Make a "Magic Eye" image using Excel (opens in new tab)

When I was younger, my ophthalmologist was still testing for depth perception through binocular disparity (the parallax effect, I think). I could pass those tests (although my mother is in the 20% or so of the population that can't do it), but I never could see those stereoscopic images for some reason.

I haven't been tested for many years, but I assume I have lost this type of depth perceptiion due to monovision after cataract surgery. I still have functional depth perception, but it must rely on other clues these days. And I still can't see stereoscopic images.

At least there are tools now that can undo the process by which these images are produced.

I struggled at the beginning and was almost certain I was one of the small percentage who can't see them, but after working on it for a while I managed to see them. Now I use them to relax my eyes with the parallel mode. I remember not being able to properly align the two images on a stereo microscope without pulling outward one of my eyelids (which in turn adjusts one eye). I did the same for the magic eye until I was able to see the stereoscopic image form, then I no longer needed to do that.

I was able to perceive all of them, using the "focus on something behind the plane of the monitor surface" technique (rather than the "bring your face up close and slowly move away while keeping your eyes focused the same" technique, which I find has been a bit hit-and-miss).

I found that the π and ∞ stereograms were easier for me than the graph ones, as it's easier to snap to focus once you recognise the general outline of the shape. The graph ones were a bit harder for me, although that may just be the colours used.

Works easily for me. There are two types of stereograms (cross-eyed and parallel) so perhaps you had success with the other type. I believe this are parallel (aka "wall-eyed".)

They're a mix. I find the mathematical symbols ok but they don't jump out very much which seems to make my eyes reluctant to stay with the illusion. The first (green) surface one is one of the best magic eyes I've ever seen, but the second (pink) one I can't get to stay at all.

These posters were around in the 90s. After a few tries I “got it” and was able to see them. It was frustrating initially.

Popular enough to be on Seinfeld.

https://youtu.be/Uy9D0lO_0y0?t=38&si=f9zczm_noVd9hsmN

“Computers make these.. big computers”

I remember when these things first came out and they were everywhere. I've never ever gotten them to work for me.

I used to be able to see these but as my nearsightedness progressed at some point I lost the ability.

Seems not everyone, and it appears that seeing them is a combination of skill and vision.

Never been able to see them, but my eves have different enough vision that it is hard to make them work together at certain distances.

The intended way (when image floats above background, closer to you) - no. I can see images if I cross eyes and let patterns merge. However, this way images appear below background and are harder to recognize.

Every single time I tried it in the past, I failed. I never got them to work for me.

i get colourful snow and a headache trying to make my eyes do things. it just blurs and unblurs :'(

Working on my computer

I drive Curiosity and that's how I often view our raw downlink images. They aren't stereograms, but the left and right eyes are next to each other on the report, so I just cross my eyes to get the stereo and scroll the page. Works great but despite my trying to spread the good word I think I'm the only rover planner who does this.

Voight-Kampff test but it’s just staring at stereograms with sweat glistening on your forehead.

It’s unfortunate that so many humans were initially retired, but it was also helpful in motivating the population to finally figure out Magic Eye.

I'm trying man. I just don't get how it works

I think you can decode a stereogram into the depth map with like 5 lines of Python, but it's been a while since I've played around with this stuff.

Meaning, maybe GPT can't (yet) see magic eye images, but it shouldn't have trouble building itself a prosthetic that allows it to see them.

I recently learned that there are two views: https://www.reddit.com/r/ParallelView/ vs https://www.reddit.com/r/CrossView/

And there is definitely a difference between them. If you try to view a cross view image using parallel view, it will look weird and not be easy to focus. Maybe the egg crate image was different?

Here's a quick test: https://i.redd.it/g5ilwgk99r781.jpg

Parallel view is easy for me but it takes a bit of effort for me to see cross view. For cross view, I start by looking cross-eyed at my nose and then try to see the image without fully uncrossing my eyes.

I've always been pretty quick to see the hidden image, but I could see these faster than ever - almost instantaneously, even the first one. I wonder if it's something to do with me having stared at a screen for a decade since the last time I saw a stereogram...

I always had this problem back in the day when they were in newspapers etc. I didn't really get what people were seeing, because to me it was all in reverse. I looked at these on smaller screens last night (phone and tablet) and I could see them! But just now I tried on my 27" workstation monitors and I got them reversed!

People have pointed out that these are "straight eye" rather than "cross eye" ones. So my theory is on a big screen these are too wide for my eyes or something. I can always go cross eyed (by looking at my nose), but I probably can't go "wide eyed".

You should focus behind it instead of looking cross-eyed.

I believe this depends on if you focus "beyond" or "in front" of the image

That is incredible, thanks for sharing. For others trying to find it, it's "herrmann2", not herman2. To try it yourself, the following worked for me in WSL:

  wget https://www.ioccc.org/2001/Makefile
  wget https://www.ioccc.org/2001/herrmann2.c
  wget https://www.ioccc.org/2001/herrmann2.cup
  wget https://www.ioccc.org/2001/herrmann2.hint
  wget https://www.ioccc.org/2001/herrmann2.ioccc
  cat herrmann2.hint    #instructions
  make herrmann2
  ./herrmann2 < herrmann2.ioccc

My mind is boggled. I get the basics of how autostereograms work, but the fact that it works so well with ASCII text is mindblowing.

Edit: If you're lazy, I made a quick Gist that does the above, so you can just do

  curl https://gist.githubusercontent.com/justusthane/a8c27c72350793ac452b86cc665a268b/raw/72aa6bf37689ea0cbbb70fa70fbd758c3a1fde3a | bash

(Obligatory "It's not safe to pipe internet stuff into a Shell" disclaimer)

That’s an interesting way of looking at it. When this happens, it means your eyes are crossed too much. I solve this by relaxing and catching it before my eyes get fully straight. Doing this is usually easier than seeing it the first time.