQ on one side while raising them an equivalent amount on
       | the other, so that the left and right ears are hearing different
       | equalization that still sound reasonably normal.
       | 
       | It makes sense that Dolby is the primary name associated to both
       | technologies. They are pretty much the same left-right reversed
       | comb filters, except light frequencies versus sound frequencies.
        
       | ZeroGravitas wrote:
       | > Lastly, I think it would be really neat to make a game that
       | used this technique to render 3d.
       | 
       | See the 1994 game "Magic Carpet" for this and some other weird
       | 3D-modes including an early VR helmet.
       | 
       | edit: the only brief clip I can find online that actually lets
       | you experience the effect:
       | 
       | https://youtu.be/3qiIXbfQjA0?si=NLKv8Bs3EyW-lZX4&t=62
       | 
       | but I did find a modern platformer:
       | 
       | https://managore.itch.io/stereogram
        
         | ciroduran wrote:
         | I once a game designer why they implemented autostereograms on
         | Magic Carpet and turns out it was the whim of a programmer :)
         | https://twitter.com/BulkPaint/status/1617192325091819520
        
       | dwighttk wrote:
       | I can only really see these things crossed instead of parallel...
       | makes all of these push into the screen instead of jump out.
        
       | ozten wrote:
       | One of my favorite types of Autostereogram is the Object Array
       | Stereogram, because they are well rendered as 2D images, but when
       | you switch to the correct focal distance, you get an amazing 3D
       | experience.
       | 
       | They have the built in constraint that you need to have rows if
       | identical objects, but that works quite well for chess pieces in
       | this example.
       | 
       | https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Chess_Single_Image_Ster...
        
         | docandrew wrote:
         | I had a (really creative) buddy growing up who figured out that
         | you could do the wallpaper function in Mario Paint (which
         | filled the canvas with repeating icons) and then stamp over
         | some of the icons but slightly offset, and when you crossed
         | your eyes funny they'd pop out of the screen. Very easy DIY
         | Magic Eye.
        
       | marcodiego wrote:
       | The images he chose have too much fine detail. That makes it very
       | hard to identify what they are even when you "get" the effect.
        
         | anonymous_sorry wrote:
         | I always find this to be common problem with magic eye
         | pictures. The 3D effect is interesting to experience, but the
         | pattern is so busy and distracting that it's often hard to tell
         | what the object is supposed to be anyway.
         | 
         | As a kid I had a book which had tried to address this problem.
         | The shape was still hidden but certain elements of the
         | repeating pattern coincided with and emphasized parts of the
         | hidden image - but in a way that wasn't obvious until you had
         | revealed the 3D effect. It was partially successful.
        
       | coxmi wrote:
       | Can anyone else not see the image? I can unfocus my eyes a
       | little, but what I think is mostly happening is that I'm just
       | slightly crossing my eyes so it doesn't work.
       | 
       | Is it better on a non-phone screen?
        
         | smeej wrote:
         | Crossing the eyes tends to show just the outline of the shape
         | instead of a 3D image.
         | 
         | The phone screen works fine for me, but a larger screen might
         | work better for you. It's more like a "zoning out" unfocusing
         | than a crossing of the eyes, like you're trying to look at a
         | point slightly behind your screen.
        
         | ghosty141 wrote:
         | Yes, a bigger screen helps a lot. There are a bunch of
         | tutorials how to get it to work on youtube etc.
        
       | somat wrote:
       | Does the effect work with an animated depth image?
       | 
       | I always have a hard time with these. I get the 3d effect but can
       | never figure out the image. I suspect based on reading some
       | theory that I am viewing them cross eyed instead of slack eyed.
       | But have no idea how to do it the other way around.
       | 
       | Update: it does, I found a youtube video, still cant resolve it
       | however. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZpsbQMQFBs
        
         | ghosty141 wrote:
         | Thanks for sharing that video, worked perfectly for me.
         | Although watching videos with this effect is kinda headache
         | inducing after a while, at lesst for me.
        
         | hubblesticks wrote:
         | I have always crossed my eyes since the days of Magic Eye
         | books, and could reliably "see" the image but it was always
         | reversed (seemingly going INTO the page). It wasn't until this
         | article that I realized I could go "slack eyed" as you call it.
         | Now the images pop OUT of the page instead of recede into it. I
         | wish I could rewind 30 years and tell my younger self how to do
         | it.... I would have enjoyed those books so much more.
        
