.

When I was 10 yrs old, my father introduced me to a book. I became so glued to it and I loved it so much ‘cos I was one of the fastest people to see beyond the pictures into a new dimension! And my sister was the last! (ahah..that’s what you get from a doctor!) Well, things which I excel in, I enjoy! *grin* I guess it’s the same for everybody else! Thus, today, I’m going to introduce to you something called the MAGIC EYE!!!

Well..it is simply looking at stereograms. A simple explanation of the magic eye phenomena is the following. If a human brain with two eyes is looking at a 3D object, each point of the object emits (via reflection) a ray of light to each eye. (So we have two rays for each point.) Let us place a class screen between the object and the eyes, and let us color equally the intersection points of each pair of rays with the glass screen. Now let us remove the object. If the eyes haven't changed their focus they will be cheated by the colored screen, and still will 'see' the object. (So to see a hidden stereogram the eyes should be focused beyond the stereogram surface.)

Well, to learn how to see the ‘real’ 3d picture beneath the 2d picture that you’re seeing, you would need to cross your eyes, as though you are drunk (!) and bring your nose close to the computer screen.

Since you can not pick up the computer monitor and move it away from your face, try moving your body away from the computer screen. Get up out of the chair and onto your feet. Prepare to assume a slightly contorted position. Put your nose right up against the computer screen. The image will become very blurry. The point is you have just easily defeated your tendency to focus right at the surface of the computer screen. In order to see the 3D image you must look through the computer screen, not at the computer screen. You need to maintain the same feeling and the same posture of your eyes as you move away from the image. You are staring through the monitor, off into space. Now slowly take a step back from the computer screen while maintaining the same position of your eyes. Allow the image to remain blurry. *Relax, breathe, blink.*

Continue aiming your eyes beyond the computer screen. Do not look directly at the image or the computer. If you suddenly shift your focus and look right at the screen, you will lose the 3D effect. Once you recognize the 3D shape, if you continue to look into the background rather than directly at the shape, the 3D effect will increase. Stereoscopic perception seems to have a saturation effect in the brain, so if you keep looking at the image for a while you will notice that your perception of the depth increases.

Now, you try it! Some never managed to see it despite all the motivation and support from me. Oh well..now you can differentiate the artistic from the non-artistic ones! lol...