Was going to say the same thing. Presenting stereo pairs has a lot of layout and resolution issues to say nothing of the fact that some people have stereo blindness to varying degrees (lazy eye is an extreme case).
The author is correct that stereo depth can greatly enhance an image, but a wigglegram does this at full resolution with no visual puzzle solving.
Thank you! I have not, to this day, have been able to see any Magic Eye/Cross Eyed or similar images. A wigglegram is immediately trivial.
I'd probably most appreciate a layout with one frame on the left, the wigglegram in the middle, and the other frame on the right, so that I can get a sense of both the distances and the detail.
This is very common in structural biology papers, where you need to make figure of complex 3D arrangements of atoms, but the figures must be printed in 2D. Typically using molecular modeling software, you find your view of choice. Then you rotate +- 0.5° and render two images, and put those side by side as a stereo pair figure.
It takes quite a bit of practice to see them well:
I did this on a school project back in the 90's, with a structure of quinol clathrate that was completely wrong but very pretty. I was very into povray at the time. My chemistry teacher didn't quite know what to make of it...
technically rotation is going to end up giving a slightly different result than lateral displacement, right? but it's very similar for small distances.
Since the advent of models like Depth Anything, you can now convert 2D images into this effect using them plus a bit of creative processing. Here's a non-technical overview that plugs some software and talks about the underlying models: https://www.owl3d.com/blog/2d-to-stereoscopic-3d-with-ai-dep...
If you are able to cross two images for the 3D effect you can also do it to spot differences like a savant in “spot the differences” games.
Give it a try: https://spotthedifference.games/
A great source for stereo pairs is NOAA's aerial imagery data, consisting of various snapshots along an airplane's trajectory. For example here is a stereo pair of Desecheo Island:
I can generally see the Magic Eye pictures very well.. these are way harder.
The tiny thumbnails at the bottom of the page work, but the larger images I can't cross my eyes enough.
I think it depends greatly on getting the screen/image size just the right size and also getting the viewing distance right. On large monitors it seems harder to see.
> You can do this by holding your finger substantially in front of the image, and focusing solely on the finger with your eyes, while turning your mind’s attention to the image behind it while keeping your eyes still.
This tip in the article helped me a lot, it's much easier to cross your eyes further with something to actually focus on
It's helpful if you can smoothly zoom in on the images. Start zoomed out far enough that you can easily see the effect, and then slowly enlarge the images. Your brain will work to keep them in focus.
Readit News
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiggle_stereoscopy
I'd probably most appreciate a layout with one frame on the left, the wigglegram in the middle, and the other frame on the right, so that I can get a sense of both the distances and the detail.
Closing one eye and I still see the depth effect.
Main brain works very differently than I assumed...
With this effect I guess one could make even people who are blind on one eye see in 3D
It takes quite a bit of practice to see them well:
https://spdbv.unil.ch/TheMolecularLevel/0Help/StereoView.htm...
I remember seeing something similar, but made of an array of dots (you did not know what was behind the doors until you see it by crossing your eyes)
Bonus, I also found this real-time 3D-ifier for your screen: https://github.com/zjkhurry/stereopsis-anything
Same content, but all lined up and rendered the whole article in cross-view.
You can now read the article and see the pictures while in cross-view.
https://jasonjmcghee.github.io/you-should-make-cross-views-3...
I also had to shrink the window as I couldn't manage the cross view on a widescreen :)
You’re welcome.
Something like stereoscopic GIFs come to mind, e.g. https://tenor.com/fr-CA/view/dain-stereoscopic-daingifs-3d-m...
In other words, taking the two images and swapping them quickly creates the illusion of depth.
Edit:
Looking into it, there's a word for it. Wiggle stereoscopy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiggle_stereoscopy
https://cdn.coastalscience.noaa.gov/datasets/aerialphotodb/u...
https://cdn.coastalscience.noaa.gov/datasets/aerialphotodb/u...
EDIT it can be tedious to discover such pairs. If only there were a tool...
The tiny thumbnails at the bottom of the page work, but the larger images I can't cross my eyes enough.
I think it depends greatly on getting the screen/image size just the right size and also getting the viewing distance right. On large monitors it seems harder to see.
This tip in the article helped me a lot, it's much easier to cross your eyes further with something to actually focus on
"Cross view" pictures require converging your eyes, so the images have to be in the opposite position from what your eye would see.