           | JKCalhoun wrote:
           | I flip the lid mostly closed on my MacBook and stare off at
           | something across the room past the laptop. While still
           | staring at that thing across the room I bring the display lid
           | up in front of my gaze.
        
         | JKCalhoun wrote:
         | This is a good one -- probably came up on an earlier HN post:
         | 
         | https://youtu.be/2AKtp3XHn38?si=GDHjv1VyxCvMAzQU
        
         | eru wrote:
         | The video just animates the surface picture, and swaps between
         | different depth maps. But otherwise the depth maps are not
         | animated, alas.
         | 
         | This one https://managore.itch.io/stereogram (link from another
         | comment) actually animates both.
        
         | jodrellblank wrote:
         | Linked video - these are some of the coolest I've seen in a
         | long time: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmRfVoiFDu4
         | 
         | The almost holographic looking sphere and pyramid at 00:15
         | seconds.
         | 
         | The nested petal thing at 45 seconds.
         | 
         | The Yin-Yang at 01:22
         | 
         | Here's soem cross-eye autostereo drone videos:
         | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzyjLtzPDNw
        
       | netruk44 wrote:
       | The fact that all you need is a depth map of what you'd like to
       | create makes me wonder if anyone's ever linked something like
       | this up to a video game engine to make possibly the least
       | visually pleasing and least accessible game out there.
        
         | ClassyJacket wrote:
         | Yep, ZeroGravitas mentioned Magic Eye in another comment, also
         | this:
         | 
         | https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/cross-your-magic-eyes-to-pl...
        
         | Tao3300 wrote:
         | Call it _Polybius_.
        
       | pfedak wrote:
       | https://managore.itch.io/stereogram is an impressive example of
       | the possibilities here, with an animated noise image and
       | interactive depth map.
        
         | a1o wrote:
         | I find these much easier to work on my eyes than the one posted
         | on the article above, probably because the side by side pattern
         | is easier to cross-focus.
        
       | adventurer wrote:
       | I can never see it for some reason. I assure you I just saw the
       | eye doctor and my eyes were also fine 20 years ago when these
       | were popular.
        
         | maxerickson wrote:
         | I have ~-1.75 in one eye and -3.5 in the other and it took me a
         | long time to eventually be able to resolve the hidden images.
         | They usually aren't all that satisfying really.
        
         | Tao3300 wrote:
         | They were always a lot easier to see framed so you could trick
         | your focus by looking at reflections in the glass. Ideal
         | conditions: printed at poster size, at a shopping mall kiosk,
         | near a trashcan with an ashtray.
        
       | Jare wrote:
       | The blue noise example is crazy. It's always been trivial to me
       | to cross-eye into MagicEyes, I can even comfortably scroll the
       | page and never lose the 3D. I had no idea there were (if I
       | understood correctly) adversarial background patterns.
        
         | dwringer wrote:
         | Interestingly, perhaps, I found that one to be easier to make
         | out the fine detail than any other magic eye that I've seen
         | before. However I did find it a bit more eyestrain inducing as
         | well. This is a great blog and makes me want to experiment
         | more.
        
           | g-b-r wrote:
           | You mean that you _do_ see the 3d effect in the blue noise
           | image???
        
       | spandextwins wrote:
       | 1990s were fun times!
        
       | jrapdx3 wrote:
       | 3D images have captivated me since I was a kid. A frequent source
       | of amusement was the "Victorian wallpaper effect" and even
       | without a viewer I could easily see classic stereo photo pairs in
       | 3D. Not at all difficult to see the "hidden" objects in the
       | article's quite nice illustrations.
       | 
       | While popularity of SIS imagery isn't what it was a few decades
       | ago, programmer interest in the subject has remained quite
       | strong.
       | 
       | As an artist I enjoy incorporating SIS images in my work. In the
       | past I've used a number of open-source SIS generators. Mostly
       | these programs weren't completely satisfactory. A common defect
       | was producing SIS artifacts marring output image appearance.
       | 
       | Subsequently I wrote a SIS program (with GUI for usability) [0]
       | that almost entirely eliminated artifacts in the finished images.
       | Developed with artists' interests in mind, its SIS output looks
       | different vs. examples in the article. (Using depthmap and
       | texture/pattern image inputs, the latter determines the "surface"
       | appearance of the SIS.) However both SIS styles have the same 3D
       | effect capability.
       | 
       | [0] https://thinairarts.com/stereogram.html
        
         | andai wrote:
         | This looks great. You should add some more output images!
        
