huh. TIL that there are two different ways to view magic eye pictures!
one way creates a cool 3D holographic-esque effect with the colours, and the other still looks 3D (but more like it's concave) and doesn't seem to affect the colours the same way.
i need to do research with more magic eye pictures now, to see if i can view all of them both ways! 🤓
apologies, i'm explaining poorly! the overlaid colours is what i meant by holographic-esque, and the iris of the eye looks convex. so you're viewing it the way i assume it's supposed to be viewed
the other way of seeing it, the iris of the eye looks concave & the colours of the whole image look more or less like the 2D version of it, they don't merge/overlap
Well actually, in this case both versions are somewhat concave (I can see both now). It differs a bit with each illustration. But generally, if it's a simple image of say a ball poking out, the concave version will just have the 'ball' become a hole into the image instead.
If you’re seeing it sunken in then your eyes are drifting instead of crossing. Try looking at your nose, that will force your eyes to cross but likely by too much so you have so relax then a bit. You’ll end up seeing the eye pop out.
The first time I got it to pop out it didn’t look like an eye and there were two triangles where the iris should be. I blinked and the eye snapped in place.
Try to put your phone in front of something and focus on the image behind your phone and you end up with the P in front. Glad to see discussion on the topic, I’ve loved Magic Eye books since I stumbled on them in the scholastic book fairs
Happy to help! There are two types of magic eyes: parallel and cross view. I think the former is more common so a lot of the ones you stumbled across probably were made so that letting your eyes drift made the image pop out.
This image is the cross view variant where you have to cross your eyes to get out to pop out.
If anyone is trying to figure out the difference, check this image I shamelessly ripped from Reddit
This one is parallel view where you can get the image by letting your eyes drift:
While this one is cross view where you have to cross them:
Once you figure out both you’ll be able to get any flavor of magic eye by doing both
when i say "ways to view magic eye pictures", i mean the 3D picture itself. so in this example, the iris of the eye can appear either concave or convex.
This one's great for doubling. Either crossed or divergence mode, try doing it harder so the eye in the image has two pupils. It brings the color back!
21 replies
huh. TIL that there are two different ways to view magic eye pictures!
one way creates a cool 3D holographic-esque effect with the colours, and the other still looks 3D (but more like it's concave) and doesn't seem to affect the colours the same way.
i need to do research with more magic eye pictures now, to see if i can view all of them both ways! 🤓
My trouble has always been I get the concave version. Can you tell me if the intended version requires you to cross your eyes more or less?
less! to get the intended version, i don't cross my eyes at all, i just soften the focus of my eyes a bit.
trying too hard / trying to look "through" the picture is what accidentally got me the concave version
I only see it concave, the eye is sunken in and the image becomes black and white with the strips of flashing overlaid colours around the edges.
Really curious as to what you see with the holographic colours!
apologies, i'm explaining poorly! the overlaid colours is what i meant by holographic-esque, and the iris of the eye looks convex. so you're viewing it the way i assume it's supposed to be viewed
the other way of seeing it, the iris of the eye looks concave & the colours of the whole image look more or less like the 2D version of it, they don't merge/overlap
Well actually, in this case both versions are somewhat concave (I can see both now). It differs a bit with each illustration. But generally, if it's a simple image of say a ball poking out, the concave version will just have the 'ball' become a hole into the image instead.
I cross my eyes and blur my vision till they find the right focal depth, then the image snaps into place.
This one is supposed to become a black and white image, with the eye sunken in and the weird flashes of overlaid colour around the edges of the image.
If you’re seeing it sunken in then your eyes are drifting instead of crossing. Try looking at your nose, that will force your eyes to cross but likely by too much so you have so relax then a bit. You’ll end up seeing the eye pop out.
The first time I got it to pop out it didn’t look like an eye and there were two triangles where the iris should be. I blinked and the eye snapped in place.
Oh I get those! It happens while my eyes are focussing and finding the depth, I didn't notice the pop out effect though!
Thank you for explaining this, I've been looking at magic eyes since I was a kid and never noticed that.
Ooh, cool!
I can only get the C in front on the peripheries by looking over to each side, the central image is always P.
Thank you for sharing this!
Try to put your phone in front of something and focus on the image behind your phone and you end up with the P in front. Glad to see discussion on the topic, I’ve loved Magic Eye books since I stumbled on them in the scholastic book fairs
Thanks! I just saw the first convex of my life & I”ve been enjoying these since the ‘80s
Happy to help! There are two types of magic eyes: parallel and cross view. I think the former is more common so a lot of the ones you stumbled across probably were made so that letting your eyes drift made the image pop out.
This image is the cross view variant where you have to cross your eyes to get out to pop out.
If anyone is trying to figure out the difference, check this image I shamelessly ripped from Reddit
This one is parallel view where you can get the image by letting your eyes drift:
While this one is cross view where you have to cross them:
Once you figure out both you’ll be able to get any flavor of magic eye by doing both
I can't do the crossed-eye method, so this is concave for me.
Practice crossing your eyes slightly until you see the C in front
There are way more ways, just cross or "straighten" your eyes further.
when i say "ways to view magic eye pictures", i mean the 3D picture itself. so in this example, the iris of the eye can appear either concave or convex.
I'm colorblind. There are a lot of colors I haven't seen before. Or ever will.
This one's great for doubling. Either crossed or divergence mode, try doing it harder so the eye in the image has two pupils. It brings the color back!