Sad but funny comment appeared in one of our Stereogram posts the other day that made me think. One person said that he/she only has one eye, and asked us how to view stereograms. I felt sorry for the person, even though I got feeling the commentator’s intention was only to leave funny comment. If the situation was true, this wouldn’t be so funny, but then again among these 14 million people that visited the site till now, surely some had to be disabled in this way. This should make us grateful for our health and good things in life we aren’t normally even aware of.
Antonio Solorio Cendejas sent in this stereogram recently. These are his words: “Hello! I Think your website is great. I visit it every time I have a chance, but this is the first time I have submit an illusion. Maybe this illusion is not very amazing, I have seen many stereograms in this site, but this is special for me. I am Mexican, and this stereogram is an image of the center and the cathedral of Puerto Vallarta, I hope you enjoy it. P.S.: I apologize if my English is not very good.”
(4 votes)
Unlike most people, crossing my eyes(even slowly) makes the image a hell of alot worse…
Instead, with stereograms i look “through” the images (as if looking at something far away) and try to get them together that way.
Sometimes it doesn’t work (if the images are too big, or such) but on the whole it works fine.
The “looking-through” method won’t work with this one. This picture is a little too big to get the two parts together. Each width should not be more than 4,5 cm (130-140 px). And you must look quite close.
Also they should change places!!! That means the left picture should be seen with the right eye and vice versa. Otherwise the far parts get to front an vice versa. Unless this weird effect is meant to be…
But crossing eyes (really just a little) gives here the right impression; right eye focus on left picture. And it is in fact easy too – you may need some training first. The picture size or distance is no problem either!
Good luck. It is a beautiful picture. And creating 3D-effects is fun, I have done some drawings (“cartoons”) like that.
A comment about one-eyed people and 3D seeing.
It’s impossible to see in stereo with one eye! Stereo means space, 3 dimensions. One eye only sees two dimensions, height and width. But with a second eye placed a little bit away, the both eyes’ different viewpoints make it possible to get the depth too. They see more than a flat image from the front, they see a bit “round the corner”. And this is important to estimate distances, regardless the size of objects.
Example: One eye sees two people of same size, and thus thinks they stand on the same distance. Two eyes see that they stand in different places and that the guy in the far actually is taller. Or if the one eye sees a big person and a little one, it thinks the big is closer. Two eyes see they are on same distance and get a correct perception of their size difference. Also the both eyes must look in the same direction for the stereo effect – humans, cats, owls etc. Animals with one eye on each side of the head – rabbits, gazelles – have no real stereo sight, more like to monos. But they can see all around themselves, also much behind. Very useful when a “front-eyed” predator comes from the backside.
A chameleon has both advantages. It turns its eyes separately in any direction needed to check up the surroundings, and then focusing both eyes exactly on a certain object – the prey.
One-eyed people of course learn to estimate distances by knowing a lot of facts about the size of different objects. And they can move the head to look from different directions, and many animals do so aswell. All this goes for (stereo) hearing too! Just think how you do when trying to find out where a noise is coming from…
And crossing eyes again: it’s no more difficult than looking at your finger maybe 20 cm away. Normally you should see even 5 cm close.