       | carapace wrote:
       | JITTLOV'S 3-D DOBBS                   BOBoBoBoBoBoBOBoBoBoBoBoBOB
       | oBoBoBoBoBOBoBfNoRdBoBOBoBoBoBoBoBOBoBoBoBoBoBOB         !!!!!!!!
       | !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
       | !!         !::::'___`:::::::'___`:::::::'___`:::::::'___`:::::::'
       | ___`:::::::'___`::::!         !:::'/_ _\`:::::'/_ _\`:::::'/_
       | _\`:::::'/_ _\`:::::'/_ _\`:::::'/_ _\`:::!         !:::|/ ~
       | \|`::::|/ ~ \|  `::|/ ~ \|'   `|/ ~ \|::'  |/ ~ \|::::'|/ ~
       | \|:::!         !:::|'-.-`|  :::|'-.-`|    :|'-.-`|     |'-.-`|:
       | |'-.-`|:::  |'-.-`|:::!         !:: (|e|e|?   ::(|e|e|? '
       | (|e|e|? ` ' (|e|e|?   ` (|e|e|?.:   (|e|e|? ::!         !.
       | `._^_,''   :`._^_,'..'  `._^_,'`...'`._^_,'  `..`._^_,'.
       | ``._^_,'  .!         !.   \\=//       \\=//       \\=//
       | \\=//       \\=//       \\=//   .!         :    U/_/        U/_/
       | U/_/        U/_/        U/_/        U/_/     :         @/
       | \&~  @/      \&~  @/      \&~  @/      \&~  @/      \&~  @/
       | \&         Y/\.::./\S\ /Y/\.::./\S\ /Y/\.::./\S\ /Y/\.::./\S\
       | /Y/\.::./\S\ /Y/\.::./\S         E$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
       | $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$E         %%%%XX%%%%%%%
       | %%%%XX%%%%%%%%%%%XX%%%%%%%%%%%XX%%%%%%%%%%%XX%%%%%%%%%%%XX%WiZ
       | 
       | https://www.subgenius.com/bigfist/eyes/Jittlov3-D-Dobbs.html
        
       | Tao3300 wrote:
       | The haunted house one faked me out. I thought I was looking at
       | https://davematthewsband.com/music/remember-two-things-reiss...
        
       | stuckkeys wrote:
       | First I thought...crap I need to go see an eye doctor, then
       | booom. The depth kicked in. My eyes got stuck lol. Trippy. Live
       | the effect.
        
       | grishka wrote:
       | These things never worked for me. Maybe I don't understand how to
       | look at them correctly to get whatever 3D effect they're supposed
       | to make, but for the life of me, I could never see anything at
       | all in those patterns, neither on screen nor when printed.
       | 
       | edit: I found this video[1] with pairs of images that tells you
       | to hold sunglasses in front of your right eye if you can't
       | defocus your vision correctly. _This_ worked for me with an ND
       | filter, it really feels like it shouldn 't do anything but I did
       | see depth. Those patterns though, still no idea how to make them
       | work.
       | 
       | [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLsODo7ycaA
        
         | stiray wrote:
         | Actually I can also see this one, maybe becoase of the 3d cube
         | at the beginning that exactly shows you what to do.
         | 
         | Now I will probably see everything blurred for rest of the day.
        
         | artdigital wrote:
         | Same for me, I can't see anything in those images. I have
         | astigmatism and red/green colorblindness though (which I
         | discovered later in life). Could be related?
        
           | g-b-r wrote:
           | I have astigmatism as well and it initially took me a very
           | long time to manage to see them, it might be that it has an
           | effect (I practiced enough that I then learned to see them at
           | a blink of an eye, and it helped my normal vision a lot btw)
        
           | grishka wrote:
           | I used to have really bad myopia, but right now, many years
           | after laser surgery, I still have nearly perfect vision. I
           | feel like my main problem is that I can't overcome my
           | reflexes.
        
