Buzz
The predecessor to Magic Eye images was the random dot stereogram, created in 1959 by neuroscientist and psychologist Bela Julesz as a way to test people’s 3D vision abilities. He would generate an image filled with uniformly distributed random dots and then subtly shift a circular portion of those dots in a second image. When viewed side by side, the observer could see a circle floating in space, despite the random dots offering no clues about depth. This confirmed his theory that depth perception occurs in the brain, not the eyes themselves.
Two decades later, Chris Tyler, a former student of Julesz, along with computer programmer Maureen Clarke, discovered that this effect could also be achieved with just a single image.
Their findings explained how the eyes and brain work together when viewing stereograms. Looking at an image like this, each eye may focus on different parts, but because the image repeats itself, the brain is tricked into perceiving the two areas as the same, thus creating the illusion of depth with these points appearing to be on a virtual plane behind the image's pattern.
Magic Eye, which emerged in 1991 when engineer Tom Baccei, 3D artist Cheri Smith, and programmer Bob Salitsky expanded on the work of Julesz and Tyler, operates by altering a repeating pattern to control the apparent depth and conceal a 3D image within a 2D design.
A Magic Eye image begins when a programmer designs a hidden image (such as a schooner) in the form of a grayscale depth map, where darker points represent objects that are farther away, and lighter points represent those that are closer. Next, a 2D pattern is created to conceal this hidden image. Then, using a Magic Eye-patented algorithm, a computer program adjusts the repeating patterns within the image to correspond with the intended depth of the concealed image. When someone views a Magic Eye, the repeating pattern provides the brain with depth information encoded in it, allowing the brain to reveal the hidden picture.
See Also: Why Can't Some People See Magic Eye Pictures?
