33 votes

I’ve acquired a new superpower

27 comments

  1. [7]
    chewonbananas
    Link
    There is a stereogram community somewhere if you want to dive into the more sophisticated eye crossing shenaningans. Very entertaining.

    There is a stereogram community somewhere if you want to dive into the more sophisticated eye crossing shenaningans. Very entertaining.

    14 votes
    1. [2]
      TangibleLight
      (edited )
      Link Parent
      Before I stopped using Reddit I participated in /r/crossview quite a bit. Some of my favorites are hyperstereo images where the spatial separation between the cameras is very long. The easiest way...

      Before I stopped using Reddit I participated in /r/crossview quite a bit.

      Some of my favorites are hyperstereo images where the spatial separation between the cameras is very long. The easiest way to do this is time-separated captures from an airplane, a really cool effect.

      I'm fond of this "secret word clock" I made, similar to those light-up word clocks. If you cross your eyes to line up the grids of words, the current time pops out of the screen. It updates in real time, if you have the patience, every five minutes.

      I also made, more recently (after I "stopped" using Reddit), this 3D "Impossible Triangle". It resolves the depth violation in the horizontal beam at the bottom, which leads to this weird effect. You can look at any part of the image and it seems appropriately 3D, but the full shape makes no sense. In hindsight I should have added more depth cues on the tiles of the triangle. I tried to do this with the horizontal rod casting shadows but I'm not sure it's enough.

      12 votes
      1. smores
        Link Parent
        Oh man, I LOVE that clock, thank you for sharing that. That’s immensely satisfying

        Oh man, I LOVE that clock, thank you for sharing that. That’s immensely satisfying

        3 votes
    2. X08
      Link Parent
      Also known as 'Magic Eye'. My uncle used to have a few of these books and whenever we used to visit I was amazed by it.

      Also known as 'Magic Eye'. My uncle used to have a few of these books and whenever we used to visit I was amazed by it.

      3 votes
    3. [3]
      Akir
      Link Parent
      Wait, that is how you are supposed to view stereograms? I’ve tried so long without any success no matter how I have been explained how to do it. Now that I have a coherent image to practice on it...

      Wait, that is how you are supposed to view stereograms? I’ve tried so long without any success no matter how I have been explained how to do it. Now that I have a coherent image to practice on it seems like I might be able to do it.

      1 vote
      1. Soggy
        Link Parent
        Yeah you cross your eyes so that you have an in-focus central image of the two layers overlapped, which will be out of focus on either side. Your brain is pretty good at "locking on" once you get it.

        Yeah you cross your eyes so that you have an in-focus central image of the two layers overlapped, which will be out of focus on either side. Your brain is pretty good at "locking on" once you get it.

        2 votes
      2. aphoenix
        Link Parent
        There are two methods for viewing most stereograms - cross eyed or wall eyed. Cross eyed involves, well, crossing your eyes, which shifts your focus closer. Wall eyed involves letting your eyes...

        There are two methods for viewing most stereograms - cross eyed or wall eyed. Cross eyed involves, well, crossing your eyes, which shifts your focus closer. Wall eyed involves letting your eyes drift further apart, which shifts the focus farther away. If you use one method to view a stereogram that was designed to be viewed as the inverse, then it will pop out of the page in the opposite direction. For example, Magic Eye books usually are designed so that when you view them with the wall eyed method, they pop out of the page, so if you view them with the cross eyed method, they will pop "into" the page.

        I don't know if you can do wall eyed with a crossview stereogram.

        I personally find it a lot easier to do the crosseyed method, because it gives you a "thing" to try to line up.

        Edit: it's been a while since I looked at the methods, and there may be a better term than "wall eyed" which is or was a colloquial term for a exotropic strabismus, where the eyes do not align, and the there is an outward deviated eye.

        2 votes
  2. [2]
    TheRtRevKaiser
    Link
    Huh, I've heard people talk about using this technique before but I've never managed it. I tried following this guy's instructions and got it pretty quickly, and it does seem to work pretty well,...

    Huh, I've heard people talk about using this technique before but I've never managed it. I tried following this guy's instructions and got it pretty quickly, and it does seem to work pretty well, although I find it kind of uncomfortable.

    10 votes
    1. chewonbananas
      Link Parent
      A bit difficult on the eyes if done too frequently.

      A bit difficult on the eyes if done too frequently.

      4 votes
  3. [10]
    bugsmith
    Link
    Am I the only one who cannot both cross their eyes and focus on objects? Whenever I try to cross my eyes, the only thing I can really focus on in my nose. I also end up getting eyes shakes. Am I...

    Am I the only one who cannot both cross their eyes and focus on objects?
    Whenever I try to cross my eyes, the only thing I can really focus on in my nose.
    I also end up getting eyes shakes.
    Am I different?

    9 votes
    1. nemo
      Link Parent
      You and me both, cousin.

      You and me both, cousin.

      3 votes
    2. zipf_slaw
      Link Parent
      for an activity like this, don't think of it as crossing your eyes, think of it as focusing on a distance that is different than the object in front of you. your eyes can do this just fine, it's...

      for an activity like this, don't think of it as crossing your eyes, think of it as focusing on a distance that is different than the object in front of you. your eyes can do this just fine, it's part of your eye muscle's natural abilities. you just have to overcome the tendency to focus on what you're looking at.

      1 vote
    3. WeAreWaves
      Link Parent
      Try crossing your eyes as slowly as you can and don’t worry about things being blurry. You can see the out-of-focus images get closer and closer together, and then for me they pop into focus when...

      Try crossing your eyes as slowly as you can and don’t worry about things being blurry. You can see the out-of-focus images get closer and closer together, and then for me they pop into focus when they overlap. It’s like my brain recognizes that it’s supposed to be combining the two views from my eyes into one picture again. Everything else is blurry and out of focus.