         | rob74 wrote:
         | TBF, these "hidden" autostereograms are the most challenging to
         | "see" - it's probably better to start off with two "actual"
         | pictures printed or displayed side by side (because there you
         | have some cues to how far you are from the images overlapping),
         | and then try to apply the same technique to autostereograms? I
         | can manage to do it most of the time, but it always takes some
         | effort. I think it also helps if the image is bigger, but
         | YMMV...
        
       | mountain_peak wrote:
       | When my kids were younger, they used to subscribe to a children's
       | magazine that featured a monthly "spot the difference" puzzle.
       | They were amazed when I used to glance at the image and rattle
       | off the one obscure difference they missed.
       | 
       | My trick was based on "magic eye" images I used to enjoy. When I
       | saw the side-by-side drawings used by the puzzle, I wondered what
       | would happen if I "fuzzed" my eyes as if I was looking at a magic
       | eye photo. To my surprise, all of the items that were different
       | between the two images "vibrated" or "shimmered", while the rest
       | of image stayed steady. I repeatedly fuzzed and focused to spot
       | all the differences in a matter of seconds.
        
         | satvikpendem wrote:
         | Yep, I do this too. One thing that's cool is viewing
         | stereograms that have differing colors. Some people apparently
         | can see new colors via this method that is not simply a mix of
         | the two colors.
        
           | antiterra wrote:
           | If this made anyone else curious, I found
           | https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=cQCsDfEqr9o from a post with a
           | 'blellow' stereogram
           | https://www.reddit.com/r/MagicEye/s/pd2FtY5PnY
           | 
           | There's some skeptical commentary in the thread as wel.
        
         | Dwedit wrote:
         | I use this for diffing on a PC, such as when you have a hex
         | editor open that doesn't have a built in diffing feature.
        
           | jstanley wrote:
           | I find a good technique is to load hex dumps in vimdiff.
        
       | zzzeek wrote:
       | I can only see these dumb things in reverse (the shape is always
       | sinking into the page, rather than popping out). isn't there a
       | way to generate these inverted so weirdos like me can finally
       | enjoy them ?
        
         | g-b-r wrote:
         | You're crossing your eyes instead of distancing them, that's a
         | lot easier for me as well but you should manage to see these
         | kind if stereograms too with some practice.
         | 
         | Simply letting your sight defocus as when you're looking into
         | the void thinking something will probably get you closer; then
         | keep in mind that to see these images you need to make a much
         | more subtle correction than when doing the cross-eyes thing,
         | such that it's actually easy to "bind" to pairs of patterns
         | farther apart than what's needed.
         | 
         | The rest is just like with cross-eyes stereograms, check the
         | borders of the double-image to verify the alignment of your
         | head, and as you get closer to joining the dots strive to get
         | the image back in focus (but of course without moving the
         | eyes).
        
       | quickthrower2 wrote:
       | Wow, now that I need reading glasses these are easier than when I
       | was a kid
        
       | pbj1968 wrote:
       | Hyper Color tshirts reminded us we all had nipples and sweaty
       | armpits.
        
       | gaoryrt wrote:
       | My eyes have never been so itchy, thank you.
        
       | stiray wrote:
       | for those who can master it, here is Tetris to play:
       | https://www.deviantart.com/3dimka/art/3D-Stereogram-Tetris-3...
       | 
       | I was never able to see stereograms, the most I was able to pull
       | out was to see it inverted (x seeing with eyes, while the
       | opposite is required).
        
       | g-b-r wrote:
       | I'm not an expert but I don't think you need to go to a doctor if
       | you can't see them easily, I think it's common for it to take a
       | lot of effort initially
       | 
       | It actually might well be that people with sight problems will
       | have a harder, or a lot harder, time at first, but, yeah, with
       | enough time most will probably manage to.
       | 
       | I think it took me weeks to start to see them easily, and
       | probably at least days to see one for the first time.
       | 
       | By the way, from then on though, I became able to e.g. watch
       | stereo videos stereographically in a split second, from any
       | position (so long as I kept exercising every once in a while); so
       | it's probably just a matter to learn how it works and maybe
       | exercise the eyes a little, for most people.
        
       | Dwedit wrote:
       | Fractint was an excellent program for making Stereograms, and I
       | believe it can still be used for that task.
        
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       (page generated 2023-10-23 09:00 UTC)