Autostereogram

By Xah Lee. Date: . Last updated: .
autostereogram vortex
A autostereogram. [image source http://www.bugman123.com/Math/index.html by Paul Nylander ]

Bring your head closer to the screen (10cm will do), your eyes open, and think about what you would to if you have one million dollars. (do not actually try to focus on the image) Keep doing this for about 20 seconds, a stereo image will appear.

Auto-stereogram are fantastic. Unlike other make-do stereo images, auto-stereogram is alive. I'm wondering if there are systimatic studies made of auto-stereogram. That is, detailing of its limitations, on deapth thickness, viewing angle, animation, and possibilities of color, etc.

Even if it is just confined to gray-scale images of relatively flat surfaces, i kinda feel there's much unexplored utilities.

Math and Illustrations