Stereograms allow you to see a three-dimensional shape while looking at a two-dimensional image. Below is a wallpaper stereogram. If you hold the image close and allow your eyes to unfocus, the rows of animals should appear to hover at three different depths, with the leopards in the foreground, the parrots in the middle ground, and the gorillas in the background. If you then slowly move your face further away from the image, the 3D effect is quite vivid. (If you cross your eyes instead of allowing them to unfocus, then the gorillas will be in the foreground instead.)
This type of stereogram is made simply by repeating images of different widths.
The Magic Eye series of books popularized stereograms in the 1990s. Hold the image below close to your eyes and allow your eyes to unfocus slightly until an image pops into view.
Do you see the tricycle? Once it is in view, you can even move your head slightly to see the 3D image seem to hover in place. Notice the illusion of depth, with certain parts of the trike in the foreground and certain parts in the background. The image above is one type of random dot stereogram, which takes advantage of a chaotic background to allow the mask image to be repeated while still blending in. The 3D effect is created when your eyes combine the two images. Here’s another:
Can you see the airplane?
The stereograms on this page are autostereograms, which means that they are contained in a single image and do not require a stereoscope to view. Another type of stereogram consists of two images taken from slightly different angles, viewed through a stereoscope so that each eye sees only one image. Cross-view stereograms are also fun.
Autostereograms can be viewed wall-eyed or cross-eyed. The stereograms above are designed to be viewed wall-eyed, by allowing your vision to focus on a point behind the image. If they are viewed cross-eyed, by focusing on a point in front of the image, then the effect will be reversed. So instead of seeing a 3D tricycle or airplane, you will see a tricycle or airplane-shaped hole.
Video Stereograms
Stereograms of moving images are also possible. Here is an autostereogram music video:
How to Make a Random Dot Stereogram
The tricycle and airplane stereograms above were created using easystereogrambuilder.com. Generally, a stereogram that shows different levels of depth will require software that can determine the location of each pixel using a depth map. However, it is also possible to create simple random dot stereograms using image manipulation software such as Photoshop or Gimp. Here, I will show you how to create the stereogram below. Unlike the images above, this stereogram is designed to be viewed cross-eyed, and you will probably not want the image as close to your eyes. The red dots are included to help you lock the image into place. Cross your eyes so that each red dot becomes two dots, and then allow the dots closest to the center to overlap and lock into a single red dot. At that point, you should see a 3D image appear below the dot.
Can you see the skull? Do you find it harder or easier to see than the tricycle?
To create a random dot stereogram like this, first you will need a picture of random dots. The easiest thing to do is take a picture of a TV screen when it is not tuned to a channel. Open the image in an image manipulation program such as Photoshop or Gimp. You may want to increase the contrast so that you have only black and white, and no grey. If you wish to use color, you can use the Blend tool to create a color gradient in another image or layer, then use the Select by Color tool to select the white space in the random dot image and paste the color gradient into the white space. (You may also simply use the image below if you wish.) Take note of the width of the image and the midpoint. You will be creating two images, one on the left and one on the right.
Next, choose a silhouette image that does not contain too much detail and is not wider than one-half the width of your background image. I used this skull silhouette, which I filled in green to help distinguish it from the background. I then pasted it as a new layer on the left half of the background. On the background layer, I used the Paintbrush tool to place a red dot directly above the skull.
Next, while on the background layer, use the Select by Color tool to select the red dot. Then switch to the skull layer, and with the Select by Color tool in Add mode, add the green skull to the selection. Then hide or delete the skull layer, as you no longer need it. While on the background layer, copy the selection to the clipboard. You will have selected the red dot and a skull-shaped portion of the random dot background. Note the vertical position of the initial red dot, so that you can paste the selection on the right half of the image at the same vertical position. You now have two side-by-side images, and you have created a stereogram. When you cross your eyes to bring the red dots together, the skull will appear in 3D.
Magic Eye Books
If you enjoy stereograms, there is no better source than the Magic Eye books, which launched the stereogram craze of the 1990s. You can click on the image to the right and use Amazon’s Look Inside feature to view some of the stereograms presented in the Magic Eye books.
Many of the designs on this website are available as prints or on other products at Redbubble.
There is no skull you cheaters.
It’s there, I promise!
Yes there is.
I didn’t see it until i only focused on the bottom right corner instead of the rest of the image caz it seems the whole left part is messed up…once I did that I can see it every time now
I tried it for 3 minutes i think. But the only thing i could see was the background from the cavity of eyes and nose.
Nothin else. I am not able tp see the skull it self
Yes it is there. I could see after a long time. it is the hardest ever.
It took me a little bit to see the SKULL but I finally did after about 90 seconds of relaxing my gaze into the picture.
it is there
no skull
There’s definitely a skull but it took me AGES to see–had to cross my eyes aggressively to get the dots to line up and the hold it for a long time trying to settle in to seeing something in the middle rectangle (where my two eyes’ images of the whole image overlapped). Even once I saw something, it was another few seconds before I settled into seeing the skull instead of a few dots (the eyes?).