      Like others said, you can essentially do the opposite as well where your eyes relax instead of cross. This isn’t as natural for me, but the same thing happens - everything is out of focus until the images are aligned and then the 3D picture pops into focus.

      1 vote
    4. [5]
      Sapholia
      Link Parent
      It's not really crossing your eyes. I'm not sure why people refer to the method this way. It's more to do with focusing your eyes so that you're looking "through" the image rather than directly...

      It's not really crossing your eyes. I'm not sure why people refer to the method this way. It's more to do with focusing your eyes so that you're looking "through" the image rather than directly focusing on it.

      1. [4]
        TangibleLight
        Link Parent
        It also works if you cross your eyes; the only thing that matters is that each eye is looking at a different one of the pictures. As you describe, your left eye looks at the left picture and vice...

        I'm not sure why people refer to the method this way.

        It also works if you cross your eyes; the only thing that matters is that each eye is looking at a different one of the pictures. As you describe, your left eye looks at the left picture and vice versa. As others describe "cross-eyed" your left eye looks at the right picture and vice versa.

        Either way, you end up looking at the images superimposed and can easily spot differences.

        It is not possible for most people to have their eyes diverge though, so for larger images it's possible to use the crosseyed technique, but not the "relaxed" parallel technique.

        3 votes
        1. [2]
          Sapholia
          Link Parent
          May I have some clarification? If someone else looks at you while you're performing this technique, would they see anything out of the ordinary with your eyes? For me, "crossed eyes" means that...

          May I have some clarification? If someone else looks at you while you're performing this technique, would they see anything out of the ordinary with your eyes? For me, "crossed eyes" means that your irises are both pointing inwards as far as they can go, creating a funny facial expression.

          1 vote
          1. TangibleLight
            (edited )
            Link Parent
            Doing it as others describe, you really are crossing your eyes in that sense, just not as far as they can go. More or less, it would look like the person is focused on an imaginary object floating...

            Doing it as others describe, you really are crossing your eyes in that sense, just not as far as they can go. More or less, it would look like the person is focused on an imaginary object floating in space somewhere about halfway between their face and the real image. If you weren't really looking for it, you probably wouldn't notice.

            And doing it the way you describe, with your eyes relaxed, the line-of-sight for each eye really does approach parallel. If you watch someone else do it, it's like they're gazing off into the distance through the real images as if it were a window or mirror.

            The strength of that effect depends on the separation between the two images relative to the separation between the viewer's eyes. If those distances are equal, then the cross-view method focuses exactly halfway, and the parallel-view method has exactly parallel lines of sight. With a smaller separation between images, the effect is less extreme.

            With a bigger separation between images, the effect is more extreme: the person using the cross-view method looks crosseyed as you just described, or the person using the parallel view method has divergent lines of sight, like someone with exotropia. I'm sure some people can intentionally do this, so I'll just say almost no-one can intentionally diverge their eyes to that degree. That's why @PigeonDubois says cross-view is better, since it can work on images separated by more than the distance between your eyes.

            2 votes
        2. PigeonDubois
          Link Parent
          Crossing your eyes is arguably better since it can work for images that are wider. Since you can't move your eyes outwards past parallel, you are limited to the width between your own eyes.

          Crossing your eyes is arguably better since it can work for images that are wider. Since you can't move your eyes outwards past parallel, you are limited to the width between your own eyes.

    5. hobblyhoy
      Link Parent
      Focus and maintain focus on your finger while slowly bringing it towards you.

      Focus and maintain focus on your finger while slowly bringing it towards you.

  4. DefinitelyNotAFae
    Link
    I've always done this! I didn't know it was unusual or not well known

    I've always done this! I didn't know it was unusual or not well known

    7 votes
  5. [3]
    Noox
    Link
    Huh I guess I was doing this instinctively, didn't realise it was a technique! Fun fact: you can also do that trick to be unbeatable at the Shell Game (as long as the person shuffling doesn't...

    Huh I guess I was doing this instinctively, didn't realise it was a technique!

    Fun fact: you can also do that trick to be unbeatable at the Shell Game (as long as the person shuffling doesn't steal the ball to try and scam you lol)!

    6 votes
    1. [2]
      Noox
      Link Parent
      Off topic: Wow that wiki page I linked has an article with the longest freaking name I've seen in a while... Fools of Fortune: Or, Gambling and Gamblers, Comprehending a History of the Vice in...
      4 votes
      1. sparksbet
        Link Parent
        They just don't name books the way they did in the 1890s anymore.

        They just don't name books the way they did in the 1890s anymore.

        7 votes
  6. zipf_slaw
    Link
    Easy way for a creator to beat this trick is to make the two images slightly different sizes. One a few % bigger, one a few % smaller. Not so much that a normal puzzle solve would be prevented.

    Easy way for a creator to beat this trick is to make the two images slightly different sizes. One a few % bigger, one a few % smaller. Not so much that a normal puzzle solve would be prevented.

    3 votes
  7. nemo
    Link
    Seems like this is related to how magic eye illusions work. I can't see them with my messed up eyes, but as a programmer I've distorted images to create magic eye illusions, and it's done by...

    Seems like this is related to how magic eye illusions work. I can't see them with my messed up eyes, but as a programmer I've distorted images to create magic eye illusions, and it's done by repeating an image with slight distortions to make the hidden shape "pop out" and "shimmer".

    2 votes
  8. [2]
    lou
    Link
    Other than playing games, or giving myself a headache, is there any practical use for this?

    Other than playing games, or giving myself a headache, is there any practical use for this?

    1 vote