Magic Eye Pictures

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Do you remember those magic-eye pictures that were so popular in magazines & newspapers, back in the mid 90's?

Well my question is: Could any of you see the "hidden" image supposedly contained within those pictures?

The reason I ask, is, that I never could. So I'm wandering if there is a good reason for this.

I'm thinking that:

a) - They are complete & utter BS ( a kind of Emperor's new clothes, thing ).

b) - They are legit, but I ( for whatever reason ) can't see them.

What's the deal?

They are legit. After learning the trick of seeing them I was able to look at an image I had not seen before, see the 3d picture and *then* check what I had seen against the non magic eye 2d version at the back of the book I had. I wish I could explain the trick to you but I don't think I can explain it adequately. I probably place the picture maybe 20cm from my eye and then drastically overfocus and underfocus my eyes on the image. At the sweet spot the image becomes quite obvious. Some people just seem unable to do them

Interesting. I wonder if it's because I have a squint, that I couldn't see them?

Would you still be able to see the image if you had on eye closed, do you think?

If so, then my squint theory is probably wrong.

I did but it took a lot of practice until I could finally see them. It wasn't until my brother bought a book of them and I practiced at home. The ways that would usually work for me was to stare at the middle of the picture up close and slowly draw my face back or to cross my eyes while staring at the middle of the picture for as long as possible until I saw the 3D image.

Definitely not, they require binocular vision.

I could never see the "Hidden image" it just looked like a mess of colours to me.

It takes some getting used to, but once you do it the first time you can always do it. An earlier poster is right -- it's easier to do than to explain. If you've ever gone into a stare while zoning out, you just need to do the same thing when looking at the pictures.

Yep. The reason you can see a 3-D image in a Magic Eye picture (part of the image seems to "float" above the rest, usually) is that you can diverge or converge your eyes more than you would if you focused on the page. Instead of each eye getting the same image, they get slightly different images that can be interpreted as different views of a three-dimensional object, and so your brain interprets it as three-dimensional. It's the same principle as 3-D glasses, except that with the glasses, the difference between the two eyes is produced by blocking some of the light coming into each eye, so that two slightly different viewpoints are available. Don't bother yourself about it if you can't control your eyes well enough to focus them on a spot beyond the page and see the illusion--it's not like it's a fundamental aspect of anybody's existence, right? Well, perhaps a fundamental part of the guy who made a fortune selling Magic Eye books, but other than that, probably not.

I can get them into 3D, but with a problem: the bits that are meant to appear concave appear convex, and vice versa.

i've never been able to see those things. i have fairly severe astigmatism, so that's what i use as my excuse.

Have you tried moving the page around a bit, tilting it etc. (or moving your head)? You might need the extra movement cue to see it correctly.

I cross my eyes to see the images and it makes me see them. I used to have troubles and it took lot of concentration until I started to cross my eyes and bam the image would appear. It's been easy ever since.

I've always seen these images almost immediately from the time I saw my 1st one. I don't know why and not sure how I do it but there's definitely adjustment in the muscles that control the eyes.

I'll try it.

I could see them just fine. However, it usually took me relaxing and focusing intently on the picture for a little bit before it came into focus.

(Thread moved from Autism discussion to Random)

It took me a long while to discover the technique of how to look at them. I can spot the hidden images in seconds now. They are brilliant!