Much harder than the far-field focus ones!
I’ve never had to try o hard to see a stereogram as with that skull. I really thought it wasn’t there. Only when I followed the instructions with the dots exactly did I finally see it. I then went back to it a few minutes later and couldn’t see it again (I convinced myself it just wasn’t there), but third time I saw it again.
Now my head hurts.
Why is that one so much more difficult than the rest?!
So the one with the “Skull” should be titled “The impossible Stereogram”. Stereograms are not difficult to see but I was unable to find the skull
it’s only possible with the red dots there. I can see easily now that i really focus on the turning the 2 dots in to 3 and focusing on the centre 3rd one. tried it a number of times after on the one without and eyes just couldnt find it.. definitely a hard one because of the distance of the stereogram.
If you’re crossing your eyes to see these, then you’re doing it wrong. Your eyes need to relax and look straight ahead almost “through” the images, as if you’re looking at something in the distance. Cross-eyed 3D is a thing, but not used here.
I can see every image
The instructions should not be to ‘cross eye.’
Most of the web stereogram games I used to play were based on Flash so they no longer work now. I’ve never seen such an aggressive forced recall of an already installed product. A bit deceptive since Adobe claimed to be upgrading but it was really a disabler install.
I wrote a free stereogram game at:
https://faststereo.com/
for you folks who like stereograms. No strings attached, but might be buggy. My first attempt at PWA, WASM, and HTML5 web development learning.
Easiest way for the skull is to put a toothpick in front of your eyes, look at the toothpick and try to adjust your phone screen so that the red dots converge in the middle
This did it for me. One thing to keep in mind is that your eyes may not be perfectly level. once I realized this I tilted my head to compensate and saw it.
Haven’t seen the skull yet…
On the plane one, I saw a large plane by itself once. Every other time, I see the large plane and a smaller dilapidated one just above it. Anyone else see that?
I saw the tricycle a couple times, but I also see a double image.
Not sure why. Any ideas?
Thanks in advance!
Hi Karen, this happened with me too, its probably because of the size of the image, try zooming in and out.
This is because you over-relaxed your gaze. You can practice this with the two dots in the first few seconds of the linked video. As the video explains, if you relax your gaze the two dots (o o) will become three (o o o — this is the level of relaxation you need to see the big plane). If you relax your gaze even more, those three dots will become 4, however, they must be equidistant (o o o o, not: o oo o). Once you’re able to relax your gaze on command to see 3 or 4 dots perfectly spaced out, you can then use that skill to see the big plane alone or the small plane over the big one.
There’s even another level of relaxation where the small plane is kind of split up into 3 separate pieces over an out of focus large plane. Using the dots example, that level of relaxation looks something like this: o o o o, it’s very hard to keep focused and my eyes feel strained after a few seconds.
I have a lazy eye that i can control on command and yes you have to relax your eyes to look through the image to see stereograms, it takes about 3 seconds and i can see them all, ive never seem moving ones before that music video was awesome with the guys moving right to left singing with the mike stand and playing guitar and drums then pulsing cones in and out all moving right to left the entire time. So awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!
For all those who are not able to see the airplane yet.
Here is the hint. I tried it so hard but i could only see the shape of airplane for some seconds….
But this is the trick. In this image there is an airplane cutout. Through which you can see the background.
Now i can see it every time.
Hope it helps
My folks had the “Magic Eye” book. Everyone but me could see the images. I was a science teacher and took it to school, and most students could see the images. I look at the dots, cross my eyes, gaze at a toothpick, stare “through” the screen, focus and un-focus until my eyes bleed, and don’t see nuthin’. Am I hard-wired, brain-wise, at being unable to see the images? Is it a mental defect or a visual thing?
What is the answer of blue one ? 2nd image from upside
The instructions do say to cross your eyes, and you have for this particular example – the first i’ve ever had to do do. All day we control the focus of our eyes, but we never have to control how out of focus we go. Took me a while to control my ‘cross-eyeingness’ but the help of the red dots helped a lot, although it did feel very odd. Very cool. I also got into it focussing through it, but you don’t see a skull but some weird smiley face in a bucket! Lol.
Keep trying for those who haven’t seen it yet. It’s worth it, and i hope i’ve helped someone here.
I struggled to see the skull until I zoomed out. I’m looking at this on my PC, and the image was simply too big for me to look through it the same as the others. It’s like the repeating part is just too far apart and that’s what makes it so much more difficult than the others.
Great post.
You mentioned that some of the stereograms were generated with an online tool. For the first wallpaper stereogram with the gorilla, did you just put that together with Photoshop, or did you have another tool that helped you line them up properly?
I really love the stereogram video from Young Rival. Very clever concept and well-executed. We’ve also created some stereogram videos at:
https://www.youtube.com/@eyetricks3dstereograms
I could not see any of these. are they real?
Check perfect clear parallel view stereograms
First 2 stereograms are from aolej.com web site (textures/depth maps) as part of Stereogram Explorer installation.
Check easy stereograms for beginners – https://www.aolej.com/easy-stereograms-for-beginners