Magic Eye 3D Images

The "magic eye" above contains a rough 3D image of a woman.

Remember the Magic Eye images popular in the 90's?  I could see some of them but others were impossible. I bought two Magic eye books but never used them. They're sitting in the bookcase next to each other in almost brand new condition.  Maybe I'll get back into it someday.

Here are some tips on how to do it:

"One way to help the brain concentrate on divergence instead of focusing is to hold the picture in front of the face, with the nose touching the picture. With the picture so close to their eyes, most people cannot focus on the picture. The brain may give up trying to move eye muscles in order to get a clear picture. If one slowly pulls back the picture away from the face, while refraining from focusing or rotating eyes, at some point the brain will lock onto a pair of patterns when the distance between them matches the current convergence degree of the two eyeballs." Wikipedia

"Another way is to stare at an object behind the picture in an attempt to establish proper divergence, while keeping part of the eyesight fixed on the picture to convince the brain to focus on the picture. A modified method has the viewer focus on their reflection on a reflective surface of the picture, which the brain perceives as being located twice as far away as the picture itself. This may help persuade the brain to adopt the required divergence while focusing on the nearby picture." Wikipedia

More tips:

1. Since you can not pick up the computer monitor and move it away from your face, try moving your body away from the computer screen. Get up out of the chair and onto your feet. Prepare to assume a slightly contorted position.
2. Put your nose right up against the computer screen. The image will become very blurry. Admire those glowing blotches of color. (Let's put any thoughts about the possible ill effects of close-range electromagnetic fields out of our minds for the moment, shall we?) The point is you have just easily defeated your tendency to focus right at the surface of the computer screen. In order to see the 3D image you must look through the computer screen, not atthe computer screen.
3. Ask yourself what your eyes feel like because you need to maintain the same feeling and the sameposture of your eyes as you move away from the image. Check yourself again. Your focus is completely relaxed. The image is blurry. You are staring through the monitor, off into space.
4. Now slowly take a step back from the computer screen while maintaining the same position of your eyes. Allow the image to remain blurry. Relax, breathe, blink.
5. Continue to walk very slowly backwards, away from the computer screen. The hidden 3D image will gradually come into view.
6. Continue aiming your eyes beyond the computer screen. Do not look directly at the image or the computer. If you suddenly shift your focus and look right at the screen, you will lose the 3D effect. Try again.
7. Once you recognize the 3D shape, if you continue to look into the background rather than directly at the shape, the 3D effect will increase. Stereoscopic perception seems to have a saturation effect in the brain, so if you keep looking at the image for a while you will notice that your perception of the depth increases. Cool. (I lost the link for this.)

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