I couldn’t for most of my life, but then I just tried about two years ago and it clicked. I’ve been able to ever since. It’s a cognitive skill. Once you learn it, it’s like riding a bike. I hate to make it sound as exclusive as it is, because that’s what turned me off of it to begin with, but it really is true. Just figure it out and it’s like a code that you can decode at will.
this post was submitted on 12 Jul 2025
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As someone with a lazy eye I can control, stereograms are ludicrously easy for me to see.
Now that you've figured it out, behold: Stereograms!
The above satellite images from NASA allow you to SEE the topography in 3D.
Omg I've never been able to do a magic eye before, but I think there stereograms just unlocked it for me! I Feel like I get it now, thanks!
These are awesome thanks for sharing. Also, if you can do magic eye and stereograms, try crossing your eyes when playing those "find the differences between these two pictures" games. They are incredibly easy if you cross your eyes.
Off to find my house!
Weird question if anyone happens to know: when I look at these combined, it looks like the elevated parts go INTO the image rather than pop out, like it’s 3D but inverse. I have always been able to see Magic Eyes with no difficulty, but I’ve also had some form of exotropia that I can control to trigger the depth. Should I be doing something different with these stereograms?
Edit: realized this might be expected? Since the instructions on these say to cross your eyes, but the exotropia makes one eye go outward, but I guess I’m confused how I can see any combined depth image at all now lol
You're doing "wall eyed" viewing. These are for "cross-eyed" viewing. "Wall-eyed" means your eyes are focusing at a point behind the image. You need to cross your eyes for these. Try putting your finger in between your screen and your eyes, varying the distance until the dots merge. Then, remove your finger, focusing on the image itself. That should allow for cross-eyed viewing.
...i prefer wall-eyed stereograms because cross-eyed orientation makes the picture look tiny...
Fair. I, too, prefer wall-eyed, but these were prepared by NASA. You could edit the image to swap the two and make them Wall-eyed, though!
I didn't think I could but interestingly enough discovered a technique that works earlier today. Basically get really close whilst staring at a point then gradually move away. It actually is an amazing effect
Off to r/MagicEye now
Being legally blind in one eye precludes me from using those
Wow, I must be the only person on Lemmy that cannot
Someone said that they did some research on people who were able to use 3d TVs and 10% couldn't, or maybe you just haven't gotten a hang of it yet?
Yep.
If you can do it, you can sometimes use that skill to quickly compare whether two adjacent vertical images are identical. If they are, you will just see a single version of the image as normal. If they are different, you will easily see a ‘fuzzy’ part of the image that won’t resolve and stay still (hard to describe, it’s like when I try to read text in a dream).
A practical application I use now and then is when I want to compare two columns of data on a screen. Use the magic eye technique to overlap the columns and any differences will be immediately obvious, even with a lot of data.
Nope. Never figured it out
Inconsistently. Haven't tried for yonks. Back when they were brand new I got maybe 50%.
How many yonks has in been?
Late 80s early 90s?? Whenever Good Weekend did a weekly.
one of us
I can
My tip is to try to look past the picture, like you're focusing on something 10ft behind the wall. Then squint your eyes.
Yes. They require stereoscopic vision. When I was doing research on 3D displays about 10% of subjects had to be rejected because they were stereo blind. They had no idea they were that way.
One woman said that explains why she had the nickname clunk in high school. She had a habit of rearending cars.
I'm one of the stereo blind. I was kind of glad when I found out from the eye doctor. It explained why I could rarely catch a baseball without getting hit.
So depending on why you might be able to train it. If you don't have a lazy eye and have good vision you may want to look into it.
If your brain is just not fusing two good images there is a good chance you can train it to do so. Having done experiments in this field I can tell you it makes a measurable difference in performance.
A good read on the subject is below. The part where she first sees a tree in 3D is a good example of what you are missing.
Fixing My Gaze: A Scientist's Journey Into Seeing in Three Dimensions by Susan R Barry
Thanks, I'll check it out.
Lmao clunk is brutal
I had a friend who couldn't see them and the following explanation is how I got her to be able to:
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Stand two arm lengths from the picture, holding you arm out in front of you with one finger up, so that your finger is halfway between you and the picture and lined up with near the bottom of it (or you could use any distance and put your finger halfway there).
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Both the picture and your finger should now be in your field of view. Focus on the tip of your finger. Maintain your eyes in that focus state and shift your attention from your finger to the picture, remembering not to let your eyes change their focus.
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Once you have your eyes stuck into that focus length you should be able to move them around and view all parts of the picture seeing the 3D effect. But if you still have problems you can move your finger to keep it in front of your eyes and in focus while you move your eyes, but you'll quickly learn how to keep them in the correct state with a little practice.
This also works if you focus on twice the distance of the picture, but most people find the half-distance focus easier.
I can see them.
Or at least I could. When LGR recently made a video about them, I was having a very bad time viewing them. I was either too drunk or not used to seeing them with this TV setup or I just need new glasses. Probably the last one.
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Took a few minutes when it was introduced to me, but I can see them
I can see the 3D, but struggle to put together what they are sometimes because I don't have colors to put the image together.
Yes, but only if I take off my glasses.
Thought this might do it for me, but still no.
Yes.
The instructions say don't cross your eyes but that's horseshit and probably why so many people fail to see them.
My method is to cross my eyes, then uncross them slowly until the 3d effect appears, then hold on that position.
But then you see them inverted.
3d cross eyed pictures and magic eye work in similar but different ways
Yup you want to focus farther than the picture. Crossing your eyes mature you focus closer.
Someone made a modified version of Quake back in the day, that rendered to stereoscopic 3D in a white noise pattern.
It was such a mindfuck to play!
You get 3D depth but no colors or shades or contrast. It's just shapes moving. So doors that were flush with the wall were impossible to see, but enemies in dark rooms were fully visible because there is no light or dark.
I like to imagine I got to experience what a bat sees with echolocation.
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