But I can’t see the damn things at all… ever. I do wear glasses, but I’ve got the same eye’s as my mom, and she loves the dang things.
I’ve tried everymethod mentioned here, plus others, and they have never worked.
I feel so ashamed.
But I can’t see the damn things at all… ever. I do wear glasses, but I’ve got the same eye’s as my mom, and she loves the dang things.
I’ve tried everymethod mentioned here, plus others, and they have never worked.
I feel so ashamed.
I can see 'em both ways. If you focus beyond them, you get the intended image. If you focus cross-eyed (closer than the picture), you get a 3d image but everything that’s supposed to go in is out and vice versa.
You’re not missing much.
You could always try the method I used: I’ve been looking at those thigs ever since about 1980 or so… Yes, I know they weren’t invented then, but I did essentially the same thing looking at chain-link fences, checkerboards, and other such repetetive patterns. It might help to practice with them first, where the entire field is the same distance away. Uncross your eyes so that you see double, and adjust it until the image overlaps with itself again (so, for instance, a black square on the checkerboard matches up with the one two squares over). practice this every time you happen to notice a suitable repetetive pattern (many computer backgrounds also work), and you should have a much easier time with the ones that form 3-d shapes.
One other tip: Don’t try it for the first time with one of the ones from the newspaper. Get a book of them from the library. The ones that they publish in the newspaper are often of abyssmal quality, and hard for even a practiced 3d-looker to make out.
Can I piggyback on this thread? I’ve thought about asking this in its own thread, but Manny’s request makes me want to post here instead.
I too had a lot of trouble making out ‘Magic Eye’ illustrations. For the longest time I would simply cry out “the emperor has no clothes!” and leave it at that. But then a year or two ago I saw 3d affects for the first time. Unfortunately, none of my friends would believe I was seeing what I claimed to be seeing - the emperor’s clothes came back to bite me in the keister. What I was describing simply wasn’t what a roomful of friends knew was there. After an hour or so of insisting and describing what I was seeing (I went back to it several times to get the image to reappear) it finally dawned on us what was going on - I was seeing the negative space of the image.
The image was one of an outstretched arm holding a ball in its palm. What I was seeing, for lack of better descriptive vocabulary, was a flat plain (made up of the paislyesque design of the card) with cutout areas that corresponded to where the hand and the ball should have been. Underneath (visually) those areas was the same pattern. It was not merely a reversal of the image (like when you look at drawn clear frame box can go in reverse) but holes where images should have been. I hope I’ve given some idea of what I am talking about. It is like that every time I look at one of those things. I can rarely tell what it is supposed to be without some guidance and guessing.
I have to assume (because I don’t want to think of myself as a freak) that someone out there knows what I am talking about. How did you compensate for it? How do I get the images to come out towards me? Can I borrow the emperor’s jacket?
I’m convinced those things are a giant conspiracy against me. I have tried in vain for hours at a time, and I never see anything.
I can’t see in 3D at all, thanks to a concussion when I was 11.
Yeah, what you were doing was crossing your eyes. There are two focal points:
one leads you to the correct image when the two repeating patterns directly beside each other align together. You can see this with your eyes in normal straight-ahead vision if you focus on the right point beyond the image.
but if you focus too near or too far, you instead are matching the two repeating patterns that are one over from each other, and that creates a negative-space image.
At least, I think that’s what happens. I used to look at these a lot, but this was five or six years ago now.
On a whim, I followed aseymayo’s link to the Magic Eye site. There’s a ‘starter’ image there that has two dots at the top. The instructions are simple - make the two dots turn into three dots by crossing your eyes slightly, then learn to control the focus of the three dots. After some practice at controlling the dots, POP! I could see something in the image below. I still can’t make out details, but at least it’s a start.
sniff thanks, guys…
Also, try crossing your eyes instead of diverging them. If it works, you’ll see a reversed image (stuff that pops out instead goes in). It’s easier than the proper way and helps you get an idea of what you should be seeing. Plus it’s a real trip.
The Ryan wrote:
Just the opposite, actually. The images are intended to be viewed “wall-eyed”, not “cross-eyed”. As has been pointed out, you can usually see an inverted image if you view them cross-eyed, but sometimes it’s more difficult to interpret the image when it’s inverted.
it’s a schooner…
jb
My wife can’t see them either. She thinks I’m making it up when tell her what I see. But she had an operation on her eye as a kid, and I suspect it made it difficult for her to properly adjust her eyes for correct viewing. I’ve tried making a prismatic viewer for her to use, but you still have to train your eyeto use it, and even I have a hard time using it.
There are, indeed, two ays to view those stereograms – one that’s “crossed eye”, and the other is “looking through”. In one case you get a proper 3D image in the other an “inside-out” image that’s properly called “pseudoscopic”. This was the basis for one of the cleverest stereograms I’ve ever seen – it showed one of those vase/two face illusions we’re allfamiliar with, but the twist is that if you viewed it in normal 3D mode it was two 3D faces while viewing it pseudoscopically made it look like a 3D vase.
Hmmm…try opening both your eyes at the same time…aha!!
You probably have “Acute Stereogram Dysfunction”.
But you don’t have to suffer anymore. Stereol (oxydecarbofin) is a new medicine, available by prescription only that correct the chemical imbalance that stops certain people from seeing stereograms. Stereol is not for everyone, so ask your doctor or pharmacist if Stereol is right for you. Possible side effects may include blood clots, sleeplessness, explosive diarrhea, and hallucinations (which may make you think you actually see the image in the stereogram).
It’s a new world, enjoy the pictures.
Stereol
You dumb bastard, it’s not a schooner, it’s a sailboat!
a schooner is a sailboat!
YOU KNOW WHAT? THERE IS NO EASTER BUNNY! OVER THERE, THAT’S JUST A GUY IN A SUIT!!!